View Full Version : Vista Beta 2
Riptide
05-23-06, 05:03 PM
It's available for download now. MSDN subscribers.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/
*EDIT*
Anyone who has a torrent link for this please PM me. The MSDN site is totally hammered right now and there is no way to d/l it.
ditto...0please pm me with a trusted torrent
Runs like ass (pardon my French). 64-bit version even... 32-bit XP is faster...
Just install VTP4, WMP11 and IE7 on Windows XP and now you got a much faster and more stable version of Windows Vista!
Son Goku
05-24-06, 04:08 AM
Well of course a beta version of an OS is likely to run a bit slower. They're still trying to debug the software, so a lot of "debug code" is still compiled into it, which gets compiled out once the product gets released.
Hell, when I was in the midst of testing on RALPH (the Rosseta Alpha project, as they were making the next Rosseta app), they ended up adding a lot of debugging code to try to work out some probs people were having. I and a few others reported some really bad performance problems, ones that in my case for instance made it impossible to watch media files for all intents and purposes, or made the media player take ages to start, and one's that resulted in other crunchers being unable to even load their engineering apps they needed for work.
Anyhow, it was the debug code, and they quickly removed it in responding to us, and then put it back in (optionally) albeit speaking with other coders to try to make it much more optimized. Of course they need to debug :D
Usually, when software gets released, this gets removed so it isn't slowed down for the end user.
Anyhow, bleh, don't have my MSDN subscription anymore. Perhaps there would be some other ways to get a look at Vista beta, from having signed up, to well when I took an active directory class, the teacher who was an MCSE mentioned we should technically be able to get it. Hmm... Not sure how to go about however, other then through signing up, or paying the $300 for a student discounted MSDN pro subscription again; as our teacher didn't give the exact details on how we'd go about it, other then saying we should be able to get it. Well outside bit torrent that is.
If it was just a bit slower I could deal with it.. But it took me like 100x longer to explore the contents of a CD/DVD than it does on WinXP. And this is only one simple example.
I'm afraid Microsoft won't be getting much beta feedback from me.. I could really care less if the product gets any better at this point.
Riptide
05-24-06, 09:58 AM
Sonofa... I went to d/l it but started with the 32bit version. I want to give x64 a try on my home machine. But naturally after I noticed the problem the guy here @ work with the password isn't around and I can't log back in. After cancelling the d/l it refused to let me start up a new one - produced some application error message. So I figure I need to log back in.
Odd that it seems capped at 100K/sec to. And I checked in the d/l manager to make sure it wasn't capping it there.
I hope CSS works with this thing because it's about the only game I'm playing with right now. :)
Dang it! I finally got beta 5381 up and running and now beta 2 is out. Anyone know what is different from the 5381 release? On a side note, I like the vista look. I think it's pretty. :D
Riptide
05-24-06, 11:06 AM
Any games broken for you?
Oh and I got the d/l to start here @ work. But it was the 32bit. When I restarted it - it failed. Our bluecoat caught it on the second try and blocked it so now I'm screwed. Guess I'll have to try and start it when I'm home on my lunch. :p
superklye
05-24-06, 01:17 PM
Wow downloading a torrent at work...that's kinda ballsy...
Riptide
05-24-06, 01:37 PM
Who said I was using a torrent? I asked for one in my first post. But I was logged into MSDN subscriber's section when trying to d/l this morning. It worked the first time but when I cancelled and restarted the bluecoat caught it and stopped me.
I'm heading to lunch soon though and will d/l it at home. If people are having good experiences with it I might load it up on my home computer.
Son Goku
05-24-06, 02:23 PM
I can see why one would want to d/l it at work. The sorta BW a company can afford, vs. an individual...
I'm not sure about the capping. Back when I had an MSDN subscription, I was able to pull them off the universities T3 connections from within my dorm room. I could commonly get over 600 KB/sec at the night hours, when few were using the school networks. Perhaps their servers are just loaded, or perhaps it's something new they've put in place since I last used subscriber d/ls
Riptide
05-24-06, 03:25 PM
MS is capping it or something. Because I have it downloading @ home from the MSDN site via their file transfer manager. Bounces between 87-110K constantly. I have the client checked to not limit the speed - so beats me how people get 450+K speeds. My bandwidth is not the problem (3meg down).
If anyone manages to find a torrent PM me please.
Riptide
05-24-06, 06:28 PM
Yeah same here. D/L from the MSDN subscriber site is taking FOREVER. It disconnected me while I was at lunch today and when I resumed it goes 40K/sec. Weeeeeeeeee....
Speaking of slow dl, I tried to dl the hitman demo from the 360 marketplace and it must have been going like 5k/sec. Needless to say, I'm gunna wait till the morning when all the kiddies have to go to school.
While I'm waiting for a good beta 2 source I updated my xp with ie7, wmp11, and office 2007. It feels all fresh and new!
Riptide
05-24-06, 07:25 PM
Well I just found out what the problem is.
It's not MS - it really is my connection. There was a fire downtown today and apparently due to some problems it caused (power went out for instance) there are some problems with my service. It still works - but my bandwidth has been severely affected.
Supposedly it will be fixed tomorrow. So damn lame. I go to download a big file like this once in a million years and naturally the day I need to do it my connection gets blown away. What in the hell.
Son Goku
05-24-06, 08:23 PM
Isn't that always the way... It'd be almost redundent for the network to go down when one hardly needs it. :D You can blame good ol Murphey. Wasn't he (well "Murphey's law) that was attributed with accounting for it to rain when one doesn't bring the umbrella, but the day they do, no rain? :lol2:
And yes, it can be annoying, and sometimes wet too...
Riptide
05-24-06, 09:57 PM
Turns out my router had something to do with it. After pulling it out of the picture and going directly to the cable modem my speed test results online are fine now. 6meg down and 380K up.
Odd though. Even though the broadband speed tests are fine now - the microsoft download utility is still not going over 120k/sec. I have a friend who is on another node and downloading the SAME FILE right now from the same site (msdn) and he is getting 350K or higher.
What in the hell is up with THAT? He's using the same utility and we have them configured the same way.
Son Goku
05-25-06, 01:15 AM
Well, all I'll say (and without providing links) is that there is a torrent out there, that one can download (even though one can't connect to the tracker). However, without a product key it would be pretty useless. And, don't know if it's true, but some sites are suggesting that after a time (and after their systems aren't being so hit), Microsoft might end up making this beta publically available like they did with Office 2007.
Not sure if it's true, but if so, certainly does represent a change from their prior policies wrt betas (but then so does the Office beta). It might be worth it to wait and see, if in fact this is true.
Riptide
05-25-06, 07:22 AM
I'm pretty sure that is true.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/beta/preregister.mspx
I'm taking a ghost image of my drive today and plan on installing soon if I can. If I get it going and it isn't a complete mess I'll maybe post some screens late today or tonight.
I'll be very curious to see what apps are broken. Will Nero 7 work? Or Media Player Classic? Guess I will find out soon enough. ;)
Son Goku
05-25-06, 03:42 PM
Well it's definitely true then. Right from the proverbial horses mouth :D I guess they want a wide testing distribution then, probably for even more thorough bug detection...
Well I signed up seperately here anyhow... At the very least, I'm curious to see what's comming next :)
Riptide
05-25-06, 03:51 PM
I finally got it d/l'd and burned to disc. But I've had second thoughts about loading it on my machine here @ home. I think I'll play w/it at work first. I've reason to believe the X-Fi drivers won't work with this latest beta (creative is slow as hell, typical) and it is proving a PITA to get a backup image of my current install. Plus I'm not wanting to hang around the house much right now because of some personal stuff. So I dunno.
I'm curious to see what everyone else thinks though. Those of you who are brave enough to wipe out your current install and try it. :)
Where did you get it from?
PM me :)
Riptide
05-25-06, 04:43 PM
MSDN subscriber site. I didn't have to resort to a torrent. Can't share the account either because it's not mine. :(
Son Goku
05-25-06, 04:52 PM
Where did you get it from?
PM me :)
There is a way you can get it, by going to one of those torrent search sites, and pulling up the link. It will say "connection refused" to the tracker, albeit with Azureus and the trackerless distribution stuff, it will start downloading anyway, as people will upload it to one whether they can connect to the tracker or not.
However, that's not the problem for now. You'd still need a product key to get through the install ;)
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