| The Perfect Vista Laptop… and Simplifying | | | | bit of hardware in the system that asks the new |
| Device Installation | | | | hardware, "What's your Plug and Play ID (PnPID)?" |
| This month, I can thankfully report that my | | | | PnPIDs look like long text strings, such as |
| search for a great, 64-bit Windows Vista laptop is | | | | "USBSTORDiskUDMA-CF_ExpressCard_Rdr.2.23," |
| over; that apparently the entire world found it at | | | | which is the PnPID for the doodad that sucks |
| the same time that I did; and that it's possible to | | | | pictures off my Compact Flash (CF) cards into |
| configure such a system. The system is the | | | | my computer at amazing speeds. (It's a CF |
| Lenovo T61P. I gave it a try after hearing good | | | | reader that's an ExpressCard/54 reader, which is |
| things about it from several clients. What clinched | | | | amazingly fast. There are several on the market |
| it was a bit of advice from a member of | | | | and, if you're a photographer who uses CF cards |
| Microsoft's Hyper-V team that, if I intended to do | | | | and who has a system with an ExpressCard slot, |
| Hyper-V, then the Lenovo was the way to go. | | | | just buy one - trust me.) Once my CF card |
| (Readers and members of my online forum have | | | | reader has responded |
| also told me that Dell and HP's 64-bit "mobile | | | | "USBSTORDiskUDMA-CF_ExpressCard_Rdr.2.23" |
| workstation" systems - XPS for Dell, the 8000 | | | | to my laptop, the laptop then looks at all of the |
| series for HP - work well with 64-bit Vista and | | | | drivers that it knows about to see whether any |
| can accommodate 4GBs of RAM. Plus, Vista can | | | | of those drivers know how to handle a |
| use all of that 4GBs, and I mean actually use it, | | | | "USBSTORDiskUDMA-CF_ExpressCard_Rdr.2.23" |
| rather than simply reporting 4GBs and using | | | | device and, assuming that it has such a driver, it |
| fewer (as I reported last month that Vista | | | | then uses that driver to communicate with the |
| currently does under SP1). In short: The T61P | | | | CF reader. |
| runs Hyper-V like a charm, gives me access to all | | | | What I've just described has been true since |
| of the 8GBs of RAM that I've installed in it, and | | | | Windows 95. What's different about Vista and |
| runs quickly enough that it'd be hard to complain | | | | Server 2008 is that you can tell a system, |
| that "Vista is too slow." | | | | "You've never heard about such-and-such PnPID |
| When I purchased the T61P, I wiped its disk clean | | | | and its corresponding device, but let me give you |
| and installed the retail version of Vista Ultimate | | | | a driver now and on the off-chance that you |
| 64, which got me thinking about how to install | | | | ever run into this PnPID, here's a driver." The |
| Vista so that it could support the T61P's specific | | | | geeky phrase in Vista/Server 2008-ese for this is |
| hardware without bringing along all of the largely | | | | called pre-populating the Driver Store. So here's |
| superfluous applications that come with hardware. | | | | the neat part: Vista/Server 2008 has a new |
| For example, I have a Dell 1320 color laser printer | | | | program called Pnputil that lets you create a |
| that is fast, reliable, and reasonably | | | | downright population explosion in your Driver |
| priced… but I hate installing drivers for it. | | | | Store. |
| Pop the driver CD-ROM that comes with it into | | | | In brief, here's how it works. First, collect the |
| your computer, and you don't just get a driver. | | | | drivers that you'll need for some device. Drivers |
| Oh no - you get a utility that simplifies buying | | | | (when not accompanied by friendly but |
| supplies for the printer, other utilities to show you | | | | unnecessary add-on applications) consist of just |
| toner levels, and so forth. I mean, it's a good | | | | two files: an INF file, which is a text file that says, |
| printer, but heck, I'm not looking for a relationship, | | | | "When you see such-and-such PnPID, go over |
| just a driver. Furthermore, I knew I'd be | | | | here and run this program called something.sys," |
| configuring a few other T61Ps - some friends | | | | and the something.sys, which is the actual device |
| were looking for The Perfect Laptop, and I | | | | driver. So I took a guinea pig system and installed |
| agreed to help put their systems together - so I | | | | all of the vendor clutter - drivers, applications, and |
| thought I'd use this opportunity to try out Vista | | | | all. Then I removed any folders that didn't have |
| and Server 2008's notion of a "driver store." | | | | INFs and SYS files in it. With that done, I collected |
| Device Installation Made Simple Now, if you're not | | | | all of the INF/SYS pairs and put them on a |
| an IT pro, then just stop reading -- this will bore | | | | storage device. (They don't take up much space |
| you to death. But for those of us who make | | | | without the other stuff.). Next, all I've got to do is |
| computers work, this is really neat. What happens | | | | pop the CD/DVD/USB stick into my |
| when you pop some new hardware into a PCI | | | | vanilla-built-Ultimate system, and figure out which |
| slot (Express or otherwise), a USB connector, a | | | | drive that represents. (Let's call it F: for this |
| FireWire jack, or the like? Well, simplified, there's a | | | | example. |