If your Win7 OS is an OEM version, it will have drivers for the machine it was intended for already included. OEM versions will likely not have drivers for your machine (if different from the OEM's target). System Builder OS versions come with a bunch of commonplace drivers, but nothing specific to any machine.
For drivers, it's best to to visit the computer OEM's support website and download what you need. You can find out what you have on the mobo by running Device Manager and scrolling through the device tree, making a list. I've had to do this three times for Win7 - once for a Samsung laptop using System Builder, and twice for Dell desktops that were slightly different from each other, each using an OEM version of Win7. It's not too big of a chore, and being thorough lets you build a platform that doesn't have any missing or improperly-configured devices (um, well in theory at least). Or maybe everyone already knows all this. :) If you have ancient software that uses the Win16 model, you can also install Virtual XP to run these apps. Microsoft doesn't support XP any more, but you can still download the VM and the XP CD image files and install them. The VM method allows running two OSs on one platform at the same time. The same method may be used to run Ubuntu Linux and other OSs in a similar way. 73, matt W6NIA On Wed, 19 Nov 2014 14:39:25 +0000, you wrote: >You often see postings here advocating abandoning XP in favor of newer >OS's. Yeah sounds great, but the devil is in the details. > >I just finished a port to a faster refurbed multicore WIN7 machine. > >The task involved: >1)50 programs and data >2) 3 sound cards (4 if you include the video) >3) eight USB ports of stuff >4) five RS232 ports of stuff >5) one lpt port >6) Networking with XP computers >7) Internet > >I started October 23. Finally I have 98% of what I had working under >XP. It took an estimated 80 hours of work and cost in excess of $500. >Admittedly, I'm on the low knowledge end of OS stuff (and maybe in the >majority of ham users in that regard). > >The most difficult parts were: >1) Device drivers. Trial and error process. >2) Sound card problems. It's a zoo. >3) Networking (it takes 15 at first unknown steps in several pull down >boxes to do what a single click in XP used to do) > >I still have one unresolved issue with the motherboard sound. It simply >won't output anything via line out. I'm almost convinced that the sound >out hardware is bad. It's quite possible on the refurbed machine that >the previous owner clobbered the hardware. WIN7 seems a bit flaky in >sound card stuff. > >It isn't a trivial process unless you're just interested in E-mail, >Internet browsing and a few spreadsheet programs. > >Thank goodness WIN7 isn't bleeding edge. I can't imagine doing this for >a newly released OS. GOOGLE is your friend in the process. > >73 de Brian/K3KO > > >______________________________________________________________ >Elecraft mailing list >Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > >This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >Message delivered to mzil...@roadrunner.com Matt Zilmer, W6NIA -- "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." -A. Lincoln ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
