Thanks Tim, you have reassured me. I too run Outlook to our (my employers) Exchange server, am the IT person for a small school district. Yep, a Dell workstation, but really no extra garbage running, and to brag a bit, it is a double-quad processor Xeon at 3.0 with 8GB RAM. Performance should not be an issue. I do run an internal WiNRADiO G315i, but even at that the processor load idles along at less than 5%. Was processing Einstein.com data via BOINC for a while, running all 8 processors at 100%, but it upped the electricity bill a tad and served as a room heater which I don't want in the summer! (Do this now on my employers servers! Ha Ha!) Will not try this in conjunction with PowerSDR, although it is allegedly on a low priority level not to suck power from other applications.
Please, what is Pretty Betty? An updated version of PowerSDR with a spiffy GUI? Have to be honest, the WiNRADiO GUI outshines my demo version of PowerSDR. Jim -----Original Message----- From: Tim Ellison [mailto:telli...@itsco.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 6:58 AM To: Jim Manner; flexradio@flex-radio.biz Subject: RE: [Flexradio] Vista 64-bit? Jim, Here is the "skinny" on your basic question. 1.) PowerSDR will run on any Vista x64 desktop PCs with any of the FLEX SDRs without any problems. Testing on Win7 RC has been very successful if you change the Win7 1394.sys driver back to the legacy driver (not a FlexRadio component). 2.) Depending on the "junk" loaded on your PC (if purchased from a manufacturer, like Dell), those "productivity" programs can suck the performance out of a PC in a heart beat. Windows Update can do the same depending on the new add-ons they try to shove on you. Therefore you may have to do some house cleaning to get the system working optimally, but if the processor is fast enough and the PC architecture is not I/O constricted, you should not have a problem and only superficial optimization is required. 3.) There really isn't a requirement for a dedicated machine, but there are advantages in doing so. I routinely use my PC to do my work from home activities and have the radio running all the time. I have no problems doing that except occasionally MS Outlook starts hosing up the audio stream with excessive long duration DPCs and a reboot of the PC usually fixes that. 4.) There are two classes of third-party add-ons; ones needed for interfacing PowerSDR to other programs and programs that interact with PowerSDR. Many of these use kernel mode drivers and they have to be 64-bit and digitally signed. If there is not a 64-bit driver, you are out of luck. If the driver is not signed, there are ways of starting Vista x64 that ignore the driver signing requirement. They are a hassle to use, but it makes them fully operational. Other programs used with PowerSDR just do not work under Vista and Win7 (32 and/or 64-bit) and in those cases you are just out of luck until the developer decides to make the required changes. It is the nature of the beast when Microsoft changes the OS architecture. Of the programs needed for interfacing PowerSDR to other programs (VAC & virtual com port software), those are usable on 64-bit operating systems. I do not have a list of other programs that do not work with Vista/Win7, but the ones I have used don't seem to have a problem running as 32-bit apps on a 64-bit OS. I know there is an issue with DDUtil that is being looked into. 5.) The new "Pretty Betty" version of PowerSDR uses an updated IDE that is better positioned to operate on 32 and 64-bit operating systems. Once released, PowerSDR should run more efficiently on 32 and 64-bit versions of Vista and Win7. 6.) I will probably transition all of my operating activities to Win7 once a few of the third-party program issues are worked out. -Tim -----Original Message----- From: flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz [mailto:flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz] On Behalf Of Jim Manner Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 9:21 AM To: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Subject: [Flexradio] Vista 64-bit? OK, please, someone net it all out for me. From reading posts on the Reflector it appears a relatively fast processor is desirable. Have a screaming Vista 64-bit machine, and do not wish to invest in a dedicated PC just to run a F5KA, nor jump between two machines when interleaving between radio operation and other PC-based tasks, nor do I really have the physical space. Will PowerSDR function without difficulty? As I understand the situation, some of the desired 3rd party add-ons will not operate at present? Which? Will be bringing this machine to Windows 7 when the final product is released. Will the F5KA be OK when I make this jump? Of course another option is a F5KC, but would rather not, it limits future options. Jim (N7SGS) _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/ _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/
