If anyone is wondering how things are going: all I can say is Vista x64 is not ready for prime time.
Firstly, I’ve had several power resets over the last 3 months. Three of them while I was actually using the computer. After the first couple, I went to TX Computers and talked to the guy about it. He said that “high quality” power supplies, like Antec, are actually more sensitive to supply variations that cheap power supplies. Let’s play a quick game of Hangman: “BULL___T”. Guess a letter.
I have the following products which all provide USB connectivity, and which all work with XP 32-bit:
- Canon LBP1120 monochrome laser printer. Canon claim to have Vista drivers but don’t specify 64-bit. The installation fails so I assume they’re pretending there’s no such thing as x64.
- Canon LBP2410 colour laser printer (see above).
- LG 8330 mobile phone. Good luck if you can find anything about Vista on their site.
- Samsung VP-D453i camcorder. This does work as a removable drive (for stills) but there’s no way to use it as webcam or to play the MP4’s it creates.
- Ricoh Caplio GX8 digital camera. Their website claims it works as a USB drive on Vista 32-bit but the software simply refuses to install on Vista 64-bit.
I admit that none of the above the products are the latest in the marketplace but they’re not that old. In fact, I only bought the Ricoh today – it was the last one in the shop. However, that’s 4 manufacturers that are making no effort to provide 64-bit drivers.
It looks as though 64-bit is an idea before its time even though almost every computer built in the last two years would have a 64-bit CPU.
In case you’re wondering how I deal with this problem: I still have the old XP PC. I just switch it on, haul out the old keyboard and mouse and press the Source button on the monitor.