Migrating my computing life to a tablet... a really powerful one

[Cloudee1]

 

So someone handed off a Surface Pro 2 to me because of a busted screen, an i5 with 8gb ram. After ordering a couple of screens before I got one that would do from China ... and even it lacks the support for the stylus as the connector for it on the back arrived broken, but I don't want to wait for a package to go both ways... and getting Microsoft's fancy little docking station all set up I have the tablet up and running and the docking station wired into the tv in the bedroom and sitting on the bed with a wireless mouse and keyboard.

Windows 8 took about 15 minutes to get used to. I wouldn't say that I have it all mastered quite yet, but I'm certainly not so scared of it anymore  . Got office 2013 installed and the adobe creative suite installed and everything seems to be up and running fine on those ends.  Next came sciCompanion followed by the other miscellaneous programs needed, soundbox, anvil studio, dosbox. All of them seem to be up and running fine as well.

Time to backup the site and everything that I absolutely need will have been moved over.

Only real drawback I can see so far. Undocked, the sp2 only has one usb port, and I will almost guaranteed have the wireless mouse dongle plugged into it. Oh, and If there is anything I want to install from a disc, I will have to share the drive from one of the other computers laying around the house or work.

It really kind of bugs me about not being able to use the stylus though. I was really looking forward to seeing how it worked with drawing views and whatnot in companion. I initiated a return, but I also went ahead and installed the screen... talk about being split on a decision. Hopefully they won't want the broken one back and will just send a replacement. My luck I'm going to shatter this thing trying to get the screen back out.

[Collector]

As far as what I know about Win8 its underpinnings are noticeably better and snappier than 7. It is the GUI that they screwed up, but at least that was more or less fixed with 8.1.

[troflip]

Meanwhile my high performance desktop machine is having CPU overheating issues, and so the BIOS is lowering the CPU speed drastically, so everything's like molasses 

[lance.ewing]

I've got Windows 8.1 installed in a VirtualBox VM on my Linux PC. It took a bit of getting used to, but now I've got it under control. One of the first things I did was try to make it look as close to Windows 7 as I could, i.e. boot straight to the desktop (rather than that Start menu) and tidying up various other things. It's almost recognisable as Windows now, apart from the fact that I have to right click to shut down. I couldn't find anywhere that would sell me Windows 7, so had to buy Windows 8.1 (i.e. the product key). I needed Windows for my daughter's school work.

One thing I've noticed is that the Space Quest 6 download from GOG doesn't work properly in the Windows 8.1 VM. The mouse is uncontrollable. The mouse works fine for all other applications. So I launch it using DOSBOX under Linux instead and it works fine. I was surprised that SQ6 works in DOSBOX.

[lance.ewing]

Meanwhile my high performance desktop machine is having CPU overheating issues, and so the BIOS is lowering the CPU speed drastically, so everything's like molasses 

I built a new i7 4771 PC with an SSD drive and 16GB RAM,  about this time last year and had to go through the process of looking at CPU fan and heat sink reviews, then testing it with that Prime calculation tool. Luckily I don't push it too much.

[Collector]

Meanwhile my high performance desktop machine is having CPU overheating issues, and so the BIOS is lowering the CPU speed drastically, so everything's like molasses 

Fins on the cooler clogged up? My place is a bit dusty, especially when I have to run the furnace. Do you check to see if the fan undersized or not moving fast enough?

I've got Windows 8.1 installed in a VirtualBox VM on my Linux PC. It took a bit of getting used to, but now I've got it under control. One of the first things I did was try to make it look as close to Windows 7 as I could, i.e. boot straight to the desktop (rather than that Start menu) and tidying up various other things. It's almost recognisable as Windows now, apart from the fact that I have to right click to shut down. I couldn't find anywhere that would sell me Windows 7, so had to buy Windows 8.1 (i.e. the product key). I needed Windows for my daughter's school work.

One thing I've noticed is that the Space Quest 6 download from GOG doesn't work properly in the Windows 8.1 VM. The mouse is uncontrollable. The mouse works fine for all other applications. So I launch it using DOSBOX under Linux instead and it works fine. I was surprised that SQ6 works in DOSBOX.

You can probably still down load an ISO from Microsoft, if you can still buy a key.

All of the SCI game run great in DOSBox, at least the ones that have DOS interpreters, and they are usually far less buggy than the Win versions. For my installers I use DOSBox for all of the games that shipped with a DOS interpreter. The one exception is KQ6. I use both DOSBox and ScummVM so that users can run the Win version on x64.

[troflip]

Fins on the cooler clogged up? My place is a bit dusty, especially when I have to run the furnace. Do you check to see if the fan undersized or not moving fast enough?

It is pretty dusty in there. Could that cause that much of an impact?

The computer is about 4 years old (core i7, 3.3Ghz, 12GB ram), and it used to be fine. So I assume the fans are the right size. I'm not sure how to tell if they are moving fast enough (the BIOS says ~1700RPM). Maybe I'll take a vacuum cleaner hose to the CPU fan heat sinks or something, and see if that makes a difference. I really don't want to have to start disassembling the motherboard and replacing fans and stuff... looks like it's a cheap liquid cooling system. There are two hoses going from the block on the CPU into a heat exchanger on the chassis (which has a fan).

Right now I have the chassis open and a small window fan pointed at it, and it seems to be helping .

[Collector]

It is pretty dusty in there. Could that cause that much of an impact?

I have seen it fry a CPU and motherboard, which is why I am a bit paranoid about it. I usually blow mine 3 or 4 time a year. I have an air compressor that I use. I don't need to tear it down any more than to open the side. A lot of computer stores have compressed cans of air.

[MusicallyInspired]

I couldn't find anywhere that would sell me Windows 7, so had to buy Windows 8.1 (i.e. the product key). I needed Windows for my daughter's school work.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416806&cm_re=windows_7-_-32-416-806-_-Product

[lance.ewing]

Hmmm, you know I'm almost tempted to buy that, just so that I can run the Gabriel Knight 2 demo. Apparently there is a debug mode in the interpreter of that demo, i.e. the one that has the sends, inspector, etc. I spent a bit of time trying to get it working on my Windows 8.1 VM but it appears that the fact that it is 64 bit has made it impossible to run the demo. The only version of the GK2 demo I can find online is the Windows version, and it doesn't like running in 64 bit windows. So I guess my options are to track down the DOS version of the demo and then run it in DOSBOX, or to create a new 32 bit VM using either Windows 8.1 or Windows 7. I've got a product key for Windows 8.1 and the ISO, so it probably makes more sense to save money and create a 32 bit Windows 8.1 VM for the purpose.

[Collector]

For the GK2 demo you could just install Win3x in DOSBox.