Back after an unplanned break

[fuzzy70]

I have been away for over 2 months thanks to my hard-drive deciding it was time to do an impression of a Geiger counter & merrily clicking away like no tomorrow. That's where being unemployed really sucks as saving up for another took a long time as you can see. I could have bought a 2nd hand one from ebay but I've always been cautious with hard-drives, & cpu's for that matter from there as you cannot tell what abuse (if any) they have had.

Good news, have not lost any data thanks to my regular back-up schedule.

Bad news, I cannot for the life of me find my Windows 7 disc & serial so have had to install Vista which is very odd seeing as all my other OS cd's (even back to win98) are present in my PC disc wallet.

I have learn't 1 good lesson though, you can download full disc images of Microsofts OS's from their site & if you are unlucky enough to have to install Vista like I've just done download one for your sanity.

I honestly thought the updates was never going to end, seriously there was around 60 updates & numerous reboots before I even got to the SP1 download, then more again until I got to SP2. Is it just me or I thought the Service packs incorporated all the previous updates 

Installing all my apps again & updating them was not really fun but a lot less painful than the Vista experience 

Now the fun begins trying to remember what I was doing before & getting back into that mindset, still have a few pages of unread posts on this forum to scan through yet & see whats been happening in the land of GLBasic 

Hope you all had a nice Xmas & New Year btw 

Lee

[Sokurah]

Welcome back. Im glad things worked out in the end...except for the "having to install Vista instead of W7" part.  ...W7 is a lot better.

I'm always reinstalling Windows computers at work - just installed an XP today, and that was over 100 updates. And the servicepacks of course.
...it would be SO much easier if they made procedures like this a little easier for the users...especially those - like me - who has to do it again and again.

[fuzzy70]

Thanks Ocean,

I vaguely recall I was toying around with other programming languages before the nuclear hard-drive fallout for making native windows utils & such. Which reminds me I have to re-install Delphi as that was looking rather interesting in that area, altough that can wait a couple of days while I get my head back into "GLB Mode" & where I left off 

It may have only been just over 2 months but feels like 2 years 

Lee

[Slydog]

There are various software packages to automate Windows installation, and include service packs and updates.
Here's a couple of links to check out:

How to Create a Custom Windows Installation DVD or USB Install

Slipstream Service Pack 3 into Your Windows XP Installation CD

You can also preinstall some of your favorite software too, plus tweak your Windows settings ahead of time.
However, is it worth the effort to prepare all of this?  Depends on how often you reinstall Windows I guess.

You could reinstall your system and have it up and running with your custom software in a half hour.
But I found that the next time I went to use the slipstream, I already have changed my mind on what software I prefer.

But great for businesses I suppose.

[fuzzy70]

I'm always reinstalling Windows computers at work - just installed an XP today, and that was over 100 updates. And the servicepacks of course.
...it would be SO much easier if they made procedures like this a little easier for the users...especially those - like me - who has to do it again and again.

I have windows xp SP3 which I downloaded from Microsofts site around 4-5 months ago & is a full installable xp ISO image. Having just searched on google for the same thing they appear to be removed but after some further digging
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/#searchTerm=windows&ProductFamilyId=0&Languages=en&Architectures=x86&ProductFamilyIds=140&FileExtensions=.iso&PageSize=10&PageIndex=0&FileId=0
brings up the ISO's, for all versions of windows as well I believe by ticking the correct filters on the left hand side.

I had no problem installing it on an old pc of mine even with my original pre sp1 xp product key.

If you are doing installs on a regular basis I would look into the above as will save you lots of time & hassle.

Lee

[okee]

NLite was pretty good, could take your xp cd and slipstream all the updates into it
and then add your drivers so you have everything installed at installation time.

Also another useful site is Ninite after you've done a reinstall.
You pick what software you want and it'll installl it in about 10 minutes
Covers all the most popular free applications and will save you a few hours
work.

www.ninite.com

[doimus]

I vaguely recall I was toying around with other programming languages before the nuclear hard-drive fallout for making native windows utils & such. Which reminds me I have to re-install Delphi as that was looking rather interesting in that area, altough that can wait a couple of days while I get my head back into "GLB Mode" & where I left off 

Well, as far as native windows utils are concerned, you might ditch Delphi altogether and just wait to see what GLB v11 can offer. 

[fuzzy70]

Well, as far as native windows utils are concerned, you might ditch Delphi altogether and just wait to see what GLB v11 can offer. 

While that is tempting & a bit of a "Carrot in front Donkey" statement if it's leaked inside info, I seriously do not think GLB would become a windows app/util language in the same genre that the visual languages like Delphi/MS Visual range provide.

I am not saying that you cannot make such programs in GLB now or in the future but unless someone creates a forms like creator for all the UI elements leaving you just to code the functions it needs to make the app do its job I can't see it happening. For small little utils GLB is fine for me but when I get round to writing content creation tools, level editors etc the last thing I want to do is spend a high % of the time coding the UI elements like menus, dialogs, toolbars & so on when I can currently drag the items I need onto a form where I want them then just double click it & write the code for that element.

One of GLB's strengths (& a main one as far as I can see) is it's ability to target multiple platforms & to tie a big chunk geared at one platform sort of takes away that strength. DDgui, while functional (& presumably works on all targets) requires a lot more effort to set up & use compared to the Visual offerings & lacks some of the functionality provided by OS specific gadgets etc (resizable/draggable & mimimised windows is another).

If GLB did offer that facility then yes I would happily ditch the other languages, but lacking that feature does not bother me as that's not what drew me to GLB in the 1st place. It would be a nice addition to the language tho   

Lee