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Author Topic: Windows Home Server Ken McFall Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 615 From: Haringey, London. Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-07-2007 05:22 PM                     Anyone over there tried this latest Microsoft offering yet? I've been playing around with it for some time now, I was on the testing programe. I am now in the process of transferring all my data over to my server which I have upgraded to Home Server. I have to say I have been impressed with it so far. I've deliberatly tried breaking and repairing it and whilst a repair is a slow process it's working well. I'm not a total MicroSoft basher and appreciate the efforts they have made in the past to make any new offerings 'Backwards' compatibal. To a very large extent they have done well. Unfortunatly the bigger you get the bigger target you become. I'm currently using the final relese tester version and will get my shrinkwrap version next week. Any opinions to share. Regards Ken.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-09-2007 04:01 PM                        Funny you should mention backward compatibility -- a friend of mine who was until recently pretty much pro Microsoft, just bought a new laptop which he wanted to setup on a wireless peer-to-peer with his other desktop. This should be so easy as to be laughable. Yah, that's what I thought. Turns out, the new laptop has Vista. And Vista cannot talk to Windows XP! He can't get any of the shared folders to be seen and more than that, and really the main reason he wanted to network them was so that the laptop could print to the "shared" printer. No matter what he did -- even removing the firewall -- the machines could not see each other and he couldn't get the laptop to print to the printer. He finally got the WinXP to see the laptop, not the other way around. He said he's researched it up and down and more than one tech support guy told him that it's a Vista problem. Imaging that --their own operating systems can't talk to each another. Another good reason why the entire Computer Center at City University of New York refuses to support Vista in its current incarnation.  |  IP: Logged Kevin Raisler Film Handler Posts: 52 From: Warsaw, IN, USA Registered: Jun 2003 posted 09-09-2007 07:36 PM                    Ken, I've been recommending that people stay away from vista for at least one more year Especially if you are using older hardware. The only way i would even consider Vista at this point is part of a package deal from dell, gateway etc. they have to certify hardware compliance with their products.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 09-09-2007 07:51 PM                        quote: Frank Angel And Vista cannot talk to Windows XP! Not true, and a bit ridiculous. There's enough misinformation spread about Vista without us adding to it here. quote: Frank Angel more than one tech support guy told him that it's a Vista problem Your friend needs to find a better tech or do some more googling. quote: Frank Angel the entire Computer Center at City University of New York refuses to support Vista in its current incarnation Highly doubtful that your friend's complaint has anything to do with that. No large institutional organization with XP fully-entrenched at every level is going to suddenly flip over to a newer OS this early in its release. I'd suggest your friend start here if he hasn't already.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-09-2007 10:53 PM                        David, thanks for the link -- I'll send it to him if he hasn't been there already. But it's not been like he hasn't been researching this thing for over a week now -- a dozen hours out of his life just to get two computers to talk to each other. In fact, one of the techs who told him it was a Vista problem was the tech support at Toshiba itself, the laptop manufacturer (btw, is it now uncool to call them "laptops" -- or now we've gotta call them "note books?") Anyway, the Toshiba guy said it was definately a Vista issue. Point is, why should one computer talking to another computer using Windows OSs be so difficult to share when sharing is supposed to be the very essence of those operating systems. Why should anyone have to do extensive research other than just clicking the box YES to the question, "Do you want to make this a shared printer?" YES, damnit, SHARE the freakin printer like I said ten times already. If they ever want normal people to use computers the way they use TV sets, they had better figure out a way for plug and play to REALLY be plug and play and not plug and PRAY.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 09-10-2007 01:37 AM                     I'm suspicious enough of Vista to hold off purchasing a new computer for at least a year. Maybe 2.  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 09-10-2007 06:45 PM                     I have Vista on a new laptop. It is CRAP! Hard to use; memory, hard disc, and speed HOG. Get ready to re-learn everything.  |  IP: Logged Ken McFall Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 615 From: Haringey, London. Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-13-2007 03:41 PM                     Hi Guys, been away for a couple of days so not been able to reply. The original post was about Windows Home Server, which is not Vista based as far as I ama aware.... But it does tie in with backwards compatibility which is a real thorn in everyones side. Vista is a good os and while still in its infancy it is very robust and safe... ish We want our cake and to eat it too. At the end of the day it's the end user that usually allows things onto their computer. We click thru screens without reading whats there and end up with god knows what being installed. Microsoft get a lot of the blame for this situation yet when they do something about it we complain that it makes their new operating system difficult to use and cumbersome. It would be sooo much easier if they were able to start from the ground up and they could create a new os without the hurdle of backwards compatibility. The Home Server is based on Server 2003 and has been reworked to make it's use much easier for the novice to server use, whilst retaining enough rigidity to reduce user errors. I've taken the plunge and gone for the shrink wrap final relese and have got all of my data transfered to my 2.5 tb server. I've played about with the system prior to making the final move over and am happy to trust the new os. Has anyone else gone thru the trials and moved over fully yet? Regards Ken.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 09-13-2007 04:09 PM                     I'm sure that linux (or similar stuff like freebsd) can do anything that server can do. And it'll be much much cheaper (linux is free). Plus, unlike most MS offerings you can run linux on older equipment as well.  |  IP: Logged Ken McFall Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 615 From: Haringey, London. Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-14-2007 04:54 AM                     Hi Chris, all of that is true and I did in fact use linux for a while on a test system. However familiarity with Windowsz wins thru and it is much easier to sort out problems as a result. Linux is reliable and 'free' in terms of cash but it requires a very steep learning curve to newbies. With a Windows Home Server system you can do anything you can on a desktop system so the learning curve is almost non existant. Microsoft has established standards that are so well entrenched and familiar that it's hard to move away from. I currently have five systems at home. One Windows Media Center 2005, two Vista Home premium, one Home Server and one Vp prefessional. Oh and an original Xbox with media center on it that works flawlessly!! They all talk to each other over 1gig lan or wireless, don't use wireless if I can avoid it. The Xbox is 100m. File formats are not a problem and it all just works..... even Vista! I will add that I do not like Vista Media Center at all. When you first look at it it's very enticing but in use it's not a patch on MCE 2005. Maybe the promised update to Vista MCE will be better. As you can see I need to get out more....  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 09-14-2007 03:36 PM                     You can do all those same things in ubuntu which is a pretty noob-centric linux distro. Now if you're a glutton for punishment (or just really like having control of the system like me) you can try something like gentoo but that definitely has a steeper learning curve.  |  IP: Logged Ken McFall Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 615 From: Haringey, London. Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-14-2007 03:52 PM                     I can't fault any of what you say Chris.... Ubuntu is a well recieved distro but still is potentially hard work for the newbie. I'm a very experienced windows user and while I'm happy to have linux on a not critical machine I'm not sure I'd want to relay on a system that I'm not fully conversant with. Linux is I know very stable and the latest distro's are getting easier to install and use. The look and feel is not too far removed from windows but it's an alien world underneath, to me at least. I know how to break windows and how to fix / repair it without losing any of my precious data. File systems are generally compatible since windows 95, either out of the box or with small add on utilities. Do you currently have a server setup and if so what do you use as it's os. The new Home Server has received universal praise... be nice to have some negative feed back in balance.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 09-14-2007 05:49 PM                     I'm gonna have a gentoo linux server set up here pretty soon. It's gonna mainly be extra storage for backups of both my main computer and music (maybe later I'll try network audio but I doubt it). I'll probably set up samba for if I need the extra files when I boot into windows. And I'll set up cups on it as a print server to share the one printer I have. In fact, I'm gonna create a chroot on this computer and set up the server tonight then when I get my router tomorrow I'll put it on the other box over the network (plus, this computer's much faster than the one I'd use as a server as that one was obtained for free). But I really can't knock you not relying on something you aren't comfortable with. edit: But if I needed something to be extremely reliable I'd more go the route of something like debian linux. gentoo is kind of a distro for people who tweak with stuff and want full control of the system (at the expense of simply "just working" occasionally)  |  IP: Logged Ken McFall Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 615 From: Haringey, London. Registered: Apr 2001 posted 09-15-2007 03:18 AM                     I'd be happy to try linux again if I had a mate I could bounce off of for help etc. But there is no one I know that uses linux. It's a real shame as it does have one big things in it's favour.... it's open source and Bill G don't own it There is another neat feature of Home Server which makes use of storage easier. There are NO drive letters. As you add additional hard drives they are added to a pool of available space. Each share you set up, Music, Video etc just uses whatever space it needs. There is also the automatic Back Up of any system attached to the server. Full or inremental and you can choose what filed or folders to exclude as you see fit. System restore is just a matter of booting from the restore CD and doing a full or partial restore. None of this is to say in a couple of months I won't be pulling my hair out, what little I've got left. Who know's MS may just have got it right this time by using an existing os that has matured and is known to be reliable as the back bone. Regards.  |  IP: Logged

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