Upgrade advice
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There is absolutely no reason to choose 7 over 8.1. You're paying to get an older product which will not get any major updates, which will be dropped from support sooner, and which has no benefit over the newer one.
8.1 has the start button included so you can work the same way as you do with Win 7. If you really hate Metro (which is great once you get used to it) just press windows button + d on boot up to go straight to desktop, you will notice Win 8 boots up way faster.The core system is better and faster, sure change is difficult and if you want the speed and also the old look then try this: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2027945/how-to-banish-metro-from-your-windows-8-pc-forever.html
If you like using keyboard shortcuts then 8.1 is for you as you can cycle between screens, explorer, desktop etc with shortcuts like windows button - C,X,D there are a whole bunch.
But then again it's just like SU8 and SU 2013, upgrade when you feel comfortable.
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@bob james said:
@solo said:
it is faster than Win 7
What do you base that on, Pete? I have it on my laptop and really don't like the interface and have a program loaded to avoid it as much as possible.
However, if it would help with SU/Thea......It's said to handle multithread programs better... so it possible will help a bit with Thea. Sorry, no actual comparisons, still using Win7 (and probably will for a while). No idea if it helps with SU (most likely not, but I happy to be proven wrong
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@solo said:
There is absolutely no reason to choose 7 over 8.1. You're paying to get an older product which will not get any major updates, which will be dropped from support sooner, and which has no benefit over the newer one
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But then again it's just like SU8 and SU 2013, upgrade when you feel comfortable.
Well, to an extent, I agree, especially if you are starting from sratch with a new PC. When I was dealing with Win8, there was no 8.1 yet, so I'm glad to see the start button is back officially. I tried to like it, but I just hated Metro. It was just a useless layer between me and getting stuff done.
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Interesting discussion folks. I'm learning a lot.
Still waiting for the recovery report on my hd. Haven't yet determined if I really have a mb problem as I need to continue on a project definition on paper that can't wait.
My bro-in-law has a 128gb ssd for me when he gets his new 256gb ssd setup. I'll use that for my systems drive and an hd strictly for data files.
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Put in another drive, too and back up your data files. I use Cobian back up and automatically create backup files every night. I keep the last two of those.
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@dave r said:
Put in another drive, too and back up your data files. I use Cobian back up and automatically create backup files every night. I keep the last two of those.
Good idea
Good thing I thought of it
(kidding of course ) -
As your profile shows you as a free user, doesn't that suggest there is no reason not to upgrade to 2013. It costs you nothing and it's the only version that will be updated. Staying on an older version just means a bigger jump perhaps later.
From what I have read, the only complaints apart from a few fixed bugs have been that 2013 wasn't a whole new bunch of bells and whistles, surely that is a bonus to those that don't like change.
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Progress update
PC is up and running. All my data files were recovered intact, so far as I can see.
Motherboard is OK. I installed a 128gb SSD as my prime drive for Windows7 and all apps. The recovery drive (500gb) will be my data drive (both are SATA).Of course nothing goes smooth even on a virgin install. I won't bore you with details.
Right now all that is running is Firefox with my old profile ported to a clean install.
AVAST antivirus is also working. All that took 2 full days.
Tomorrow is Thunderbird email and SU 2013.Question. Where does SU8 store the config files (shortcuts, toolbars, etc)?
Can I simply copy/overwrite them to the 2013 locations? If they were registry items I know they are toast.And I will re-download all the plugins I actually use.
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You can't just copy the toolbar settings from SU8 to SU2013. They use different toolbar managers anyway.
If you have SU8 running, you can export the keyboard shortcuts as a .DAT file and load it in SU2013. Look under Window>Preferences>Shortcuts.
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Could not get SU8 to run in old drive, so Shortcuts are toast. I did print them out several months ago so I will try to find it. I know what pile it's in, just not how far down.
But I copied the install file to the SSD and reinstalled SU8 (but only temporarily). I WILL go to 2013. Then I copied over the Plugin dir and most of the other files just to test the install.
It seems OK. And it comes up REAL fast, 3 seconds.
But my mouse is not responding the way it used to.
SU does not see the "middle button" so I can't pan.
I can't remember if there is a setting in SU8 for this. -
I'm not clear on what you have installed and what you haven't. As has been said multiple times on the forum, do not simply copy your old plugins to the SU2013 Plugins folder.
To get Pan with the CMB, you need to include the Shift button. Does Orbit work with the CMB? If not, you can go into the mouse settings in the Control Panel and change the button assignment so it'll work.
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@dave r said:
I'm not clear on what you have installed and what you haven't. As has been said multiple times on the forum, do not simply copy your old plugins to the SU2013 Plugins folder.
To get Pan with the CMB, you need to include the Shift button. Does Orbit work with the CMB? If not, you can go into the mouse settings in the Control Panel and change the button assignment so it'll work.
First, I resurrected SU8 not 2013.
I never needed the "shift" btn with the center button on the mouse to pan.
Orbit works, but again, the CMB has no effect.
The button assignments are in my mouse setup s/w and the button is correctly set.
Win7 dropped mouse settings from the control panel so I can't change them there.
I'll play some more tomorrow. -
@jgb said:
I never needed the "shift" btn with the center button on the mouse to pan.
You didn't, huh? Well, that's been the standard method for activating Pan at least since I started using SketchUp with V3. Here's a screen shot from the Quick Reference card.
So if you didn't access Pan that way, how did you do it using the CMB?
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I (may) have missed the mentioning of lisence agreement differences between SU8 free and SU Make 2013
So that might also be something to take into consideration to you as a ..... designer/inventor/???.... just in case of any commercial use of your products! -
@dave r said:
@jgb said:
I never needed the "shift" btn with the center button on the mouse to pan.
You didn't, huh? Well, that's been the standard method for activating Pan at least since I started using SketchUp with V3.
So if you didn't access Pan that way, how did you do it using the CMB?My mistake.
I meant ORBIT. Been away from SU for 3 weeks now so I forgot how my finger memory worked.
The thing is my CMB does nothing, so neither PAN nor ORBIT work.I am thinking now it may be my mouse driver is not compatible with Win7 as I had setup issues before I brought up SU8.
The KB & Mouse are so old (but functioned beautifully before on XP) that Logitech no longer support them. I'm gonna try to find the drivers later today. -
Chasing down the wrong alley.
Just uninstall the Logitech driver altogether and don't install one. It might be the CMB will start working correctly. If not, you should be able to change the CMB function in the Control Panel.
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@dave r said:
Chasing down the wrong alley.
Just uninstall the Logitech driver altogether and don't install one. It might be the CMB will start working correctly. If not, you should be able to change the CMB function in the Control Panel.
Fixed.
The problem was my old Logitech setpoint install disk was not Win7 compatible, so it did not install any drivers. Win7 default drivers were the culprit.
I went to the Logitech site and found the driver download page for my "old" combo set, and it had a Win7 set. 3 minutes later and a reboot, SU8 Orbit and Pan are working.
Now I can delete the SU8 install and replace it with 2013. But it will be next week, I got some other priority stuff to do first.
Thanks to everyone for the good advice.
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JGB;
some other thoughts.
my old XP pc quit recently. I normally buy case, MB and rest of parts and build my own pc , but this time decided to buy one;
1 When w8 came out with problems vendors were marketing units with a down grade to w7 and then they would also give one a disk to convert to w8 which is what I have. I have not changed to 8 and will not without good reason. I have not checked where that stands now;
2 When i first installed su 2013 and eval time expired I removed it form my PC because all the layout and style builder files are not removed when the pro to free change happens and I did not care for that;
When I first installed 2013 I just copied my su8 plugin files to 2013. There is no saftey issue in doing that. The file tree is some what different however and I made a couple of changes. I eventually re-loaded 2013 just to avoid the hassel of SU8 not being upward comaptible with 2013. WHen I happen to need a make plugin I down load the noral way or just save as SU 8 file ;
3 Before buying new pC I checked the items I have at the MS compatibility site to find what I could re-use. Suggest you do that if not already done.
My modem ,scanner OCR( part) was a no go plus many units now are setup for WFI so had to upgrade that are which is more $ from internet provider- i now have a WFI hot spot in my house and allows the kids to log on when they visit, i also have a cable interface i normally use.4 BTW in the past I have taken the hard drive out of my older pC, bought uSB enclosure for it and use that as back up - a portable hard drive. You are planning a solid stae drive for your OS so you can also make a image of that and that gives an immediate back up, just install and go.
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By the way....
I would strongly recommend an upgrade to a Solid State Drive (SSD) as the boot drive, and relegate your current Hard Disk to a secondary data drive.SSD's are getting cheap, less than $1.00 /gb (even Canadian!!) My 128gb cost $80.00CDN. You don't need a big one, 128gb is probably more than enough for all the OS and apps.
Win7 boots in 17 seconds.
Su with a load of plugins, 3 seconds.
My big file (15mb) used to take a full minute to load. Now it takes 5 seconds. A save takes 4 seconds (30 seconds before).
Firefox; 2 seconds.
My file manager (Thumbs+) used to take almost 2 minutes to boot and scan. 10 seconds now.
AVAST used to take 4 minutes to do a basic rootkit scan. 5 seconds now.An SSD comes with (or you d/l it) drive image swap s/w so it just copies over your old drive. I couldn't use it because of the way my recovery disk was setup.
So my recovery HD (.5tb) will become my data repository after I xfer over whatever apps I can and clean it up.
I put the SU Files dir on the SSD to speed up the saves. Then I will mirror them back to the HD on a regular basis.Another thing to consider... a dedicated backup drive. What I shoulda done before.
WD now have .5tb, 1tb and 3tb external USB 3 (or 2) drives. Named "My Passport". My 1tb cost $75.00CDN. It is USB 2 compatible, but slower.
They have s/w to auto backup every file from your SSD and HD that gets saved or added in background. I have it (1tb), but not yet installed. I'll get back to you here when I do next week. I don't want to set it up till I cleanup the HD. -
Mac1
Interesting read. I too do not buy canned computers, but put the components together myself. That way I get the performance and upgrade path to my liking, not some generalized box. HP, while they make very good computers allow very little non-HP upgrades. Dell is similar.
You said your ISP charges extra for WIFI.
Cut that cord!!! Get a simple cheaper non-WIFI modem from them.
Then buy a WIFI Router and install it between the PC and Modem. That also gives you 4 LAN connections, or 3 free for other devices. Try to get a good high power router, especially if you have a large house or multi story house.Set it up on WPA and register every WIFI device (friends and relatives too) that will connect to it. You just need to define the devices MAC address to the router, and the password to the device. That way they automatically log in when booted or come in range.
Nobody else can get in, even if they know the password. ISP WIFI Modems usually just need a password, their password, and the modem ID.
I have a Cisco router. You can access the Administrator page from any registered device, or the PC with just its static IP Addr, Admin name and password.
It also has a Guest access for ad-hoc access with a separate Password.
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