Checking driver support before switching OS's

[Secular]

From what I've read, most of the problems people encounter with Vista are driver and support issues.

So before switching, are you checking all your hardware manufacturer websites to make sure that they have vista drivers out?

Or is it Vista drivers are being supplied and there are still issues?

I've not switched yet, and have been toying with the idea, but when I have the money and am prepared to spend it on a new os, the first thing I'll be doing is hitting up Nvidia, creative labs and evga's websites to make sure I got drivers for it.


On a side note, is it likely that the longer I wait, the cheaper I will be able to get Vista for? Also, the longer I wait I am assuming the better the hardware support will be.

Edit: Can the same thing be said for Ubuntu, as far as verifying linux drivers to ensure a smoother time when switching?

 

[djnes]

Vista probably won't drop in price very much, if at all for quite some time. You're best bet is to look for the drivers ahead of time, as you said, and also look into your applications compatibility. I had been using an older version of Diskeeper that didn't work in Vista.

 

[dot_Zen]

It's really quite simple: All a user need to do is go two places; not every device, hardware, firmware vendor unless they absolutely want to..


Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators/hardwareassessment/wv/default.mspx


Windows Vista hardware Compatibility list:
http://winqual.microsoft.com/hcl/



See Paul Thurrott's site on Hot or Not? Measuring the Success of Vista's First 100 Days

[Snip..]Let's look at the numbers. At general availability in January, over 1.5 million devices were Vista compatible. Today, that number is 1.9 million. The company tells me that represents about 96 percent of the devices out there today. Sounds like a horrible level of compatibility, doesn't it? "We were more ready with ecosystem coverage--that is, application and device support--with Vista than we were with any other OS release," Windows Client Partner Platform Group Director Dave Wascha said. "This was a five year effort aimed at getting our partners and customers ready."

Additionally, Microsoft has added instrumentation to Vista so that customers can optionally provide the company with feedback when things go wrong. Thanks to this feedback, the company is making fixes at an unprecedented rate. More importantly, Microsoft is identifying the issues which are causing the most problems and fixing those first. Of the remaining 4 percent of incompatible devices, or about 70,000 devices, 4,000 account for about 80 percent of the problems. "This is our bogey list right now," Wascha told me in a recent briefing. "So we're on the phone with vendors, flying out to meet with them, and getting these issues addressed. Once that's done, we'll do it all again."

So what's the criterion for getting a device working in Windows Vista? Wascha told me that Microsoft will fix or create drivers for any device that generates 500 or more user reports. "We have legions of engineers dedicated to this one purpose," he said. "And we will continue to churn through that list." The only exception, of course, is drivers for devices that are no longer sold because the company that made them went out of business. "Unfortunately, the answer there is that it will never work," he said.

What's interesting is that Microsoft is caught in a Catch-22 in some ways. Customers want the company to innovate, but often don't like the side effects of that work. For example, to make Windows Vista more visually exciting, Microsoft changed the graphics architecture, but then some users complained that their video cards were no longer compatible. "Some people have had a less than stellar experiences with graphics cards," Wascha admitted. "This is a tiny minority of users. Unfortunately, it's been a vocal minority." While Wascha wouldn't pinpoint the culprit, in my experience, NVIDIA graphics cards have lagged behind those from ATI, though the gap appears to have shrunk in recent days.
And what about those high profile problems that the bloggers are grousing about? According to Wascha, those issues have never even shown up in Vista's instrumentation. That's right: These bloggers actually opted out of the program that Microsoft set up so that customers can help Microsoft solve problems and thus help other customers. And when the drivers do become available, you never see follow-up posts crediting Microsoft for fixing the problems. "We sit here and wrack our brains," Wascha said. "The drivers are out there."

Meanwhile, there are other pesky facts, which just don't correlate with widespread opinion pieces on the Web. With Vista, Microsoft is seeing one-third the number of security issues that it saw in XP's first 100 days. Application crashes are being addressed much more quickly as well. In a favorite example, Wascha noted an application crash bug that was reported on a Tuesday; Microsoft shipped a compatibility fix less than two days later. "We want to make sure that the perception out there about the product is accurate," Wascha said. "We're excited about the work we've done, and we know the system is working."

 

[Secular]

Great links Zen, thanks.

Edit: Help me out here, is there a version of Vista hardware compatibility tool that runs on a 64 bit os? I was unable to find it on the website.

 

[dot_Zen]

Sorry, there doesn't seem to be any available. Kinda' odd, my apologies. I really don't like how MS still isn't ready for the full 64bit push, they should know that mainstream consumers will await their guidance before perusing newer(I say that lightly) technologies. 64bit needs to be pushed, if for nothing more than better support from vendors and better performance; but applications need to start being built in 64bit development environments.None of the aforementioned will happen until the 64bit market receives tremendous support.

On the whole, I haven't had or heard of major inconsistencies between 32bit and 64bit support, yet. Basically, if there isn't a 32 bit driver, their will likely not be a 64 bit driver; and vice versa.

Per the Windows Vista: Upgrade Advisor

The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor depends on technology that only runs on computers with these editions of Windows:

• All 32-bit editions of Windows XP
• All 32-bit editions of Windows Vista, except Enterprise edition

If you own a PC running other editions of Windows, you will need to carefully compare its system capabilities to the system requirements found on this site. In general, PCs purchased within the last two years have a better chance of being able to run Windows Vista as is or with affordable improvements to the system hardware.

But, the Hardware compatibility list, I linked to earlier, is dynamic and will allow you to isolate which components are system critical (i.e. select a Category). As well as which level of support they receive (i.e. Certified with Windows Vista, Works with Windows Vista).

 

[Secular]

No need to apologize, you're helping me out. Besides, you aren't writing the software.

Regardless, thanks. The link with the list still helps me a great deal.

 

[Catweazle]

Best way to check for hardware compatibility is to run a decent system diagnostic tool to identify the components in your system and then go individually checking for Vista x64 device drivers for the things. That way you can be downloading the drivers in readiness (or bookmarking the download pages) while you're running your checks.

I personally use Everest Ultimate Edition http://www.lavalys.com/ which I consider to be the best program of its type available, and which will generate most of the hardware manufacturer links for you.