Windows 7 beta on ASUS R2H

Now that Windows 7 beta is out I've decided to try it on my ASUS R2H see how it compares to Vista, which I became used to and why not even like it. W7 is supposed to be built on top of Vista and coming with a few usability and performance improvements - some of those visual improvements like Aero Peek won't be able to run on this tiny machine, but other nice things like Aero Shake or snapping windows to left or right sides might just work.

After writing the 2.5 GB ISO image on a DWD-RW, the installation from the USB DVD drive took about 40 minutes (some people installed it from a USB stick, see here), a clean install on a 9.5 GB partition where I used to have the good old XP. A nice surprise is that the installation only took about 8 GB of disk space (and that includes 1.5 page file and 950 MB hibernation - ?! no wonder the hibernate/resume takes longer in Vista/W7, it may need to compress the 1.2 GB RAM contents into 950 MB).

Graphics

Works fine with default driver (6.14.10.4543), but you won't be able to change resolutions from ASUS Settings Center (below) until you install the ASUS Vista driver (6.14.10.4764). You will have to run setup.exe in Windows Vista compatibility mode, otherwise it will complain the OS is not supported.

Update 23/01 : While my suggestion to install the ASUS graphics driver may give the ability to change the resolution from ASUS Settings Centre, it seems that this may be the cause of a system freeze when resuming from Sleep mode or when running Windows Live Messenger 2009.

Touch screen

While it works out of the box, I can't seem to get close into the corners on any side of the screen for about half a cm - the cursor follows the pen until you reach the limit and then it just stays behind. Btw, there is a new cursor just for the pen, different from the mouse arrow. There is also a new tablet screen calibration tool with additional touch points, maybe the outter additional points were meant to be closer to the actual screen corners, I don't know, I'll have to follow this. 

Thumb stick

It works, but with lower sensitivity, no click - you have to install the Vista driver / utility to get all that functionality.

Ethernet

Works fine with default driver.

Wireless

Doesn't work with the initial driver, you have to run Windows Update using a network cable to get the new driver and that one will work fine. You could also try the ASUS Vista driver, I would expect that to work as well.

If you want to use the Wireless hardware button at the top of the unit to swich on/off wireless and bluetooth and make the leds on the front of the unit light up, you will have to install the ASUS Wireless Console application, same as in Vista.

Bluetooth

Seems to be installed correctly, I don't have a device to test it though.

Sound

Not working with the default driver, install ASUS Vista driver.

Fingerprint reader

While the ASUS software for Vista seems to install correctly I couldn't get it to register the fingerprint as means of authentication. I found this AuthenTec press release announcing software to support Windows Biometric Framework within Windows 7 - see the contact details at the bottom of the page. Maybe that will get it to work directly with Windows without a need for the ASUS Security application.

Update 22/01 : I've eventually uninstalled ASUS software, although the AuthenTec driver seemed to stay behind. Probably based on that information later on W7 suggested installing this update from AuthenTec. I noticed then the device is available in Control Panel > Biometric Devices. The device is listed and next to it there is a link saying "Use your fingerprint to log on to Windows" that starts an application that allows you to record the fingerprints. The trouble is that I couldn't get more than 2 readings on the same finger, I got frustrated after a while and I dropped it. I noticed high CPU usage during the process...

GPS

Works fine, slow to receive the initial data as you alreay know it, but it works. Use the same DEVICE_SWITCH.EXE tool from ASUS to enable/disable the GPS device, also consider using Bogdan's tool to enable it at logon.
ASUS Settings Center

Install ASUS ATK Hotkey Utility and ASUS Settings Center for Vista. You can change brightness and volume, but you won't be able to change the screen resolution until you install the Vista graphics driver (see graphics section). To be able to change the power modes, you have to install ASUS Power4Gear eXtreme for Vista.

Windows 7 tips

• User Account Control - you can customize UAC now to fit your needs, read some more here.
• If you don't like the new taskbar and want to revert to the old style taskbar, go to Taskbar and Start Menu Properties (right click on Taskbar > Properties), in Taskbar tab tick Use small icons and change Taskbar buttons to Never combine.

Performance tips

• Disable Offline files. Obviously if you don't use them, go to Control Panel > Offline Files > Disable offline files.
• Disable System protection. This used to be called System Restore in XP, I don't know if there is any new functionality added since, I've only used it a couple of times to create restore points before. See before last screen here how to turn it off.

Performance tips - Windows services

• Distributed Link Tracking Client - stop and set to manual. Read some more here, I've never missed it, I think the special folders like Favorites or My Documents, you can still move them around without the need for this service (I usally move those on a separate partition from the actual OS).
• DHCP Client - stop and set to manual, obviously if you don't want to use a DHCP server and are used to set fixed IPs on your network interfaces.
• IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules - stop and and set to manual if you don't use IPSec.
• IP Helper - stop and set to manual. I haven't seen IPv6 used anywhere yet.
• SuperFetch - stop and set to manual. Not sure about this one, the behaviour may have changed, there is free memory in Task Manager when started, where the behaviour in Vista was to fill up the memory in the background and that was causing serious HDD activity, at least on my machine, so it's up to you realy. Personally I only use a few apps on this machine, one at a time, I don't think I'll miss the functionality, we'll see.
• Print Spooler - stop and set to manual, only if you are not printing from this machine.
• Themes - stop and set to manual, only if you are using the standard theme.
• UPnP Device Host - stop and set to manual. Sharing media in Windows Media Player might need this service, if it needs it will start it.
• Windows Search - stop and set to manual. Do not have much content on this machine I need to be indexed, I can still search in Explorer the old un-indexed way.

* * *

Windows 7 looks very promising - Microsoft shaved off a couple hundred MB of memory usage - with file swap disabled (not recommended for most users, you can try it until Windows starts complaining) and Process Explorer the only user application, 700 MB free out of 1.25 GB.

Windows 7 will probably be well received by most people that slagged Vista when it came out and some of them will feel frustrated they didn't get all this goodness in the first place :-) hopefully Microsoft will come up with fair upgrade plans, at least for home users. There's been rumors of a Windows 7 netbook edition which will probably suit better UMPCs, but it's probably too early to talk about that.

I only had a couple of problems with Windows 7 itself, the touchscreen sides issue and that I couldn't get a system rating (the whole system hung when it reached the Windows Media Decoder Performance stage) and one with applications, where I couldn't install Adobe Reader 9 (didn't do anything past the extraction phase). Other than that, Windows 7 looks nice and performs well even on a machine that most people wouldn't think or even want to run it on :-)

Google Reader on UMPC

If you've used Google Reader on your UMPC in the past you've probably been frustrated a bit by the little space available for reading the posts. The good news is that it is now possible in the Expanded View to expand the reading area by clicking the little arrow on the left.

... much better! You can collapse the post reading area to get the menu back by clicking the little arrow on the left again.

Now if you still need more space you can use the Full Screen feature in IE (right click the IE toolbar area, choose Customize command bar and bring the Full screen button in the bar). Here if the full screen web page in it's glory!

To exit the full screen mode, move the mouse in the top screen area and then push the Full screen button again.

GottaBeMobile: 2GB Memory Upgrade Working in Asus R2H, I Think

by Warner Crocker on GottaBeMobile

Turns out all that memory upgrade madness from last week has spread to the Asus R2H. If you recall, Kevin Tofel and others discovered that the Samsung Q1P could be upgraded by increasing the memory to 2GB. Well, that just got others with an Asus R2H fired up to give it a try as well. Frank Garica has been pinging me like mad to get me to give it a try.

But before I could give this bleeding edge updgrade a try, over in the Origami Project forums came reports that upgrading the memory on the R2H worked just as well with there Asus reporting 1.98GB of memory. But I’m curious. My R2H came with 768mb of memory with a 512mb chip and a 256mb chip. I previously pulled the 512mb chip and replaced it with a 1gig chip to give me 1.256GB of memory. So, I’m not sure if this works for all or not. Guess I’ll have to follow the thread on the OP Forums before plunking down some green for that upgrade.

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Although my R2H is working just fine with 768 MB for watching movies, play music, read ebooks and send emails, I'll be looking to upgrade to 1.2 GB, maybe Vista is going to run a bit faster. For those in Europe, I can recommend Orca.co.uk, they have Transcend and Kingston memory with free shipping to UK & Europe.

03 September 2007: Just installled the Kingston KVR667D2S5/1 1GB module (~44 Euro from Orcalogic), and it does feel the sistem is more responsive, especially in Vista when the CPU goes 100% and the little Celeron 900Mhz ULV no-L2 does that a lot, so I feel it was worth it.

The memory can be accessed by removing the batter and unscrew the lid – see cTitanic’s photos here.