XPx32 to Vistax64 switch - Indecisive

I'd like to switch from XP Pro x32 to Vista Ultimate x64 but all the talk of
software and driver compatibility problems has me 'frightened' to make the
switch. If I do switch, I'd buy Vista Ultimate x64 at retail. My PC is OK
for it. I have an HP xw6200 workstation with dual Xeon 3.6GHz CPUs and 5GB
RAM installed (2 2-GB DIMMS and 2-51 GB DIMMS.) I have 5GB because HP
wouldn't sell the xw6200 here in Canada without the two 512s installed. I'll
be replacing them with two 2GB DIMMS if I upgrade the OS. From the HP
website, the HP ixw6200 is Vista x64 compatible and drivers are available for
all the internal hardware (sound & video cards, DVD burners, etc.. I have
dual 23" wide-screen displays off an nVidia Quadro FX4400. card I've
provided a list of my main software and hardware peripherals below. I've
tried to check the manufactures' sites for compatibility but it gets pretty
confusing. I've read several other threads here that make me think moving to
x64 is a wise thing for me to do but I'm still concerned about how much of my
software and peripherals will not work. I hope I'm not being too 'selfish'
by asking for opinions on my specific situation. How many things won't work?
I need a feel for exactly how messy this switch would be.

Software: Many Adobe applications including, PS CS2 (running CS3 Beta),
Premiere Pro 1.5, After Effects 6.5, Audition 1.5, Acrobat 7. Microsoft
Office 2000 Pro (although I don't mind upgrading to Office 2007 if I have to)
IIS 5.1, Nero 6 Ultra, Trend PC-illiin 2007, and over 100 lesser know
programs, like WinFax, Quicken, Tax software, FlipAlbum, Panorama Factory,
GPS and mapping software and much, much more.

Hardware peripherals: Epson scanner V750 Pro (x64 drivers available), Nikon
CoolScan IV, Canopus ADVC-300, Wacom graphics tablet model ET, a Palm OS PDA
(Sony Clie), 7 external HDs (some Firewire and some USB), a USB connected MP3
player, a Bluetooth USB adapter for my cell phone, 2 DVD HP burners (know to
have x64 Vista drivers), an external USB phone modem for faxing, 2 USB
connected digital cameras, one Firewire connected video camera, a Garmin
Vista GPS (ironic eh?) that connects via the workstation's serial port.

John
Sun Feb 18 21:49:17 CST 2007

If your mapping software is Delorme Topo, it won't work. Seriously doubt
Trend 2007 either. WinFax and Quicken have had problems for some. Office
should work just fine. Tax software probably also. Good luck.


"Newfoundlander" <Newfoundlander@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8BDD63C8-A93A-4C2A-8068-5CB1BA0A8579@microsoft.com...
> I'd like to switch from XP Pro x32 to Vista Ultimate x64 but all the talk
> of
> software and driver compatibility problems has me 'frightened' to make the
> switch. If I do switch, I'd buy Vista Ultimate x64 at retail. My PC is
> OK
> for it. I have an HP xw6200 workstation with dual Xeon 3.6GHz CPUs and
> 5GB
> RAM installed (2 2-GB DIMMS and 2-51 GB DIMMS.) I have 5GB because HP
> wouldn't sell the xw6200 here in Canada without the two 512s installed.
> I'll
> be replacing them with two 2GB DIMMS if I upgrade the OS. From the HP
> website, the HP ixw6200 is Vista x64 compatible and drivers are available
> for
> all the internal hardware (sound & video cards, DVD burners, etc.. I have
> dual 23" wide-screen displays off an nVidia Quadro FX4400. card I've
> provided a list of my main software and hardware peripherals below. I've
> tried to check the manufactures' sites for compatibility but it gets
> pretty
> confusing. I've read several other threads here that make me think moving
> to
> x64 is a wise thing for me to do but I'm still concerned about how much of
> my
> software and peripherals will not work. I hope I'm not being too
> 'selfish'
> by asking for opinions on my specific situation. How many things won't
> work?
> I need a feel for exactly how messy this switch would be.
>
> Software: Many Adobe applications including, PS CS2 (running CS3 Beta),
> Premiere Pro 1.5, After Effects 6.5, Audition 1.5, Acrobat 7. Microsoft
> Office 2000 Pro (although I don't mind upgrading to Office 2007 if I have
> to)
> IIS 5.1, Nero 6 Ultra, Trend PC-illiin 2007, and over 100 lesser know
> programs, like WinFax, Quicken, Tax software, FlipAlbum, Panorama Factory,
> GPS and mapping software and much, much more.
>
> Hardware peripherals: Epson scanner V750 Pro (x64 drivers available),
> Nikon
> CoolScan IV, Canopus ADVC-300, Wacom graphics tablet model ET, a Palm OS
> PDA
> (Sony Clie), 7 external HDs (some Firewire and some USB), a USB connected
> MP3
> player, a Bluetooth USB adapter for my cell phone, 2 DVD HP burners (know
> to
> have x64 Vista drivers), an external USB phone modem for faxing, 2 USB
> connected digital cameras, one Firewire connected video camera, a Garmin
> Vista GPS (ironic eh?) that connects via the workstation's serial port.
>

Dominic
Mon Feb 19 01:57:50 CST 2007

The Coolscan IV will not work under x64 Vista as there are no 64 bit
drivers. Mine works under x86 Vista with the 32 bit XP drivers and software.

Consider running VMWare Workstation 6 - still in beta - and hosting your XP
Pro x32 and any applications which will not work under Vista in a virtual
machine.



"Newfoundlander" <Newfoundlander@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8BDD63C8-A93A-4C2A-8068-5CB1BA0A8579@microsoft.com...
> I'd like to switch from XP Pro x32 to Vista Ultimate x64 but all the talk
> of
> software and driver compatibility problems has me 'frightened' to make the
> switch. If I do switch, I'd buy Vista Ultimate x64 at retail. My PC is
> OK
> for it. I have an HP xw6200 workstation with dual Xeon 3.6GHz CPUs and
> 5GB
> RAM installed (2 2-GB DIMMS and 2-51 GB DIMMS.) I have 5GB because HP
> wouldn't sell the xw6200 here in Canada without the two 512s installed.
> I'll
> be replacing them with two 2GB DIMMS if I upgrade the OS. From the HP
> website, the HP ixw6200 is Vista x64 compatible and drivers are available
> for
> all the internal hardware (sound & video cards, DVD burners, etc.. I have
> dual 23" wide-screen displays off an nVidia Quadro FX4400. card I've
> provided a list of my main software and hardware peripherals below. I've
> tried to check the manufactures' sites for compatibility but it gets
> pretty
> confusing. I've read several other threads here that make me think moving
> to
> x64 is a wise thing for me to do but I'm still concerned about how much of
> my
> software and peripherals will not work. I hope I'm not being too
> 'selfish'
> by asking for opinions on my specific situation. How many things won't
> work?
> I need a feel for exactly how messy this switch would be.
>
> Software: Many Adobe applications including, PS CS2 (running CS3 Beta),
> Premiere Pro 1.5, After Effects 6.5, Audition 1.5, Acrobat 7. Microsoft
> Office 2000 Pro (although I don't mind upgrading to Office 2007 if I have
> to)
> IIS 5.1, Nero 6 Ultra, Trend PC-illiin 2007, and over 100 lesser know
> programs, like WinFax, Quicken, Tax software, FlipAlbum, Panorama Factory,
> GPS and mapping software and much, much more.
>
> Hardware peripherals: Epson scanner V750 Pro (x64 drivers available),
> Nikon
> CoolScan IV, Canopus ADVC-300, Wacom graphics tablet model ET, a Palm OS
> PDA
> (Sony Clie), 7 external HDs (some Firewire and some USB), a USB connected
> MP3
> player, a Bluetooth USB adapter for my cell phone, 2 DVD HP burners (know
> to
> have x64 Vista drivers), an external USB phone modem for faxing, 2 USB
> connected digital cameras, one Firewire connected video camera, a Garmin
> Vista GPS (ironic eh?) that connects via the workstation's serial port.
>

Charlie
Tue Feb 20 07:58:00 CST 2007

You may have some specific hardware that needs a driver for Vista x64, and
John and Dominic have pointed to some. On the AV, I'd suggest switching to
one that is known to work well in 64-bit, something like NOD32. If you have
anything critical that only runs in 32-bit, using a Virtual Machine is
actually an excellent solution. You have an extremely powerful system that
can easily handle a VM in addition to whatever else you run. And you very
much have a system that will benefit from 64-bit. Running 32-bit Vista
doesn't make sense on a system with >4GB of RAM, since it isn't supported.
OTOH, using Virtual Server, Virtual PC, or VMWare lets you run both. (All
three products have publicly available beta versions right now, and the
betas are either required for 64-bit Vista hosts, or a good idea.)


Charlie.
http://msmvps.com/blogs/xperts64

"Newfoundlander" <Newfoundlander@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8BDD63C8-A93A-4C2A-8068-5CB1BA0A8579@microsoft.com...
> I'd like to switch from XP Pro x32 to Vista Ultimate x64 but all the talk
> of
> software and driver compatibility problems has me 'frightened' to make the
> switch. If I do switch, I'd buy Vista Ultimate x64 at retail. My PC is
> OK
> for it. I have an HP xw6200 workstation with dual Xeon 3.6GHz CPUs and
> 5GB
> RAM installed (2 2-GB DIMMS and 2-51 GB DIMMS.) I have 5GB because HP
> wouldn't sell the xw6200 here in Canada without the two 512s installed.
> I'll
> be replacing them with two 2GB DIMMS if I upgrade the OS. From the HP
> website, the HP ixw6200 is Vista x64 compatible and drivers are available
> for
> all the internal hardware (sound & video cards, DVD burners, etc.. I have
> dual 23" wide-screen displays off an nVidia Quadro FX4400. card I've
> provided a list of my main software and hardware peripherals below. I've
> tried to check the manufactures' sites for compatibility but it gets
> pretty
> confusing. I've read several other threads here that make me think moving
> to
> x64 is a wise thing for me to do but I'm still concerned about how much of
> my
> software and peripherals will not work. I hope I'm not being too
> 'selfish'
> by asking for opinions on my specific situation. How many things won't
> work?
> I need a feel for exactly how messy this switch would be.
>
> Software: Many Adobe applications including, PS CS2 (running CS3 Beta),
> Premiere Pro 1.5, After Effects 6.5, Audition 1.5, Acrobat 7. Microsoft
> Office 2000 Pro (although I don't mind upgrading to Office 2007 if I have
> to)
> IIS 5.1, Nero 6 Ultra, Trend PC-illiin 2007, and over 100 lesser know
> programs, like WinFax, Quicken, Tax software, FlipAlbum, Panorama Factory,
> GPS and mapping software and much, much more.
>
> Hardware peripherals: Epson scanner V750 Pro (x64 drivers available),
> Nikon
> CoolScan IV, Canopus ADVC-300, Wacom graphics tablet model ET, a Palm OS
> PDA
> (Sony Clie), 7 external HDs (some Firewire and some USB), a USB connected
> MP3
> player, a Bluetooth USB adapter for my cell phone, 2 DVD HP burners (know
> to
> have x64 Vista drivers), an external USB phone modem for faxing, 2 USB
> connected digital cameras, one Firewire connected video camera, a Garmin
> Vista GPS (ironic eh?) that connects via the workstation's serial port.
>