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| By Chris Angelini | ||||
SIX MONTHS AGO, I DECIDED THAT Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system had been out long enough for an exploratory visit. Intel had just sent over its V8 platform—-two quad-core Xeons on an S5000XVN workstation motherboard with 4GB of FB-DIMM memory, which it called the ultimate content creation platform. Clearly, the configuration was contrived to smack AMD’s 4x4 design from its enthusiast perch, and I was determined to put it to the test using the latest from Redmond. After all, if this truly represented the latest and greatest hardware, surely it tied in support for the newest software around. That story was painful. After two weekends of tinkering, tweaking, and lots of troubleshooting, I finally had to concede defeat. I went through the 64-bit version of Vista, the 32-bit version of Vista, and finally a 32-bit copy of Windows Server 2003, only to discover that there was some piece of software missing in each and every case. Either it was a wireless network card driver missing in Vista x32, chipset software in the x64 version, or a SAS driver in Windows Server—-I just couldn’t win. So I scrapped the project, installed Vista onto my desktop Shuttle box, and fiddled with the operating system in a much more mainstream setting. My conclusion at the time was simple: while the 32-bit version of Vista might be fine on mainstream desktops, stick to Windows XP on your production workstations; Vista’s time will come. RETURN OF THE WORKSTATION Pinnacle recently sent me a copy of its Studio Ultimate version 11 video editing software, which looked great, but seemed like a bit much for an old school Pentium 4. Besides, a single 200GB hard drive just doesn’t scream “video enthusiast” like a workstation full of massive SATA disks. Plus, tight integration with Vista is one of Pinnacle’s selling points this time around. And so I decided to revisit Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system to see if it was any more suited for the workstation space than six months ago. I also have the opportunity to compare platforms, given some new hardware that recently arrived. On one hand, I have the same machine from earlier in 2007 (with an external storage upgrade I recently picked up). On the other, we have a new video workstation being built for our Seattle office, which incorporates a fair bit of newer equipment that may or may not have been developed with a priority on Windows Vista software support. Both systems are formidable. The workstation from the first piece maintains its S5000XVN motherboard with a pair of Xeon X5365 processors running at 3 GHz each on a 1333 MHz bus. The 4GB of Samsung FB-DIMM memory bundled by Intel populates each of the board’s channels, delivering peak bandwidth. In the interest of saving some cash, I started with an NVIDIA 8800 GT graphics card in the system, but I discovered that the card has some compatibility issues and wouldn’t even put up an image. I could hear the machine POSTing and then firing up, but that’s not much use if you’re as good as blind. I finally settled on an older Quadro FX 3450 with 256MB of memory. While it didn’t have the 3D muscle I was hoping for, interoperability won out in the end. The box also sports a pair of 150GB 10,000 RPM Western Digital Raptor hard drives in a RAID 1 configuration. Our other editing box is even beefier. Loaded down with two quad-core Xeon E5450 processors based on the new 45nm Penryn update, it’s yet another eight-core powerhouse. Twelve gigabytes of Super Talent memory deliver plenty of capacity, while an array of Seagate disk drives connected to one of AMCC’s 9690SA storage controllers holds the footage that goes into our RAM TV videos. Having had trouble getting the GeForce card to work properly on the first box, we went with one of AMD’s new FireGL cards this time around. With both machines side by side in what looked like an unfairly stacked drag race, I was ready to put each powerplant to task. AND SO IT BEGINS After collecting dust for the better part of six months, my Intel workstation took some coaxing before it’d finally boot. With memory reseated, the graphics card replaced, and the disk drives pared down to the two Raptors, I was greeted with a POST screen and the chance to dig into the S5000XVN’s BIOS once again. I reconfigured the onboard LSI Logic SAS controller to operate in software RAID mode, set the DVD-ROM to boot first, and connected a USB floppy, expecting to need storage controller drivers before Vista would recognize any of the attached disks. In went the Windows Vista 32-bit DVD. Microsoft gives you the option to order CD media if you need it, but it’s nice to see 32-bit and 64-bit copies of the software on one disc. As expected, the workstation recognized the bootable media and gave the option to fire it up. A brief command line interface was replaced by Microsoft’s most attractive setup GUI to date and a step-by-step configuration wizard. So far, so good. Then came one of the stumbling points I encountered six months ago—-Windows wanted to know a little more about that storage controller before the operating system could copy files to my drives. As before, I started digging around for one of those F6 drivers that’d fit on a floppy. But wait. What’s this? Setup can now browse to my DVD drive as well? Scratch the demise of driver-laden floppies off of my Christmas wish list. I burned all of the drivers from Intel’s updated support site onto a CD and started feeding them to the waiting OS. Two minutes later, my RAID 1 array was partitioned, formatted, and taking files from the DVD. From there, Windows Vista did a beautiful job applying itself to my workstation. It was a stark contrast to what I experienced six months prior. Once setup finished, I found myself staring at the Vista desktop, ready to start tinkering with device drivers—-but not before being asked for an Internet connection. Authentication was the OS’s first priority. The chipset software came next. All of the motherboard’s controllers, slots, and buses immediately populated the Device Manager. Next was a round of Windows Updates, which included 80MB of fixes from the past 10 months and a handful of new drivers that the operating system found. One was for my Quadro FX 3450 and another was a generic driver that corresponded to the D-Link 802.11g wireless adapter I had installed as an afterthought. The last time I had searched for Vista drivers, wireless networking vendors-—all of them—-painted a very disappointing picture when it came to supporting their wares under either version of the OS. D-Link posted a list of its latest cards that’d get drivers, leaving everything else to rot. My NETGEAR adapter didn’t receive any love either, and NETGEAR actually had the audacity to post to its support page about how costly driver development was in an attempted justification. So it surprised me when Microsoft actually reached out over the Internet and found a generic Atheros driver to power the same D-Link card. Granted, wireless performance with the generic driver was lackluster and it locked the system up every 45 minutes, but I have to credit Microsoft for giving the driver database its first semblance of intelligence. Creative Labs finally released stable software for the X-Fi, which installed smoothly. Vista included drivers for the motherboard’s TPM 1.2, enabling immediate support for extra security as well. In fact, the only serious driver issue I encountered was with 3ware’s Sidecar, an eSATA enclosure that connects to a bundled four-lane controller card. Given the Sidecar’s workstation pedigree, I was actually surprised that it isn’t better supported. Fortunately, I was able to track down pre-release software for the Sidecar’s controller, in addition to the Web management utility. While I don’t love betaware, I’d rather have an operational storage solution than $1,500 of dead hardware. For the sake of comparison, we decided to deploy the newer video workstation with a 64-bit copy of Vista. Perhaps driver development wouldn’t be as advanced as Microsoft’s 32-bit version. The comparison was easy given the same motherboard. Again, we found platform support to be quite complete. Intel had recently updated its chipset driver and Gigabit Ethernet controller software. Onboard audio software, the SAS controller driver, and Intel’s RAID driver were also ready to go under the 64-bit version of Vista. Although the video workstation doesn’t have a Creative X-Fi or wireless network card, I still checked to make sure both devices were supported. The same software package that Creative Labs released for the 32-bit version of Vista also works in 64-bit mode. The wireless card’s driver wasn’t as easy to track down, and at the end of the day I gave up on finding it. (After all, it had been Vista’s own database that found the 32-bit version online.) Fortunately, I had better luck with the 3ware Sidecar driver package, which was available in 64-bit trim on the same page I found the 32-bit software. THE SOFTWARE SIDE OF VISTA Six months ago, I wouldn’t have thought it’d be possible to have a pair of workstations with high-end hardware running the 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista given the state of driver support from IHVs. Even today, you’ll be challenged to get every piece of hardware running. After hours of searching, I still ended up with a Base Device in the Device Manager that was seen as an unknown component. Vista was finally running, though, and it was time to tweak the security-heavy operating system a bit to help tone down the warnings as I started installing third-party apps. One of the most annoying aspects of Vista, especially for power users accustomed to administrative access in Windows XP, is the constant bother from User Account Control. “Are you sure you want to install this?” “You must be logged in as an administrator to do that.” It’s enough to make most enthusiasts look for their old XP discs. Although Microsoft would recommend against it, I had to disable User Account Control on both workstations in order to stay sane. Finally, I could apply some of the apps I’d be using to test the workstation out. FRAPS, which is used to record 3D cut scenes, installed without a hitch, as did Pinnacle’s Studio Ultimate. Trend Micro’s Client Server Security software also popped in without incident. My copy of Photoshop continued to throw up errors about administrative privileges, even after disabling UAC, but that is likely because it’s a generation old. Autodesk’s 3ds Max runs on either the 32- or 64-bit versions of Vista. Adobe Premiere runs on the 32-bit version exclusively. And Sony’s Vegas Pro runs on Vista x32 as well. Notice the pattern? ISVs seem to be a lot faster on the draw than the hardware vendors who’ve already sold you that wireless network card or external storage enclosure. VISTA MAKES THE GRADE Almost one year after Microsoft first launched its Windows Vista operating system, the software is finally looking mature enough to roll out on workstation-class hardware. Don’t blame the delay entirely on Microsoft. Hardware vendors are still getting their supporting software infrastructures into place—-an arduous process for development teams trying to bring the past few years worth of products up to speed. But the situation now is undeniably better than when Vista first launched, or even six months ago when many analysts were guessing SMBs would start qualifying the OS. And if you’re looking for a quick fix to a nagging incompatibility, take the opportunity to upsell a newer piece of hardware. After giving up on my D-Link 802.11g card, I went and bought a brand new draft-n board. Vista’s driver database couldn’t find a match, but D-Link does offer official driver support for the card. Spending $150 on a new component makes more sense than wasting an hour and a half troubleshooting older hardware at $100/hr. Don’t expect the adoption of 64-bit Vista to happen at the same rate as the 32-bit version, either. While it certainly would have been nice to run in 64-bit mode and enjoy the benefit of more physical memory, drivers are still coming online for many of the same IHVs shipping 32-bit Vista software. Vista still has a way to go before it catches up to XP’s hardware support. But it simplifies so many other things, like axing the whole F6 process on installation. Say goodbye to floppy drives. The operating system’s ability to track down drivers for hardware not in its database, even though it’s not perfect yet, is also a huge improvement over anything I’ve seen from Windows XP. As for our workstations here at RAM headquarters, we’re keeping Vista installed with the hope that hardware support only gets better and an expectation that the software we use from here on out will work with Vista. In the meantime, it’s easy to enjoy Microsoft’s Aero interface and drive encryption support. |
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