[neoterran]

Hello.

I managed to install Windows Vista 5456 today.

This build had a dramatic increase in speed over Beta 2, with Aero Glass and applications being much more responsive, much more fit and finish and polish as well. Finally 7 clocks to choose from in the sidebar ;0P

 I'm very confident that it will be a nice upgrade at the end of the year.

One thing was disappointing tho - Game ports (joystick ports - the old ones) are no longer supported in Vista. - You need USB for any joystick to work. Now, I know, I know... anyone worth their salt has a USB joystick nowadays... but I just thought it was sad the old game port is finished for good. It shows up in the device list... as "unsupported game port" Guess I'll have to shell out for a new stick now.

[achtung]

Or you could simply use XP.

[Ferret]

but I just thought it was sad the old game port is finished for good. It shows up in the device list... as "unsupported game port" Guess I'll have to shell out for a new stick now.

No no no no no no no no!

Goddamnit! This pile of crap better be fixed by someone soon, I can't lose the ability to use my joystick if/when I upgrade to Vista. ROAR!

[neoterran]

Or you could simply use XP.

Well, obviously i'm dual booting at the moment and XP is my main OS.

But there are SO many improvements in so many ways using Vista, that it would be very disappointing to have to stay on the aging XP. Vista is an improvement in speed, usability, security, and productivity, and as of 5456, it is finally starting to show serious promise. This is the first build that was actually faster than XP for me.

Unfortunately, not supporting the (very old) game port standard really sucks. Perhaps someone will come out with a workaround, but it's probably the result of old legacy code being removed. It's not a matter of whether the game port shows up or not, it shows up but it specifically states "unsupported" and microsoft says there are no plans to support the game port in Vista. ;0(

[IceFire]

You guys still use gameports?  If its a big problem get one of those adapters from gameport to USB.

[neoterran]

those are like, 30 bucks. Might as well buy a fancy new joystick...

[IceFire]

those are like, 30 bucks. Might as well buy a fancy new joystick...

Fancy to me in joystick land starts at $150.

[Thor]

eh i paid 1o bucks CDN for my Logitech Atack 3 joystick that does everything i need it too

except no force feed back...eh...i'll live

[Nuke]

this really sucks because i like the simplicity of the analog interface. its so easy to wire a custom controller to it. each one supports 4 axes so if you got a sound card and an onboard gameport and use them both you can have 8 axes. buttons and hats arent as important to me as good clean analog axes. theese digital sticks use a hodgepodge of signaling and sensing techniques and arent as smooth or accurate as the good old 100 ohm variable resistors used in old analog controllers. now i have one of the best usb joysticks on the market right now (the x52). but im still not ready to give up my gameport.  i can still within 30 minutes construct me an errector set based lever housing for additional flight controlls such as mixture and trim and other stuff my x52 doesnt have axes for, wire it up with a bread board and an old control cable i cut off a broken analog stick. any flight simmer out there could make use of extra gameports. this makes me sick that they no longer support them! vista you bastard!

[WMCoolmon]

those are like, 30 bucks. Might as well buy a fancy new joystick...

I bought one at a garage sale for like $2. Joystick (MS Sidewinder) included.

[Descenterace]

My issue with this would've been that my Sidewinder isn't supported by any Gameport->USB adapters anywhere, ever, but since that stick is dying now it's not that much of a problem.

That stick has endured terrible abuse for close to ten years and is still usable. I'd say I definitely got my money's worth out of it.

[SadisticSid]

Perhaps the release version of Vista will have a gameport driver - after all it's an incredibly minor device that few people use these days, especially the people who're *supposed* to be beta testing it.

[Fury]

Oh come on, the gameport has been dying since 1996. You can't expect to see legacy support around forever. As far as I am concerned, Vista could drop legacy support to parallel and serial port as well if they haven't already. PS/2 is a bit debatable but it could go as well.

Nothing forces you to upgrade to Vista and as an alternative you have the option to go with linux or bsd where you can compile your own kernels with whatever hardware support you need. But don't expect the standard linux/bsd kernels to keep legacy hardware support around forever either.

Just face it, gameport, serial port and parallel port are dead. And I say that even when I still have my printer connected to parallel port.

[neoterran]

Oh come on, the gameport has been dying since 1996. You can't expect to see legacy support around forever. As far as I am concerned, Vista could drop legacy support to parallel and serial port as well if they haven't already. PS/2 is a bit debatable but it could go as well.

parallel and serial ports, as well as ps/2 connectors, are still supported.

Nothing forces you to upgrade to Vista and as an alternative you have the option to go with linux or bsd where you can compile your own kernels with whatever hardware support you need. But don't expect the standard linux/bsd kernels to keep legacy hardware support around forever either.

That's not an option for me. I do C# development work and as such I need VS 2005 and .net 2.0 (and 3.0 eventually for WinFX) and that precludes using any *nix variant. Also I like to play games like Oblivion, not available for *nix.

I don't see why gameports would be dropped when some people still like to use an analog stick (like me)

[Sandwich]

Oh come on, the gameport has been dying since 1996. You can't expect to see legacy support around forever.

*cough*floppydisks*cough*

I have a good old MS Sidewinder Precision Pro that (I think) still works... it did as of last year or whenever it was I last played FS2...

[Kazan]

Vista is an improvement in speed, usability, security, and productivity, and as of 5456, it is finally starting to show serious promise.

excuse me while i  my   off

[Sandwich]

Actually, since "improvement" is relative, and the only thing it can be relative to in WinXP, it's not saying much.

Scratch that, it's not saying ANYthing.

[SadisticSid]

But Fury, is writing a trivial driver for a parallel or serial port such a bother? New PCs are still shipping with parallel, serial, and PS/2 ports... I'm not so sure about gameports these days. It costs Microsoft next to nothing in financial or manpower terms to write a gameport driver; they're all standardised. I can understand why it might not make it into the beta, but there's no business sense in annoying your customers by not providing as much support as you can.

[vyper]

Indeed. Imagine all the offices still using parallel printers.

[Nuke]

i can care less about floppy drives serial ports, paralell ports and even the bloody ps2 connectors, but not the ****ing gameport you evil monster!