Asus R2H - Windows 7/Ubuntu Netbook Remix
I've been trying Windows 7 out on my Asus R2H UMPC. I finally managed to get most of the hardware working using the Vista drivers which was pretty cool. The interface for the handwriting recognition in Windows 7 looks a bit better than Vista, but I didn't try it long enough to see if the actual recognition is any better. The machine seemed a little faster, although I'm not sure if that's just because it's a clean install.
The main issue I have is that under Vista Home Premium, I have the Japanese input pack installed which means I can write in Japanese and windows recognises the characters and lets me input them. This is really cool, since it means I can look-up Kanji without having to know the pronunciation and can practice writing Kanji.
It appears that to get the same functionality in Windows 7, I need to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate. That's £170 for the full version, £166 for the upgrade to Vista or £105 to upgrade my Windows 7 licence. The annoying thing is that Home Premium gives you text input in your own language plus English, so if I lived in Japan I'd get Japanese and English, but because I happen to live in a country where English is the default language I have to pay £105 to get the functionality included elsewhere.
Having to spend over £100 for something which used to be part of Home Premium seems a little steep, so I won't be installing Windows 7 on my R2H after all. I might re-install Vista though, see if that makes things any faster.
The other issue I have run into though is that once you've dual-booted Windows 7/Vista it is nigh on impossible to delete Windows 7. I can remove it from the boot loaded, but Vista won't let me delete the windows folder even as administrator. Everything I read on the internet says to reformat the partition but there's other data on the partition I need, so that isn't an option.
I tried booting the new Karmic Koala Netbook Remix live CD so I could remove the windows folder and see if Netbook Remix is actually usable. I can't find much about it's handwriting capabilities and whether it can do Japanese let alone support the R2H hardware. In the end that turned out not to matter as the live CD won't even boot on the R2H, after selecting your language you just get a white screen. Seems to be an issue since Intrepid, so it's a bit disappointing that it's not been fixed a year later.
So there you have it, Vista rules supreme for my needs, (at least without spending £100 on upgrades to Windows 7)
The main issue I have is that under Vista Home Premium, I have the Japanese input pack installed which means I can write in Japanese and windows recognises the characters and lets me input them. This is really cool, since it means I can look-up Kanji without having to know the pronunciation and can practice writing Kanji.
It appears that to get the same functionality in Windows 7, I need to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate. That's £170 for the full version, £166 for the upgrade to Vista or £105 to upgrade my Windows 7 licence. The annoying thing is that Home Premium gives you text input in your own language plus English, so if I lived in Japan I'd get Japanese and English, but because I happen to live in a country where English is the default language I have to pay £105 to get the functionality included elsewhere.
Having to spend over £100 for something which used to be part of Home Premium seems a little steep, so I won't be installing Windows 7 on my R2H after all. I might re-install Vista though, see if that makes things any faster.
The other issue I have run into though is that once you've dual-booted Windows 7/Vista it is nigh on impossible to delete Windows 7. I can remove it from the boot loaded, but Vista won't let me delete the windows folder even as administrator. Everything I read on the internet says to reformat the partition but there's other data on the partition I need, so that isn't an option.
I tried booting the new Karmic Koala Netbook Remix live CD so I could remove the windows folder and see if Netbook Remix is actually usable. I can't find much about it's handwriting capabilities and whether it can do Japanese let alone support the R2H hardware. In the end that turned out not to matter as the live CD won't even boot on the R2H, after selecting your language you just get a white screen. Seems to be an issue since Intrepid, so it's a bit disappointing that it's not been fixed a year later.
So there you have it, Vista rules supreme for my needs, (at least without spending £100 on upgrades to Windows 7)
Labels: asus, computer, install, koala, operating system, r2h, ubuntu, vista, windows 7
posted by Unknown at 6:32 PM
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