Just when Microsoft is dropping support for Windows XP with Service Package 1, they release Windows Vista Release Candidate 2 (it seems that they have already reached the wanted downloads, as the links from Betanews have stopped working). I have just downloaded and installed it on my AMD64 system at home. First impression got a little bit bad, or is it just me not remembering correctly? After having installed RC2 and booting it the first time, Vista was not capable finding the correct screen resolution (1440 x 900) for my 19″ WS LCD screen. I was not capable of changing to the right solution, after a little bit thinking, I remembered that Nvidia had a beta release of a set of drivers for Vista. The package had a driver for my GeForce 6600 card, so I installed the driver package, rebooted, and the problem was fixed. I guess this is just an error from the engineers that built the image. They simply forgot to add this one driver.

One of the things that made me interested in Vista in the first place, was it’s Media Center. I saw Steve Jobs keynote, where he joked about how many function keys the remote control for Windows Media Center had. Even though I use iTunes for hours every day, I am not a frequent user of Front Row. The Media Center in Vista is something quite different from Front Row. This is a media center and not just a picture viewer and a jukebox. I stream TV shows from NRK’s archives and I can rent movies (horrible ones). My Vista installation has become the digital hub, as Apple would have loved to tell me. It is streaming media to my XBOX 360, connected to my home cinema system and TV. I guess this is what Apple would like to achieve with iTV. Now if I only had a HD ready TV… .

I have extended the XBOX with a 20 GB hard drive and with an Universal Media Remote. I struggled quite a bit with setting up the remote control to control my TV, but have found a list control codes. My Sharp 28″ WS is not the most common one. I truly hope that this new remote control can replace the TV and DVD’s remote control. I am still not completely satisfied with the setup, as I would like to get rid of the ethernet cable, so I guess a WIFI adapter must be purchased as well and not to forget cables that connect the game console to my home cinema system. But all in time, this month I will get a new ISP, providing me with 8 MB / 1 MB. I will have to send in my current wifi-router and get a new one. Thinking of getting one from Linksys, those are the only ones we buy at work for our scientific staff.