Windows 8 User thread

Glaucus

Glaucus

Glaucus

Man of Honour
Joined
11 Mar 2004
Posts
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Download http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/home
Remember this is a very early version Pre-Developer so is likely to be unstable and missing features

ISO to USB burner program to make a bootable USB drive to install windows from
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

Min Specs
official minimum requirements
1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Installing on VMware
Only. Works on VMware 8

To get it working in VMware 8:

Make a Windows 7 machine and point it to the ISO and do the usual steps to make the machine.

When it's done power off the VM (it automatically turns it on)

Remove the floppy drive (or the attached floppy) this is where it runs the autounattend.xml from and tries to enter a CD Key (even though it's not required, etc. which causes the OS to crash).

Guide http://www.mywindowsclub.com/resources/5081-Install-Windows-VMWare-Workstation.aspx

Shortcuts
•Just start typing with a keyboard in the Start screen to quickly search and launch applications.

•Find additional applications (e.g. accessories generally found in the Start menu) can be found in the application list by clicking on the “Search” charm.

•New shell keyboard shortcuts:
-Windows Logo Key + Spacebar – Switch input language and keyboard layout
Windows Logo Key + Y – Temporarily peek at the desktop
Windows Logo Key + O – Locks device orientation
Windows Logo Key + V – Cycles through toasts
Windows Logo Key + Shift + V – Cycles through toasts in reverse order
Windows Logo Key + Enter – Launches Narrator
Windows Logo Key + PgUp – Moves tiles to the left
Windows Logo Key + PgDown – Moves tiles to the right
Windows Logo Key + Shift + . – Moves the split to the left
Windows Logo Key + . – Moves the split to the right
Windows Logo Key + F – Opens File Search App
Windows Logo Key + C – Opens Charms Bar
Windows Logo Key + I – Opens Settings charm
Windows Logo Key + K – Opens Connect charm
Windows Logo Key + H – Opens Share charm
Windows Logo Key + Q – Opens Search pane
Windows Logo Key + W – Opens Settings Search app
Windows Logo Key + Z – Opens App Bar

•Most old shell keyboard shortcuts also work: e.g. WIN+D activates desktop, WIN+R opens “Run”, WIN+L locks user. WIN+E opens Explorer.

•In mouse mode, activate the options/charms by moving the mouse to the bottom left edge (where the Windows button used to be).

•In mouse mode, right clicking activates in-app options.

•With a keyboard, you can use the arrow keys and page up/down to select tiles. Enter launches them. The “menu” button (the key with a drop down) selects them.

•Make sure to check the “settings” charm in applications to reveal app-specific settings.

•Enable the “high contrast” mode in Control Panel > Ease of Access to see a dark themed Start screen (above)

Metro UI
Needs a minimum of 1024x768 for tiles and apps to work.
And 1366x768 for all features to work.
More info on screen resolutions.
http://blogs.synergex.com/psg_blog/2011/09/08/windows-8-and-screen-resolution/


Split screen
Place mouse on left hand side, hold left mouse button down and drag to the right, if its not the app you want, move mouse back to the left and it'll switch to the next app. Hover it over the different areas of screen and you will see what it does.
unlednup.jpg


Keynotes #1
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011/KEY-0001

If you say it only a New UI wath the video, infect anyone who instals a pre-developer editions Gould watch this video. Gives you some idea how to do stuff and what it's all about and the possibilities. Realty is worth the watch.
 
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Ill try and update OP as and when people post stuff.

How do you name Metro screens with keybord and mouse?
The split screen is sweet, not really supported by much though. Those who have 27" screens will love it.
 
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anyone figured out how to zoom out on the metro UI with keybord and mouse. This gives you more options of moving stuff around and naming pages.
 
Antar Bolaeisk said:
Oh, I thought they only made optimisations to the Kernal from Windows Vista/7? (not that it isn't obvious they've put a lot of work into this)
.
Click to expand...

They've added a ton of APIs and also how things communicate with each other. I keep banging on about it, but yesterday's keynotes is a great insight, to just how much has changed and how much is possible.

It really isn't just a UI.
 
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Why didn't they make a mail app and music app.

I hope they open up a beta store for beta build and allow developers to put trial apps up.
Would love to use and see some.

Flying around metro quite happily now, just a lack of apps to use in it.
 
4gb
E6300?
7600gto? or something around there, so pretty old specs.

There's not really any flashy graphics. Its more just live data and how things are collected from online sources and then displayed.

As far as I know no limitation on gfx card. However there are limitation on pixels.

I think it's ~1366px width you get all the split screen options. Under that you get some options and below that you don't get split screens. Something like that anyway.

Did a quick google search but couldn't find it anywhere. It's in yesterdays keynotes but that's like over two hours long, has anyone got better memory and can remember it in better details.
 
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Did you download the one with developer tools? If not that's your problem.
Visual studios and the rest are on the initial metro page on a colum on the right of the screen. twitter, stocks and the rest on the left hand side. 4.8th file, not the 3.6th file.
 
Not really, there are some add ons. But you really want the new one, to take control of all the new APIs, windows basically does everything for you now.

Can you not download them separately.
 
rp2000 said:
Do both the downloads contain the same demo apps? The larger one makes mention of 28 apps, the smaller does not specify. I don't need the dev tools, but will get that package if it has more apps in it.
Click to expand...

Going by what a few on here have said, the smaller one doesn't include the apps.

Installed all my normal apps and they all seem to work fine, as does kerbal space program (game). No real use though, just fired them up.
 
Although it says general release on Friday. So I assume that means anyone can download it then.

Some off you might want to try turning high contrast on, haven't tries it myself, but screenshots look like a lot cleaner black theme, assuming they haven't altered anything else.
 
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Thanks and added it to OP, have you tried using split screen. I'm sure you need 1366 to get all features, but can't remember what they are.
 
King Damager said:
Has anybody tried getting this onto a tablet or something?

kd
Click to expand...

No but I would love to try.
But would need to wait for other people to do it.

What are tegra2 chips based on? Do windows support them. Could we get one of the new really cheap android tablets and install it through USB or something.

If you could do that and it works, when beta comes out, could switch and sell the iPad and hopefully reduce any loss by selling it before ipad3 comes out.
 
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Again watch the keynotes and stop making yourself look silly. Not that your the only one.
Metro UI actually works really well, once you get over the learning curve.
 
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