Vista64 experience with Jeppesen, Garmin, and FSX

Here is my experience with the release version of Vista64 Ultimate so far as
it relates to Jeppesen, FSX and also Garmin. Vista is available as a
developer's subscription on Microsoft's MSDN right now.

I downloaded Vista64 Ultimate from MSDN and installed it on a new machine I
built. My old XP Pro machine bit the dust and I wasn't going to install XP
again just to have to upgrade 12 months later. Nothing fancy, Core2Duo
6300, Intel 965 chipset m/b, GeForce 7900, 2gig ram. I support 16 bit
programs by running XP Pro in Virtual PC 2007 from Microsoft (free, it also
supports Win2000, Win98, DOS and others). New motherboards seem to have
only 2 pci slots. So that means everything is going to USB (Vista weakness
at this point).

Unfortunately, Jeppesen's card programmer is USB and not compatible with
Vista. They said they don't know when they will get around to it. Now I
thought I could cheat and run it in XP Pro in the Virtual PC but guess what,
Virtual PC doesn't support USB ports. I also need a serial port to update
databases and read tracks on my handheld Garmin 196. Better hope you have a
serial port on your motherboard. There are no USB serial port converter
drivers for Vista yet either. My motherboard has a header for a serial port
and it works but my case doesn't have a blank for it so the times I need it
I will have to take the front cover off the case or drill a hole for a
serial cable extender.

FSX seems to run fine, I haven't re-installed FS9. I like FSX because it
includes the Garmin 1000 simulator and also includes the Garmin 500 series
GPS. They don't completely function true to the real things but they are a
big improvement from FS9 without add-ons. When flying an approach I don't
get good distance information during the full approach from the IAF to the
FAF. Also I hate that I don't get fractional miles to a WP when I am flying
an approach. It would be nice to know whether I am .2 mile or .9 mile from
a fix. It also doesn't fly the missed approach like the standalone Garmin
simulators. The scenery seems better.

There are no scanner or printer drivers from HP yet on their website. My
Deskjet seems to work ok, but my HP Laserjet is only supported at a generic
level. So the laserjet prints pretty good but I can't share it with my
Virtual XP Pro host yet. The scanner is dead until HP comes out with a
driver (Scanjet 5500c). I can capture the printer port (ala DOS) in XP Pro
within Virtual PC and it does print.

Vista64 seems alright otherwise. It just doesn't support 16 bit installers
and programs withouth Virtual PC and funny devices yet. I remember going
through this with XP. My USB joystick works, external USB drives work
(including key fobs). Memory card readers work, My Canon camera software
works, my Garmin MapSource works. My Garmin USB MapSource datacard
programmer for my Garmin 196 does NOT work. I don't have any USB rudder or
Yoke, just the old Elite serial devices gathering dust.

If you get the Business or Ultimate version you get Remote Desktop and
Shadow Copying and also backup software for image and timed incremental
backups. The shadow copying is nice because you can right click and revert
to multiple previous versions on any kind of file. It handles photos much
more nicely also. Nero requires version 7.5 something.

Jeppesen isn't very customer driven, so who knows when they will get this
done. I remember the big wait to support USB from them and Windows. There
is no excuse why they can't have planned for a long known Vista release.
Vista64 appears to run any legitimate 32 bit program as long as the device
drivers have an "approved" digital signature from Microsoft (kind of like
the padlock icon for secure web pages requiring registration with an
Internet authority if you host a website).


Ron A.