Video: Windows Vista on the Asus R2H Ultra Mobile PC

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As promised, here’s a 30 minute video of Windows Vista (the final RTM version, Ultimate flavor) running on my Asus R2H Ultra Mobile PC. The file is about 180MB, formatted for iPod in iMovie (but it should work just fine anywhere).

Hmm. Not sure why the video disappeared. You can access it directly at blip.tv at this URL:

http://blip.tv/file/110303/

Or you can download the video file directly at this link:

http://blip.tv/file/get/JoshBancroft-VideoRunningWindowsVistaOnTheAsusR2HUltraMobilePC355.m4v

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I shot the video on the day after Thanksgiving, at my wife’s parents’ house. I cover the installation process (went smooth), what worked right out of the gate (surprisingly, almost everything), what required some extra tweaking and driver installation (WiFi, etc.). Lots of general usage, including some appearances by OneNote 2007 and using Word 2007 to post to my blog.

I’ve since gone back to Windows XP – I talk about the reasons in depth on the video. Nothing major, but a combination of small quirks that I’m confident will be fixed down the line with driver and software updates from Asus.

Hope you find the video useful and informative (and maybe even fun, in a ubergeeky sort of way :-) ). Post a comment or drop me an email if you have any questions about Windows Vista on the Asus R2H UMPC!

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  • http://onlyumpc.com Joe

    As for the finger print reader, On Vista it does work fine, and I was planning to post all those details and you kinda covered a lot of it.

    The only thing with the finger print reader is that you can log in using that when you hibernate/stand by and want to log back in it. It wont let you… you got to use the on screen keyboard (in other words you need to type the password) and BTW I installed the Vista RC1.

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  • http://onlyumpc.com Joe

    though I’ll add one thing, the Login button on the top (close to the power button) of the R2H should bring up your Task Manager and you could kill tasks that you want to… Like in you case of full screen mode….

  • Patrick

    Hi Josh,

    A while ago, i installed vista RC2 om mij R2H and it worked fine. I did have some problems with the wireless in the beginning, but Joe sorted that out for me on OnlyUMPC.

    The menu that pops’up when you press the “settings” button on the right hand side, wil work if you install the Asus software. But thats only the volume, briteness. Then when you install the Asus Power4Gear it will work to, and same goes for the color schemes when that program is installed.

    The only thing i could’nt get to work was the resolution switching it self, and i dit to get your problem with manualy selecting a higher resolution and not getting back to 800×400 (unfortunatly i did’nt get it back so i installed vista once again)

    Also the left launch manager button can work but only when you upgrade to vista from the original windows xp tablet.

    As for the fingerprint software, you can install it with no problems. At the login screen it doesn’t display a fingerprint icon until you whipe your finger. But after you whiped your finger it logs in nicely.

    (sorry for any spelling mistakes, you have to forgive me as i’m dutch)

    I hope to get the RTM vista some time in th future, as i liked RC2 very wel even without the resolution switching.

  • will

    Whats the software program that make the PC boot up faster?

  • David Maiden

    Hi Josh, just considering my Free Vista Upgrade after my R2H purchase at Christmas.

    As many new R2H users may know, we are entitled to upgrade to windows Vista Business Edition. However with the on-board graphics of the R2H, I am questioning weather the R2H will be able to run the windows Aero Visual themes.

    Did you get any experience trying this or using them with your R2H using Vista Ultimate?

  • http://www.tinyscreenfuls.com Josh Bancroft

    The R2H runs Aero (the default Vista theme), just fine. It’s Aero Glass (the super fancy transparent windows, etc.) that require a high end system, and that doesn’t work on the R2H, and probably won’t, unless Intel/Asus ever release WDDM drivers for the Intel Integrated Graphics that powers the R2H.

    But Vista is still pretty on the R2H, and very snappy – it feels almost faster than Windows XP.

  • Kim Freeborn

    I ‘ve been using a tablet for several years. I rarely use the pen but I have quickly become comfortable with the dial keys. I have no desire to add a keyboard on the system or have one externally.

    That being said there is room for improvement. The showhide approach is way to cumbersome. Going to the system tray or using a shotcut from the desktop is unsatisfactory. What I would like to do is swap the progralauncher button to showhide the dialkeys. Anyone know how to do this?

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  • Jay

    I have been having problems with the fingerprint reader and logging into the computer. It shows the x on the reader when i swipe my finger. When i log into the computer with the keyboard and then go into the security protect manager it asks for my password or to swipe my finger and it takes a little bit for it to say the fingerprint reader is ready. It seems like the driver should load as a service but its not doing it. Anyone have any ideas?

  • Angelo

    Hi Josh, i hoping you or anyone else can help me, i don’t know if this is a problem or juist part of the software. I bought a couple of R2H’s for work, one problem im having is the screen res is to low to run some programs and veiw some web pages. when i switch to a higher res and try and use the pointer its always way below or above were im trying to click. Is it doing this to move the screen and if so can i turn it off?

    Thanks

  • jaba

    Hey I use a lot of the the asus software, I upgraded and then removed software that didn’t function right. I found a vista driver for the web cam so at least now skype doesn’t freeze the computer but it still doesn’t really work.

    All the wifi/bluetooth lights, control buttons, resolution control interface works in vista. Josh, how do you expect a lot of this stuff to work without at least some of the ASUS software.

    Anyway – I am still seeking out fingerprint solution too.

  • Jay

    Vista Drivers for the R2H are on the site right now. All i can tell is missing so far is the fingerprint reader and the video drivers.

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  • Manix

    You inspired me to install Vista! I got everything to work except for the GPS which I don’t use.

    Now–how do I install Vista on the C drive with the FAT32 format? I like Vista and don’t want a dual boot system.

  • try to vista

    to change fat32 to ntfs: open command prompt window and type convert C: /fs:ntfs

  • Manix

    Do you mean from the Vista side on D:, type in C: /fs:ntfs and reinstall Vista on it? Or–by reformatting C: to NTFS that it’ll automatically boot to D with Vista and basically making C: the empty data partition? Thanks!

  • http://www.tinyscreenfuls.com Josh Bancroft

    So do you have Windows XP on your C: partition, and Vista on your D: partition, and you want to go to one single big partition with Vista on it?

    In that case, you can do it, but destructively. That is, the only “supported” way to do it is blow both partitions away, create a new partition, and install Vista on that partition. You will lose all data on both partitions. That’s what I did.

    Outside of that, you could try a tool like Partition Magic or gpart, that can do more fancy things, like removing your C: partition, making your old D: partition into the new C: partition, and expanding it to fill the whole drive, but there’s a risk of losing everything, anyway. Like, it’s happened to me half the time I’ve tried Partition Magic. So make sure you’re backed up, or don’t have any precious data on the UMPC, no matter which route you take!

    Good luck! :-)

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  • Manix

    I DID IT!!! That’s without Partition Magic (BTW–not compatible with Vista and can cause serious errors with Vista on any partition) and even gained another 3.9 GB from Recovery Partition.

    With a dual boot sytem I went into the Vista. In Vista’s disk management tools in Admin Tools I was able to reformat the Recovery Partition and now it’s my secondary Data Drive.

    I tried to do the same for the C: Drive but the option to format was grayed out. The next option was to try D: convert C: /fs:ntfs from the Command Prompt. It said I needed to be in “elevated mode” to perform this task. Easy enough. I just right-clicked on Command Prompt from the Start Menu and choose Run As Adminstrator. That worked! The drive was dismounted and formatted by Vista in the Command Prompt to NTFS.

    The next step was to install Vista on the new NTFS C: Drive. The installation was normal and once all my drivers were installed, I went into the disk management again and reformatted the D: to erase the previous Vista.

    To remove the Dual Boot prompt at startup, use this little freebie program: http://www.vistabootpro.org/

    Now it’s a Vistagami UMPC!

    Thanks, Manix

  • Bentech

    I’m late to this post, but where’s the video? I can’t find a link on this page.

  • http://www.tinyscreenfuls.com Josh Bancroft

    Hmm. Not sure why the video disappeared. You can access it directly at blip.tv at this URL:

    http://blip.tv/file/110303/

    Or you can download the video file directly at this link:

    http://blip.tv/file/get/JoshBancroft-VideoRunningWindowsVistaOnTheAsusR2HUltraMobilePC355.m4v