finally gotten in hand my pre-launch copy of windows 8 and started the installation almost immediately. one should always backup your important data files before attempting such a move, but all my data’s in cloud storage so i slotted in the DVD and the installation soon begins.
there isn’t much options to click during the upgrades. the only important one is whether you are going to keep your existing progs & data, or just data, or a fully clean install. as highlighted on screen, the machine will go reboot a few times. not too exciting, and the upgrade installation’s complete.
the EXCITING bit happened when after the first boot up into windows 8. my built-in wireless network card detects only 2 networks around me, but none of these are my own network! *gasp* which means after the upgrade, i have in front of me a crippled machine in today’s term. imagine a computer that cannot hook up to any network, wireless or physical :O i tried plugging in my Linksys AE2500 N-adapter hoping it will work. and yes, you guessed it.
the lesson here is, one should always have another internet-enabled machine with you when attempting any OS upgrade. i tried to look for an updated driver for the AE2500. and guess what, there exists no official release for a win8 driver yet :O i tried my luck to download a win7 driver pack, run. and thsi time i was lucky, it worked! once the AE2500 spring to life, it can detect and connect to my wireless networks, and the next thing to do is to go to “Control Panel” –> “System” –> “Device Manager” and check for updated drivers for the built-in wireless adapter. and to my pleasant surprise, there’s an updated driver. but i wonder why this isn’t downloaded and updated prior to the OS upgrade.
when the d/l’s completed, i regained a fully networkable machine, both wireless and physical. then next thing to run is definitely “Windows Update” found in the right swipe bar under “Settings” –> “Change PC settings”.
ok, so here’s the report so far. still have much to explore. but the current feeling i get is i’m using a Tablet-Hybrid. cos the default Metro UI is new, and it works perfectly with my Z5801’s touchscreen, albeit only two-point. once you launch a “legacy” software (cos win8 supports Metro apps similar to iOS and Android apps), you will be brought back to your good old familiar windoze desktop. EXCEPT the Start button’s no longer there which gives a funny feeling :O
shall update and report back here if there’s any interesting findings. otherwise, no news is good news (: oh yes, one qn you may have is “should i upgrade from win7?” if you own a laptop/PC without touchscreen, i think the tablet experience will be missing for you. another thing you need to be aware of is that the existing hardware may not have updated win8 drivers, and you may need to have workarounds like what i did. if these are no concern, or you just want to try it out like me (worst case scenario is to insert the recovery CDs to get back a fresh win7 desktop), JUST DO IT [tm] via online upgrade is cheaper during this time. enjoy (:
