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UMPC’s and Vista — where are the drivers?

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EovistaWell, Vista is looming just over the horizon.  Ultra-Mobile PC’s are also coming out fast and furious right now.  The TabletKiosk eo i7210 I received last week has a “Vista Capable” logo on it.  One of the reason I wanted this unit was that I felt it would effectively be able to be upgraded to Windows Vista.  I am excited about the possibility of Vista on Ultra-Mobile PC’s!

So where are the Vista drivers for these models?  At this point, we need to be able to test our Ultra-Mobile PC’s with Vista.  In a conference call with Microsoft the other day, I asked for the availability of these drivers, and was told that the OEM’s are responsible for getting those drivers built and uploaded to WIndows Update and Microsoft in order to get them effectively into Vista.

I have installed Vista builds a number of time on my Gateway M280 Tablet PC.  It seems that each time it gets a little better, which I am quite sure is a result of drivers being added to the Vista build, or to Windows Update.  I am not however hearing the same story on Ultra-Mobile PC’s.  There are a number of serious issues with TouchScreen calibration, Wifi, video, etc. that is making the testing process on these units next to impossible.  There have been reported small successes, but none that is a complete one that I am aware of.

I did take a while and install Vista RC1 on my new eo last night.  The results were not a usable production unit, but the experience was not bad at all.  My biggest concern in loading it on the unit was performance, which turned out not to be an issue.  It ran really well, I just had no way to calibrate touch, had no screen rotation, etc, which are obviously very important to testing out an Ultra-Mobile PC.

So here it is, my OFFICIAL call to OEM’s for Vista drivers for Ultra-Mobile PC’s! 

I WANT VISTA DRIVERS FOR Ultra-Mobile PC’s!

Anyone else?  :-)

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