VISTA warning re CLDS 1881 Census CD set!

Post by **dickiesam** » 25 Jun 2009 17:18

Hi,
Hopefully MaryA will see this and produce a general announcement about the following:

I have recently transferred all my 'stuff' from my old PC running XP to a new PC running Vista (64 bit). In relation to a recent post I attempted to access my 1881 British Census on the CLDS CD set. The Resource Viewer would not install and I have discovered from the very friendly and helpful folk in Salt Lake City that even the latest viewer (Version 4 series) is incompatible with 64 bit Vista. The '64 bit' refers to the way the data and files are 'organised' on the hard drive.

I realise that a lot of folk on this forum would not know a 'bit' from a byte. So suffice to say, if you are changing your computer and have the CLDS Census set that you intend continuing to use, make sure the Vista version on the new machine is not 64 bit.

The techie people at Salt Lake City told me that they do not intend releasing a compatible 64 bit Viewer. Instead they are releasing the entire content of the CD set online in the not-too-distant future.
Regards,
Dickiesam

Post by **MaryA** » 26 Jun 2009 09:56

That's a bit of a blow isn't it. I'm still on XP and many people like myself will, if upgrading in the future, probably bypass Vista as it has been quite a short term OS, I think.

But for anybody like yourself I can understand that it will be very annoying not to have the facility, the set certainly wasn't a cheap item when I got it quite a number of years ago.

I'm also wondering if it will affect the BVRI set as this also runs with the same Viewer. Maybe somebody with both BVRI and Vista can let us know if they have encountered problems.

Post by **dickiesam** » 26 Jun 2009 11:05

Hello MaryA,
I understood from the Salt Lake City technical support guy I spoke with that the problem with the Resource Viewer is that it will not install on the 64 bit Vista OS. Because of the OS structure, it is very likely that the viewer will not work on the next 'generation' (or regurgitation) from Microsoft, Windows 7, which is currently in it's beta phase.

That is probably one of the main reasons why Family Search is putting the CD census set online instead of designing and producing a compatible viewer CD. As you say, the CD set was not cheap when it first came out and I will miss the easy access to that census. Just hope it won't be too long before it is available.
Dickiesam

Post by **MaryA** » 26 Jun 2009 11:22

I have a thought but don't expect me to get very technical about it - would it be possible to arrange a dual boot system on your PC.

Possibly either your large hard drive could be partitioned to create a smaller one with XP, install an additional hard drives (I'm not suggesting you go out and purchase a new one here, but maybe one from an old computer recycled). When you boot up the menu could give you the choice of whether you want to access Vista or XP.

Post by **dickiesam** » 26 Jun 2009 11:54

Re the dual boot.. Thank you for the thought. I had considered that option but it's a fair bit of trouble to go to just to access a CD set. And, fortunately, none of my other programs have even 'coughed' at running on Vista, even some quite old favourites.

I had originally considered removing Vista altogether and installing XP but discovered there were possible difficulties with getting XP drivers for the hardware on the new machine. The problem with installing a second hard drive is that it would invalidate the warranty on the new machine.

There is a program that will create a 'virtual partition' on an existing drive so you can install and run a different OS but, again, it's a fair bit of bother just to run a set of CDs. Fortunately, I haven't recycled my old trundler of a PC yet so I can always rehook it up and run that if I am desperate enough!
Dickiesam

PS: If I am really stuck I am sure I can get help from the many SKPs on this forum!

Post by **MaryA** » 26 Jun 2009 12:51

dickiesam wrote:PS: If I am really stuck I am sure I can get help from the many SKPs on this forum!

I've no doubt about that

Post by **Peter Jolliffe** » 27 Jun 2009 17:34

Vista has the option to install older programs.

Try start > control panel> programs > and use the option " Use an older program with this version of windows".

I've been successful using the option with a program called Quicken which runs under XP.

Post by **dickiesam** » 27 Jun 2009 18:51

Thanks for the advice Peter. Unfortunately, the root of the problem is that while the Resource Viewer will install and run on the 32 bit Vista system, it will not install on the 64 bit Vista. Family Search are now aware of the incompatibility and have a number of Technical Support notes about it on their site.

Swapping out the 64 bit OS for the 32 bit version is not for the faint hearted and for me would involve purchasing a 32 bit Vista OS from Microsoft in order to do it. Putting my old XP OS on the new machine could be next to impossible because XP does not support at least one of the items of new hardware.

So, all things considered, I'll "carry on regardless". If I get stuck with the 1881 I'll just post a shout! Basically I wanted to warn others about to buy a new machine, to make sure the OS, if not XP, is the 32 bit Vista. I also gathered from the Salt Lake technical support people that is almost certain that Windows 7 will regard the Resource Viewer as incompatible.
Cheers,
Dickiesam

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