Posts by driftingangler11

I picked up some cheap Chinese hardware from a local tech shop, and honestly, it runs perfectly fine using Windows XP drivers. The guy at the counter gave me a warning that they might be unreliable, but I basically told him to stop being such a buzzkill and just take my money. He went along with it, and now the thing works like a charm—actually, it performs even better than it did on XP. Back then, my PC would freeze up every single time I tried to use hibernation or sleep mode while the adapter was plugged in, but on Windows 7, this thing is lightning fast. 🙂
Oh, and one tip: make sure you plug it into the same USB port every time so it keeps the same COM port assignment. 🙂

Thomas Carter8 said:The Floppy drive is disabled, and trying to set this up via USB to get it working just feels like a struggle with the language settings.

It looks like the American language settings are giving you trouble too (don't blame me, I couldn't help myself)
Just grab a USB flash drive with at least 4GB of space and follow the instructions to make a bootable drive. That way, you can install win using the USB instead of relying on a CD or DVD.
I’ve tried it myself, and I can tell you it runs at least twice as fast as a DVD on my machine. I'm using a cheap 8GB thumb drive—nothing high-end or "turbo-charged," just a budget little thing.

Raymond Anderson4 said:There you go.🙂

I'm a mechanical engineering student in a major city, specializing in mechatronics and robotics.
I'm planning to buy a laptop soon, so I'm wondering which operating system would be most ideal for my needs.
I know there's a lot of programming involved in robotics, so I assume Linux should have the edge.
But could I choose Windows instead? Would I be missing out on anything?
Also, what about FreeDOS?

Naturally, I assume Linux would need to run CAD programs (AutoCAD, Pro/ENGINEER)?

There is no such thing as "the most ideal"; there is only what is optimal or what is less than optimal. Nothing can be better than optimal... as a mechanical engineering student, you SHOULD know that.😉
Getting back to the topic—I haven't met a single "engineer" using Linux because, unfortunately, all the best engineering applications are built for MS Windows. As for whether you should get a laptop with Windows pre-installed or not, that's up to you; it just depends on how tech-savvy you are, as a solid Windows setup with properly installed drivers ensures reliable and long-term performance.
Regarding the hardware itself—a 17" screen is definitely the minimum, though I suspect you'll quickly end up buying a second monitor. Even my buddy says he felt like a new man once he moved from 17" to a 22" display (he uses Photoshop, CATIA, and... I can't remember what that third piece of crap is he uses).

Oh, right—from what I've noticed, 15" models are sometimes even more expensive than certain 17" ones, so they definitely offer better value. Plus, they are much more comfortable to work with.

Douglas Garcia52 said:Everything is configured now. I finally have tiles showing up in the standard Windows Media Player that comes with the OS—which was my whole goal here.

👍👍👍

Thanks for the help.

My apologies if I came off as rude or if I was asking the wrong questions here in the Windows 7 thread.

😁

That's great... glad to see our advice actually paying off for once. 🙂

Douglas Garcia52 said:It’s pretty clear you didn't read my previous post carefully enough.
I explicitly mentioned that this player worked fine for a specific period before acting up.
I'm not running experiments here; I'm asking for advice. If you don't feel like helping, there's no obligation to answer. No one is forcing you.

That’s exactly what I'm noticing—you ask for advice, but when people actually give it, you ignore it and just do things your own way anyway.
And look, it’s not that I don't want to help, it's just frustrating to see people trying to assist you when you clearly aren't interested in following their lead. Eventually, when someone truly needs help, nobody will bother responding because they'll assume it'll be the same situation: I'll tell you to just uninstall everything and reinstall the default version without touching any settings, but instead, you'll go through the uninstallation, click every single checkbox you see, and probably try to eat a hot dog at the same time—even though we all know .NET framework 3.5 isn't compatible with a hot dog topped with mustard...
Regardless, the subject at hand is Windows 7, not software glitches or subtitles.🙂

Douglas Garcia52 said:Maybe the issue was having too many different codecs installed at once.
I'll just set everything to default within the K-Lite codec pack for all video formats—that should stop the interference.

Look, I gave you a suggestion and you ignored it. Now someone is trying to help you again, and you’re still going to do things your own way instead of listening. I don't get it. Then, when nothing works, you're going to come back here whining about why it's broken again... "
Just follow the advice we're giving you first. Once it's actually working, then you can start experimenting.🙂

Look, I'm checking this in Windows Media Player right now. The red icon is visible at the bottom, the subtitles box is checked, and when I look under subtitle sources, it clearly lists the .srt file being used for the captions.
If you have those settings enabled and it's still not working—honestly, I'm stumped. The only thing I can suggest is a full reinstallation.
But if you don't see those options, then it's obvious why the subtitles aren't showing up. You should try to manually load them through DirectShow.

Try uninstalling and then reinstalling everything first; you might be missing DirectShow or a similar component (look for the icon in your taskbar). Alternatively, if the icon pops up while you're playing a movie, just right-click it and make sure "show title" is checked.
Also, don't forget that the subtitle file needs to have the exact same filename as the movie file for them to load automatically.

Douglas Garcia52 said:Does anyone happen to know how I can configure subtitles in
Windows Media Player
? I heard you might need to install some specific codecs or something similar directly into the
Windows Media Player
installation folder.
Does anyone know which specific codecs I'd need, and will this actually work? I'm looking for something similar to Gom Player, where the subtitles just load automatically while I'm watching a movie.
Thanks.

K-Lite is your best friend here.🙂

Is anyone else dealing with this, or is it just me? My PC keeps waking itself up from sleep mode randomly, even after I've turned off the monitor and the drives...

driftingnomad68 said:I'm not quite sure what you mean by saying it's started happening here too.
Well, we used to be able to buy Windows XP Pro retail versions right here; I actually have one at my place back in the day. 😕

It just seems highly unlikely that anyone would find it worth paying nearly $333 more for the Ultimate edition compared to, say, the Professional version.

We had plenty of XP retail options, but Windows 7 wasn't available for months... I remember people were absolutely losing it because they needed genuine Windows, and even bug and Intel (I follow them, anyway, can't speak for the rest) were complaining along with Microsoft US because there weren't any "real" versions of Windows 7 available to purchase.

Look—if you need an official license and you run a company with hundreds of computers, volume discounts solve everything. But if you're an individual looking to buy something? If there’s no stock, you aren't buying anything, especially since you can't use OEM licenses for hardware you already own.

Benjamin King2 said:Here is an example of US retail pricing...http://www.diskont24.com/product.php...cat=484&page=2

Well, look at that—so things are finally moving? I wish our local companies would wake up too. 🙂

skračiti za normalan smrtnik — with an OEM version, you rely on the seller for support because that license is intended for the hardware distributor. However, if you have the "retail" version, you have every right to call Microsoft US directly and give them hell when Outlook Express stops working on Windows 7. 😁

wiredtrucker13 said:Does Windows 7 come in American? Also, does anyone know how much an original copy costs?

You can find it at Techtronic Industries, The Fillmore, or Vemil... pretty much any big-box retailer carries Windows 7, though they usually just stock the OEM version.
Scumbags

Just wanted to share my recent nightmare with you all. I used Partition Magic 8 to scan my system drive, and it did a great job identifying a bunch of errors and "fixing" them... naturally, now Windows 7 won't even boot. To make matters worse, recovery mode and a full reinstall aren't working either. Apparently, the partition is showing up as "unallocated" now...

God dammit. 😢

Kate Martin said:Hey,
Windows is telling me I need to enter an activation key. Does anyone know a way to get around this?

It's pretty straightforward—just buy Windows and use the key from the license.🙂

driftingmarlin70 said:No one can help you there; those are just the rules.
The only thing I can tell you is to go buy Windows at a retail store.🤷

See, we actually can help after all.😁

Kevin Nelson said:Exactly, though I did clarify that was just my subjective take, which is how it goes with most software... For instance, I find both VLC Media Player and GOM perform terribly on Windows 7... To me, VLC feels cluttered, bloated, and unnecessary... but again, that's just my preference.

I also mentioned the situation with GOM and its codecs because the description claims it comes with a massive selection, which isn't quite right... It’s actually missing quite a bit, especially when it comes to audio codecs.

Actually, they are available—it's just that they aren't included in the initial installer. Instead, the program downloads them as needed. And once you factor that in, there really is a huge variety. 😁

driftingmarlin70 said:AT&T is easily the biggest joke in America!

Luckily, you aren't biased (though looking at that avatar 😉 , I have my doubts)

Kevin Nelson said:Alright, I'm going to go ahead and test this out right now; if it's a .vob file, it should fly. 🤷

That’s exactly my point—based on my own experience, would I really call such a solid program garbage? No, I wouldn't, because it simply isn't garbage. Nothing is perfect; nothing is... but "garbage" is a different story entirely. I wouldn't even call Windows Media Player garbage, because at the end of the day, it actually 😁

driftingmarlin70 said:I personally find VLC Media Player to be the best option.

Exactly, I've even had DirecTV streaming through it without any issues... 😉

Kevin Nelson said:And listen, personally, I wouldn't call GOM trash, but it’s significantly worse than the three I listed above—at least in my experience...

It lacks more codecs compared to the others (it isn't completely broken, but I'm just pointing out it isn't as loaded with them as people claim; many others actually perform better). For me, it was unstable on Windows 7... VLC is similar; it's incredibly buggy, bloated, and messy.

On the other hand, VLC Media Player is lightweight, and I never ran into freezes or anything like that. It's ten times cleaner than most players (like VLC)... Most importantly, everything I've thrown at it has played perfectly... GOM, for instance, couldn't handle certain files... specifically some mobile audio and various DVD audio tracks (that's where it's lacking codecs). That's what I need in a player: primarily video playback that is stable and intuitive... all the extra bells and whistles just get in the way.

That's just my subjective take. I haven't tested it on a hundred different machines, but on my own setup, I've tried almost every player from the Windows XP days through Windows Vista and up to Windows 7...

See? I actually just installed a fresh version of VLC Media Player on my Windows 7 machine to see if I could change my mind about it, and the very first thing I tried failed—it won't play a .vob file. Plus, I can't even "drag-and-drop" the movie file and then the subtitle file. In GOM, that works perfectly fine: you just drop the movie file in, then the subtitle, and you don't have to go through the hassle of renaming the subtitle to match the movie title.
None of that works with VLC Media Player 😢