On Vista turning off Wifi, was: Don't buy HP computers

[Nigel Henry]

On Tuesday 31 March 2009 21:17, Raquel wrote:
> On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:47:17 -0600
>
> "Karl F. Larsen" <klarsen1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > M. Fioretti wrote:
> > > On Tue, Mar 31, 2009 05:44:34 AM -0600, Karl F. Larsen wrote:
> > >> A problem occurred that kept WiFi from working. The problem is
> > >> that the wifi hardware is turned off by Vista when you stop it.
> > >
> > > Karl, and all list members,
> > >
> > > there is one thing here which I would like to understand: are we
> > > 100% sure that the behavior above is something that Vista always
> > > does by default, that is a deliberate design decision by
> > > Microsoft designers? Or is it something that, for any reason,
> > > only happens on your own laptop, or only on all HP laptops, etc..?
> >
> >     In my laptop the Vista is given a driver software that controls
> > the WiFi hardware. I know this now. HP did not tell me... :-)
> >
> > Karl
>
> But Vista has absolutely no control over what happens in Linux.
>
> --
> Raquel

Hi Raquel.

I would question what you say above, mainly from an experience with my 
Hauppauge Win TV Express TV card. I got this card working fine on various 
Linux distros, then booted up XP to do 3rd party security updates. I thought 
I'd try the TV viewing app at the same time, which worked ok. The updates 
having concluded, I rebooted to a Linux install, and tried to watch TV using 
xawtv, which now no longer worked. the video was all scrambled up, and I'm 
not sure now if I even had sound.

Based on posts I had seen, where it was suggested to unplug the machine from 
the power outlet for some minutes, I did just this. The idea here, was that 
all power would be removed from the mobo, and plugging the machine back in 
some minutes later, you would be starting afresh.

I can only refer to the problem I had with the TV card. it worked ok on Linux, 
then I booted XP, and watched TV on that. Then i rebooted to Linux, and the 
TV card no longer worked as it should. Unplugged the machine for a while, 
then rebooted into Linux, and then the TV card worked ok. I can only conclude 
that the app that I was using on XP to view TV, had messed with the TV card 
in some way, so that when I tried to use the same TV card on linux, it 
wouldn't work.

What you say as below is true, but doesn't mean to say that, either XP, or 
Vista can't mess with the hardware, then when you reboot into Linux, the 
hardware which was working ok on Linux, now no longer works.

<quote>
But Vista has absolutely no control over what happens in Linux.
</quote>

I only say this because of the experience I had with my TV card, when viewing 
TV on XP, then rebooting to Linux, and trying to watch TV with xawtv.

Just some  observations, no flames intended.

Nigel.