phantomlady
Member
Maybe the answer is to just buy a cheap second-hand windows 7 laptop...
Help! anybody managed to run an external GPS on Windows 8???
- Thread starter phantomlady
- Start date
lustyd
Well-known member
As I said, using supported hardware with compatible drivers. Windows 8 is not your problem, using old hardware with new systems is. What you're trying to do is like my example of a tape in a CD player, it doesn't work for the same reason a brand new bluetooth device might not work on Windows 7 - a CD in a tape player. The B10 is from 2006, Windows 8 is from late 2012 so I guess Navman have decided it's time to stop working on drivers. If you don't like this then don't buy from Navman in future but it's pointless to blame Microsoft for your problem with Navman hardware.
lustyd
Well-known member
Cheaper to buy a supported GPS receiver surely?
GrahamM376
New member
Downgrade to Windows 7 home premium, full version (not upgrade) can be had for around £50, cheaper than new computer. Windows 8 is so good, 9 should be out next year as Microsoft have had so much bad feedback.
lustyd
Well-known member
I very much doubt that Navman will decide to support Windows 9 when they decided not to support 8 or 8.1. Windows 9 (possibly 8.2 if the new scheme holds) will be almost identical to Windows 8.1 and is due to RTM late this year.
phantomlady
Member
How come my new android phone can not bluetooth a gps signal to my windows 8 computer either then? surely that is not outdated technology??
lustyd
Well-known member
No but it would still be the manufacturer of your phone at fault rather than Microsoft. All Microsoft do is provide a framework for manufacturers to work with, it's up to everyone else to write and test the drivers. Does your phone manufacturer claim that it should work on Windows 8?
GrahamM376
New member
All the more reason to downgrade to Windows 7 which should be supported for many years to come and, from what people say, has fewer issues running older equipment in compatibility mode.
Let's face it, it's all down to Microsoft and others forcing people to upgrade so they can sell more product. Tens of thousands are still happy with XP but the "rug has been pulled", not because of user demand but for profit.
lustyd
Well-known member
Yeah I really wish my car didn't have air con or power steering too, and I wish they hadn't added all that ABS safety nonsense too. Bloody manufacturers improving their products, it's appalling!
phantomlady
Member
Guess I'm just a luddite. Feeling stressed by all this 
vyv_cox
Well-known member
I have one laptop that came with Windows 8 and have now converted the other one to the same operating system to try to familiarise myself with it. There are some frustrations and some items will not run on it, especially annoying for the boat printer. However, on the plus side, it is far faster than XP was on the same machine and there are almost no annoying upgrades and downloads.
Alexvlad
New member
Windows 8 has to support all the devices supported by Windows 7, but this is by definition. You should check the manufacturers website to ensure the device is supported by Win8
Fantasie 19
Well-known member
Going all philosophical again...... when I started to drive, my car had no air con, no power steering, no electronic ignition, no electric windows, no electric door mirrors, etcetc. but it still got me from A to B, and that was its primary purpose......
Now I have a car with most of those things, but when my window motor blows, it costs me £300 to replace it (and I have 4, 5 if you count the sun roof), whereas before I had a simple mechanical handle.... I can't start my car with a starting handle.... I can't get into my car if the key fob battery is flat......
Not all progress is good.. in cars or Windows... but I accept any Windows is better than DOS.....
GrahamM376
New member
If you want to speed it up even more, replace the hard disc with a solid state one. I've just done that with and Asus Eee and replaced XP with Windows 7. The cost (£100) and a few hours work was well worth it, very big speed difference.
GrahamM376
New member
Going all philosophical again...... when I started to drive, my car had no air con, no power steering, no electronic ignition, no electric windows, no electric door mirrors, etcetc. but it still got me from A to B, and that was its primary purpose......
Now I have a car with most of those things, but when my window motor blows, it costs me £300 to replace it (and I have 4, 5 if you count the sun roof), whereas before I had a simple mechanical handle.... I can't start my car with a starting handle.... I can't get into my car if the key fob battery is flat......
Not all progress is good.. in cars or Windows... but I accept any Windows is better than DOS.....
Lustyd and I obviously disagree on what's good progress for the end user. I don't view having to pay a garage to re-set the CPU when a brake light bulb is replaced as progress - except for the garage of course
.
charles_reed
Active member
Going all philosophical again...... when I started to drive, my car had no air con, no power steering, no electronic ignition, no electric windows, no electric door mirrors, etcetc. but it still got me from A to B, and that was its primary purpose......
Now I have a car with most of those things, but when my window motor blows, it costs me £300 to replace it (and I have 4, 5 if you count the sun roof), whereas before I had a simple mechanical handle.... I can't start my car with a starting handle.... I can't get into my car if the key fob battery is flat......
Not all progress is good.. in cars or Windows... but I accept any Windows is better than DOS.....
Might be that Win 8 is better than MSDoS5, but the latter wasn't a patch on DRDoS6, as for Win2 that really was c**p. So Microsoft has progressed their OS, making them increasingly opaque. Many look back in nostalgia to XP, but I'm still using a desktop with that (well Server 2003 as it's a 64bit machine) and that isn't a patch on Win7, but neither get anywhere near an up-to-date Linux system, being slower, less stable more opaque and expensive.
lustyd
Well-known member
Lustyd and I obviously disagree on what's good progress for the end user. I don't view having to pay a garage to re-set the CPU when a brake light bulb is replaced as progress - except for the garage of course
You're entirely free to keep using a 20 year old car and fix it yourself, just as you're free to use Windows 98 if you wish. In both cases you will need to accept the trade off of simplicity over features. Windows 98 runs very well indeed on modern hardware, but then it doesn't do any security checks like the new versions do so it's nowhere near as busy
lustyd
Well-known member
Windows isn't slower than Linux, although feel free to point me at tests showing otherwise. In many cases it actually outperforms Linux when you perform structured tests rather than looking through rose tinted spectacles. It's also equally stable - in either OS if you put dodgy drivers on you'll have issues.