For quite a time, I am waiting for the drivers for my Toshiba m400 running Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise Edition. Drivers availability is scheduled for end of January as the Toshiba support page says.
“Toshiba is committed to making final production BIOS and various software components for Windows Vista available for our Vista Capable systems within the timeframe of the public launch of Windows Vista, scheduled for January 30, 2007.”
Some of of the advancements in Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2005 which is available for download:
Especially the Core Duo support sound quite nifty to me. However, running Vista you have to wait some more weeks for some additional features.
“For developers using Visual Studio 2005 on Windows Vista, Microsoft is in current development on an update to Service Pack 1 called the ‘Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Vista Refresh Beta’. This update builds on the improvements made in SP1 and delivers a first class experience for developers wanting to take advantages of the new features in Windows Vista. The Visual Studio 2005 SP1 Update for Windows Vista is expected to ship after the consumer availability of Windows Vista in Q1 of 2007 and is now available in bet”
Just in case you are wondering why the two service packs are separated you can find more over here.
Benjamin G. points out two interesting gadgets for the Vista sidebar on his blog. Personally, I like the Outlook Tasks gadget the most. The Outlook Upcomming Appointments gadget did not work on my machine. It is showing only one appointment from september. Actually, this is also one comment on the gadget’s homepage.
Using my xda with Windows Mobile 5, I had to discover that Microsoft ActiveSync cannot be installed on Windows Vista. Instead Vista is suggesting the Sync Center. Actually I do not want to sync the media files on the device rather than my contacts and my calendar on that device.
Windows Mobile Device Center (Beta 3) is the replacement for ActiveSync and allows you to sync your Windows Mobile 5 device with Windows Vista. It looks like further version of the Device Center will be available though Windows Update. The current beta 3 is available as standalone download only and is about 10 MB. After installing the connected device was found immediately.
The device is set up by choosing the elements to sync: Calendar, Notes, Tasks, Mails and even OneNote is supported. After choosing the elements to sync, the device center appears to be ready.
What I personally like about the Device Center: It does not appear anymore as tiny window with quite small buttons. Instead it is easy to use. Another positive thing was the detection of the mobile device and the partnering process with the device. Very doable if you are used to ActiveSync.
Finally, also the Sync Center does support the Windows Mobile 5 device. Unfortunately, the syncing did not work while the device was still connected. The items did neither change on the device nor in my Outlook. Also the sync process was done after 2-3 seconds. I removed the device and plugged it in again. Now the sync process takes much longer but nothing happened.
To troubleshoot the sync issue you have to start ActiveSync on the mobile device, changing the ActiveSync settings their. The synchronization settings may be still set to the former partnership. After changing the items to the new partnership synchronization did start quite well.
After some delay we have put the slides of the robotics talk on the Cambridge Spa Wiki.