Availablitly of Vista compatible drivers and ThinkVantage

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arni · #1 Post by **arni** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:49 am

If anybody interested in upgrading or installing Vista on their TPs this information from Lenovo might be useful.

Regarding their plans for updating Thinkvantage software Lenovo stated on their Vista Express Upgrade Website that following Thinkvantage software will be available in January 2007:

Rescue and Recovery
Client Security Solution
System Migration Assistant
Fingerprint Software
System Update
Package Builder
Update Retriever

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... STA-UPGRAD

Artur

LovemyGTI · #2 Post by **LovemyGTI** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:41 am

Can't live without that piece of software... since my T60 is a bit of a tramp and is plugged into lots of different networks (I'm a contractor)

I installed the one for XP but it doesn't really detect ethernet ports properly nor is aware of the Wireless card....

simms · #3 Post by **simms** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:44 pm

I need power manager on that..

arni · #4 Post by **arni** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 5:28 am

You can change your power settings with the build-in vista power manager. Just go to control panel power settings. There's a lot more to control than on xp.

I think that power manager will be obsolet on vista.

RUSH2112 · #5 Post by **RUSH2112** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:41 am

What about access connections?

Gart · #6 Post by **Gart** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:09 am

RUSH2112 wrote:What about access connections?

I used IBM's access connections for years with my T42p, and was planning on continuing to use it with my T60p, but when I loaded the MSDN release of Vista on my new laptop, then connections software built into Vista actually seemed to work better.

ok, just as good.

well, it does what it's supposed to. Both Vista and Access connections allows you multiple connections with configurations based on connection type/location. And both pieces of software auto-detect your location and try to "connect" you to the appropriate location.

While I always had problems with Access Connections cycling through my connections trying to find the correct one, Vista seems to find them no problem.

BUT

Vista connections are butt-slow to configure. My new T60p gets a computer rating of 4 in Vista (with 5 being the highest), so this computer is no slouch, but when I click on connections, it takes a good 30 seconds for the thing to decide to come up. I think there's a lot of things going on under the covers - security wise - that I don't know about that's causing the delay.

Suffice it to say, after all my ramblings, that I don't have any intention of loading Access Connections to manage my 30 or so connections (I'm a contract programmer) on my new machine.

G

margolin · #7 Post by **margolin** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 1:38 pm

I agree, the Vista connections software works quite well. The one thing it does not do though that Access Connections did, is to automatically power on and off wireless. In Vista you have to do bring up the mobility center and change the power status manually.

This is on my T43.

arni · #8 Post by **arni** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 1:02 pm

Yeah, it's not that bad. The only thing i'm missing is changing my default printer and homepage. That was really useful with AC since i'm working as a contractor and thus on different networks all the time.

The biggest problem so far. At my wireless home network with 2 avm fritz.box routers i'm having intermediate connection drops about every 5-10 min. Still haven't found what's going on here, but heard in newsgroups that more users having the same problem.

Artur

Gart · #9 Post by **Gart** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 1:10 pm

I am also noticing a problem with Vista connections deciding on which wireless connection to grab. When I'm contracting at a company, they usually only have 1 SSID that my computer can see, so it's not a problem.

At home I can see 13 wireless connections, and if I'm coming in from another wireless company my Vista Connection manager ALWAYS connects to some stupid Linksys connection with LOW signal strength. All the while my Encrypted connection with 100% strength is sitting right there.

I open connections, and connect to mine and all is well. Pain in the butt, but it's no worse than some of the quirks of IBM's AC.

Still no pressing reason to load yet another piece of software to do something Vista is already doing quite well.

hkelley · #10 Post by **hkelley** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 9:10 pm

Have you tried going to Manage Network Connections and moved your preferred default or primary wireless connection to the top of the list?.

Go to Network and Sharing Center > Manage Wireless Networks
Highlight your primary wireless connection and use the up arrows to move it to the top of the list. Now, your wirless will start here looking for a connection.

s1148625 · #11 Post by **s1148625** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:45 pm

I, for one, found Vista's support for multiple wireless networks to be kludgy and slow. In addition, Vista doesn't support automatic VPN connections, nor does it support default printers at different network locations.

Looks like a beta version of Access Connections for Vista is available, along with the promise of a release version by Jan 30.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... TVAN-EAPAC

#12 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:16 pm

s1148625 wrote:Looks like a beta version of Access Connections for Vista is available, along with the promise of a release version by Jan 30.

I got a feeling that the Intel wireless adapters are not yet supported in Access Connections because they didn't release an Intel wireless driver package in the above link.

margolin · #13 Post by **margolin** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:32 pm

GomJabbar wrote: I got a feeling that the Intel wireless adapters are not yet supported in Access Connections because they didn't release an Intel wireless driver package in the above link.

It seems to be working fine with my T43 and the Intel drivers that Windows installed. AC does seem to have some issues dealing with OneCare though.

SGD · #14 Post by **SGD** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 6:39 am

margolin wrote:
GomJabbar wrote: I got a feeling that the Intel wireless adapters are not yet supported in Access Connections because they didn't release an Intel wireless driver package in the above link.
It seems to be working fine with my T43 and the Intel drivers that Windows installed. AC does seem to have some issues dealing with OneCare though.

As is explicitely stated in the read-me file:

-Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
-Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection
-Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
-Intel PRO/Wireless 3945BG Network Connection

For using the above WLAN adapters, device drivers are assumed to be used with
Vista native driver included in the operating system.

Other beta ThinkVantage utilities:

Rescue and Recovery: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... VAN-EAPRNR
Client Security Solution: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-66953
Fingerprint Software: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-66948

warder · #15 Post by **warder** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 2:58 am

I find Vista wireless connections much better - under Access Connections I had to manually change between A and G-type networks, whereas Vista just connects automatically to a remembered network irrelevant of what type of network it is.

Why install something extra when what is built in works so well?

The only thing I'm waiting for is a release version of the fingerprint software.

hkelley · #16 Post by **hkelley** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:32 am

I concur about the current state of Acess Connections. This, however, may change in the final version. I hope it does.

My experience with fingerprint reader and RC1 is another example of needing to wait for the final version. It seems quite buggy on my T43 at this stage and I have removed it.

The same goes for Client Security which I liked very much prior to experimenting with Vista Beta. It doesn't appear to be ready for prime-time in its present incarnation.

You really get to appreciate Vista's system restore to unwind you from your experiments and trials.

Availablitly of Vista compatible drivers and ThinkVantage

Availablitly of Vista compatible drivers and ThinkVantage

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