PJCNET

History, Nostalgia & Introduction

Do you remember the 1980s and the original 8 bit computer craze? If so you might find the next 3 paragraphs very interesting and it might bring back some happy memories, if not you might want to skip the next 3 paragraphs below to the last paragraph in this section which starts, “From history one can…” where I begin to discuss Windows 7, 32 bit and 64 bit operating systems Etc in detail with lots of useful advise.

It all started with the release of the rather rare mail order only Sinclair ZX80 towards the end of 1980 which went down in history as officially the first ever home computer as it was readily affordable by an average UK household. A year later the quite popular and improved Sinclair ZX81 actually appeared in our high street shops in the UK followed by various colour 8 bit computers which boasted colour and sound including the Commodore Vic 20 (actually released in 1980, but wasn’t popular in the UK until over a year later), the very popular Sinclair ZX Spectrum (first 16K version released in 1982), the Commodore 64 (released in 1982 with an exceptional sound chip), the Amstrad CPC 464 (released in 1984) and many more. If you remember the good old days and these old 8 bit computers, you will also most probably remember the 16 bit computer revolution in the 2nd half of the decade which saw a massive sudden improvement in technology. The two most popular 16 bit computers introduced were the Atari ST (first version released in 1985) and The Commodore Amiga (first version released in 1985, but the more popular home oriented Amiga 500 was released in 1987), these 16 bit computers in comparison made the old 8 bit systems look like antiques.

Both the two main 16 bit rival computers released in 1985 boasted ‘Windows like’ operating systems. The Atari ST used an operating system named GEM (Graphical Environment Manager) which was programmed by DRI (Digital Research Inc) to run on various platforms including on some very early IBM PC compatibles. The Commodore Amiga boasted an exclusive true multi-tasking ‘windows like’ operating environment named the Amiga Workbench from October 1985, unfortunately the operating system was awkward to run from just one floppy disk drive as it wouldn’t fit on a single floppy disk and it therefore meant lots of disk swapping with just one drive, but it ran okay with two floppy drives and amazingly with a hard drive which it was truly designed for. The Amiga Workbench featured resizeable windows running separate tasks, coloured file icons using a similar system to Windows Explorer, and even long filename support which Microsoft didn’t pioneer until Windows 95 which was released a decade later, in fact various other improved features of the Amiga Workbench weren’t even seen until later versions of Microsoft Windows which were released much later. The Amiga Workbench in fact also included many built in utilities also very similar to Microsoft Windows including an analogue/digital clock, notepad, a calculator and many more, yet Microsoft Windows V1.0 was released in November 1985 when the Amiga Workbench V1.0 was released earlier in October 1985 and was in my opinion far superior. Windows V3.0 (released in 1990) and Windows V3.1 (released in 1992) began to look a lot more similar to the Amiga Workbench with even more of it’s features, SO WHO WAS COPYING WHO? What I can say is the Commodore Amiga and it’s multitasking operating system was way ahead of it’s time and it’s not surprising that it remained very popular right into the early 1990s when the only reasonable alternative for gaming was buying an early games console. At the time of writing there’s still numerous die hard Amiga fans even today who refuse to abandon the format. There’s even lots of recently written applications for the Amiga and an up to date operating system, plus there’s amazingly plenty of new hardware and upgrades available – please see http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com and prepare to be surprised. This is incredible when it’s been 24 years since the Commodore Amiga’s first release at the time of writing, will your new PC still be going in 24 years time? It’s a great shame that Commodore itself is no more and they never managed to release a successful follow up home or business computer to the amazing Amiga as they planned in a desperate attempt to save the business before final bankruptcy in 1994. Instead games consoles such as the Sega Mega Drive and the SNES took over the home market replacing many home computers while IBM PC compatibles exploded into the business market during the early 1990s. In the early 1990s most business office desks began to have a PC installed as standard for the first time, where in the 1980s early PCs were a lot more seldom and if there was a computer available it would be more often just a dumb terminal connected to a central mini or mainframe system rather than a multi purpose personnel computer (mainly the PC). During this time the home computer market slumped until the Internet started to become ever more popular during the second half of the 1990s when PCs started plummeting in price making them much more affordable to the average home user. Before the Internet became popular and accessible to most people via a phone line using dial up networking, PC gaming was quite limited as PCs were still mainly used for business, but since the Internet craze began, PC gaming and graphics have been substantially improved towards home 3D gaming as well as for business purposes and this has continued to this day. PC gaming has remained popular despite ever improving games consoles also being extremely popular throughout. Access to the Internet was in my opinion the main reason PCs first became more used in the home and that’s why the latest games consoles are now also gearing more towards Internet use, although in my opinion this still won’t be enough to stop people purchasing PCs in the home for the foreseeable future as they remain much more versatile than game consoles. Also there’s now masses of free software available on-line for PC users to enjoy amongst many other advantages.

Many years have gone by since the 1980’s and modern PC’s users have been enjoying 32 bit processors since the early 1990s with the Intel 80386 Processor (Often just called the i386 or just the 386). Modern PCs and the latest multi-core processors are now literally 1000s of times more powerful than the old 16 bit computers and processors of the 2nd half of the 1980s. Even the original Intel 80386 32 bit processor is extremely out dated and has been improved upon literally 100s of times over.

From history one can understand just how significant it was to go from 8 bit to 16 bit and then to 32 bit processing technology, yet even though 32 bit technology was first introduced to the main PC market back in the early 1990s, most people at the time of writing are still being held back running 32 bit environments even at the time of writing at the end of 2009. What some people don’t realise is that most modern PCs have got 64 bit processors already installed, yet the revolutionary 64 bit technology isn’t often used at all because they have a 32 bit operating system installed which runs the 64 bit processors in old 32 bit backwardly compatible mode. Even if one installs a 64 bit operating system, many applications are still 32 bit and still don’t use the 64 bit processor to it’s full potential. At the time of writing, even true 64 bit applications are also co-written for 32 bit and are therefore not designed entirely to take advantage of the much improved 64 bit technology.

Microsoft hold back 64 Bit Processor Technology With Windows 7

As most people will know, Windows 7 is Microsoft’s latest version of Microsoft Windows for the home user at the time of writing and it’s already becoming the accepted standard for new PCs. Microsoft have however released both a 32 bit (x86) and 64 bit (x64) version of Windows 7 and this will in my opinion significantly slow down the development of new software for the greatly improved 64 bit environments. Despite this Microsoft are apparently officially pushing 64 bit environments.

Because many people still have 32 bit operating systems installed on their PCs at the time of writing, software developers either have to release their applications to run in 32 bit mode or they have to release two versions of the same software if they want it to be available to the vast majority of users. 64 bit processing technology has a massive potential and could wipe the floor with 32 bit applications if only it was written exclusively for this environment, but we have hardly seen 64 bit processing fully utilised because the same software also needs run on 32 bit environments.

With all recent PCs having 64 bit processors available, one would have thought that Microsoft would have made their most recent operating system, Windows 7 a 64 bit operating system only to push developers to finally phase out 32 bit applications more quickly, especially when all 64 bit operating systems are currently still equipped to run most 32 bit applications to remain backwardly compatible.

Advantages & Disadvantages of 32 Bit Windows Operating Systems

32 bit operating systems are currently still more compatible with the majority of software at the time of writing, especially many older titles although this is likely to change more as time goes on.

32 bit operating systems allow people with older PCs with only 32 bit processors and less memory to continue to enjoy Microsoft Windows including Windows 7.

32 bit applications generally run much slower compared to true 64 bit applications. Eventually 32 bit operating systems and processors are likely to be get left behind when 64 bit processing technology achieves new heights for PC applications in the future.

32 bit Processors are only normally capable of addressing 4 Gigabytes (4GB) of memory in total. If you have 4GB or more memory installed on your PC and are running a 32 bit operating system, you’re likely to only have 3GB actually available to use or perhaps slightly more if your very lucky, but significantly less than 4GB. This is because the Windows operating system needs up to 1GB to work with out of the 4GB maximum addressable memory. In my opinion, this restriction is the single biggest disadvantage that will force people to upgrade to 64 bit operating systems in the near future. Many new PCs already have 4GB of memory installed as standard and soon this will increase even further meaning an ever increasing substantial amount of memory will be totally wasted unless you install a 64 bit operating system. Incidentally, some people claim to have partial workarounds or ‘hacks’ to make 32 bit operating systems use more than 4GB of memory, the ‘hacks’ involves using something called the Physical Address Extension (PAE) along with some unofficial and quite dodgy PAE windows patches which I won’t link to here. Using this option can cause all sorts of problems and I DON’T recommend it under normal circumstances, use entirely at your own risk and ensure your important data is backed up first.

Advantages & Disadvantages of 64 Bit Windows Operating Systems

Even though 64 bit operating systems will run 32 bit applications, they’re not all 100% compatible and there are various problems, especially with many older applications although compatibility will improve over time as new fully compatible software continues to be released, eventually making the old incompatible software obsolete.

The nature of 64 bit addressing means more memory is used and required. To install the 32 bit version of Windows 7, Microsoft recommend a minimum of 1GB of memory, but to install the 64 bit version you should have a minimum of 2GB although I would recommend twice this for a good performance. The size of 64 bit applications and the disk space required is often also greater than of similar 32 bit applications and this also means longer waiting times for 64 bit applications to be downloaded although Internet speed technology has improved greatly over recent years to more than cover for this.

Older PCs won’t run 64 bit operating systems at all as they may still have a 32 bit processor or not enough memory. Even if your older PC will run a 64 bit operating system, if you’re near the minimum memory requirement you could find that performance is hindered making it less desirable to upgrade to 64 bit unless you upgrade your PC first.

There won’t be any problems with the upper memory restrictions for the home user with 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise or Professional any time soon as it supports up to 192GB of memory compared to less than 4GB for similar 32 bit operating systems, although surprisingly 64 bit Windows Home Premium only supports up to 16GB while Home Basic only supports up to 8GB which could restrict some people much sooner forcing them to upgrade. Incidentally 64 bit Windows Vista Business, Enterprise & Ultimate plus 64 bit Windows XP have a maximum memory limit of 128GB which is 64GB less than Windows 7, but it’s still more than enough for quite sometime into the future for home users. What’s quite odd is that 64 Bit processors can address a massive 16.8 Million Terabytes of memory which is over 87 Millions of times the 192GB maximum memory limit imposed in 64 Bit Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise and Professional and even more times the much lower upper memory limits of 16GB and 8GB imposed in 64 Bit Windows 7 Home Premium and Home Basic respectively, so in my opinion Microsoft shouldn’t really be imposing these limits at all as all 64 bit versions of Windows should support up to 16.8 Million Terabytes of memory which I doubt will be reached for approx 25 years from the time of writing for home PC users, but by then we will probably be comparing 512 bit to 1024 bit processors and most people will be taking them for granted (some very bold predictions here from December 2009). I therefore strongly suspect that Microsoft are purposely imposing these unnecessary and artificially set memory limits so they can boast improvements as a feature of more expensive operating systems and also so they can very easily and artificially increase this maximum limit in future releases of Windows even when the capability is really available now. It’s very possible that unofficial patches (or hacks) could become available to unlock the fixed upper memory limits of various versions of 64 bit Windows in future if and when there becomes more of a demand, but this certainly won’t be supported by Microsoft and will be entirely used at the persons own risk.

64 bit processors are more technically advanced and therefore running true 64 bit applications can run much faster than the equivalent 32 bit applications and eventually 64 bit processors will make 32 bit operating systems become obsolete. Having a 64 bit processor puts you in the driving seat ready for the future when more powerful applications will be written exclusively for 64 bit processors.

Can I Run Windows 7 – 32 Bit or 64 Bit?

To find out if you can run any version of Windows 7 on an existing machine along with important compatibility advice, I recommend you download, install and run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor from Microsoft. I have also included detailed system requirements below:

System Requirements for 32 Bit Windows 7:

MINIMUM (OFFICIAL):

1 Gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64) processor.
1 Gigabyte (1GB) of Ram.
16 Gigabytes (16GB) of available hard disk space.
A DirectX 9 graphics card with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.

RECOMMENDED MINIMUM BY PJCNET:

2 Gigahertz (Ghz) single core or any multi core 32 bit (x86) or 64 bit (x64) processor.
2 Gigabytes (2GB) of Ram.
80 Gigabytes (80GB) of available hard disk space.
A DirectX 10.1 / Pixel Shader 4.0 graphics card or above with at least 256MB of memory.

A Windows compatible sound card or on board sound.
A DVD writer or better.
A broadband Internet connection.

System Requirements for 64 Bit Windows 7:

MINIMUM (OFFICIAL):

1 Gigahertz (GHz) 64 bit (x64) processor.
2 Gigabyte (2GB) of Ram.
20 Gigabytes (20GB) of available hard disk space.
A DirectX 9 graphics card with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver.

RECOMMENDED MINIMUM BY PJCNET:

2 Gigahertz (Ghz) single core or any multi core 64 bit (x64) processor.
4 Gigabytes (4GB) of Ram.
120 Gigabytes (120GB) of available hard disk space.
A DirectX 10.1 / Pixel Shader 4.0 graphics card or above with at least 256MB of memory.

A Windows compatible sound card or on board sound.
A DVD writer or better.
A broadband Internet connection.

RECOMMENDED SPECS FOR THE LATEST 3D GAMES:

If you want to play the latest games at the time of writing you should have at least the memory and hard disk space as in the recommend requirements above for either 32 bit or 64 bit operating systems, although I would recommend at least doubling your hard disk space because of the sheer space required for new games. The power of your graphics card is obviously most important when running the latest 3D games, the more powerful, the higher the frame rates will be using better settings. I would additionally recommend at least a reasonable 512MB DirectX 10.1 compatible graphics card along with a dual core processor or better running at 2.3Ghz or above. At the time of writing at the end of 2009, If you want to go all out, I recommend the Ati 5700 or the even better Ati 5800 series of graphics cards as they support the very latest pixel shader 5.0 technology and DirectX11, in fact you might be quite surprised just how cheap the entry level Ati 5750 graphics card actually is and even this is quite reasonable for gaming at the time of writing. The minimum recommended PC gaming specification will continue to increase over time as games improve so it’s always best to buy the highest specification you can possibly afford.

Should I run 64 Bit Windows or Windows 7?

In short, one has to consider the advantages and disadvantages detailed earlier in this article, but if you have a 64 bit capable processor with at least 2GB of memory (4GB recommended – see full system requirements above) it would be a shame not to run a 64 bit operating system and I would recommend running 64 bit Windows 7 unless you desperately need to run lots of older applications that aren’t compatible. You could run a 64 bit version of Windows XP, but in my opinion the XP days are numbered and XP doesn’t support the latest 3D graphic technologies past pixel shader 3.0. You could also run Windows Visa 64 bit and this will be supported for sometime yet, but even Windows Vista only supports up to pixel shader 4.1 and still not the very latest graphics technologies, mainly pixel shader 5.0 plus Windows 7 is more elegant and efficient on resources.

To get around the incompatibilities of having a 64 bit version of Windows 7 installed on your PC you may want to use the optional XP Mode feature of Windows 7 if your system is capable (see section below for more details on XP Mode). The ultimate compatibility solution however would be to have a dual booting PC with both a 32 bit and 64 bit operating system available. If one dual boots either 32 bit XP or Vista with the 64 bit version of Windows 7, it enables your PC to run just about anything. You can achieve this by either having more than one hard disk installed or by partitioning your existing hard disk into 2 partitions. One can use utilities like Partition Magic to repartition even if you already have one version of Windows already installed without losing data, but please ensure your important data is backed up BEFORE attempting this as we cannot be held responsible if you lose any data – this procedure is certainly NOT without risk. Attempting hard disk repartitioning or making your system dual bootable is entirely at your own risk, you will also need to be fairly computer literate to complete this procedure, if in any doubt DON’T ATTEMPT IT, but please click here for further instructions.

Can I Use XP Mode in Windows 7 Instead Of Having A Dual Bootable PC?

XP mode (XPM, formerly Virtual Windows XP or Virtual XP, VXP) is an optional feature included in Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate (also included in Vista Ultimate) that allows you to create a virtual machine within Windows 7 to run Windows XP or any other chosen version of windows. Please note that the feature is NOT available in Windows 7 Home Edition.

Since Windows 7 and Windows XP (or another chosen version of windows) will be effectively running at the same time, one needs a much higher specification of machine to achieve this and Windows XP (or another version of windows) will run slower than if you ran it exclusively or by dual booting.

Even though it might be more convenient to run Windows XP or other operating systems from a window within Windows 7, it’s not as compatible as if you’re running the chosen operating system exclusively. XP mode is not without some problems and it doesn’t run on all hardware systems even if they can support Windows 7.

To find out if your PC can support Windows 7 and XP Mode, download and run the Windows 7 upgrade advisor from Microsoft. After running a standard check, scroll down to the bottom and select “see if your PC supports XP Mode” for specific information about whether your PC can use this optional feature.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD XP MODE (Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate ONLY)

The Future of 64 Bit Operating Systems, Windows 7 & Beyond

Despite Microsoft in my opinion slowing down the migration to true 64 bit computing, more and more people are and will be installing 64 bit operating systems as time goes on, especially because of the 32 bit upper memory limit as already many new PCs are shipped with at least 4GB of memory and this will only continue to increase as time goes on. We will then see more applications released only for 64 bit environments and only then will we see the true potential of modern 64 bit processors. Eventually 32 bit operating systems will become completely obsolete, but because Windows 7 has been released for both 32 bit and 64 bit environments, this will now be quite sometime in the future. Even though it might be a couple of years away at the time of writing, the next version of Microsoft Windows for the home user that will eventually supersedes Windows 7 will in my opinion only be released for 64 bit processors, this will then accelerate the final demise of 32 bit Windows environments.

Many people hated Windows Vista and because of this many people continued using Windows XP forcing Microsoft and other developers to continue supporting this now outdated environment. Most people including die hard XP users however like Windows 7 and because of this it will in my opinion start to make Windows XP obsolete over the next year or two in the same way as Windows 2000 is obsolete now. Windows Vista will continue to be fully supported for the foreseeable future until at least after another new version of Microsoft Windows is released superseding Windows 7.

3D Gaming Implications & The Future

Although many existing games will work in 64 bit environments or are patched to do so, they’re only running in 32 bit compatibility mode and they are not as yet true 64 bit games. Unfortunately at the time of writing, even the latest game releases aren’t using the greatly improved 64 bit technology to it full potential even though they do usually run on 64 bit operating systems including Windows 7. This is a great shame and is quite surprising considering 64 bit processors have been around now for a few years. Soon I expect to a handful of true 64 bit games in the pipeline, but in my opinion it will still be a few years yet before 32 bit games are completely phased out.

The eventual phasing out of Windows XP and the move over to Windows 7 will however still show significant improvements in most modern 3D games although it’s not because of 64 bit environments which I will explain below:

3D acceleration technologies have progressed and improved using various standards over the years starting from Pixel Shader 1.0 which was introduced around 2001 to the most recent Pixel Shader 5.0 which has been released recently towards the end of 2009 at the time of writing.

DirectX is software that is built into Microsoft Windows which basically controls and interfaces to the PCs multimedia, especially for 3D gaming, for a full definition of DirectX please click here. Most games at the time of writing are still written to work only for DirectX 9.0c which is the highest version available in Windows XP, this can only run up to Pixel Shader 3.0 when most modern graphics cards are capable of using the much improved Pixel Shader 4.0/4.1 technology at the time of writing. Windows Vista however uses DirectX 10.1 which can run up to Pixel Shader 4.1 which still hasn’t been used by the majority of modern games as yet because of having to keep them XP compatible.

Windows 7 at the time of writing currently uses DirectX 11 which can run up to the very latest Pixel Shader 5.0, this is a brand new 3D graphics technology at the time of writing is exclusively only available only on the newly released Ati 5700 and Ati 5800 series of graphics cards, although there’s already a few games that are improved if you have this new technology including Dirt 2 and there’s more games to come, please click here for a list of Direct X11 / Pixel Shader 5.0 games.

When Windows XP is finally phased out and no longer supported, there won’t be a requirement to write games that are still compatible with Pixel Shader 3.0 and DirectX9.0c which is in my opinion holding back 3D gaming on the PC at the time of writing. This will mean that future games will run exclusively for the much improved Pixel Shader 4.0/4.1 and DirectX 10.1 or above, although some will have further improvements for people with Pixel Shader 5.0 technologies and DirectX 11.

Disclaimer

The article includes my own personal opinions which cannot be declared as definite fact. PJCNET can not be held responsible for any mistakes made or any adverse effects from following any advice given, take advice entirely at your own risk. This article is without prejudice to Micosoft or any other organisation. It’s the purpose of this article to do no harm. My full legal disclaimer applies to this article, it’s comments and all other articles in this website.

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