Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) Pre-Beta 6002.16489 Released to testers.

Microsoft has started to release Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) pre-beta to testers. Similar to the old SP1 beta, Microsoft is still using the PC GUID identification of the tester and the usual batch command script to release Windows Vista SP2 through Windows Update.(no manual download is available yet)

The build version number of the released Vista SP2 is 6002.16489 (lh_sp2beta.080924-1740).

Note: A small hotfix named KB955430 is required to be installed prior to SP2 pre-beta installation. (it’s needed so that there won’t be errors during sp2 setup)

Like I mentioned earlier its only released to testers, but if you want to try it yourself use the below batch file and download it using windows update. Also keep in mind I have not tested this yet so get a backup before running this. I will be trying this and if I can I’ll get some direct links

Download the batch file

***EDIT***

Tested and works perfectly. And sorry about the direct links as it doesn’t have a setup. If you still need direct links or for more information(installation instructions and screen caps…etc) check the post in our forums.

http://dotnetwizard.net/forums/index.php/topic,274.0.html

Windows Vista SP1 Refresh 2 is out

Microsoft is picking up pace with yet another release of a beta version of the upcoming Windows Vista Service Pack 1. The so called Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Refresh 2 has been released to 15.000 beta testers just a few hours ago who are currently downloading it from Windows Updates.

A leak was posted on the Neowin forum but unfortunately deleted before anyone was able to copy the instructions which include changes to the Registry. It is in my opinion only a matter of time before the leak becomes public though. The question is if you really want to install a new Beta when the final version of the Service Pack 1 is rumored to be released on February 15th, which is a little bit more than three weeks from now.

Still, if you get your hands on the code that has been send out to the beta testers let us know in the comments so that everyone who would like to install this new version of the service pack may install it.

Nvidia GPUs support DX10.1 features in Far Cry 2

Author: Tim Smalley
Published: 22nd October 2008
Comments (14) Email to a friend Stumble
Ubisoft has revealed that Far Cry 2 uses DirectX 10.1 to improve AA by reading the multisampled depth buffer. What's interesting is that this is also enabled on all Nvidia DirectX 10 GPUs.

Ubisoft has revealed that Far Cry 2 uses DirectX 10.1 to improve AA by reading the multisampled depth buffer. What's interesting is that this is also enabled on all Nvidia DirectX 10 GPUs.
A few days ago, we learned that Ubisoft's hugely anticipated free-roaming shooter Far Cry 2 would support DirectX 10.1 extensions for cards that support the latest-available version of Microsoft's API.

Today, we have gathered some more information from Ubisoft on the implementation and it's quite an interesting one because the capabilities are also enabled on all Nvidia GeForce 8, 9 and GTX 200 GPUs, even though they don't comply with DX10.1's requirements.

"The Ubisoft team wanted to enhance the anti-aliasing through the reading of the multisampled depth Z-buffers, explained Vincent Greco, Worldwide Production Technical Coordinator at Ubisoft. "This feature was enabled by either using DX10.1 or using a DX10.0 extension supported by Nvidia DirectX 10 GPUs."

All of Nvidia's DirectX 10 GPUs support a superset of DX10, but don't fully support all of DirectX 10.1's requirements so Nvidia cannot claim compliance with DX10.1.

When we asked what DirectX 10.1 features Nvidia supported back in May, the company was very cagey, with Tony Tamasi claiming that "the red team will go out and try to get every ISV to implement things that aren't supported [by our GPUs] for competitive reasons. That really isn't good for game developers, Microsoft and also for us too. So I'd rather not say what [DX10.1] features we don't support."

"I can tell you that one thing we support for sure is reading from the multisample depth buffer [with deferred rendering], which right now seems to be the thing that people are finding interesting in 10.1. And so for the ISVs that are doing that, we're supporting them directly [and exposing the feature to them]," explained Tamasi.

So how does this affect performance? "In the case of Far Cry 2, either option will work with similar performance," said Greco.

Stay tuned for our Far Cry 2 review tomorrow - there's also plenty more exciting Far Cry 2 coverage to follow after that as well. In the meantime, feel free to discuss these developments in the forums

GeForce 9400M to hit notebooks from five major vendors, mock Intel

Now that NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M has made its debut in Apple's new MacBooks, Technical Marketing Director Nick Stam says that five major notebook vendors are planning to ship systems with the chipset -- though we don't know if that includes Apple or not. Stam expects NVIDIA will carve out 30 percent of the integrated graphics market for itself, partly by improving other experiences besides games -- Google Earth, photo editing, day-to-day video encoding, and other activities performed by people who use keys besides W, A, S, and D. Frankly, we're just thankful we've evolved past the days when we needed a 19-inch monster to perform high-impact 3D tasks without sacrificing to the sinister gods of screen tearing.

Windows 7 to RTM within a year?

Microsoft has let the cat out of the bag a week early and stated "there is not another WinHEC planned before Windows 7 is released."

Blogger Long Zheng noticed the admission on Microsoft's WinHEC 2008 site.

As the WinHEC conference is an annual affair, providing the conference isn't cancelled next year then this would put Windows 7 on target for a RTM before November next year.

The revelation follows comments from ASUS CEO Jerry Shen discussing the future of the ASUS Eee PC in an interview with Laptop Mag. "I think in the future in the second half of next year we will put Windows 7 on Eee PCs" said Shen.

If all of this is true and Microsoft is on target with Windows 7 then recent rumours of a Beta 1 in December would not be far off.

Microsoft will be unveiling the full Windows 7 desktop during a keynote by Steven Sinofsky at its professional developers conference in Los Angeles next Tuesday. Attendees will also be given access to a pre-beta build during the PDC.

openSUSE 11.1 Beta 3

Christoph Thiel has announced the third beta release of openSUSE 11.1: "The openSUSE project is proud to announce the availability of beta 3 of the 11.1 release. It's a few days late, but much better for the delay. Beta 3 is now available for immediate download and testing. Major changes in this release include: live CDs for x86 and x86_64 GNOME and KDE; OpenOffice.org 3.0; Mono 2.0 Final; Linux 2.6.27.1 (fixes e1000e issue); parts of 11.1 branding are now in place; GNOME 2.24. Installing openSUSE 11.1 beta 3 on Mac OS X machines should work fine. KVM is broken in this release due to a kernel configuration change before beta 3. OpenOffice.org 3.0 integration continues and should be much better in this release." Here is the full release announcement. Download: openSUSE-11.1-Beta3-KDE4-LiveCD-i386.iso (682MB, MD5, torrent), openSUSE-11.1-Beta3-GNOME-LiveCD-i386.iso (693MB, MD5, torrent). Full installation DVD images are only available via BitTorrent: openSUSE-11.1-Beta3-DVD-i386.isoopenSUSE-11.1-Beta3-DVD-x86_64.iso (3,952MB). (3,766MB),

nVidia Official 180.42 all flavours

Latest "Big Bang II" driver out over at nvidia.
Supports all OS.

Vista x86

Vista x64

WinXP x86

WinXP x64

INF supports:

CODE

GeForce GTX 280
GeForce GTX 260
GeForce 9800 GX2
GeForce 9800 GTX+
GeForce 9800 GTX
GeForce 9800 GT
GeForce 9600 GT
GeForce 9600 GSO
GeForce 9500 GT
GeForce 9500 GS
GeForce 9400 GT
GeForce 9400
GeForce 9300
GeForce 9200
GeForce 8800 Ultra
GeForce 8800 GTX
GeForce 8800 GTS 512
GeForce 8800 GTS
GeForce 8800 GT
GeForce 8800 GS

Release Highlights

* Beta driver for GeForce 200-series, 9-series, and 8800-series desktop GPUs (refer to the products supported tab for more detail).


* Recommended for the best experience on Far Cry 2:

“Since we first began working on Far Cry 2 in early 2005, we have used GeForce GPU’s to develop the game and worked closely with NVIDIA’s excellent engineers. While Far Cry 2 represents an outstanding PC gaming experience for a wide range of systems, GeForce users can expect to enjoy the game quite literally ‘The Way It Was Meant To Be Played’.” - Louis-Pierre Pharand, Ubisoft, Far Cry 2 Producer


* Enables NVIDIA SLI technology on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards with the following GPUs: GeForce GTX 280, GeForce GTX 260, GeForce 9800 GX2, GeForce 9800 GTX+, and GeForce 9800 GTX.

Once pieter sees this he'll make the modded drivers for you guys

Big Bang II combat new driver SLI, dual GTX 280 well looked after

PCPOP recently issued by the article, saying they have not been released by using the next generation of Intel processors Core i7-965, ASUS P6T Deluxe, as well as two GTX 280 and GTX 260 for two 3DMark Vantage test, in default under result the frequency of doing very well. 当然，获得X8859的得分在ORB上面并不算什么高分，但是这可是我们在网络上发现的首个SLI成绩呢！ Of course, the X8859 was scored in the ORB and above what is not high, but on the network but we found that the first results SLI it!

值得注意的是，这是首个并没有采用NVIDIA芯片支持的SLI成绩。 It is worth noting that this is the first chip did not support the use of NVIDIA's SLI performance. 在今年的7月14日，NVIDIA曾经表示将会和主板厂商合作，允许厂商通过加载NF200芯片的方式在X58上进行SLI。 In this year's July 14, NVIDIA has said that the motherboard manufacturers and will allow manufacturers to load through the NF200 chip in the X58 on SLI. 但由于NF200芯片过于昂贵而且要重新设计PCB才能将其加入，此举遭到各大主板厂商的反对，在压力下NVIDIA被迫让步，在8月28日的NVISION08上表示将提供认证方式 ，通过BIOS内置密匙，利用驱动认证后启动SLI，不必重新设计PCB以采用NF200芯片。 However, due to too much NF200 chip and expensive to redesign the PCB to be able to join the move was against all the major motherboard manufacturers, NVIDIA was forced to make concessions under pressure, on August 28 in the NVISION08 that will provide authentication, Key built-in BIOS, the use of certified driver to start after the SLI, do not have to redesign the PCB to adopt the NF200 chip. P6T Deluxe就是这样一块主板，它使用了BIOS内置密匙的方式来启用SLI。 P6T Deluxe is a motherboard that uses a built-in BIOS key way to enable SLI.

当然，仅仅只有BIOS密匙是不行的，缺少驱动的认证用户是无法打开SLI。 Of course, the only key BIOS does not work, the lack of user-driven certification is not open SLI. 一些早期拿到X58的评测者就表示过，使用老式驱动并不能启用SLI。 Some of the test X58 early to get those who said that the use of the old drive and can not enable SLI. 如果大家还记得Big Bang II的话，相信现在都想到了，Big Bang II就是一款全新的驱动，能够支持新一代的SLI。 If we still remember the Big Bang II, I believe that it is now thought of, Big Bang II is a new driver, to support a new generation of SLI. 在下面的截图上我们就能看到，在测试平台上用了64位的ForceWare 180.20驱动，相信正是这个Big Bang II，开启了X58的SLI大门。 In the following screenshot we can see that in the test platform with a 64-bit ForceWare 180.20 drivers, I believe this is the Big Bang II, opens the door to X58's SLI.

测试平台： Test platform:

CPU: Core i7-965 CPU: Core i7-965
Mobo: P6T Deluxe Mobo: P6T Deluxe
Memory: 1Gx2 DDR3 Unkown Memory: 1Gx2 DDR3 Unkown
VGA：2xGTX 280，2xGTX 260 VGA: 2xGTX 280,2 xGTX 260
OS: Vista 64bit OS: Vista 64bit
Driver: ForceWare 180.20 Driver: ForceWare 180.20

Microsoft aiming to deliver Vista SP2 before Windows 7

The Windows team is readying second service packs (SP2) for Vista — and for its server complement, Windows Server 2008 — and is aiming to deliver these SP2s before it releases Windows 7, according to my sources.

I’m hearing that Microsoft already has delivered a beta of at least Vista SP2 to select hardware and software partners, the same way that it has been providing a hand-chosen few with early builds of Windows 7. I noticed that Microsoft has put up a place holder Knowledge Base article on October 2 regarding the forthcoming SP2 betas. (I see a couple of other bloggers saw this, as well.)

I haven’t heard details from any testers regarding any of the features due in Vista SP2 or Windows Server 2008 SP2. But here are some tidbits of what I have heard from my sources:

• Microsoft’s goal is to deliver both SP2 releases before it delivers Windows 7 in order to lessen confusion among users as to whether to deploy Vista and Windows Server 2008 — or to wait for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (a k a Windows 7 Server). Currently, Microsoft is believed to be attempting to RTM Windows 7 in the second half of 2009. The Softies have said Windows Server 2008 R2 is on track for 2010.
• Because Microsoft is trying to keep Windows client and server code in lock-step, Windows Server 2008 was built around the Vista SP1 codebase. That’s why the first standalone service pack for Server 2008 is being called SP2. As many customers still are reticent to deploy a new OS until the first standalone SP goes out, Microsoft also is pushing to get SP2 for server out there to convince these users to consider upgrading.
• The biggest deliverable in SP2 for Windows Server 2008 will be the integration of the Hyper-V bits with the server OS.

(I’ve asked the Windows client and server teams for comment on their respective SP2 features/timing and will update this post if and when I hear back. Given how tough it was to get info out of Microsoft on Vista SP1, I am not holding my breath….)

Update: Here’s all the Vista team will say, courtesy of a spokesperson: “Microsoft is working on a second Windows Vista service pack (Windows Vista SP2) and will share more details in the coming months.”

Update No. 2: From the server team, via a spokesperson: “(T)he comment (above) serves for Windows Server as well; Microsoft is not commenting further on the timing/release plans for the WS08 SP2 at this time, but will share more details in the coming months.”

Microsoft is expected to release a public Beta 1 of Windows 7 in mid-December, according to internal schedule information from sources. I haven’t yet heard when Beta 1 of Windows Server 2008 R2 is due, but I would bet it will be in the next month or two, as well. If Microsoft really is hoping to get Vista SP2 and Win Server 2008 SP2 out first, that doesn’t give the Redmondans a whole lot of time to test and deliver its pair of SP2s.

Given the timing, I’m wondering whether Microsoft might decide to deliver any of the tweaks or features it is building into Windows 7 via Vista SP2. Are there any fixes or tweaks you are hoping Microsoft delivers as part of Vista/Win Server 2008 SP2?