impossible to install on eeepc

harderthanlinux

New Member
Messages
3
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
My test computer is an eeepc901 with a 4 gb ssd and an 8gb sd card. I first attempted install fresh on my ssd over the existing Windows Xp. This is impossible as Windows 8 needs close to 6 giga bytes just to install. Wasn't this version supposed to be tablet and netbook friendly?

So next I attempted an upgrade install. Turns out this has to be launched from within an existing Windows boot. My xp was thinned out and was not up to service pack 3. Thus the install failed again as service pack 3 would exceed my hard drive space also.

On the 8 gb sd card I had installed linux ubuntu which dual boots with windows perfectly well despite the fact that they are on totally different drives, one of which is removeable. I decided I could always reinstall ubuntu in under 20 minutes so I tried to install Windows 8 onto the SD card. Of course, windows never loads any drivers when you start an install so it did not even see the sd card drive.

I tried to install the sd card driver at this point, as this was an option in the vastly prettier installer. But the system would not recognize the driver.

So why is it that a bunch of nerds can create a linux version that installs itself with almost no interaction onto the drive I choose without requiring me to provide a driver, looks amazing, does everything a computer user would want, but is totallay free? Yet the well-paid Microsoft developers can release this abomination that is bigger, uglier, and harder to install (despite the pretty installer) and will likely cost a couple hundred? Keepin mind I have both XP and Linux dual booting on this tiny computer with only a 4 gb ssd and a 8 gb sd. Does anyone know a trick to install onto a usb drive or an sd card?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ubuntu 11.11 kde
    System Manufacturer/Model
    compaq cq62
    CPU
    2.7 ghz 64 bit intel
    Motherboard
    stock
    Memory
    2 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    stock
    Sound Card
    stock
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x800
    Hard Drives
    250 gb
I just backed up my user folder from my big laptop, a CQ62 compaq running Linux Ubuntu with KDE (think Xp with vista aereo and better widgets). I figure I can always reinstall it if Windows 8 doesnt work out. I tried insalling it in Virtualbox from within Linux with a 20gb static partition. Though I have Windows 7 installed in a virtual machine on this same computer, I could not install either version of Windows 8 (64 and 32 bit versions tried). The windows installer incorrectly identified my processor as 32 bit (it is certainly 64 bit) and always halted with non-sensical error codes rather than being smart enough to tell me why it failed (like a Linux or 2008 server installer would). I attempted to install it by using a virtual cd pointing to each iso file as well as by burning the isos to actual dvds and booting the virtual machine off of the real cd drive. I tried several configurations for the virtual machine. My last config that only produced one numeric error code upon fail was a 20 gb hd, all resources on, 1 gb ram, 2d and 3d acceleration, 32 megs for video ram. My laptop only has 2 gb so I couldnt risk giving the virtual machine more. Again, Windows 7 runs fine in this config evenwith only 1 gb (slow as molasses). Next step is to give Windows 8 a shot at my whole laptop. If it won't run on my laptop I will just go back to Linux. If it does run I will proceed to dual boot Linux on my laptop (with Windows 8 as my NON-default choice in grub obviously as I doubt it will be even half as useable as my custom Linux build).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ubuntu 11.11 kde
    System Manufacturer/Model
    compaq cq62
    CPU
    2.7 ghz 64 bit intel
    Motherboard
    stock
    Memory
    2 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    stock
    Sound Card
    stock
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x800
    Hard Drives
    250 gb
Windows 8 will NEVER be installed on my big desktop. Though it has 8 gb of ram and 3tb of hard drive space running through the 2600k 3.2 ghz 64 bit quad core, that computer hosts my Protools setup and I cannot imagine that either party, Windows 8 or Protools 10, are ready for each other. Anybody running Protools on Windows 8 yet? I have an Emu pci audio interface.. guessing no as Windows 7 was complaining a lot before I managed to get it to play nice with my music composition hardware and Protools.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ubuntu 11.11 kde
    System Manufacturer/Model
    compaq cq62
    CPU
    2.7 ghz 64 bit intel
    Motherboard
    stock
    Memory
    2 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    stock
    Sound Card
    stock
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x800
    Hard Drives
    250 gb
Windows 8 is too big for the system you state in the OP. It will not exist in much less than 16GB, even though a new installation is about 6GB on disk. It could run on the eeepc if you built a Windows To Go system on a sufficiently fast USB stick - I have a SanDisk Cruzer with 16GB from which the Windows 8 RP runs very acceptably - due to the Cruzer being quite fast at reads, but slow at writes - so it took forever to install. On the plus side, the Sandisk Cruzer color coordinates with my Packard Bell Dot se perfectly.

You would have to build the Windows To Go on a machine like your desktop with sufficient resources to enable the installation to complete.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP COMPAQ Presario CQ57
    CPU
    AMD E- 300 APU with Radion HD Graphics 1.30GHz
    Motherboard
    inbuilt
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI
    Sound Card
    High Definition Audio on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    notebook
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST9500325AS
    Google drive 15GB
    Skydrive 25GB
    BT Cloud
    PSU
    external 20v
    Case
    Laptop
    Cooling
    pretty good
    Keyboard
    inbuilt
    Mouse
    touchpad
    Internet Speed
    BT Infinity Unlimited - 80 up 20 down =70/16 really
    Browser
    Chrome Canary usually
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    no Start menu modifications
    Upgraded with no issues to 8.0 and to 8.1
Back
Top