So... long story short. We're lending my old (2008 Aluminium) MacBook to my brother-in-law so he can take an online university course. After a week of trying to set up the laptop to meet his needs, we ran into a roadblock: software provided by the university is Windows-only.
Bootcamp was being a pain the butt, so I just nuked the drive and installed Windows on the MacBook, no OS X partition, since he wouldn't be using it. As we have no Windows install CD, I went with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, which will expire in January, by which time he'll either buy the software or get himself another laptop.
The Install went surprisingly well (if slow - went with the 64-bit install). The longest download was the trial edition of Office 2010, which will also last until late December, meeting his needs for the time being.
But - there are two (only!) issues that I'd like to resolve, and my cursory 'net searches haven't come up with solutions:
1/ The trackpad. For the life of me I can't figure out where to configure the trackpad... if that's possible. It registers movement and single-click, but right-click and click-and-drag are out. I've only been able to find the driver information, but nowhere are there options available.
2/ Sound. There isn't any. The driver claims the sound is working perfectly, though it is no. Not a peep coming out of it. As my bro-in-law wants to use Skype, this is a bit of a deal killer. The iSight camera is recognized as is the built-in mic. Just no sound output...
Suggestions - and even better, Solutions! - much appreciated.
I'd try to load the bootcamp windows drivers even if there is no Mac partition. Not sure if they work with windows 8 or not, but they would contain some Mac specific drivers made by Apple.
Thanks for the suggestion - I installed the drivers (individually, one-by-one) and did the required reboots, but still no sound nor specific trackpad controls.
I have to say, Win8 does not make it easy to change the behaviour of the system. A very, very odd environment...
...and we can add another problem. It wont' connect to my bro's WiFi. It sees the network, gives a "gee, I can't connect" error, then throws up its virtual hands in defeat. It's a D-Link running WPA2, and the WiFi works fine with the same laptop when it was in OS X mode, but under Win8, no-go... so he's tied to a cable for the time being.
If we can sort out the few technical issues, Win8 may stay on this laptop for awhile... Microsoft just announced its pricing:
"...launch on Oct. 26 to download the system onto their computers for $40, an offer price that will expire at the end of January..."
"...price for the full version of the software at $70 for a DVD pack...."
"...The price tag is significantly lower than the current price for a comparable version of Windows 7, which costs $200...."
I've heard fairly good things about Windows 8. A handful of people have been testing it for the last few months in the office. It's a completely new beast, but according to them a pretty decent step forward considering the changes it has undergone, it's not going to be another Vista. I don't think Microsoft could afford another blunder like that.
BReligion
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"Hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned for Sega. " - Brodie Bruce :: Mallrats ::
:: Macbook Pro 13.3" 2.66 Core 2 Duo
:: Macbook 13.3" 2.0 Core 2 Duo (the wife's)
:: iMac 17" 1.83 Core Duo
:: iBook 12" 1.33ghz (retired)
:: iPhone 4 & iPhone 2G (8GB retired); iPod 5th Gen (80GB)
:: Apple TV - 160GB, Apple TV2, Airport Exteme & Airport Express
While it would be time-consuming now that you've wiped OSX off the computer, the easiest way would probably have been to install VirtualBox and run Win8 in a virtual machine. That should completely avoid driver issues, and when you get the computer back, it's easy to nuke the virtual machine.
Windows 8 on a MacBook
Linear Mode
