As I mentioned in my previous article, I bought the available video card in town to use with Vista. It is the ATI Radeon 9250 with 256MB. Now this is a very nice card, but just one small thing is missing… Pixel 2.0 shading.

Without Pixel 2.0 shading, you are unable to avail yourself of the Aero feature of Windows Vista. This was a great disappointment for me. My friend James Fisher advised me that he had purchased the X1600 256MB AGP card and that it does support Aero. This would mean that I would have to put out another $125 or so a few days after purchasing a new video card. I made the wise decision. I will do without Aero for now and perhaps in a few months, if the fire is still burning in my belly, I will purchase the card that James is using.

These things happen when you do not investigate thoroughly when beginning a new project. In the past I would spend days getting every piece of information, good and bad, that I could before jumping into the fire with both feet. Due to not being involved in testing for some time, I neglected to follow that basic rule. Lesson Learned!

I suggest that you run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor and see what it has to say about the items you may need to enjoy the full experience of the new OS. One of the suggestions for my computer was to update the BIOS and I accomplished that task yesterday. Then go to newsgroups and get a feel for what people are experiencing when installing the program and any other quirks that may be showing up. This way, you are prepared for almost any surprises and will have a better experience.

Today is the day that I have planned to install Vista. The dogs are at the groomers all day and the only thing on my schedule today is the World Cup match between the Netherlands and Argentina. Being from the Netherlands, you have one guess as to the color of the shirt I am wearing today!

Details of my continuing adventure will follow in rapid succession. Once the program is installed I can begin running it through its paces. As an aside, I will be dual booting.

[tags]vista,agp,x1600,pixel 2.0,ati radeon 9250,aero[/tags]