Drivers for VIsta 64 bit ?

[FlorinR]

Hi people !
I have one problem that almost makes me cry
I'm thinking to give the 64 bit OS a chance (i have 4 Gb of RAM and it could be useful to use them all).
I have a printer and no 64 bit drivers. The major problem is that on the printer's site is no driver for 64 bit OS.
I am wondering if there is any chance to make the printer work on a 64 bit environment?
Every advice it will be appreciated !

P.S. It's not possible to buy a new printer, because of the money problem (currently i have a laser printer "Canon i-SENSYS LBP3300" that was already a little expensive for me).

Thanks, in advance !

 

[notherdude]

How often do you need to print? If it's only on the odd occasion you might be able to print from a virtual installation of XP 32.

 

[FlorinR]

What means a virtual installation ?

 

[notherdude]

Well you can run Windows XP in a virtual machine inside of Vista. MS makes a free version of this called Virtual PC. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=04d26402-3199-48a3-afa2-2dc0b40a73b6&displaylang=en

you install it and then install a version of XP (that you must already own) and then you can start up XP from inside of Vista and use it more or less as an actual install of XP. As far as I know you could then print to the Canon from XP using your XP drivers but I have never tried this myself so you would need to research it a bit more.

 

[FlorinR]

So, basically it's another version of dual boot solution, without restarting PC (it does requires the same amonut of drive space)?
I have heard more people using dual boot than virtual machine...
I'm thinking that if i encounter a problem it will be easy to find someone using dual boot , that could help me...

Is there any chance to use 32 bit drivers for Vista in 64 bit OS? I mean, it'a just a printer, nothing "vital" like MB or VGA.
I'm trying to find out what is the easy way (the word noob comes to my mind )
P.S. I only have 80Gb HD

 

[4Ryan6]

FlorinR wrote >

P.S. I only have 80Gb HD

With only an 80G HDD you probably should just keep the setup and OP/SYS you have and go the Vista64 route after you upgrade your machine.

But thats just a suggestion.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/237897-44-vista-installation-tips

 

[notherdude]

So, basically it's another version of dual boot solution, without restarting PC (it does requires the same amonut of drive space)?
I have heard more people using dual boot than virtual machine...
I'm thinking that if i encounter a problem it will be easy to find someone using dual boot , that could help me...

Is there any chance to use 32 bit drivers for Vista in 64 bit OS? I mean, it'a just a printer, nothing "vital" like MB or VGA.
I'm trying to find out what is the easy way (the word noob comes to my mind )
P.S. I only have 80Gb HD

It's actually quite a bit different than a dual boot, mainly because of the time savings. You can switch back and forth from Vista and XP as fast as you switch back and forth between running programs, i.e. instantly. You do of course have to boot up the virtual machine the first time and this takes a minute or so, but then you could just leave it running. Even if you only boot it up when you need it and then shut it back down the process will be vastly faster then the shutdown, reboot, shutdown, reboot you would do for a true switch between OSes.

My Virtual XP install uses up about 8 gig. I don't remember if I had the option to make it smaller than that.

As far forcing Vista 64 to use a 32 bit driver, I don't know if it is possible, I only know I have never heard of anyone doing that.

 

[FlorinR]

I thing i got the ideea...
Thank you for being so explicit (not like "explicit lyrics" ) !
I will upgrade my HD (i found out that they are affordable) and give Virtual XP a chance. It was the first time i encountered this sollution, that's way i was sceptically about that.

Thank you