Andrew Savory: Windows 8 on an ExoPC Slate

The Windows 8 Developer Preview is out, with the new (straight from Windows Phone 7) Metro touch UI. On Wednesday, I asked if it would run on an ExoPC:

You'll recall that Intel gave out ExoPC slate devices to developers at their AppUp Application Lab back in July. The stock install of MeeGo on those devices was pretty fugly. Even WeTab on the ExoPC was less than optimal. So naturally, it's a fair target to try out the new Windows hotness, right?

Long story short, yes, you can run Windows 8 on the ExoPC that Intel gave to MeeGo developers:

There's some Windows 7 instructions on Kevin's Blog which worked for me. There were a few hiccups:

• My default first attempt of using 'dd' to write the ISO to a USB stick on a Mac didn't work.
• The much-documented Windows USB/DVD Download tool didn't work for me, because I didn't have bootsect.exe on my clean fresh Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 install.
• Once I'd tracked down a copy of bootsect.exe (turns out it's on the Windows 7 DVD/ISO in the 'boot' directory, but not installed to disk) and copied it into C:\Windows\System32\, it took a couple of attempts to realise my command prompt needed to be run with administrator privileges before bootsect would behave.
• Once I'd got a bootable USB key with Windows 8 on, I had a few repeated attempts at failed installs. I kept getting the error "Windows 8 cannot install required files", with "error code 0x80070570". I tried a few tricks — tweaking SATA mode to compatibility in the ExoPC BIOS, sacrificing a goat or two — I figured it could be an x64 problem. Installing using the 32-bit x86 image worked just fine.

I'm sure there'll be pages and pages of words written about Windows 8. So far, it looks fantastic. Innovative. Almost enough to make me explore Windows Phone 7.

My top gripes are the virtual keyboard has no number row (I'm spoiled by the Touchpad); the Weather app makes the device utterly unresponsive; the touch UI does not have obvious consistent metaphors yet (beyond swipe left to right to Alt-Tab and swipe right to left to bring up the task-bar equivalent). There's also too much of 'old' Windows in there, too quickly exposed after digging around, and showing up occasionally in bursts of nostalgia.

Apart from that, the only other noteworthy point is that Gruber is bang on the money. It doesn't take long for the fan in this thing to start up, and it's decidedly weird having a tablet you can use as a hairdryer. I can't help but wonder if Microsoft should ditch the Windows desktop and just run Windows Metro / Phone stuff on tablets, regardless of whether they are Intel or ARM-based.

Also, the product halo is alive and well. To get Windows 8 installed I had to Boot Camp my old Macbook Pro, and as a result I've been playing with Windows 7 a little more. You know, it's not that bad, as far as Firefox downloaders go...