encore viewer for PR System 1 available

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wil
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Re: encore viewer for PR System 1 available

Post by wil » Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:45 pm

That would probably work for most systems, but I've never seen it work from XP to anything 64bit. The actual kernel is different and handles instructions differently in a 64 bit system. Also, the software makes use of registry keys. I would strongly recommend against editing or altering registry keys if you don't REALLY know what you're doing.

This may work for very small programs but I really can't see how it would possibly work here.

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thecomputerguru
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Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2010 1:05 pm

Re: encore viewer for PR System 1 available

Post by thecomputerguru » Tue Apr 27, 2010 7:59 pm

wil wrote:Bad news, folks... I'm not having any luck at all getting this thing to load on 64-bit Windows 7. The holdup is not because it's looking for something that isn't there, it's because the software is simply looking at the hardware and deciding not to load. It is something that could concievably be beaten. One would either have to decompile and play with the original programming (illegal) or make some low level tweaks to the operating system. Both of these are beyond my capacity. If a true programmer (I'm a networking geek, not a programming geek) wants to take this on I'll do anything I can do help out, but it's beyond my knowledge level.

This leaves us with a handful of options.

Option 1: Acquire a copy of Windows XP (or Vista 32 bit or 7 32 bit, but I think it would work best with XP). XP can be set up to dual boot with Windows 7 64 bit. This involves dividing your hard drive and using part of it for Windows 7 and part of it for Windows XP. This will require you to give up at least 25 GB of your hard drive space to be used with Windows XP.

Option 2: Uninstalling Windows 7 64bit and installing Windows 7 32bit. 32Bit will probably work with all of your software. This involves backing up everything you have on your computer and starting over from scratch, and it will likely be slower in some circumstances than it is now.

Option 3: Upgrade to Windows 7 Pro or higher (if you have Home Edition) and download the XP Mode emulator. This allows you to run Windows XP inside a window on your desktop as if it is any other program. This is probably the best solution for most people. The cost for upgrading from Home Premium to Professional is $89.99 through Microsoft, which is very easy to do. You may be able to buy an upgrade for as little as $75, and if you are comfortable installing operating sytems this is a good option. If not, I would recommend buying it from the Microsoft web site. After Professional has been installed, it is not difficult, but it is time consuming, to install XP Mode. It is included in the cost of Professional, but it has to be downloaded and installed separately.

The good news, however, is that it seems (so far) to be very stable running in XP Mode. This is going to open up a whole new discussion. Perhaps I should move this to a newthread?
I emailed Encore Support expressing my displeasure of no ability to have some basic logic and let the user check a box upon install basically saying "I understand by checking this box I can install this software on my computer (albeit a 64-bit one) and that by doing so the older M-Series (e.g. anything using a smart card) will not work and I am ok with that!"

Regarding a solution in the meantime. It's a a bit technical but doable. Assuming your computer has enough horsepower (Memory being the most important in this case, probably >2GB) there is no need to dual boot or downgrade from a 64-bit to 32-bit OS. And you don't need the Professional version of Windows 7 to use the XP Mode solution. Alls you need to do is install a virtual machine program such as virtualbox (http://www.virtualbox.org/) and install a 32-bit OS as a virtual machine (be it XP, Vista or Win 7 32-bit). Of course the downside to this is that unlike XP mode which essentially gives you a free copy of XP AND virtualizes it, this solution requires that you own a 32-bit version of Windows asside from whats installed your physical machine.

PHEW... that was semi long winded and not sure if that made sense to all people. I know the tech knowledge out there varies greatly. Let me know if there are questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

thecomputerguru
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Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2010 1:05 pm

Re: encore viewer for PR System 1 available

Post by thecomputerguru » Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:14 pm

BTW here is an article showing how to get XP mode up and running if you have Windows 7 Home or Vista:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/11060/cr ... and-vista/

In their case they use the free VMWarePlayer software instead of the VirtualBox (also free) software I referenced above.

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savmac
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Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2010 9:16 pm
Location: Las Vegas, NV

Re: encore viewer for PR System 1 available

Post by savmac » Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:16 pm

Wow, I can't believe this won't work on a 64 bit machine. I have not come across ANY other software like this, only hardware. I think it is unacceptable to sell software without clearly disclosing the requirement for a 32 bit OS, especially since many/most new machines are being shipped with Windows 7 64. Hopefully they really are reading this forum and can push out an update to their software. In the mean-time I guess I will load it onto the old laptop when the disc arrives.

wil
Posts: 99
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:59 pm
Location: Chapel Hill, NC

Re: encore viewer for PR System 1 available

Post by wil » Wed Apr 28, 2010 1:08 pm

Alls you need to do is install a virtual machine program such as virtualbox (http://www.virtualbox.org/) and install a 32-bit OS as a virtual machine (be it XP, Vista or Win 7 32-bit).
Excellent point... It hadn't occurred to me that there are third party virtual machine softwares out there. I haven't used them, so I can't vouch for their stability. It all depends on what you have available to you. If you don't have access to a copy of XP (or Vista), and you have to spend money anyway, I would think you'd be better off upgrading to Professional and getting XP included than purchasing a copy of XP. Probably end up paying about the same thing, and I'd hate to spend $90 or more on 10 year old software...

If you do have access to XP then this is an excellent alternative. I still think you'd end up with a more stable virtual machine with 7-Pro. I did run it this way and did not have any problems at all... Of course, every situation is different...
I emailed Encore Support expressing my displeasure of no ability to have some basic logic and let the user check a box upon install basically saying "I understand by checking this box I can install this software on my computer (albeit a 64-bit one) and that by doing so the older M-Series (e.g. anything using a smart card) will not work and I am ok with that!"
That would be great, but it appears they've gone to great lengths to prevent exactly that. There's no reason for it to stop installation the way it does, other than the fact that they've made it abort install if there is no x86 processor (or virtual x86) available.

Again, I'm happy to help anyone I can...

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blakepro
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Location: Utah

Re: encore viewer for PR System 1 available

Post by blakepro » Sat May 01, 2010 7:38 pm

I have some good news.

I have this working in Windows Vista 64-bit.

I dont have time to explain it right now, but I'll post some instructions here soon.

It will only work for PR one machines. not backwards compatible with older machines.



EDIT: Full instructions can be found here: viewtopic/t51779/How-to-make-Encore-Vie ... stems.html

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tnlobo420
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Location: Tennessee

Re: encore viewer for PR System 1 available

Post by tnlobo420 » Fri Jul 02, 2010 6:26 am

If anyone has a link to encoreviewer v2 plz pm me- have been searching for days with no luck - THX

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blakepro
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Re: encore viewer for PR System 1 available

Post by blakepro » Fri Jul 02, 2010 9:47 am

tnlobo420 wrote:If anyone has a link to encoreviewer v2 plz pm me- have been searching for days with no luck - THX
Here you go: https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... chine.html