Encore Pro Updates

Is there a location to get regular updates for Encore Pro? I was just curious about bug fixes, security updates and other enhancements.

Respirionics has never supported any of their programs at least to patients. In fact they have pulled Encore Pro from being sold to anyone except DME's and Doctors. This is why I am a bit upset because as microsoft forces their new operating systems on us we won't be able to upgrade our Encore Pro to work with the new systems. They wrote Encore Viewer as a replacement to be sold to end users and as far as I know they don't support it either.

Jerry

Hmm. Interesting software support. Well for now the software works, but in the future I will have to keep XP around or create a VMWARE instance for use within a future OS release.

The viewer is not that great. I went with Pro because of the database utilities. What a shame that the Viewer cannot have this same database feature. Oh well. I understand the liability issues with the Pro software. I have a fairly recent release, but I was just wondering.

Linus wrote:Hmm. Interesting software support. Well for now the software works, but in the future I will have to keep XP around or create a VMWARE instance for use within a future OS release.

The viewer is not that great. I went with Pro because of the database utilities. What a shame that the Viewer cannot have this same database feature. Oh well. I understand the liability issues with the Pro software. I have a fairly recent release, but I was just wondering.

They DO have software support for their "customers"......the DMEs. I don't know who they think ultimately buys this stuff, but their concept of "customer support" stops with the DMEs. Since they seem to keep changing the software releases with each new machine generation, I made the decision a couple of years ago to try to stay with the generation of equipment that I started with.....the "Legacy" (Pre-M Series) models. That way, all of the software I've been using will continue to work with my flow generators and computers. I also plan to keep using Windows XP for a long time, too. It does everything I "need" it to do. We just got a whole bunch of brand new computers at work......and they all have XP on them.


Den

6PtStar wrote:This is why I am a bit upset because as microsoft forces their new operating systems on us we won't be able to upgrade our Encore Pro to work with the new systems.

1. How is microsoft forcing there new operating system on us?
2. Why don't you think Encore Pro will not work on it?

-James

jskinner wrote:

6PtStar wrote:This is why I am a bit upset because as microsoft forces their new operating systems on us we won't be able to upgrade our Encore Pro to work with the new systems.

1. How is microsoft forcing there new operating system on us?
2. Why don't you think Encore Pro will not work on it?

-James

Microsoft is forcing the operating system (My Opinion) because they won't allow the older operating systems to be sold after they come out with their new greatest and best. The guy at our local store told me that Microsoft made them send all the copies of XP back for credit when the announced the cut-off date for everything to go Vista. So far (Except for Stuart1) no one on this board has been able to get Encore Pro 1.8i to work on Vista 64. I have been told that the new Windows 7 will only be available only in 64 bit. My machine is getting very old and it would not be suprised if it would go up in smoke whin I try to boot up tomorrow. There are folks that have posted that have gotten Encore Pro to work on their Vista 32 bit but with the problems that have been posted it requires more than a normal installation and I am not sure I am smart enough to get it to work even on Vista 32.

If you can assure me that I am wrong I will be glad to change my opinion. I still fail to see what is wrong with having two operating systems sold at the same time so that we can pick what we need. I don't feel like I need 64 bit speed, I am not a gamer. I did not get the program disks with my machine so if it quits I feel like I am out of luck.

I'm sure you can tell by my post that I am not very computer smart.

Jerry

6PtStar wrote:Microsoft is forcing the operating system (My Opinion) because they won't allow the older operating systems to be sold after they come out with their new greatest and best.

I don't know of many companies that keep selling their old models after new ones come out? I don't see why software should be any different. Microsoft typically continues to support old OS versions for years after they stop selling them.

6PtStar wrote:So far (Except for Stuart1) no one on this board has been able to get Encore Pro 1.8i to work on Vista 64.

That has nothing to do with Microsoft. Its a driver and application issue. The smart card driver needs to be built in a 64bit version. Thats the responsibility of the hardware device manufacture. Ideally the application will be converted to 64bits as well.

6PtStar wrote:I have been told that the new Windows 7 will only be available only in 64 bit.

That is incorrect. I have been using the 32 bit version of Windows 7 for about a month now. Windows 7 will be available in both 32 and 64 bit versions. You can download the Beta for free right now from Microsoft. Windows 7 a LOT better than Vista. I encourage people to try it while it is free, the quality of the beta is quite good. Its what Vista should have been.

6PtStar wrote:There are folks that have posted that have gotten Encore Pro to work on their Vista 32 bit but with the problems that have been posted it requires more than a normal installation

Encore 1.8 works fine on Vista. Nothing special is required. The second version of 1.8 is better though since it reportedly does not disable Areo.

6PtStar wrote:I still fail to see what is wrong with having two operating systems sold at the same time so that we can pick what we need.

That would be a huge support burden, plus you don't really need it.

6PtStar wrote:I don't feel like I need 64 bit speed

64 bits doesn't improve speed any. Its mostly about addressable memory space. It also allows some additional security features. It will take a few years for the market to move to 64 bits but it should become much more common with Windows 7.

Thanks James. I guess it really boils down to not being able to get Encore Pro if it were to be written for 64 bit. Only a few copies of 1.8i.65 got out before the Respirionics cut off. I have been unable to find it. I will see how it goes.

Just for my curisoty what is Aero that 1.8i.45 disables?

Jerry

6PtStar wrote:I guess it really boils down to not being able to get Encore Pro if it were to be written for 64 bit.

Just to make sure its clear to everyone, in general 32bit applications run perfectly fine on 64bit Vista or Windows 7.

6PtStar wrote:Just for my curisoty what is Aero that 1.8i.45 disables?

Areo is part of the Vista user interface experience. Its really just 'eye candy' Its not a big deal that it gets disabled while running Encore Pro. This is one of the things that they supposedly fixed in the second version of 1.8 although I have not been able to confirm it since I don't have that version myself.

skinner any idea how much memory the new 7 uses?

i bought a laptop with vista basic that has only 512 memory and from what i read it takes over 300mb just to run the o.s. throw in virus software and i think snail mail is faster. i've upgraded my memory which has helped.

also anyone tried oncore on 7?

I haven't tried 7 yet but just wanted to note that my experience with Vista is the same as JSkinner's. When I run EncorePro on my 32-bit Vista machine it does come up with a message that it can't run the screen colors in Vista native mode and will run in compatibility mode and then goes ahead and runs it just fine. It was not a hassle to install (other than that I had to do it twice) and has never caused me problems in running.

64-bit operating systems will be important as software is written that requires larger chunks of memory. So, as far as I am aware, in order to use more than about 3 GB of memory requires 64-bit in order to address memory above that. Almost all software I have runs on my second machine with 64-bit Vista.

I also agree with the support issues. It's just not reasonable to expect software companies to support multiple versions of operating systems for a lengthy period of time. If they did, we'd be paying much more for the software!

Mindy

fuzzy96 wrote:skinner any idea how much memory the new 7 uses?

I don't know the exact numbers but its quite a bit better than vista. Everyone should throw Vista out out the Window and start using Windows 7 IMHO.

fuzzy96 wrote:also anyone tried oncore on 7?

I have been using Encore Pro on Windows 7 for about a month now.

mindy wrote: So, as far as I am aware, in order to use more than about 3 GB of memory requires 64-bit in order to address memory above that.

Correct. The actual limit for 32 bits is 4GB but due to various OS architectural issues the most you can usually get on Vista 32bit is about 3.5 GB

Encore Pro runs fine on Windows 7, including 64-bit. I was having some issues with the smartcard reader occasionally not responding under Vista and it seems to work better under 7. Before I would have to uninstall and re-install the reader. I've only tested 1.8.49, can't find 1.8.65.

stuart1 wrote:Encore Pro runs fine on Windows 7, including 64-bit.

Are you using the 64bit driver for the smart card that Microsoft provides?

Yes, the Microsoft driver. I did have to have Windows find an updated driver automatically from Microsoft's website, at least when I was using Vista x64.