Vista and XP dual boot

[Michael]

I have just decided that i actualy like Vista Media centre (thats about it) and im using it as a PVR i dont have gameex setup on vista and i dont want to even try so i have made a dual boot.

now for a crazy idea.....

I dont realy want a mouse or keyboard on my gameex pc i control at the moment with a MCE remote and xbox game pads.

Im realy wondering if there is a way of selecting an OS without mouse or keyboard possibly an MCE remote. any idea or pointers to it being possible very welcome

Thanks Michael

[Brian Hoffman]

The problem is that the Os selection screen (Boot.ini) comes up before any drivers load. So gamepad and remotes wont work.

Only Ps2 and USB (if your bios supoprts usb keybords) If that is the case perhaps a wireless USB device that acts as a keyboard would work. But would kinda defeat the purpose.

[Michael]

  Brian Hoffman said:

The problem is that the Os selection screen (Boot.ini) comes up before any drivers load. So gamepad and remotes wont work.

Only Ps2 and USB (if your bios supoprts usb keybords) If that is the case perhaps a wireless USB device that acts as a keyboard would work. But would kinda defeat the purpose.

hmm i might try and modify an old keyboard so i can have 3 buttons on the front of my media centre case. or would a number pad keyboard work so i wouldnt need a full keyboard?

[bkenobi]

I would think the usb keypad devices would work as long as they are detected as a standard keyboard (which they should). If you turn off numlock so the keys work as arrow buttons, you will have arrows and enter to select which os to boot to. That's by far the easiest way to do it without having a regular keyboard sitting there. The other option I would look at is getting a really small keyboard (perhaps wireless). Then you could hide it somewhere and just pull it out when needed. Long term, though, I would go with some kind of a setup like you mentioned with a couple keys accessible from the front.

Come to think of it, you could probably use an IPAC for this. I think you can set up macro's and in the controller. If so, you could have 2 buttons on the front of the case. One would be for <Enter> and the other for <Down><Enter>.

Well, those are the only things I can think of right now...

[blueznl]

Get an IPac or a WizKey.

[Michael]

  blueznl said:

Get an IPac or a WizKey.

whats a wizkey? i tried googleing but didnt see anything

with the i-pac can anyone confirm it will work in pre windows (vista boot manager) as i dont want to go and buy one to find it dosnt work

[bkenobi]

Either of these should work:

link

I personally would go with the KeyWiz-ST since it has the nice screw down terminals, but if you are ok with soldering, the KeyWiz Eco 2 is exactly the same unit. I suspect you could even solder on your own terminals if you wanted, but doing the math would show that it's better to just buy the ST in the first place as far as cost goes.

[Brian Hoffman]

  Michael said:

whats a wizkey? i tried googleing but didnt see anything

with the i-pac can anyone confirm it will work in pre windows (vista boot manager) as i dont want to go and buy one to find it dosnt work

I have an IPAC and by default p1 joystick is up,down,left,right. It is a keyboard encoder so it acts as a keyboard. So yes it will work.

BTW the nice thing about the IPAC is when you reprogram it it writes to the flash so you dont need to wait for anyprofiles to load before your controls work.

[Michael]

I have decided to go for the IPAC, Ipac link < is that the one i would want, and is a reliable source?

Or if anyone has one spare and wants to sell im sure we can come to sone arangment

Thanks Michael

[shaunopp]

  blueznl said:

Get an IPac or a WizKey.

Am I the only one who though 'WizKey' was funny? Sounds like something sold with a catheter! Ok, guess I'm the only one with a sophomoric sense of humor in here.