If We Use XP ... Is There Any Hope?

[MSWallack]

For those of us who (for one stupid reason or another...) are forced to continue using WinXP (at least for the foreseeable future), is there any hope that new versions of Calibre will be compatible or are we suck with 1.48 (which, I'll note, works great)?

(And yes, I do realize that I should probably just shoot myself instead of continuing to use WinXP...)

[cvlowe]

Although I do use Windows 7, I wish I could use XP- it has a far superior user interface. Unfortunately, there are no drivers available for my laptop. I consider myself lucky they made Windows 7 drivers considering it shipped with Windows 8.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by MSWallack

For those of us who (for one stupid reason or another...) are forced to continue using WinXP (at least for the foreseeable future), is there any hope that new versions of Calibre will be compatible or are we suck with 1.48 (which, I'll note, works great)?

(And yes, I do realize that I should probably just shoot myself instead of continuing to use WinXP...)

NO chance unless the QT5 developers put effort into XP compatibility (why would they? New HW is coming out that needs support).

LINUX (dual boot to XP when you infrequently need that old program/feature?)!
If you run one of the Leaner Distros, Old HW will FLY with standard XP resources

[Mike L]

If a new version of a particular program does not work with my version of windows, I will simply not use that particular program. In the case of Calibre, my present version works fine under XP. If a new version requires a later version of Windows, I will not upgrade (at least, not on my one remaining XP machine).

It's for that reason that I usually turn off automatic updates for most of the software products I own. When an update is issued, I want to decide for myself whether to install it. Usually, I decide in favour of installing, but of course not if it would mean that the software no longer runs on my computer.

That said, I understand the reasons for the developers not wanting to support old operating systems and old hardware indefinitely.

Mike

[Private]

Qt 5 was initiated with v2. I've been running v2 on xp virtually daily since it came out, without a hitch or murmur. What's more Qt 5 is supporting xp32, according to their web site.

Why now this patriotic sucking up to the forces determined to kill xp usage by stealth, with brute force to boot. Would a warning of possible problems for some not have sufficed. Was it really necessary to crack the program to get what they want? And that for no reason other than a few complaints? I must say, this is fascism at its finest. It's unfortunate that calibre feels compelled to follow the Nancy trend.

[PeterT]

Dear Private

I really wonder if you bothered to look at the issues people were having solely with calibre 2 and XP, or have tried searching the web for XP and QT5. Obviously from your post you have not, and just want to blindly attack for the sake of attacking.

[DiapDealer]

Made it to fascism in five short posts. That's gotta be record of some kind.

[aleyx]

Originally Posted by Private

Qt 5 was initiated with v2. I've been running v2 on xp virtually daily since it came out, without a hitch or murmur. What's more Qt 5 is supporting xp32, according to their web site.

Why now this patriotic sucking up to the forces determined to kill xp usage by stealth, with brute force to boot. Would a warning of possible problems for some not have sufficed. Was it really necessary to crack the program to get what they want? And that for no reason other than a few complaints? I must say, this is fascism at its finest. It's unfortunate that calibre feels compelled to follow the Nancy trend.

What.

This has nothing to do with some conspiracy to kill XP. This has everything to do with random problems (which are the very worst variety of bugs) on an unsupported (by its own editor) OS, and a lack of resources to track them down an deal with them.

Fascism? What?

I have no idea what a "Nancy trend" is, so meh.

Now, some XP users have no problem, some have lots of problems. There's really no way to know what proportion of each is actually there, unless we spend resources we don't really have. But anyway. In both cases, there's some sort of strange idea out there about XP being a kind of jewel that weathered the last 13 years unscathed, and is worthy of all possible effort so that modern software can still run on it.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing, but let's be honest. XP is not any sort of jewel. XP is not, in any way, some kind of pinnacle of UI usability and stability we must cling to.

I'm the IT guy for a small (250 beds) hospital. I've maintained hundreds of XPs from vanilla to SP3 in the last 14 years, and still today I've got a hundred of 'em. And as a professional, I can tell you: XP is a maintenance nightmare. Yours works? Fine, good for you. Some of mine work fine, too. About twenty, thirty of them I don't really hear about. That still means I've got eighty bloody relics that just won't leave me alone.

Don't talk to me about keeping XP around. It's been dying for the last five years, let it do so.

N.

[MSWallack]

My issue isn't so much that XP works well; rather, my issue is that this is the computer that is available to me for the present time. It's likely that this computer will be replaced early next year, but in the meantime, it's what I'm stuck with. I understand reasons for not wanting to continue to develop for an obsolete OS, but the fact that Microsoft has ended support doesn't mean that there aren't lots of people using it (many against their own desires...sigh).

I guess I was wondering whether it made sense to permit people to try to run 2.x on WinXP with a "no support promised" sort of caveat. If it works, great. If not, well, you tried.

If not, then I guess I need to think about trying to port my Calibre library from the computer that it currently resides on to my laptop (which, oddly, is far less convenient for me to use).

[eschwartz]

See the ongoing discussion here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=245069

As about four threads have already been merged into that one, if a moderator sees this, maybe this one too should be merged?



If you want to run unstable software, you are more than welcomed to run from source, which makes disabling the XP block trivial.

See:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...1&postcount=56
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...5&postcount=61

I assume anyone who would know enough to want to try this, would be capable of figuring it out.

No one is interested in making a one-click installer for calibre2.x on WinXP.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Made it to fascism in five short posts. That's gotta be record of some kind.

Yep... Calibre is literally Hitler.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cvlowe

Although I do use Windows 7, I wish I could use XP- it has a far superior user interface. Unfortunately, there are no drivers available for my laptop. I consider myself lucky they made Windows 7 drivers considering it shipped with Windows 8.

I have to disagree. There's nothing about XP that's better then Windows 7.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by aleyx

Fascism? What?

I have no idea what a "Nancy trend" is, so meh.

Maybe Private is mixing his Mitfords, Nancy was the Communist, Unity was the Fascist.

BR

ps : I never said I wouldn't make jokes

[goldilocks]

So, I moved from XP to Windows 7 and I still like XP better. Newer does not mean better.

On another note, has anyone that cannot use Calibre 2.xx on their XP computer tried the Portable version (or has it been locked?)?

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by goldilocks

On another note, has anyone that cannot use Calibre 2.xx on their XP computer tried the Portable version (or has it been locked?)?

I understand it's locked also. Same program, just different paths.