Who is using OpenCPN 5.6? WINXP?

[botanybay]

Originally Posted by HankOnthewater

I disagree, mainly because I run #7 on my boat computer.

As do I

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by sy_gilana

I would really like to know your motivation for using XP?

Or even the motivation for Windows 7.

Windows 10 22H2 is really, really solid. Far more stable and reliable than Windows 7 ever was. Windows 10 will go years without a reboot. So will Windows 11.

[fgd3]

Originally Posted by wholybee

Or even the motivation for Windows 7.

Windows 10 22H2 is really, really solid. Far more stable and reliable than Windows 7 ever was. Windows 10 will go years without a reboot. So will Windows 11.

That has certainly not been my experience with Windows 10. I find it requires a reboot every day. If I skip a day it gets really, really slow.


But the main reason for running older versions of Windows is to use older computers which just can't run the newer operating systems. On my boat I run Windows Vista and OpenCPN 4.8.8. I used to run Ubuntu 14.04 but the OpenCPN team stopped compiling for that version of Ubuntu. Unlike Windows, Ubuntu requires a compilation for each version of the operating system. Since my computers couldn't handle a higher version of Ubuntu I went back to Windows (Vista on one computer, W7 on another).


Fortunately OpenCPN 4.8.8 does what I need and is pretty reliable. That allows me to continue using computers which would otherwise be taking up space in a landfill.


Folks that want the news features that have been added to later versions of OpenCPN will just have to accept the fact that they need to upgrade their hardware and operating system.

[barcoMeCasa]

Originally Posted by fgd3

Folks that want the news features that have been added to later versions of OpenCPN will just have to accept the fact that they need to upgrade their hardware and operating system.

Think you'll find that's not the case. Opencpn v5.8 will run on a raspberry pi 3 even with radar & other plugins , though a bit slow over vnc. Runs fine on a Pi 4. It's well written & really not very not power hungry.

Your win10 experience was almost certainly down to a problem on your machine & fixable.

[Malkomax]

Originally Posted by wholybee

If it works, great. My point is, Windows 7 was superseded in 2012. Windows 8 flopped, so Windows 7 had some distribution after that, but it's basically an OS that hasn't been available for more than 10 years. Moreover, there are substantial differences between Win7 and even the oldest releases of Windows 10. Microsoft hasn't released patches or security updates in years either.
.

Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 7 on January 14th 2020

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...c-1466d9a53962

However, unofficially they are still releasing updates for all parts of the OS including different versions of .NET, fixes and security patches.

I develop software so have several old W7 computers - a laptop and desktops. About a week ago they all received a large update at the same.

I've no idea when these unofficial updates will stop but they keep coming every month and are welcome. MS has always looked its user base much better than Apple with their wonderful OS X.

[wholybee]

My understanding is that "normal" security updates for Windows 7 ended in January of 2020. There was an extended update program for corporate customers, that anyone who knew the registry change could participate in (I made that change to a few computers at the time), that continued monthly updates until January of this year. At that time updates stopped, until earlier this month when a major security flaw was found that they addressed. But I think they are now gone for good.

Microsoft caters to business, and business needs a predictable support cycle. Apple doesn't want Apple computers using in the corporate environment. Supporting Apple in a corporate environment is REALLY difficult.

[Malkomax]

Originally Posted by wholybee

My understanding is that "normal" security updates for Windows 7 ended in January of 2020. There was an extended update program for corporate customers, that anyone who knew the registry change could participate in (I made that change to a few computers at the time), that continued monthly updates until January of this year. At that time updates stopped, until earlier this month when a major security flaw was found that they addressed. But I think they are now gone for good.

Microsoft caters to business, and business needs a predictable support cycle. Apple doesn't want Apple computers using in the corporate environment. Supporting Apple in a corporate environment is REALLY difficult.

Thank you for your update, especially about Apple as I didn't know that - it explains a lot now. Really sad as they once had the majority of the publishing and graphics market - wonderful Power PCs - I've got one in my attic.

I've just this minute checked a Windows 7 update history on my work desktop and this month there have been many updates including
- 2023-09 .NET 6.022 Security Update for x64 Client
- Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool for x64
pus many other security updates - too many to list here.

Last web stats I saw were about 200 million unique W7 computers still accessing the web, although that must be falling rapidly.

Of course MS are going to stop these updates one day - perhaps tomorrow

About security on a boat. If someone just uses their OS to run OpenCPN and rarely browses the web - then perhaps they might be relatively safe.