Installing Windows 8 on this tablet went off without a hitch. For a severely under powered device it is actually running Windows 8 very well. After reading numerous comments around the net about how slow it was running Win8, I was curious to find out for myself.
So far I have only found 2 issues. The first being the Windows 7 N-Trig drivers were not compatible with Win8. Secondly the Dell Atheros Wifi drivers were also not compatible. The N-trig issue was an easy fix. N-Trig has drivers on their site at n-trig.com that are compatible with Win8. The wifi on the other hand took some more tinkering. After a couple hours of learning the new UI and figuring out where everything was I decided to take the time to get Wifi up and running. The Dell A06 driver install package as I mentioned above is not compatible with Win8. However it does have the required driver packaged up inside. Before unpacking the install application I tried to install it under Windows 7 compatibility mode which also did not work.
Here are the steps I took to get the wifi driver installed:
Execute the installer package and it will extract the files into your Temp folder and the Atheros Installer.msi will be located in one of the {insert random number and text here} folders. The installer itself will throw an error stating that you must be using Windows 7.
Before you hit OK, using windows explorer browse to your C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Temp\ folder and find the Atheros Installer.msi. Copy or move that file to wherever you want, just make sure you remember where you put it. It is now safe to hit OK on the Dell Installer.
The installer will most likely clean up the temp folder automatically and you would not be able to find the file after hitting OK.
Use msiexec to extract the contents of the installer.
Open up a command prompt with administrator privileges. Once there the following command will be used: msiexec /a filepath to MSI file /qb TARGETDIR=filepath to target folder.
Now look in your Device Manager you should have an exclamation point listed next to SDIO Device. Click on that and update driver. Choose the folder you extracted the msi to and Windows will take care of the rest.
If for some reason you already have a driver listed for your dell mini card you will have to uninstall the driver and reboot. Upon reboot follow the above instructions.
Been down this road too and still use if for note taking via OneNote in the office. Waiting on the Surface Pro.
Do you find the Duo Sense to be laggy? I find that when I swipe, it actually registers a series of touches and many times accidentaly launches things it “touched”. Closing apps can be challening because it requires a swipe of the full screen but instead I see it feedback a series of dots. Swiping for charms and tasks seem more forgiving becuase of the shorter stroke.
I also have problems with boot on ocasion. Every so often I have to reset the tablet with a pin to power it up. This seems to be a result of how the device handles sleep for long durations.
The touch drivers certainly are “buggy” in my experience as well. I have had very similar issues to yours. Sometimes it registers the gesture just fine, others it will do a completely random input. I notice the right side swipe in doesn’t always open the menu properly either. For the most part, it is tolerable though. I don’t use it enough to depend on it either.
I have gotten in habit of just shutting the device down when I’m done using it. I also had to reset if I left it suspended. It boots up fast enough for that to not be a major issue for me.
I have also experienced graphic issues. I downloaded solitaire to try it out. The cards are distorted bad enough the game is not playable. I haven’t had the time really to try to improve any of our issues. I want to sit down and try to resolve them one of these days. If I have any luck ill pass it on.