contemplating a arm dev board.

[elgonzo]

About the Windows license... just go on Ebay and buy an OEM XP license or so for a few $. OTOH the laptop probably came with WIndows so the license to run Windows on it is already there.

Careful about that. Not all OEM license keys work with retail versions, some of the keys are even language-specific. Do this only if the vendor is reliable and thrustworthy.

[blewisjr]

About the Windows license... just go on Ebay and buy an OEM XP license or so for a few $. OTOH the laptop probably came with WIndows so the license to run Windows on it is already there.

Windows 8 purchased laptops do not come with a license key on them.  It is actually built into the factory oem recovery partition which is actually long gone by now.  It really does not matter.  I already have my large 19" gaming laptop setup for both PIC and AVR programming and it only took maybe 5 minutes total.  Who would have thunk it.  As of right now I will probably use this and put the other laptop on the shelf for now.  I am tired of fussing around I just want to learn and make projects damnit 

[M. András]

must be a sticker somewhere in the laptop with the windows license btw

[blewisjr]

Not with windows 8 laptops.  My gaming laptop also use to be a windows 8 laptop no license key on it either.  Windows 8 Computers do not come with license keys.

[TheDirty]

Ya, if I ever get a computer with OEM Windows I always recover the Product Key right away.  Once that drive is wiped with the recovery partition, that's it for the key.

For those people wanting to make sure they keep their key, just google 'windows 8 product key viewer'.  Same with Win7.

[M. András]

thats simply stupid lol,

[alm]

About the Windows license... just go on Ebay and buy an OEM XP license or so for a few $. OTOH the laptop probably came with WIndows so the license to run Windows on it is already there.

I'm pretty sure the Windows XP OEM license does not allow it to be used for VM guests. Last time I checked, you needed retail licenses for VM use. They probably changed this in later versions, although it may have specific requirements about the host OS.

[elgonzo]

I'm pretty sure the Windows XP OEM license does not allow it to be used for VM guests. Last time I checked, you needed retail licenses for VM use. They probably changed this in later versions, although it may have specific requirements about the host OS.

This depends entirely on the laws/jurisdiction of the particular country you are in.

In Germany, it has been specifically ruled by the federal court that it is legal to sell such OEM licenses, and that any terms in those licenses trying to restrict the kind of hardware the software is running on are invalid. So, in Germany at least, you can use OEM licenses in a VM. In this situation, even pushing an argument that a VM is not hardware would not work -- in consequence, the guest OS is executed on exactly the same hardware as the VM itself, which nobody can deny.

However, if you would need to do modifications/hacks on the OS to make it run on a VM, as it might be necessary with MacOS for example, then those modifications might violate the license terms&conditions.

But... different countries, different rulings.

[nctnico]

About the Windows license... just go on Ebay and buy an OEM XP license or so for a few $. OTOH the laptop probably came with WIndows so the license to run Windows on it is already there.

Careful about that. Not all OEM license keys work with retail versions, some of the keys are even language-specific. Do this only if the vendor is reliable and thrustworthy.

Duh...  you keep the OEM license in shrink wrap and get an image from internet... No hassle with activating etc. Over here the law says that if you own the medium you own a license.

[elgonzo]

About the Windows license... just go on Ebay and buy an OEM XP license or so for a few $. OTOH the laptop probably came with WIndows so the license to run Windows on it is already there.

Careful about that. Not all OEM license keys work with retail versions, some of the keys are even language-specific. Do this only if the vendor is reliable and thrustworthy.

Duh...  you keep the OEM license in shrink wrap and get an image from internet... No hassle with activating etc.

Well, i would have problems using a russian, korean or chinese Windows, if that is the OEM license this sneaky Ebay vendor would have sold me...
Ohh.. and then there are those OEM licenses, where you can get only install media suitable for specific laptop models...

... etc, etc... but i think i just bored you... 

[westfw]

AVR is a bit fussy still trying to work the bugs out of building the toolchain

Why?  I noticed recently that Atmel has a download of the toolchain (gcc/etc) for linux, already built with their patches/etc.  I guess you'd still have to set up eclipse or whatever...

[blewisjr]

AVR is a bit fussy still trying to work the bugs out of building the toolchain

Why?  I noticed recently that Atmel has a download of the toolchain (gcc/etc) for linux, already built with their patches/etc.  I guess you'd still have to set up eclipse or whatever...

Nah I was actually trying to get the patches into the newest version of binutils and gcc and it just was being really fussy to the point where the patches were breaking the builds.  This is a non issue at the moment anyway because I now have Atmel Studio setup on Windows and I am using that.  I am not much of an IDE guy but Atmel Studio is working quite well.

[0xdeadbeef]

Watch out with a J-Link clones.  Most of the ones you see in the black boxes will be bricked by the latest Segger drivers.

Which can be easily fixed though