Windows 7 RC on the Lenovo S10e

A bit off topic from our normal posts on msgoodies, but though I'd share this anyhow, as some folks might find it useful.

I've found the Lenovo S10e to be pretty much the perfect netbook for me when travelling. So naturally, once the Windows 7 Release Candidate became available, I went and installed that on the box.

Now, this poses a few challenges, as the only official Lenovo-supported OS for this machine is Windows XP Home Edition. Most things work straight off the bat, but one thing was missing - hotkey support.

Now, hotkeys actually work for some functions - volume & brightness, for example. But you do not get the ability to turn wireless and bluetooth on or off, and you don't get any OSD indicators of the actual hotkey actions. So this is really something you want working on the machine under Windows 7 RC

Couple of things you should know about the software for the S10e. There is no standalone hotkey application - this functionality is part of the energy management application / driver set.

Initially, I tried installing the XP energy management drivers / application, but no joy - didn't work. In some cases, it would work initially, but after a reboot, OSD functionality was lost.

After some digging around on the web, what I found was this: You want Lenovo's Energy Management application, version 3.1.5.2. Once you install this, hotkeys & OSD function as intended - also after rebooting the machine. Furthermore, it is a native Vista application, so you won't need to run it in any sort of compatibility mode.

Being a sucker for eye candy, I think the OSD display is also a lot nicer than the included XP version as well ;-)

So, where to find Lenovo Energy Management 3.1.5.2?

Go here: http://consumersupport.lenovo.com/en/DriversDownloads/drivers_show_678.html