Netbeans, Subversion and Windows 7 64-bit…

With the release of Windows 7 this week coinciding with the end of my Open University courses it seemed like a good time to carry out a clean install on my system. After running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor it reported that my scanner, a Canon CanonScan LiDE 30 was the only thing which wouldn’t work with a 64-bit install, as I use my scanner roughly every couple of months I decided to go down the 64-bit route.

In the past I’ve always downloaded the ‘All supported technologies bundle’, which for Netbeans 6.7.1 is a weighty 302MB. However, on a recent Java Posse webcast it was recommended that you install the bundle with only the features you currently require as not only is the download smaller, but the IDE start up time is quicker as it has fewer dependencies to check. I therefore opted for the JavaFX bundle, I know I don’t use JavaFX but I intend to have a look at it in the next couple of weeks…

A minor issue is that the built in Netbeans Subversion integration doesn’t work in a 64-bit install. It helpfully provides a link to the Subversion client software at CollaNet, however the most recent version for Windows is v1.5.5 which isn’t a lot of help if you are using Subversion 1.6.x.

All is not lost though, slik subversion provide a free command line Subversion package in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. This installed without any problems and all that is required is to set the ‘Path to the SVN executable File:’ in Netbeans to C:\Program Files\SilkSvn\bin .

As an aside, at this moment in time there are no 64-bit drivers for my Hewlett-Packard 2600n printer, although we are told that “Print drivers for your product will be available for download from HP when Windows 7 is launched worldwide.”, I wonder when this will actually happen…