[dba-Tech] Virtual PC - Concerning Drivers

John Bartow john at winhaven.net
Tue Oct 21 13:36:53 CDT 2008


Thanks Gustav.

It is amazing to see how well NT4 runs on equipment that XP wouldn't even
start on.

John B.


-----Original Message-----
From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2008 3:44 PM
To: dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Virtual PC - Concerning Drivers

Hi John

We've run several virtual WinNT machines for special purposes (like a small
MSDE database or mail server) with zero issues using VMware Virtual Server.
Not sure about Virtual PC or if it even supports Windows NT 4.

VMware emulates a couple of common SCSI controllers:
  ddb.adapterType = "buslogic" or
  ddb.adapterType = "lsilogic"
which NT4 supports out of the box.

NT4 is great for many closed or firewall protected circuit tasks as it runs
in 64 or even 32 MB ram, no AD issues, no IE 5/6/7 issues, a tiny footprint,
no activation troubles, rapid boot, and no update troubles(!) ...

/gustav

>>> john at winhaven.net 20-10-2008 21:15 >>>
I have customer with a specialized machine that is run by a NT4 PC about 8
years old now. It all works wonderfully but given the age I have advised
them to budget for a replacement. The cost is high enough that they would
have to get a loan for it. So they wanted alternatives. The PC has numerous,
older SCSI connectors which are probably not supported with drivers for
newer Windows and the software is out of date so would probably not run on
newer Windows.

My question is this: could this be done through a Virtual PC running on a
new WXP, Server 2003/2008 or Vista or does the platform hosting the Virtual
PC have to support the hardware too? 

John B


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