Re: 64 or 32 bit Win 7

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from "Kari Eveli"  on
Mon, 10 May 2010 21:18:07 +0300


> Incidentally, virtual machines are more than emulation.

Technically, I think virtual "machines" are ONLY emulation! VPC
itself is emulating a hardware CPU architecture: 80386 real
mode, x86 protected mode, whatever. It's a virtual computer
(machine) with no operating system. Then on top of that you
install an OS (not part of VPC). Obviously, VPC is no longer as
versatile as it was when Connectix owned it (originally it was
designed for Mac hardware, i.e. Motorola processors). Nowadays
it's essentially truncated to a fancy kind of WoW (Windows on
Windows).

> sometimes it is better to isolate the legacy system, and to have
> only some kind of gateway to the host system. ... I would be more
> worried about adequate isolation and protection, and potential
> guest intrusion into the host system

I'm not concerned about that. If we were talking about wildly
different file systems, then yes, absolutely - Linux, Amiga,
Commodore 64, OS X... But again, we're talking about WoW: an
unfortunately narrow range of hosts and guests, with well-known
methods. In its Virtual DOS Machine, WinNT4 disabled the
capacity of DOS to talk directly to hardware -- DOS programs
that manipulate hardware directly simply don't work under NT's
VDM. That was the big danger, and it's eliminated.
(Fortunately, XyWrite isn't one of those programs.) I think we
are entitled to assume that VPC thoroughly understands the file
system of its host, and will not permit a guest to wreck it. I
confess, I have no experience with VPC, but I use VMware every
day, it writes all over my Vista and XP file systems, and I've
never had a hint of a problem.

> Take VirtualPC, the guest operating system can use physical
> ports (LPT1:) and networked printers normally (printer spooling
> is managed by the guest system!). I use my local printer inside
> VirtualPC just like I would use it on the host system. When I
> want to make PDF files, I print PS files to FILE: and pick them
> up with Adobe Distiller on the host system from a shared folder.

Right! You're not isolating your capacity to write to the host
file system, because otherwise Distiller couldn't "pick them up".

For PS printing, I use TYP (also POSTGHOST for formatted
viewing, as well as XY2PDF); for PCL printing, TY; for network
printing, TYN. All from within XyWrite, adhering to Xy4's
native TY|PRINT syntax. The PS tools are especially nice,
because you can get any printer, even a cheap WinPrinter or a
proprietary interface like a Canon photo printer, to print
directly with a single XyWrite command. One of our basic
principles has always been to use open source or freeware tools
(unlike Acrobat Pro).

But to do these things, we need access to apps running on the
host (I suppose you could install them on the guest too, but
that's duplicative. I don't intend to put anything in the guest
except XyWrite and a few old DOS tools).

All this is conjectural. We need to acquire some 64-bit boxes
and start experimenting. I suspect it will all go smoothly.

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------