It's trivially easy to set up a Windows XP virtual machine, and not a lot harder to set up a Windows 2000 system. It gets tricky when you want to install Windows 95 or Windows 98; at least it was for us, because both Alex and I have forgotten how to set up config.sys and autoexec.bat, and settings for sound and video boards; how to load some programs in "high" memory, and do all those things we once accomplished so easily.
Fortunately I never throw anything away, so I have Quarterdeck QEMM disks for memory management: We're still playing with it, but it is going to take study. I can't believe we used to do all that routinely. Windows has come a long way since Windows 98.
Some Random Observations
The terminology can be strange when you first begin. "Guest OS" = VPC speak for an installation of an OS inside of Virtual PC.
If ever there was an excuse for needing the latest cutting-edge mondo PC hardware, it's emulation. We installed Virtual PC on the Prescott, and discovered that VPC with a guest Win98 install will eat up the fastest machine in the house. On the other hand, VPC is a good Windows citizen, and throttles back its CPU usage instantly when you switch focus away from the guest OS.
Floppy drives and disks go bad. We weren't able to boot from the Win98 install CD so we needed a Win98 boot floppy. That led to attempts to format and install system files on several blanks. Alas, using multiple computers all said the disks were bad even though they came from a never-opened 50-pack of Maxell floppies. I can only conclude that the pre-formatting goes south over time. We longed for a bulk eraser, but mine has long since vanished.
Fortunately I never throw anything away, so we found a Win98 boot floppy still in its shrinkwrap, which solved this problem. The floppy gets Windows 98 started, then the installation CD kicks in.
2008 International Mathematica Conference Dr. Dobb's interviews Wolfram Research's Theo Gray, co-founder and Director of User Interfaces, and Roger Germundsson, Director of Research and Development, about the upcoming 2008 International
Mathematica Conference.
How Do You Do Nightly Builds and Tests when there is No Overnight? Software Production in a Geographically Distributed Environment
Attend this Webcast and find out how to overcome common build-test-deploy challenges that affect all members of a distributed team, including:
<ul>
<li> Communication difficulties, because of time-zone and cultural differences</li>
<li> Workflow challenges, like lack of documented procedures and build and test handoff problems</li>
<li> Slow build and test cycles, broken builds, and other factors that hamper distributed team productivity</li>
</ul>
Thursday, September 25, 2005 " 11am PT / 2pm ET
</p>
In this volume of Best of BYTE, we explore the emergence of some heuristic algorithms. Although we have only scratched the surface of this intriguing subject, we hope we've suggested the potential of the synthesis of heuristics and algorithms.
Understand C/C++ code in less time. A new team member ? Inherited legacy code ? Get up to speed faster with Crystal Flow for C/C++. Code-formatting improves readability. Flowcharts are integrated with code browser. Export flowcharts to Visio.
