| ??? 09/01/06 08:35 Read: times |
#123493 - No. Responding to: ???'s previous message |
But isn't that exactly what happens when you run a 16-bit MS-DOS application on NT, XP, et al anyhow?
No. Virtualization apps were created to _let_ programs that want to mess directly with the hardware (that includes operating systems) run without affecting the underlying host system. The virtualization application simulates a complete PC. You even need to install an operating system first. And any operating system is going to want to mess with the hardware, directly. WinNT/XP don't go through the lengths of actually making sure that an old program can mess with the hardware, they just terminate it if it attempts to do so. A virtualization application will catch all those attempts of messing with the hardware, and either map them to some really present piece of hardware in some way, or simulate the behavior of the device. You can also do things like simulating a network of several PCs running different operating systems on just a single machine, for example. Just make sure to bring a few GB of RAM if you want to have several virtual WinXP/2K machines. :) For DOS, 32 MB should be plenty. |
