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Virtual PC 7 Preview?

Connectix

While reading all the comments, I wondered what had become of Connectix and it seems that their site is no longer active. I don't remember reading anything about them going out of business (though it would certainly make sense). Did I miss an announcement of them finally closing up shop?
 
SilentPanda said:
Why would it be illegal? I have VPC 5 (no sense in upgrading to 6 with version 7 coming out) and it came with Windows 2000 but I could install Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, DOS 6.1, whatever I want. You could buy VPC with or without the OS. Either way you can install whatever versions of Windows you own. But maybe I am misunderstanding you.
Click to expand...

Check the Microsoft EULA, and an attorney who knows something about IP licensing. I believe the EULA restricts your use of their OS to one 'computer' at a time. So if you have XP installed on your PC, you aren't allowed by the EULA to install it on VPC on your mac unless you go out and buy another copy of XP, or remove it first from your PC.

It's not illegal in the 'cops and robbers' sense, but it is violating the contract you agreed to when you installed the OS, and Microsoft could ostensibly sue you for that...
 
Re: Connectix

cshander said:
While reading all the comments, I wondered what had become of Connectix and it seems that their site is no longer active. I don't remember reading anything about them going out of business (though it would certainly make sense). Did I miss an announcement of them finally closing up shop?
Click to expand...
As far as I am aware, Connectix closed their site because they have no products to market there anymore. Connectix may still be around, or they may have faded away - this I do not know.
 
cshander said:
While reading all the comments, I wondered what had become of Connectix and it seems that their site is no longer active. I don't remember reading anything about them going out of business (though it would certainly make sense). Did I miss an announcement of them finally closing up shop?
Click to expand...

Microsoft bought them out.
 
windowsblowsass said:
:confused: umm there is no windows version it wold be pointless to emulate a windows machine on a windows machune
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the confused icon fits, because that's what you are.

Not pointless at all. Say you have 14 machines in your office doing server tasks, they're all used 5-15% max because on windows most apps don't get along.

You put a virtual software package on a machine (a la VMWare GSX/ESX or the forthcoming MS Virtual Server) and you have one computer running at 80 - 90% instead of 14 running at 5-15.

Great tool. VMWare does it better on Intel right now
 
Masao[RY] said:
If VPC7 has native card support, I may just buy it. Although on the article page, it says DirectX will not be supported?
Click to expand...

It said that Direct X is not emulated - it will run like it does on a PC!!! :)

This is great news for Apple.

Cheers,
JOD8FY
 
At last!

Well, while all this emulation technical discussion is just fascinating, I for one am thrilled to see item 1 on the change list: A new icon. Whew! I got to tell ya that I was just an emotional wreck about that previous icon. I couldn't stand the old icon and was afraid I wouldn't be able to run VPC 7 when it came out since it was so incompatible with my sense of style. But now that the icon has been changed I have something to hope for.

I suppose what would also really make me want to buy VPC 7 is actually needing VPC 7 for something.
 
I'll only be getting it if I can run Half-Life (the original) and CS on it. Mmmmm, still the biggest game being played on campus (though will probably change with HL2 :() I can play HL with VPC6, only at about 3fps.
 
Hmm... I wonder if it'd be possible to play FFXI (Final Fantasy 11) with this on my G4 1.5 Powerbook? That would rock my world.

The recommended settings for FFXI (beyond just basic) are:
-----
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP
CPU: Intel® Pentium®4 processor
Memory: 256 MB RAM
Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForceFX™ series graphics processing unit (AGP)
with 64MB of VRAM
Sound Card: DirectX®8.1 compatible sound card
Hard Drive Space: 6 GB free hard disk space
-----

Hmmm,... any guesses?
 
What versions of VPC7 will be released?

atszyman said:
I will buy VPC once I finally save enough for my powerbook, (I will however buy the non OS version and use the substantial discount I get on MS software through my college to get the OS), but I will not be getting rid of my Windows PC.
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Are you sure that VPC7 will be sold in version without a Windows OS? I think VPC7 will be the first non-free VPC update since MS took over VPC from Connectix (correct me if I'm wrong there, I'm not 100% sure on that), and I have the feeling that they won't be offering it for sale in a version that doesn't come with a Windows OS as well, which would raise the price quite a bit. Anyone have any info on what versions of VPC7 will be availble when it's released?

- JonYo
 
I am pretty sure that every VPC update has been a paid update. I know version 5 to version 6 definitely was.

Chris
 
barryp said:
Am I the only Jedi who sprung a massive lightsaber reading about VPC 7?

Ahh... no DirectX... I counted my Nabooian eggs before they hatched!


Damn the Empire.
Click to expand...


DirectX will not be emulated, but directly treated, as on a PC, by the graphic card!!!
Click to expand...

Ahh young Jedi. Much do you have to learn. For Microsoft will support directly Direct X it will. Yes yes. Direct X support.
 
You guys are going to be very upset if you're waiting for this update just to play PC games... just warning you.
 
chabig said:
I am pretty sure that every VPC update has been a paid update. I know version 5 to version 6 definitely was.

Chris
Click to expand...
I'm currently running VPC 6.1.0, and I only paid for version 6.0. The interim (fractional version number) updates are free. This is pretty much like Apple's policy on OSX: Pay for 10.2.x, get 10.2.0-10.2.8 free; pay for 10.3.x, get 10.3.0-10.3.3 (or whatever) free, etc.
 
Anything that brings sports games to Mac is welcomed!!!!
This is something Apple should have done something about years ago!
 
qubex said:
Actually, the possibility of emulating PowerPC machines under x86 was never in any doubt. Alan Turing proved this fact in the early 1930s and indeed the very notion of emulation and the Universal Turing Machine is the foundation of the mathematical edifice upon which computation rests. One could, if one felt so inclined, emulate a Cray supercomputer on a Commodore-64 with a stack of punched cards. What this emulator proves is that it is possible to emulate a PowerPC machine under x86 and achieve a reasonable degree of performance.
Click to expand...

Ok, since you chose to be pedantic: ;)

1. It is the Church-Turing *hypothesis*. Not a theorem.
2. Modern computers (and those of the foreseeable future) are deterministic finite automata. They do not have access to infinite tapes, and are not capable of simulating any other DFA. (the number of states that a C64 can be in is fewer than my g4 iBook, ergo a surjection onto its states is impossible.)

/not good for much, but there you have it.
 
chabig said:
RE: The talk about Virtual PC for Windows...I don't think Virtual PC for Windows emulates hardware at all. It's kind of a fancy uber-OS that lets you manage one or more than one operating system on a single machine.

Chris
Click to expand...
Wrong. It emulates hardware.

Why are people chiming in on this with "I don't think" bs when you can actually use the program and find out? Really, it's not that hard. You don't need to create a rumour or speculate on software that actually exists.
 
legion said:
Why are people chiming in on this with "I don't think" bs when you can actually use the program and find out? Really, it's not that hard. You don't need to create a rumour or speculate on software that actually exists.
Click to expand...

I would tend to agree, but this is a Mac forum. Most of use know and use Macs. There probably aren't many of us who run Virtual PC for Windows.

Chris
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
That is correct, but what you describe is not what SiliconAddict described. The feature would work in such a way that you wouldn't see the Windows interface at all - Windows applications would draw their graphics using Quartz (through VPC, of course). You couldn't tell just by looking at the style of the window graphics whether you were running a Mac OS X application or a Windows application.
Click to expand...
Then you miss the point of a Virtual PC. It is a virtual pc!

What you're looking for is a code translator (like FX!32 did for the Alpha chips to run x86 code.) The real point behind VPC is so you can have developers buy it and use it.
 
I hope their "improved USB support" will allow USB audio devices to work with VPC. The stock "emulated" soundblaster in VPC really hurts audio latency & stability in music software (ie Fruityloops), although after installing the DirectX 9 latency was improved becuase of the updated DirectSound drivers.

But still, an emulated Soundcard is never gonna compare to "real" hardware support, and I think if USB Audio works with VPC7, well, thats just as important as a direct harware support for GPU.

Just FYI, my USB Audio device (Ego-Sys U24A) was recognized with the ASIO drivers I installed in Win98 on VPC6. It however produced some horrible distortion when playing audio though it though, I figure it's the lack of bandwidth on the emulated USB ports in VPC. So, it's really close to being possible, hopefully Microsoft is working on this for VPC7.

I'm pretty much using VPC in order to use Fruityloops, which there is no equivelent of for Mac.
I'm running a highly optimized & tweaked version of Win98 SE on my 500mhz G3 (In Panther). It's quite useable so far, even being able to use a handful of VST plugins with the tracks I write in Fruityloops.....but it glitches here & there and latency is only useable at around 200ms, which is a long time in the audio world.

Anyways.........
 
Remember peeps, development and developers, developers, developers being able to work on the Mac using whatever means available is goooood. Not having options... not so good!
 
I surely hope that this will allow games for PC only to be played on Mac. I will only believe it when I see it, but if its true, this will finally convince me that I need a G5 :D
 
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