Solved trying to have 2 PCs on one monitor and have them share a harddrive

[ricobico]

I hope this is the right section and my title makes sense.

I have a 16bit program that is crucial to my business and there are no alternatives for it and it is keeping me from going to 64 bit OS. I use this program for design along side photoshop and illustrator, but of course PS and AI (along with everyhting else) lags because my RAM is limited to 4gb.

So my idea, if possible, is to build a small,simple PC to house only the 16 bit program and update my current PC to 64bt with tons of RAM. The idea is to design on the 16bit, save the files, then switch to the 64bit photoshop and continue my work.

Can anyone offer advice as to how realistic this would be and what I would need to A) share a monitor and B)share a drive for accessing files from both machines?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Barman58]

Assuming you are looking at running the Same OS (different Versions obviously), you should have no issues in sharing the two machines, a simple Crossover Network cable should be all you need if you don't already have a local network set-up (assuming your existing and new system will have an ethernet port which is the default).

Sharing a monitor (and possibly a keyboard and mouse), can be achieved with a basic KVM switch, or what I would do is use the Network above to "drive" the 16Bit software on it's 32Bit system in a remote session in the Main system, This could be done using built in remote access software or Teamviewer that is free for personal use

 

[ricobico]

Thanks Barman. I was just looking at KVM switches.

As far as the networking with the crossover cable and using teamviewer, do you know how smooth the transition is? For example, say I am working in 64 bit photoshop and need to access 16 bit program to make a quick change; save that change then go back to PS and work with the newly-changed file. Would that be easier with a KVM swtich or the networking/teamviewer option?

 

[samuria]

No need for all that just run 16 bit on a virtual PC with free virtual box so both run on the same PC at the same time so use same disk an monitor so flipping between them is instant

 

[Barman58]

If your two computers are going to be located next to each other, on same Desk, the KVM would likely have a slight speed advantage, but not much in my experience, If the computers will be at a longer distance then the cable to use the KVM are quite large and cumbersome, so need work to run, this is less of an issue with the network option, which also has an option for Wireless.

I do run an internal network of 1 Gigabit, but I have at times forgotten that I am running a "remote" Teamviewer session to another system on the local network, (clicked to open the DVD and only then remembered when the local tray did not open), so the delay is negligible).

The other thing is that you can run the remote Teamviewer session as a minimised application in the Main machine and thus swapping to the 16 bit application is virtually instant. The file would always be stored on the Main system and accessed over the network, so would not need copying/moving between computers.

 

[ricobico]

thanks Samuria and Barman.

Samuria: How seamless is virtualbox?I have looked into these simulators before - for this same issue - but it seemed cumbersome.

Barman: I like the idea of the networked machine with teamviwer. I assume that whatever time I lose in the switching back and forth I will more than gain back by having PS and AI (and others) working on 64 bit platform.

 

[dg1261]

ricobico, are you talking about an old DOS program? If so, does it need to access any hardware ports directly? If not, then I'd suggest taking a look at DosBox. There's even a portable version if you just want to take a look without "installing" it to your computer.

DosBox is like a lean, stripped down alternative to a full virtualization program (such as VirtualBox, Virtual PC, or VMWare). If all you need is to run a simple DOS program, those full-blown programs are overkill--and yes, cumbersome to setup. DosBox lets you run DOS programs in a window on your 64-bit Windows machine, and even reads/writes to NTFS file systems (something DOS normally can't do).

I use DosBox when I need to retrieve information from archived, 30-yr old WordPerfect, Lotus 123, and QA4 files.

DosBox may not work, however, if your 16-bit program need to access hardware ports directly--such as serial or parallel ports. I'm talking about programs that read/control hardware devices like, for instance, proprietary sensors, plotting printers, etc. But if that's not what you require, DosBox may work fine.

 

[ricobico]

dg1261, no it's not a dos program.

 

[samuria]

As long as you have the ram virtual box is fast and well tested most websites offered by host now have lots of virtual PC running on one box all taking a heavey load it's now used a lot and come a long way since it started

 

[ricobico]

As long as you have the ram virtual box is fast and well tested most websites offered by host now have lots of virtual PC running on one box all taking a heavey load it's now used a lot and come a long way since it started

Thank you. It's been a couple years since I looked into the virtual box configuration. it would obviously be the easiest option as long as it is stable and relatively quick.

I probably don't have the RAM now (4gb) because I am only running 32bit windows 7, but I plan on going to at least 16 for the new setup. Would that suffice?

 

[johnhoh]

yes 16GB will be plenty. And since you just want to run the one 16-bit app, it would not surprise me if your current machine could handle it as well. I would try setting up virtual box now before spending any money on anything.

 

[samuria]

What o/s are you wanting to run as virtual old version like 2k 98 would only need 512 ram

 

[ricobico]

I guess I would run windows 7 because I have the discs, but I think the program was originally designed for windows 95.

I can set up the virtual box on my current 32 bit system?

 

[ricobico]

yes 16GB will be plenty. And since you just want to run the one 16-bit app, it would not surprise me if your current machine could handle it as well. I would try setting up virtual box now before spending any money on anything.

Thank you. I might do that. or better yet, maybe I'll set it up on my home PC running 64 bit and try it there first since that will give me a better idea of how it will work.

 

[samuria]

Check this video How to Use VirtualBox (Beginners Guide) - YouTube

 

[ricobico]

Thank you. I will play around with it and report back.

 

[file3456]

I never cared for Virtual Box, it was hit and miss for me. An alternative would be VMware Workstation Player.

Download VMware Workstation Player | VMware

Once you have a virtual machine going, your host, i.e your computer can be 64 bits and you can use more RAM. The guest is the virtual machine.

 

[johnhoh]

win7's xp-mode is also an option

Windows XP Mode - Install and Setup

edit: not. just noticed you are on w7 home

 

[ricobico]

Johnhoh: that would be ideal if I can find a copy of 7 pro...of course only if it works well.

so many options now. Thank you all for helping me figure out a way to do this...

 

[ricobico]

Update.


I finally built a new system with 64-bit windows 10, running VMware player and windows 7 32-bit as the guest OS.


there was a lot of learning to get the folders to share across the guest/host divide, but I finally nailed it after many updates from windows and successfully loading VMtools. it also was tricky to get the OS to fill the screen - some sort of screen resolution issue that a lot of other folks seem to struggle with. Finally got that as well. Still can't get the task manger to work, but that is a minor issues that probably has an resolution.



But for now, everything has been working well for 2 days and I am encouraged that this is the answer to being stuck with a 32-bit OS.


thanks to everyone for giving me advice and helping out. I literally could not have done it without you!