Running 95 Apps on XP

[Darthshearer]

Ello

Whats the best way of running a Windows 95 application on XP?

My boss has an audio making thingy (Cubase) that he uses at home. Hes got an old version thats meant for running on Windows 95. Hes tried installing it and running it as '98 on his XP SP2 machine at home but it says things are missing etc.

Now, whats the best way of getting this to run on XP? Hes been told that he needs to partition his drive. Have XP on one partition and 95/98 on the other.

Surley this is a wrong way of doing it?

TIA

 

[old.Osy]

Well he can also try and run it as Win95 - XP Allows him to do that.

"Run this program in compatibility mode with..." and he selects Win 95.

Failing that, Virtual Box?

 

[Darthshearer]

Well he can also try and run it as Win95 - XP Allows him to do that.

"Run this program in compatibility mode with..." and he selects Win 95.

Failing that, Virtual Box?

Hes tried doin the run program in compatibility mode thingy apparently and to no avail.

 

[Bob007]

You can use a virtual machine to do the job. Install Windows 95 on it and install Cubase within the VM. But this might have issues with sound support. It should work but you'd have to do a test on different applications for the VM's and find the best 1 to suit his needs.

Virtual PC
VM Ware
Virtual Box

You can also go the dual boot route, but this may have driver issues. Getting newer hardware to run on old system may prove problematic.

Another option could be to find some older hardware and build a box just for Cubase. This will solve both driver issues in dual boot option and any sound problems in virtualisation option.

Final option would be to update softare. Can prove costly tho.

 

[old.Osy]

If he has an above average machine at home, he can try installing Win 95 in Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007, or Sun's Virtual Box. (2 GB RAM, enough disk space, decent processor)

These virtualisation programs are quite user friendly, and it saves him the hassle to keep 2 active OSes, and the additional gimmicks needed to actually install 95 on his PC .
(bear in mind Win 95 is ancient, it will surely not work well on his machine due to drivers, HW incompatibility, etc - Virtualisation solves that problem)

Edit: Bob sucks

 

[Chilly]

dual boot to '95?

 

[ford prefect]

Running a virtual system has its uses, but if you think you are going to get a lot of use out of this old app, run it on a dedicated machine, you will have a lot less problems with drivers ect. You should be able to pick something up on ebay for a reasonable price if you don't have old spares lying around.

I keep a couple of old machines around, one for a dedicated mp3 box and one for running dos games and 95/98 games that have never been updated for xp. Mine are made up of parts that would otherwise be taking up loft space of woould have been binned long ago.

 

[Bodhi]

You can use a virtual machine to do the job. Install Windows 95 on it and install Cubase within the VM. But this might have issues with sound support. It should work but you'd have to do a test on different applications for the VM's and find the best 1 to suit his needs.

Virtual PC
VM Ware
Virtual Box

You can also go the dual boot route, but this may have driver issues. Getting newer hardware to run on old system may prove problematic.

Another option could be to find some older hardware and build a box just for Cubase. This will solve both driver issues in dual boot option and any sound problems in virtualisation option.

Final option would be to update softare. Can prove costly tho.

No. No. No. No. No.

I fail to see why so many people are putting virtualisation forwards here. It's not a cure all, and it definitely wouldn't work in this instance. Virtualisation is great for server apps and admin work, it would be fucking shocking for Cubase however. Cubase needs dedicated hardware access to a sound card for DSP and input reasons. In fact the thought of running something so sound intensive on a VM has just made me shit myself. Fruity Loops and various sound editors have issues running on my laptop due to the lack of line-in port, running it thorugh a VM would just take the piss. None of the sounds you would make on it would sound anything like the genuine article. Try running AutoCAD on a VM or Thin Client you will see what I mean.

Your boss has two possible solutions (if compatibility mode isn't playing ball)

1) Upgrade to a newer version of Cubase/Reason/Fruity Loops etc
2) Build an old Windows 98 PC as a dedicated music creation station.

This is one time when VM's just will not work. Well they will, just very very badly.

 

[Darthshearer]

Thanks for the help guys It looks like a stand alone dedicated box is the answer

 

[Jupitus]

I read the thread title and thought to myself 'Gonna need lots of RAM'




































/coat

 

[Bahumat]

I read the thread title and thought to myself 'Gonna need lots of RAM'

/coat

Haha yeah me too! Oh and Hey! That's my coat...here's yours!

 

[Kryten]

Expanding on Bodhi's post a little it's worth noting that modern virtual machine software (certainly VMWare, almost certainly Virtual Box) can give a VM dedicated access to any single piece of hardware. Very easy with USB stuff, slightly less so with PCI but still doable.

However I will concur with thought that a dedicated box will be better. Mini-ITX system, plenty of ram, OS of choice and a KVM to run on the same key/mouse/screen as the existing machine.