XPost: comp.os.ms-windows.misc, alt.windows7.general, microsoft.   
   ublic.windowsxp.general   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   On Fri, 17 Nov 2023 13:36:41 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver"   
    wrote:   
      
   >In message  at Fri, 17 Nov   
   >2023 15:02:06, Steve Hayes  writes   
   >>Someone stole my laptop computer, and I'm beginning to be concerned   
   >>that it may be irreplaceable.   
   >>   
   >>It was running Windows 7, 32-bit, and it seems that most, if not all,   
   >>laptops sold nowadays with Windows installed are 64-bit, which means   
   >   
   >If you mean new machines, then yes - although a 32-bit version of   
   >Windows 10 does exist, I've never seen a new machine offered with it,   
   >and I don't think there _is_ a 32-bit version of Windows 11.   
   >   
   >As others have said, new machines have hardware for which '7 drivers do   
   >not exist. Virtual machines, though, emulate hardware for which -   
   >obviously - drivers do exist. There might be _some_ difficulty in   
   >"passing through" the host OS, so you can access e. g. USB ports   
   >(assuming the new machine even has any USB2 ones), though I think these   
   >are surmountable.   
      
   Yes, that is one of the things I want to know.   
      
   If I can find a 32-bit Win7 or Win-10 machine, that would be my   
   preference, but if I can't, I want to know what a Virtual Box can and   
   cannot do, preferably from someone who had used or is using one.   
      
   >When I lost my 7 machine, and replaced it (January this year IIRR), I   
   >found a shop selling several (second-hand) Windows 7 laptops - with 32   
   >bit as a definite option; when I asked him why, he said lots of people   
   >were in the same situation as you, wanting to run 32-bit software or   
   >hardware. You may find - if you can find such a dealer - such a machine   
   >still a step-up on your old one; I have been enjoying this one (compared   
   >to my old one, it has a bigger screen so proper keyboard, 4G [the 32-bit   
   >maximum] instead of 3G RAM, and I think a more powerful processor).   
      
   My wife's Win-11 64-bit laptop is far slower than my Win7 laptop was,   
   and my Win 7 laptop was in turn far slower than my Win-XP 32-bit   
   desktop (on which I'm typing this). I blame that on bloatware.   
      
   I might ask her if I can try out one of these virtual box things on   
   her computer, but I don't know if that would mean repartitioning her   
   hard drive or something of the sort, which might make things even   
   worse.   
      
   >   
   >>they won't run a lot of my software, and that means that they won't   
   >>allow me to access a lot of the research data I have collected over   
   >>the last 30 years.   
   >   
   >If/when you do get something that can run the old software, probably   
   >worth seeing if there is a way of converting the data (presumably   
   >involving getting an updated version of the software - maybe not the   
   >latest version, if that can't, but a transitional version, that can read   
   >the old and write the new; may need some digging to find).   
      
   That is possible with some of it, but not all. In some cases the new   
   version of just one program would be prohibitively expensive, about 5   
   times the cost of a new laptop. I investigated that possibility about   
   3-4 years ago, and concluded it wasn't worth it.   
      
   I do have a Windows version of one such DOS program, and have   
   converted some files, but not others, as the DOS version is more   
   powerful and has more functionality.   
      
   >>People have told me that it is possible to run a virtual machine on a   
   >>Win 64-bit computer that will emulate a 32-bit OS, but before I spend   
   >>money on a computer that might not work for me, I'd like to hear from   
   >>someone who has had experience in running such things, to find out how   
   >>well they work.   
   >   
   >As others have said, it's not an emulation of the OS, it's an emulation   
   >of a complete system - on which you can install whatever OS you like,   
   >including of course W7-32. You'll need a valid licence to do so - as far   
   >as MS are concerned, you're running two computers - though I believe the   
   >activation servers for 7 are getting fairly lax in their checking now.   
      
   And then the question is: how well does that complete system interact   
   with the host system?   
      
   Is it possible to have the programs on the emulator and the data on   
   the host system? Can one copy and paste between them?   
      
   >Does what you want to do involve accessing external hardware, or just   
   >old data (presumably on an external drive, CD, DVD, or memory stick)?   
      
   I used to copy my main data files (the ones I was working on every   
   day) between by desktop and laptop using a USB flash drive, and a   
   batch file, or rather set of batch files that copied everything with   
   one command -- dsk2flsh, flsh2lap, lap2flsh, flsh2dsk.   
      
   One advantage of that is that our electricity supplier has periodic   
   load shedding when demand exceeds supply and they would turn off the   
   power to certain areas in rotation, and when that happened I could   
   just transfer the files to the laptop and carry on working.   
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa   
   Web:  http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm   
   Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com   
   E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)