> I expect the GUI part and the machine part to communicate > over a network, so I hope the GUI is much less hardware > specific. Yet you say ReactOS is no option even there? > You seem to be closely watching the ReactOS progress. > Eric >
The Tyco QSP-2 does not use a network like one would typically expect between the real time head and the gui head. It uses a proprietary ISA memory card that exists in both heads and sadly there are ribbon cables that run from the back of one case to the back of the other. A Cat5 network cable between two network cards would be much better, but that's not how Tyco engineered their system. 50 wire ribbon cables. This wasn't the right way to do this even twenty years ago. Even a low voltage differential scsi cable would be better than two proprietary 50 wire cables... There is a tied reset button between the two heads as well, don't ask. I find the tied reset buttons to be especially obnoxious and wrong headed, but that's how the system was designed and fighting it is both time consuming and pointless. Yes, ReactOS will eventually (sooner than later I hope) be a realistic option on an NT based PPM QSP-2. ReactOS will not work on a Tyco QSP-2 because of HAL. Q-Soft written by Tyco goes to an ISA shared memory card directly without going through a driver. In Windows 9x, you can do this. In Windows XP, HAL does not allow this kind of access. XP is more secure than Windows 98se and HAL is a good thing, but without source code to Tyco's Q-Soft it will be hard to impossible to rework Q-Soft so that it will function fully in an NT environment. PPM owns the Tyco QSP-2 and the proprietary software it uses where I doubt that PPM is willing to release the source code to the original Q-Soft for a reasonable price if any. You are correct that the heavily ISA hardware side of a Tyco QSP-2 is getting harder to repair and/or replace these days. The Tyco machine my brother has is currently working, he actually has hardware that works without having to resort to total and crazy re-engineering. If he needs a second machine though or if it becomes impractical to keep the Tyco going because a part that fails is say too expensive to repair or replace... you get the idea. Even if he gets a PPM QSP-2 in the future, he would be well served to replace Windows 7 with something that is open and that will not reach end of life or become unlicensed because Microsoft is convinced that everyone can replace their OS and their computer for that matter every three years. If a computer runs a piece of equipment that is say $3k, buy the comparable piece of equipment with the new OS that is close to the same price. However, if your piece of equipment is worth $30k-$100k or more and comparable machines cost all of that, and replacing the computer alone involves expensive and difficult re-engineering, you can't just replace at that point. If you can for a reasonable cost repair the machine, you do. If you can't repair and replacements aren't available, that's not good for business and getting stuff done. A business can fail because a company cannot repair/replace their capital equipment. Obviously, I don't want my brother's business to fail. Fixing this 20 year old machine till it works has been a painfully long and painfully expensive process, his focus now is understandably getting a circuit into production so he can recoup the repair costs and then some. When he is solidly in the black, he can buy a second machine or replace the unit he has depending on what he needs and what the condition of this machine is in the future. I hope and pray that nothing breaks between now and say 2-3 years from now. > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
