Hardware Windows emulator

[john17]

I'm sure this will show my ignorance on the subject but why not emulate Windows for example like the Linux Windows emulator "Wine" dose using software but instead use hardware.
 
I'll explain, For purposes of explanation picture a robot operating a computer running Windows (typing on the keyboard and making sense of what's on the monitor), now your controlling that robot using a separate computer running a non Windows OS, so in effect your emulating windows but using hardware instead of software to do it.
 
The keyboard part is simple they're called "keyboard to rs232 converter".The video part is over my head but I guess that you would have to get or make some kind of AGP card with a high speed data output like USB or Ethernet port.
There would be two separate computers one with Windows that would have the keyboard to RS232 converter and the AGP data-video card, the other with your choice of computer platforms and operating systems that would send and receive data to the other computer.
 
Since I didn't include mouse support this would be intended for macro friendly applications like, spreadsheet, word processing ect.
 
You could manipulate, input, output, and automate Windows and Windows data using your choice of operating systems without needing to know any more about Windows than that particular windows application or applications you're running at the time.
 
Please don't tell me this already exists.

[Aloone_Jonez]

I don't understand, you must be mad, what would be the point of this?

A non-Windows machine controlling a Windows machine?

Can't this be done by the remote desktop interface?

It might but there again I don't know if MS have made the protocol public.

[toadlife]

huh?

:confused:

[john17]

what is normaly happening is your forced to use a specific windows application, not because you love windows but becuase it's only availible in Windows . My idea allows you to, as I wrote;
 
"manipulate, input, output, and automate Windows and Windows data using your choice of operating systems without needing to know any more about Windows than that particular windows application or applications you're running at the time"
 
I think a remote desktop interface would be under the control of Windows so you would'nt have the same benifits you would as I discribe above.
 
Your probably more familiar with Linux Windows emulator "Wine" than I am but in case your not then check this out,
 
 
http://www.winehq.com/site/why#benefits

[cymon]

So you have a serial keyboard and a USB graphics card, using the same machine, to run Windows. How is this different then setting up Win2K on an old PII/III, which would be a fraction of the cost, and have better performance. USB doesn't have anywhere enough bandwidth to run a PCI video card, let alone AGP. Not to mention that you're sharing RAM, hard drive space, and CPU power between two (!!!) OS'es. You NEED a mouse to run windows, so missing one is kind of a problem.

[john17]

I should of put more emphisis on as I wrote;

"Since I didn't include mouse support this would be intended for macro friendly applications like, spreadsheet, word processing ect."

Part of my Idea being with less graphics and more digital data (numbers and words) that there would'nt be that much high bandwidth video.

[cymon]

Doesn't matter what kind of apps they are, USB doens't have enough bandwidth for real time video. You need a lot of bandwidth for graphics, because you have the CPU transfer, etc. If you have no mouse support, then you might as well run DOS on a 80486. You can't have hardware emulation of software, period.

Besides, you still need a copy of windows, so it's pointless in the first place.

[Annorax]

This plan seems inferior to simply buying a low-end box to run Windows and the one legacy app on.

[john17]

I wrote;
"you would have to get or make some kind of AGP card with a high speed data
output like USB or Ethernet port"
 
let me reword that the objective is to only extract the raw data being sent to the video port, not the video card output port. It might need a specially
built card if they aren't available,"AGP to USB" or "AGP to Ethernet" that also has the regular video output to a regular monitor.
 
you would setup your computer to run on the lowest resolution and lowest # of colors or monochrome

[mobrien_12]

Can't  you do this with a windows box, linux or *BSD, VNC and ethernet?

[Pathos]

I'm thinking of buying a second cpu and connecting it to the my mouse keyboard and screen using an adapter so I can swap between both. the whole thing would cost about $150USD

There has been rumours about dual processor pcs that can simultaneously run two operating systems and switch between them. Mainly between MacOSX & Windows.

the whole point of wine is you don't have to buy extra hardware.

[noob]

An easier way to say it would be using say linux to skin windows so all the program outputs are tranfered to the linux box and the controls are sent to the windows one. Like a hardware version of wine.

[Jack2000]

i have yet to find
a hardware emulator
an emulator that will emulate a system on
pure hardware level with bios and all...

[WMD]

Those exist.  They used to put them in Macs so they could run Windows 3.1.  Obviously, those cards won't work in any PC.

[piratePenguin]

Sounds like a cool idea.

What if you just had a program (a server) running on the Windows machine listening on a network port for instructions to start programs that sends the contents of any windows back? The client could send mouse/keyboard events to the server which could generate the events for the application.

Kinda reminds me of an idea I once had to have a program running alongside an X server which listens for higher-level drawing operations (e.g. button with title 'hello world!', like GTK+) than the X server does (with Xlib). The server would use Xlib to have the buttons etc. drawn. This would have the advantage of graphical programs running over the network using less bandwidth. Handier I think than makeing an Xlib extension.