What if you just bought say 2-4 identical new machines at $400 each and then imaged from one to the next. Then just store the extra machines nearby.
Josh Luthman Office: 937-552-2340 Direct: 937-552-2343 1100 Wayne St Suite 1337 Troy, OH 45373 On Sat, Dec 23, 2017 at 1:21 PM, Robert <[email protected]> wrote: > Which would be the whole loss of industry that Microsoft was the direct > cause of with their moving target of proprietary OS's... I hope the > designers of that are headed to perdition of non-installing drivers for > eternity... > > On 12/23/17 9:56 AM, Forrest Christian (List Account) wrote: > >> There are lots of days that I just want to go buy all new stuff which >> works consistently on modern hardware. Unfortunately to do so I figure I'd >> have to triple my prices, at which point no one would buy anything, and the >> whole issue would be irrelevant. So I'm stuck with a chunk of older >> equipment, which still works extremely well, except for it being a pain to >> set up automation with it. >> >> >> >> >> >> On Dec 23, 2017 4:19 AM, "Lewis Bergman" <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> We delt with the same thing with radios. Programs requiring a >> specific window of CPU clock speed to communicate with a device. We >> had to use an intermediate program loop to slow the CPU down enough >> to make them work eventually. >> We ended up with a half dozen old computers around to program >> various ages of equipment. Unlike you, we eventually were able to >> decide it want worth it and just told the customers it was EOL. I >> know you don't have the luxury. >> >> >> On Sat, Dec 23, 2017, 3:19 AM Forrest Christian (List Account) >> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> The machine I am most worried about took about a week to rebuild >> last time we had a software issue even with carefully logged >> instructions. >> >> To give everyone an idea about my pain, there are on this >> machine two particular drivers for two different pieces of >> hardware. One won't install on anything after Windows 7. The >> other one requires windows 8.1 or 10. Fortunately the driver >> which requires windows 7 to install works just fine on the >> latter versions, it just won't install on them. I think it uses >> some functionality that isn't shipped with windows after 7. So >> a rebuild involves installing windows 7, installing this driver, >> and then upgrading to Windows 10, at which point everything else >> can get installed. >> >> A lot of the problem with much of the test equipment and >> physical machinery seems to be that it was designed with a >> specific age of computer in mind, and requires that system to run. >> >> On Dec 22, 2017 9:43 PM, "Josh Luthman" >> <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> How hard is it to just throw in a brand new PC? What if you >> had the files from the old one? >> >> >> Josh Luthman >> Office: 937-552-2340 <tel:(937)%20552-2340> >> Direct: 937-552-2343 <tel:(937)%20552-2343> >> 1100 Wayne St >> <https://maps.google.com/?q=1100+Wayne+St+Suite+1337+Troy,+ >> OH+45373&entry=gmail&source=g> >> Suite 1337 >> <https://maps.google.com/?q=1100+Wayne+St+Suite+1337+Troy,+ >> OH+45373&entry=gmail&source=g> >> Troy, OH 45373 >> <https://maps.google.com/?q=1100+Wayne+St+Suite+1337+Troy,+ >> OH+45373&entry=gmail&source=g> >> >> On Dec 22, 2017 5:01 PM, "Forrest Christian (List Account)" >> >> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> If I could put it on a VM, I would definitely consider >> it. Unfortunately, due to the fact that these machines >> are not really 'servers' or 'workstations' but instead >> 'automation/test platforms', that is not really a >> possibility. The OS on these machines need direct >> access to the hardware. Often, the drivers/software are >> doing horrible things under the surface to windows to >> make it work. Adding a VM layer just isn't practical >> in this case. National Instruments describes it best: >> >> "NI hardware is not supported on VMs due to >> communication challenges and the possibility of >> incorrect data.Virtual machines generally cannot access >> the PCI bus. As such, PCI- and PCIe-based instruments >> are inherently incompatible with VMs, as are MXI >> connected PXI and PXIe chassis. Modern VMs often allow >> access to USB ports (known as USB pass-through). Given >> the hosted nature of the VM, the variable speed of data >> transfer associated with USB pass-through may cause >> errors when communicating with DAQ devices." >> >> My experience is that even pci or pcie passthrough which >> is supported in some VM's still isn't enough to permit >> this stuff to run reliably - it's a lot like the >> USB-passthrough issue described above. >> >> In my experience, failures are usually going to be >> software or disk, not the underlying hardware. If the >> underlying hardware fails, I realize that I'm stuck >> unless I have identical hardware. Knowing this, I >> often actually have an identical motherboard and/or >> server setting as part of the spares. And by >> identical, I mean exact version, often bought at the >> same time, or from the same batch. >> >> On Fri, Dec 22, 2017 at 10:08 AM, Josh Luthman >> <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> Images for Windows between any two machines simply >> isn't dependable. DO NOT EXPECT IT TO WORK. >> >> Now if you can put all your stuff in a VM, you're >> set. Put it in Dropbox for a cheap smart (bit >> change only) backup. >> >> Josh Luthman >> Office: 937-552-2340 <tel:(937)%20552-2340> >> Direct: 937-552-2343 <tel:(937)%20552-2343> >> 1100 Wayne St >> <https://maps.google.com/?q=11 >> 00+Wayne+St+Suite+1337+Troy,+OH+45373&entry=gmail&source=g> >> Suite 1337 >> <https://maps.google.com/?q=11 >> 00+Wayne+St+Suite+1337+Troy,+OH+45373&entry=gmail&source=g> >> Troy, OH 45373 >> <https://maps.google.com/?q=11 >> 00+Wayne+St+Suite+1337+Troy,+OH+45373&entry=gmail&source=g> >> >> On Dec 21, 2017 11:06 PM, "Forrest Christian (List >> Account)" <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> Normally backups around here are file-based, >> I.E. I want to make sure I don't lose data. >> >> I have a couple of computers now which I really >> would hate to have to rebuild due to hardware >> failure. These are generally computers which >> run a machine, such as the automatic test system >> and the pick and place machine. These machines >> area all typically single-drive (non-mirrored) >> mostly off the shelf hardware running various >> versions of windows. I'd like to take a full >> image, and have at least a reasonable chance of >> putting it back on similar hardware (probably >> same motherboard, maybe different storage >> medium) and it just work. >> >> It used to be that the tool for this was Norton >> Ghost. But that's been discontinued (and I >> understand it was going downhill before that). >> So I'm looking for whatever the current modern >> version is. >> >> I know there's a few tools out there which do >> this (Macrium, Acronis, etc). But the reviews >> are all littered with failures. Unfortunately >> it's hard to tell how much of this is lack of >> clue and how much of this is broken software. >> >> I'm wondering if anyone has experience with >> using these modern equivalents? Preferably >> something which runs on a range of Windows >> OS'es, and can dump the image onto NAS. >> >> -- *Forrest Christian* >> /CEO//, PacketFlux >> Technologies, Inc./ >> Tel: 406-449-3345 | Address: 3577 Countryside >> Road, Helena, MT 59602 >> <https://maps.google.com/?q=35 >> 77+Countryside+Road,+Helena,+MT+59602&entry=gmail&source=g> >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> | >> http://www.packetflux.com >> <http://www.packetflux.com/> >> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/fwchristian> >> <http://facebook.com/packetflux> >> <http://twitter.com/@packetflux> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- *Forrest Christian* /CEO//, PacketFlux >> Technologies, Inc./ >> Tel: 406-449-3345 | Address: 3577 Countryside Road, >> Helena, MT 59602 >> <https://maps.google.com/?q=35 >> 77+Countryside+Road,+Helena,+MT+59602&entry=gmail&source=g> >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> | >> http://www.packetflux.com <http://www.packetflux.com/> >> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/fwchristian> >> <http://facebook.com/packetflux> >> <http://twitter.com/@packetflux> >> >> >> >> >>
