Run legacy apps in Windows RT

[HansTWN]

Had to happen sooner or later. First the jaibreak for the Surface RT and now a beta version of an emulator. RT owners might enjoy a full fledged computer before long.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2095934

[WillysJeepMan]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Had to happen sooner or later. First the jaibreak for the Surface RT and now a beta version of an emulator. RT owners might enjoy a full fledged computer before long.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2095934

That has some interesting possibilities.

[kevinp]

Running an emulator takes a bit of CPU power. Then running something inside that emulator only adds taxation on the CPU. From what I've read, most of the RT tablets have very slow CPUs. Not to mention space to 'install' these Windows programs.

[pl001]

This obviously won't turn a Surface into a Core i7 desktop. But it could still be very useful. The Surface RT may not be the latest and greatest but the quad-core 1.4 Tegra 3 CPU is no slouch either. It should be perfectly capable of running all sorts of legacy apps.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by pl001

This obviously won't turn a Surface into a Core i7 desktop. But it could still be very useful. The Surface RT may not be the latest and greatest but the quad-core 1.4 Tegra 3 CPU is no slouch either. It should be perfectly capable of running all sorts of legacy apps.

So very, very many variables here. I'm sure it will be possible but you might need to devote your entire RT to it to make it practical and if you do that then what's the point of buying an RT?

I'm sure there will be some people who have an 'essential' legacy app that won't be ported but I suspect those will be dead, like the legacy apps that aren't being ported to Windows 7.

[Edward M. Grant]

Originally Posted by kevinp

Running an emulator takes a bit of CPU power. Then running something inside that emulator only adds taxation on the CPU.

While true, if your app uses 1% of the CPU time on a PC and spends the rest of the time waiting for the user to do something, doesn't much matter that it takes 10% of the CPU time when running in an emulator. Plus, you probably only have to emulate the app, while calls into Windows itself can be passed directly to the native OS and run at full speed.

On the other hand, if it's heavily CPU-bound, you will be screwed.

[SeaKing]

Video editing probably would be worthless, but word or excel might be ok.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

Video editing probably would be worthless, but word or excel might be ok.

No, those wouldn't work in the emulator, they are too demanding. There is no need, though. The Surface RT includes native Office 2013.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

So very, very many variables here. I'm sure it will be possible but you might need to devote your entire RT to it to make it practical and if you do that then what's the point of buying an RT?

I'm sure there will be some people who have an 'essential' legacy app that won't be ported but I suspect those will be dead, like the legacy apps that aren't being ported to Windows 7.

What do you mean by "devote your entire RT to it"? It's just an emulator. You don't have to devote anything you don't want to, and with a 64 GB sd card there's plenty of space. The point is running simple legacy Windows apps without spending the money on full blown Windows 8 and associated hardware.

The difference between Windows 7 and RT is that Windows 7 can run most legacy apps just fine. So can Windows 8. Windows RT cannot run them at all,and the RT app store right now isn't that great.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by pl001

What do you mean by "devote your entire RT to it"? It's just an emulator. You don't have to devote anything you don't want to, and with a 64 GB sd card there's plenty of space. The point is running simple legacy Windows apps without spending the money on full blown Windows 8 and associated hardware.

The difference between Windows 7 and RT is that Windows 7 can run most legacy apps just fine. So can Windows 8. Windows RT cannot run them at all,and the RT app store right now isn't that great.

Yes, with 128GB storage that would be the least of my worries. I will try it once they have taken this a little further.

[Edward M. Grant]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

No, those wouldn't work in the emulator, they are too demanding. There is no need, though. The Surface RT includes native Office 2013.

I used to run Word in an emulator on a 40MHz SPARC. If a multi-core, 1GHz-ish ARM can't handle it, either Word is using a ton of CPU these days or it's not a very good emulator.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Edward M. Grant

I used to run Word in an emulator on a 40MHz SPARC. If a multi-core, 1GHz-ish ARM can't handle it, either Word is using a ton of CPU these days or it's not a very good emulator.

Currently the emulator only runs at the equivalent of a 90MHZ Pentium 3. So at this point there are few practical uses for it, except for those who want to run really simple programs or DOS games, etc. That will get better over time as the developers improve this. And it depends what version of Word we are talking about, Word 2010 demands a 1 GHZ processor, some really old versions would probably run. And a 1 GHZ ARM is not the same as a 1 GHZ Intel processor. Anyway, that is moot -- the native ARM version of Office 2013 runs great.

[teh603]

Originally Posted by Edward M. Grant

I used to run Word in an emulator on a 40MHz SPARC. If a multi-core, 1GHz-ish ARM can't handle it, either Word is using a ton of CPU these days or it's not a very good emulator.

Now that you mention it, I've got an article somewhere about Word 6 for the Mac using a ton of CPU on older (pre-PowerPC) hardware. I *know* that Word '03 ran slowly on a 2006 Mac Mini 2,1. So I'd make a case that Word is to blame, not the emulator.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by Edward M. Grant

I used to run Word in an emulator on a 40MHz SPARC. If a multi-core, 1GHz-ish ARM can't handle it, either Word is using a ton of CPU these days or it's not a very good emulator.

I agree.
My old desktop had a 13GB hard drive with Windows XP and full Office 2000 and less than 1GB Ram, and had a 500MHz cpu.
Someone said that same system would run Office 2010.

People get mixed up from the PR they use to sell new machines.

Guys, you don't need a 180 mph car to go to the store.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

I agree.
My old desktop had a 13GB hard drive with Windows XP and full Office 2000 and less than 1GB Ram, and had a 500MHz cpu.
Someone said that same system would run Office 2010.

People get mixed up from the PR they use to sell new machines.

Guys, you don't need a 180 mph car to go to the store.

But the emulator now is a 90 MHz Pentium 3 -- that was state-of-the-art about 10 years before the system you describe above.