> Final goal to drop the VFP app on to an Ubuntu/RedHat box runing > in a VM and > an Asus laptop or the like.. The result will be the worlds lowest cost > system of its kind I hope???. >
heh-heh, lower yet would be to get a VFP to run under Linux via WINE/CrossOver Office so no Windows Guest OS is needed. Then you get into a significant cost savings, as each Guest machine that runs Windows is supposed to have its own Windows license. I am moving in that direction, but I am thinking of taking a little bolder stance than restricting myself to using VFP 5.0. The later VFP flavor EULAs are supposedly more restrictive where M$ says (in so many words) that VFP "may not" be used without a Windows OS, but the weasel wording can be easily interpreted as "may not be done" as permission is denied, whereby M$ is tying an app to an OS - which is apparently not legal. Or it may be a technical admonition indicating it "may not work" as expected without Windows. When M$ was asked for clarification on that point the response was a curt, "check with your legal counsel", so I am using the latter interpretation of the two. Hence I have no remorse whatever in moving into the total Ubuntu Linux world with harnessing WINE/CrossOver Office to get my compiled VFP apps to run under pure Linux as Host and Guest OS with VMware on the Host machinery. A few years back Ed Leafe and I were working on a project where we were using Red Hat Linux, and were running not only my VFP compiled apps under Linux via CrossOver Office, but ProComm for Windows v-4.8! It worked wonderfully, with only one minor issue with the ProComm app when it was set to run in 132 column mode instead of 80 column. It was a good enough result with VFP to whet my appetite for more, more, more of the same. Now, years later, I find myself in the process of lighting up several hundred commercial client dealerships with local TranslationEngine processes I need to run daily. Just to save hardware investment, footprint and electrical costs (not to mention managing 40+ separate machines), I am planning to run 2 to 4 VMware machines per "very beefy" Host machine. I tried out M$ Virtual PC, but the mapped disk connectivity between the VPC Guest and Host HDD consistently crumbled under sustained I/O load. VMware, on the other hand, runs GREAT! Well worth the cost of admission. I am preparing to stress test a single core P4 2.8Ghz Win XP Pro machine with 3Gb RAM with 3 concurrent VMware Guest Win 2k Pro SP4 640Mg RAM virtual machines to see how well things hold up (single virtual machine testing was perfect). In practice the TranslationEngine processes on each Guest machine will not be run concurrently, but serially based on a scheduler setting on each Virtual machine. If that works out well I already have a separate HDD on the same PC with Ubuntu and VMware for Linux installed on it with several Win 2k Pro SP4 Virtual machines set up. If that also works out my next step is to set up my VFP apps to run under CrossOver Office, then if that works out deploy multiple Linux Virtual guest machines using VMware and let the good times roll for the price of hardware and electricity! With 40+ physical machines being reduced to 10 or 15 Host machines it would represent a tremendous operational cost savings just to clip $9/month/physical machine with electrical costs alone, not to mention the cost of all those physical machines and the licensing of so many Win 2k Pro SP4 OSes (or Win XP Pro if I can't find any more Win 2k Pro OS packages). Gil > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]]on Behalf Of William Tormey > Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 5:51 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Who still using visual foxpro do developer they software? > > > > Hi TC Wong: > Stay with it, VFP has been good to me. > I am 70 and still working with VFP 5.0. I am currently porting a large > process control app we rely on from MS C5.1 and Clipper (Summer87) to VFP > and CommTerm 'C'. I wrote the low level VFP for the USB I/O to RS232 Load > Cell Controller device driver and used ComTerm to be able to seperatly > control hardware handshake in the case of the PLC. > > The rest is only a matter of relearning for me, because I had my > team write > tons of simple calls, that duped the functionality of the old way. For > example AML_Header_Lines() required a few params like table, screen, menu, > filter, valid etc to produce a standard one to many double window set, > complete with data entry edit etc. > > Actually it is based on Aml_List_Form, BaseClass Form, Modal, > with Init etc > carrying the translation code, but I dont need to be hot on those details, > and can work my way into them at my leisure. Shure helps to lash the stuff > out quickly. VFP is so flexible, and the 5.0 EULA is not restrictive! > Final goal to drop the VFP app on to an Ubuntu/RedHat box runing > in a VM and > an Asus laptop or the like.. The result will be the worlds lowest cost > system of its kind I hope???. > > > William Tormey > MD AML > > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
