macOS Visual Web Developer Express on Virtual PC?

[Thom_Edwards]

Has anyone out there tried to install Visual Web Developer Express (including SQL Server Express) on Virtual PC 7? I've found myself needing to do some lightweight .net stuff and I don't feel like shelling out the cash for the full blown Visual Studio.

I don't have Virtual PC, and I don't have a PC, either. I know this way is less expensive than Visual Studio and a new PC, so I'm thinking about going that route. Has anyone successfully installed VWD on VPC? And if not, if someone has VPC and wouldn't mind giving VWD installation a whirl on it, I would be most grateful! It's a free download at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/.

And while on this subject, I've got a performance question. I know there have been many threads on Virtual PC performance, but I'm curious as to which would be best. Run VPC on my G5 iMac (1.8 with 512GB), or get a cheapo Pentium III at around 600 MHz and use Remote Desktop Connection from my Mac? I don't want to have to muck around with a KVM or second monitor/keyboard on my desk. I just want the iMac on my desk and possibly a PC box underneath (if that would be *much* better performance wise). I'd like to go with VPC, but tell me if that is a mistake.

And as a side note, I don't plan to use Windows for anything but this .net development. No games, no web surfing, nothing. And I've tried mono--not quite *there* for what I'm needing.

 

[janey]

And while on this subject, I've got a performance question. I know there have been many threads on Virtual PC performance, but I'm curious as to which would be best. Run VPC on my G5 iMac (1.8 with 512GB), or get a cheapo Pentium III at around 600 MHz and use Remote Desktop Connection from my Mac? I don't want to have to muck around with a KVM or second monitor/keyboard on my desk. I just want the iMac on my desk and possibly a PC box underneath (if that would be *much* better performance wise). I'd like to go with VPC, but tell me if that is a mistake.

I think the cheapo Pentium 3 would be significantly cheaper and faster than VPC on your Mac. I picked up my small form factor P3 800mhz machine for $90ish about 2-3 years ago (and it's running windows xp, visual studio 2003 and visual studio 2005 for school lol)...they should be drop dead cheap by now. Or spend a few more and get a slightly better Pentium4 or something..

Also, if you're in a uni or something you might wanna check if your school has an agreement with MSDNAA (MSDN Academic Alliance, whatever) to provide Visual Studio at a significantly lower price (mine was free). Look here to see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/academic/

 

[ReanimationLP]

If you go for the Pentium III, which would be faster, dont go for the Katami core Pentium III, where the cache RAM only ran at half the speed of the processor and had a 100 MHz bus speed.

Go for a Coppermine core Pentium III, where the cache isnt backsided, is built into the chip itself, and is at full speed, not to mention the faster 133MHz bus.

A Coppermine based Celeron is not a bad choice if its not an OEM machine, because on most boards that are not built by OEMs or Intel, you can just change the bus from a 66 MHz to 100 MHz, and go from lets say a 667 MHz to a 1 GHz machine, for nothing. Its very stable and doesnt run much hotter at all, if maybe an extra degree or two. The Celerons are really just underpowered Pentium III cores that all the cache didnt pass the tests.

 

[ahunter3]

I would run it under VPC 6 (not 7 unless your Mac is a G5 and requires it), and Windows 2000 not XP.

 

[janey]

I would run it under VPC 6 (not 7 unless your Mac is a G5 and requires it), and Windows 2000 not XP.

Make that win2k SP4.

 

[caveman_uk]

Yeah...don't run XP...use W2K. W2K is slow enough. XP is almost glacially slow - even with all the Fisher Price GUI stuff turned off.

 

[weg]

Has anyone out there tried to install Visual Web Developer Express (including SQL Server Express) on Virtual PC 7? I've found myself needing to do some lightweight .net stuff and I don't feel like shelling out the cash for the full blown Visual Studio.

Don't know for VWDE, but I bought VPC & Visual Studio when I interned at Microsoft and got it quite cheap, but I've only tried to use it once (on my Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz). It's impossible. You'll loose your patience even when writing "Hello world"... at least I didn't waste a lot of money on it

 

[demallien]

Don't know for VWDE, but I bought VPC & Visual Studio when I interned at Microsoft and got it quite cheap, but I've only tried to use it once (on my Powerbook G4 1.5 GHz). It's impossible. You'll loose your patience even when writing "Hello world"... at least I didn't waste a lot of money on it

In defence of VPC7/Visual Studio/XP, I have done some quite serious development work on it (on my G5), when I've had to take work home with me. Don't expect it to be blindingly fast, but it is useable. I have also used VPC to successfully reverse a couple of viruses.

Never the less, I agree with the other posts for ditching XP, and going with win2k. It is substantially quicker. I'm just to cheap to go and buy a copy myself

 

[slooksterPSV]

If you are looking for something a little quicker, but don't want to spend over $500, go to Walmart.com and purchase a PC for like $250.

 

[Thom_Edwards]

i ended up with an 866 MHz P-III. asked around and found one for a great price--free! needs a bit of ram (now only has 160), but other than that it servers my purposes well. it's certainly not snappy and lags a bit during builds, but this is nothing mission critical so i can deal with it. now i'm on a quest for some bigger sticks of memory in my 'how cheap can i get a pc' adventure. surely a decent amount of ram will improve it at least a little bit...

i appreciate everyone's feedback. i probably would have gone the vpc route without the suggestions, which would have apparently been a mistake.