Question Will the generic drivers in windows 10 do the job?

[Dh4irya]

My dad still has a 30 year old computer that he sometimes likes to carry home to work on. I wanted him to stop doing this and wanted to gift him a laptop but he uses some really old software that doesn't really work on 64bit windows. I didn't find any good laptops with 32bit windows / processors either. I thought of giving him a celeron Intel NUC (BOXNUC5CPYH) but unfortunately Intel only has drivers for 64bit windows

Would the generic drivers that come along while installing windows work fine? My only concern is WiFi. (Although the chances of it being connected are very less, all he does is types to keep his records and print them at the end of the year) are there any other alternatives?
Any other advices or suggestions would be appropriated

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Well, I guess my first question is... If it works for him why change things?

The problem here isn't the drivers. It is the OS itself. So, my suggestion is to run a virtual machine on a modern PC and load the OS and software he needs onto the virtual device. That way you get all the advantages of a modern PC, running a modern OS, but the ability to use it to run much older software.

Now, how old of, and what while we are at it, software are we talking about? Is it actually 30 years old? Is he running on a PC or a Mac? Is it something that newer software can do just as well?

 

[Dh4irya]

Well, I guess my first question is... If it works for him why change things?

The problem here isn't the drivers. It is the OS itself. So, my suggestion is to run a virtual machine on a modern PC and load the OS and software he needs onto the virtual device. That way you get all the advantages of a modern PC, running a modern OS, but the ability to use it to run much older software.

Now, how old of, and what while we are at it, software are we talking about? Is it actually 30 years old? Is he running on a PC or a Mac? Is it something that newer software can do just as well?

Well he uses a bike. Imagine someone strapping a giant PC behind him on a bike. Tho it only happens like once in 2 months but that's dangerous and I don't like my friends going "dude, that's your dad?"

I still know the guy who made the software. He made it around 2006, charges like $110 to get it installed on a PC and didn't bother updating it because it still makes him the money he wants. Imagine it as Microsoft Excel but looks like a command prompt or a Linux terminal. Just black background and coloured text. Yes it's a PC running Windows XP. I cannot remember what processor but I upgraded it with 1gb of ram and a 370gb HDD because someone gave me old parts for free lol. I did talk to the guy and he said it'll run on any 32bit version of Windows. I've seen his colleagues work on windows 7 and 8 PCs. Trying with a virtual machine sounds great. I'll try with my own laptop which is also pretty old buy now. (Has a 6th generation i5) if everything goes fine and there aren't any driver issues, I'll let him use it on a 32bit win10 and get myself a better one

 

[Alabalcho]

There is very good chance this application running in command prompt to be "easy to move over". Next time you have access to your dad' PC, poke around and see how it the app is started, where the files are located, etc.