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I need to access an old VLB (before PCI controllers) SCADA card with a 16 bits application that controls the data and processes. I do have only the DOS driver for that card and I need to install a 32 bits OS on that host machine to allow me remote access (Teamviewer or VNC) to the application from smart devices. As a solution I was thinking of installing a VM with Windows 98 (where I am sure the application works on the host machine), but I am not sure if the VM may access the VLB controller on the host machine, where the card is installed. Anyone had any experience with non-standard devices installed on host machine to be accessed by the Virtual Machines running on it? What VM solution do you recommend? Thanks in advance

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I don't think any hypervisor can provide passthrough to such antique hardware. I really hope the purpose of this project is to decommission it. – Michael Hampton Jan 16 at 15:59
Another way could be using a linux live cd with wine (for the app software) and gain access to the SCADA card. – patricks Jan 16 at 16:11

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This won't work. You can install and run Windows 98 with old 16 bit apps just fine. The problem is that VM software creates a specific virtual environment, and that simulated computer will not include support for your special capture card. There are some virtual environments that support USB pass-through for VMs, but I'm not aware of any that will do this for PCI (or older) devices.

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PCI most definitely works, if motherboard supports VT-d (I've used PCI network cards and video capture cards in KVM VMs), but VLB is too old for sure. – haimg Jan 16 at 16:40
The hyervisor knows how to take any network adapter and present it to a VM in a generic way... that's not PCI passthrough. Video capture is nice, though. Which VM product did you use? – Joel Coehoorn Jan 16 at 16:47
Nope I'm talking about direct PCI path-through, not generic virtualized network card (e.g. I had to install the original hardware's drivers inside the VM). KVM is the platform: fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/KVM_PCI_Device_Assignment – haimg Jan 16 at 16:51

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