I need to upgrade a lab electrophysiology rig. The current computer died, and was running Windows 95 so was in desperate need of an upgrade. We will be buying a "new" USB digitizer/interface device to the old amplifier, but the manufacturer of said hardware has not updated the software since 2007. We know it works on Windows XP, but it has not been tested on a more recent OS.

My question is what aspects of the new computer should I focus on to maximise the chances of this older driver/interface working on a modern computer? 32-bit OS is about the only thing I am aware of, but unsure if this is a factor. Is 32-bit/64bit "dualboot hotload" an option?

Any input greatly appreciated.

I thought something like this might be suitable: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883155347
or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883103433

32bit is a good start, although probably not a requirement. I would look for one that has a CPU that supports virtualization. I have W7 64bit on my laptop, but when I need to use my car interface software, I open up VirtualBox and load my 32bit Win XP virtual box.

There are other creative ways, such as using any computer you want and using Windows' built in remote desktop connection to connect to an XP box or virtual XP box in a server rack but that would require a decent IT group.

Is the only thing you're connecting the USB ADC? Or is there something else from the instrument, like GPIB, etc? In general you just want to play it safe -- if the interface device works well on windows XP, just install windows XP on your new computer. It's usually best to keep around old computers for a time like this. Just grab a computer that was from around 2007 from the closet and use that.

Hmm, hadnt heard of that. I'll look into it.

Just the USB adc.

Playing it safe is what I am aiming for, but unfortunately this is going to be an ongoing problem in the lab. We have 5-7 other rigs that are all running legacy hardware on computers that are fading. All of the old computers have already been put to work. I presume installing Windows XP is fine, even on 64bit systems?

If you own a home laptop with Win7 on it, you could give the old lab setup a test drive and see if that works. Otherwise if you know XP will work you could just work with XP, or, you could get Win7 Pro which has an XP mode.

Hard to guess at your lab stuff being specialized equipment and all, who knows what it's compatible with. Maybe the manufacturer could be of some help?

Just because a system is capable of using a 64-bit OS doesn't mean it's required. You should be able to install XP on pretty much any computer. I wouldn't use XP mode or virtualization -- it may work fine, but there's no reason, and it's just asking for problems. It should be pretty easy to replace the computer with most anything because it's just a USB device. If you had an ISA card, etc. then you'd be more in trouble.