Impossible, or not?

[walla]

Here are a few things I've always be curious about. Are these possible? (And if so, how?)

1. Running live video from one computer on another that it is networked to, bandwidth permitting(as if you were watching his or her desktop)?
2. Interacting with another user's desktop while connected via network? (WinXP Remote desktop?)
3. Mapping a shared CD-ROM drive as your primary drive, so you could run software that requires the CD to be in the drive?
4. Running two sound cards at once?

 

[BatmanNate]

#2 is definately possible using a 3rd party utility like VNC. If you're using a server flavor of windows, Terminal Services works nicely.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

I am interested in #3..have done #2 online was very interesting to be able to manipulate files/folders/icons and such 1400 miles away

 

[TNTrulez]

#4 is not possible. Hmm as about #3. . .you mean CD-ROM network drive as your primary drive?

 

[zephyrprime]

Isn't #1 just like using a webcam? I suppose that you are thinking a situation with higher res video though. Shouldn't be any problem. Even DVD video is only like 8-20 megabits/s which is a lot less than ethernet 100.

 

[MrGrim]

Originally posted by: walla
Here are a few things I've always be curious about. Are these possible? (And if so, how?)

1. Running live video from one computer on another that it is networked to, bandwidth permitting(as if you were watching his or her desktop)?
2. Interacting with another user's desktop while connected via network? (WinXP Remote desktop?)
3. Mapping a shared CD-ROM drive as your primary drive, so you could run software that requires the CD to be in the drive?
4. Running two sound cards at once?

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. My guess would be yes (a mapped drive is just as good as a physical drive), why not just try it?
4. You can have 2 sound cards in the same system but you have to specify which one produces the sound. (You can easily switch between them)

 

[AluminumStudios]

1 - yes, via VNC or similar software.
2 - Yes, VNC or similar software
3 - probalby not. Games that require CDs try to access the CD drive. A mapped network drive will appear different to the OS and game. Also, the game may try to read specific sectors or what not. I doubt such a level of control is present in Netbios and the protocols for mapped network drives. Basically the hardware needs to be present. That interface is not simulated via mapped network drives.

Years ago there used to a DOS program called "fakecd.exe" that made the system think a directory was a CD-ROM (back in the days of mscdex.exe) I don't know if any newer versions of that have been made. If so, it probably won't overcome copyprotection in games.

4 - half. In your multimedia control panel you choose your "primary" wave and midi device. You can't produce sound out of 2 sound cards at once probably unless you are using proprietary software (and probably a proprietary board) alongside a more standard sound card.

 

[Acanthus]

1,2,3 work, 4 doesnt, with the exception of Extigy and an Audigy but your cpu would be like 45% in use always.

 

[glugglug]

1. easy (see #2, or do you mean like CU-see-me?). Gigabit ethernet is actually enough to play games remotely (100Mbit is a slideshow)
2. WinVNC, Netmeeting, or Terminal Services. Netmeeting is orders of magnitude faster than VNC, but a bit more complicated to set up desktop sharing. It actually uses the same drivers as Terminal services, but you both interact with the SAME desktop session instead of you getting your own session on the remote machine.
3. probably not, mainly due to copy protections
4. yes, but one will be set as the primary and that is all most of your windows programs will use.

 

[walla]

Hey thanks for the replies. So it would be possible to...

1. Watch a DVD that is running on another person's computer? Watch that person browse the internet / play a game? (using VNC or like)
2. Run any application on another person's computer and interact with it? (using VNC or like) Would those applications be run on their computer or on mine? Say I wanted to play Neverwinter Nights on my old P233 using such a program...
3. Run DVD video on your computer with a DVD in another person's CD/DVD-ROM drive? (however slow it may be) If the network connection had the bandwidth, could I watch DVD's on any networked computer?
4. So I can have an SB and a Santa Cruz card in at the same time and simply disable one or the other? I figured as much - good news

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: AluminumStudios
1 - yes, via VNC or similar software.
2 - Yes, VNC or similar software
3 - probalby not. Games that require CDs try to access the CD drive. A mapped network drive will appear different to the OS and game. Also, the game may try to read specific sectors or what not. I doubt such a level of control is present in Netbios and the protocols for mapped network drives. Basically the hardware needs to be present. That interface is not simulated via mapped network drives.

Years ago there used to a DOS program called "fakecd.exe" that made the system think a directory was a CD-ROM (back in the days of mscdex.exe) I don't know if any newer versions of that have been made. If so, it probably won't overcome copyprotection in games.

4 - half. In your multimedia control panel you choose your "primary" wave and midi device. You can't produce sound out of 2 sound cards at once probably unless you are using proprietary software (and probably a proprietary board) alongside a more standard sound card.

One possible solution for 3 would be to make an image file of the CD, and put it on the HD, and share it over the network, and use a program like Daemon Tools as a virtual CD-ROM, and mount the image file over the network. (D-T even emulates the various CD-based copy-protection schemes now in use, so you can play games that way.)

If you want to listen to audio CDs over the network, that's a little trickier, but I know that using a "virtual .wav filesystem" driver for the CD-ROM, one that makes regular CD-audio tracks look like .wav files, works. Just map that drive over the network, and try to play the .wav file, and the data gets digitally extracted and sent over the network, and then played locally on the sound card. The audio can get a bit choppy though that way. (VOB InstantCD Wizard, their packet-writing software, also has this capability for audio CDs.)

Issue 4 is easy, I do it all the time. I have a PCI Aureal Vortex2 soundcard, and an ISA SB AWE64 Value card in the machine at the same time. Usually, you set the default sound card to use for Windows apps under the Multimedia control panel, but if the individual app allows you to select which sound card to use, then you can use both at the same time. I can also run a DOS game, and it usually by default runs on the SB card, leaving the PCI card for Windows apps to use as well.