HOMEBREW Digest #6083 Tue 15 April 2014
FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org
***************************************************************
TODAY'S HOME BREW DIGEST BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
No "sponsor-level" donation yet this year
Support those who support you! Visit our sponsor's site!
********** Also visit http://hbd.org/hbdsponsors.html *********
DONATE to the Home Brew Digest. Home Brew Digest, Inc. is a
501(c)3 not-for-profit organization under IRS rules (see the
FAQ at http://hbd.org for details of this status). Donations
can be made by check to Home Brew Digest mailed to (NOTE NEW
ADDRESS):
HBD Server Fund
PO Box 871054
Canton, MI 48187-6054
or by paypal to address serverfund@hbd.org. DONATIONS of $250
or more will be provided with receipts. SPONSORSHIPS of any
amount are considered paid advertisement, and may be deductible
under IRS rules as a business expense. Please consult with your
tax professional, then see http://hbd.org for available
sponsorship opportunities.
***************************************************************
Contents:
Old Software (Thomas Rohner)
Brewing software and Windows compatibility ("Bill Pierce")
Re: Homebrew Recipe Software (Scott Alfter)
re:Software problems (Brian Myers)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Beer is our obsession and we're late for therapy! *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Home Brew Digest, Inc. is a 501(c)3 Public Charity
[170(b)(1)(A)(vi)] All donations & gifts to the HBD are
tax deductible under section 170 of the Internal Revenue
Code; as are bequests, devises, transfer, or gifts under
section 2055, 2106, or 2522 of the Code.
Financial Projection as of 17 February 2014
*** Condition: Concerned, but somewhat optimistic ***
Projected 2013 Budget $3,235.00
Expended against projection $ 576.16
Unplanned expenditures ($ 95.77)
Projected Excess/(Shortfall) ($877.26)
HBD, Inc. is projected to be bankrupt September 2014
As always, donors and donations are publicly acknowledged
and accounted for on the HBD web page. Thank you.
Send articles for __publication_only__ to post@hbd.org
If your e-mail account is being deleted, please unsubscribe first!!
To SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE send an e-mail message with the word
"subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to request@hbd.org FROM THE E-MAIL
ACCOUNT YOU WISH TO HAVE SUBSCRIBED OR UNSUBSCRIBED!!!**
IF YOU HAVE SPAM-PROOFED your e-mail address, you cannot subscribe to
the digest as we cannot reach you. We will not correct your address
for the automation - that's your job.
HAVING TROUBLE posting, subscribing or unsusubscribing? See the HBD FAQ at
http://hbd.org.
LOOKING TO BUY OR SELL USED EQUIPMENT? Please do not post about it here. Go
instead to http://homebrewfleamarket.com and post a free ad there.
The HBD is a copyrighted document. The compilation is copyright
HBD.ORG. Individual postings are copyright by their authors. ASK
before reproducing and you'll rarely have trouble. Digest content
cannot be reproduced by any means for sale or profit.
More information is available by sending the word "info" to
req@hbd.org or read the HBD FAQ at http://hbd.org.
JANITORs on duty: Pat Babcock (pbabcock at hbd dot org), Jason Henning,
Spencer Thomas, and Bill Pierce
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 10:07:38 +0200
From: Thomas Rohner <t.rohner at bluewin.ch>
Subject: Old Software
Hi
Have you tried the virtual XP, that comes with Win7 Pro and higher?
Sadly, it doesn't come with the home version.
I guess, most old software will run on it. (if it doesn't make use of
the hardware extensively, or uses strange programmers tricks)
By the way, i also got a "new"(used Dell, like new for 300$) notebook
with Win7 64 Pro.
I will try to install Promash, my preferred brewing tool. If it doesn't
work in native Win7, i will use virtual XP. (In the brewery, it runs
happily on Win98 for now. No need to change, until this HW dies... i use
a old 256Mb USB-stick with Win98 drivers for backup)
Cheers Thomas
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 10:31:12 -0400
From: "Bill Pierce" <BillPierce at aol.com>
Subject: Brewing software and Windows compatibility
Ian Ramsay asks about old brewing software and Windows compatibility. I'm
still a committed ProMash user and have successfully run it with every
version of Windows from Windows 95 to 64-bit Windows 8.1. There was a
problem with ProMash not loading with 64-bit versions, but this was
addressed about 2007-2008 with a "new" version of the ProMash installer.
It's still available for downloading on the ProMash website. You, will,
however, have to enter your registered user code and key. If you no longer
have them, there is an automated utility on the site to send them to you,
but it uses the e-mail address you first used to register ProMash.
I don't use much other old brewing software apart from some spreadsheet
utilities, so I must say I haven't had compatibility problems. If you do
have an old piece of software you're attached to, and you are certain it
really requires Windows XP, the solution is to download and install a
"virtual XP machine" and run it under later Windows versions. A virtual XP
machine (it needs to be installed) came with the Professional and Ultimate
versions of Windows 7, but this was discontinued beginning with Windows 8.
However, there are a couple of free virtual machines available if you do a
search for them.
Incidentally, a virtual XP machine is the solution for all software that
truly requires XP. If you are concerned about the security implications now
that Microsoft no longer supports XP, running a VM is an excellent choice.
It keeps XP isolated from various security threats by "surrounding" it with
Windows 7 or 8.
Brew on!
Bill Pierce
Cellar Door Homebrewery
Burlington, Ontario
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 12:50:48 -0700
From: Scott Alfter <scott at alfter.us>
Subject: Re: Homebrew Recipe Software
On Wed, 29 Jan 2014 at 09:27:27 -0600, Mike Schwartz wrote:
> Promash was the go-to software for many years but unfortunately is no
> longer being actively updated and who knows how long it will still
> function. When you look at the web site there are "news items" from
> 2003 when he released the last update.
I'd expect it to keep running indefinitely. I run it on Linux under Wine;
while early versions of Wine had some layout issues, those have been fixed for
several years now. I have the program and all my recipe and brew-session files
checked into my Subversion repository, so pulling it onto a new computer (even
one that still runs Windows) is trivial.
Another option, if Microsoft does something with future versions of Windows
that breaks ProMash, would be to set up a VM with a version of Windows that
will work (or do like me and use Linux and Wine in the VM). This VM would be
portable across whatever OS and hardware upgrades may come.
About the only issue I foresee becoming a problem would be if the BJCP styles
changed substantially. AFAIK the last such change was in 2008; an update to
ProMash was made available at the time. If a similar update isn't forthcoming
the next time around, I'm not sure how big an effort it would be to roll your
own update.
Scott Alfter
scott at alfter.us
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 08:35:22 +1200
From: Brian Myers <brian.d.myers at gmail.com>
Subject: re:Software problems
Hi Ian, long time no see.
Google "xp virtual machine", or look here :
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-nz/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-
in-windows-7
Win7 can run a virtual Windows XP machine as a program, and old XP software
will usually run fine inside that shell.
regards,
Brian
------------------------------
End of HOMEBREW Digest #6083, 04/15/14
*************************************
-------
