| Title |
Emulation and authenticity issues |
| Detailed description | Compiled issues from  Birgit Plietzsch, with comments from Hélder Silva (solution champion) in italics: A Tu Lengua has been written for Windows 95 and does not run properly on modern versions of Windows. After a first analysis, I found out that the "A Tu Lengua" software relies on some 16 bit .dll (libraries) that cannot be found on newer operating systems. So, there were 2 options available/feasible to try on this 3 days mashup: emulation and virtualization. The chosen one was virtualization because it recreates all the original (windows 95 os) conditions needed to run the program and also because it eases the installation/deployment as the only things needed is a virtualization software (like Oracle VirtualBox or VMWare Player) and the virtual machine image with the correct operating system and software already installed. But as I realized on the end of the mashup, it was a great challenge as things didn't worked as expected. But by another hand, it was very useful to realize that virtualization can solve the "ensure access to the software/data" part of digital preservation but it can be challenging and it's not a long term solution. Navigation tools provided within the A Tu Lengua compilation no longer work, which is due to hardcoding to fit in with a previous Windows architecture. With a software inspection, particularly after reading the manual, I realized that this probably can be solved using a configuration utility provided with the "A Tu Lengua" software. This problem happens when windows xp is used to run the program (as some filesystem differences may exist between windows 95 and windows xp). There is pressure on the University to support a constantly growing number of emulation solutions with a limited number of staff available for such activities. The eventual emulation environment should allow for efficient support, whereby we don't need to develop and support an emulation solution for each software that needs to be emulated. (potential use in multi-platform environment) This issue would arise if the solution is distributed to students, as a number of students use Macintosh rather than PC. This issue could be solved if virtualization is used as virtualization software is available for a variety of operation systems. The display of A Tu Lengua is distorted on modern monitors. After a software inspection, I realized that the issue stated is due to a programming problem (bad layout management). What happens is that when the software is started it looks fine, but when the window is maximized, the layout doesn't follow and adapt correctly to the new window size. As the only thing available is the executable (no source code), nothing can be done in order to solve it. Software licensing issues (related to the use of old versions of Windows) will need to be looked at if an emulation solution is made available to students, i.e. if the solution is to be distributed to non-University computers. This question must be handled by the institution If the solution is to be made available on computers across campus, it needs to be possible to use the central software deployment mechanism for this job. If virtualization could be used, the deployment across campus would very easy as the only steps needed would be: - install the virtualization software - transfer the virtual machine image (with operation system and software installed) into the computer Software security issues if run in a networked environment: The installer for A Tu Lengua asks for MS Internet Explorer 4 to be installed. There are other issues related to the use outdadted OS and Speaker Knowledge Explorer. |
| Issue champion | Birgit Plietzsch |
| Other interested parties |
|
| Possible Solution approaches | Emulation, Virtualisation |
| Context | |
| Lessons Learned | |
| Datasets | Obsolete multimedia software |
| Solutions | Virtualisation using VirtualBox |
Labels: