virtualization

In my computer networks course we are supposed to learn parallel port programming by using the native registers (like using outportb like commands). I don't have a parallel port (because I live in 2011) but want to practice the programs (I installed the old turboc 3 IDE using dosbox). Is there a program which emulates parallel ports like this program emulates serial ports? Since the environment is fake anyway, i.e. you don't have an actual port to play with, you could just as well emulate the port functionality in your program. Here's how to do it in Windows using Structured Exception Handling

I'm working with some legacy applications (10-15 years old), and am trying to find guidance on the "right" way to install and run them (and any user application) on Windows 7 without requiring full Admin privileges. In other words, where executable/read-only should files go, where user-data/read-write should files go, where registry entries should go, to avoid issues with the UAC and Windows 7 file/registry virtualization during both installation and at run-time. I seem to remember, years ago, a Microsoft white paper on this subject, but am unable to find any relevent information now. I have

I first thought that Xen was a host hypervisor. But i later found that it was a bare metal hypervisor. How does Xen qualify as a Bare metal hypervisor ? Because Xen can be booted to directly from BIOS, without any other operating system in between Xen and the hardware. VMware ESXi is similar (differentiating itself from VMware workstation which requires a host OS). Xen's dom0 privleged guest can be installed on the system before Xen is enabled, thus confusing matters about whether it is a bare metal install or not, but it is technically a true bare metal install that starts the dom0 guest.