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If you’re thinking about getting a second PC but you can’t afford to, then I may have found the solution for you. If you're a hardcore gamer looking for another Q3A rig at very little cost, this is not your solution. Your solution is to save up some more for another PC. :) For everyone else interested in a cheap second PC, perhaps to let a family member surf the web or do processor-light things like word processing etc in their own room (or more importantly, without kicking you off YOUR PC), read on.

The product I found to resolve the second PC dilemma is the Buddy B-210 system. This allows you to plug in a second monitor, PS/2 mouse and a PS/2 keyboard into your existing system via a special connector box. This, quite incredibly, allows the creation of a virtual pc which shares the primary PC's memory, CPU and most peripherals including CD-ROM's, printers and modems!

I had actually used the previous B-200 system that was available some years back and I recall that it wasn’t much chop. The new Buddy system is a major improvement. Priced at AUS$299, it represents good value opposed to over AUD$1000 for an entry level name brand PC.

Installation of the unit is a breeze. The kit that I tested contained the main controller card, the external connector box, the connector box cable, user manual and of course the all important software. Pretty much anyone should be able to install not only the external components, but also the internal parts. You simply take the case off your computer, plug the PCI controller card into an available slot and screw it in. Then, connect the cables (details below) and install the software. Ok, so with it being PCI, it requires the PCI 2.1 spec, which most mainboards since the early Pentiums support. Speaking of support, you need:

- Minimum Pentium 100
- 32MB Ram
- Windows 9x
- and of course a spare PCI slot.

I tested the unit with the following configuration:

- PIII 450 overclocked to PIII600B spec
- A ¼ PCI/FSB selection on a 133MHz FSB
- 64MB PC133 Ram
- 13GB UDMA66 7200RPM Hard Drive
- Voodoo3 3000 AGP Video Card

It took me about 15 minutes to get the Buddy system up and running. I had no glitches along the way.

The controller card itself can transfer up to 132 MBps (basically as fast as a normal speed PCI bus runs at) and it has a video card inbuilt to give you the VGA output to your second monitor. It isn’t your latest and greatest VGA adaptor, but it does the job it is intended for. As I said earlier, not for the hardcore gamer. The chipset onboard is the Trident T9750 3D chip coupled with 4MB of SGRAM. This card will easily do a very nice resolution of 1024 x 768 in 16.7 million colours at a refresh rate of 75 Hz. On a special note with this card, I couldn’t successfully overclock the card, which is a bit disappointing. The only way I could overclock it was if I increased the PCI bus speed. The only connector on the card is a CAT5 connector. This allows the connector box to be hooked up via a standard Ethernet-type cable. The other feature on the back of the card is a bank of dipswitches. Most new PCs will not need to use this; it’s basically a system resources selector for things such as I/O address etc.

The second major part of the system is the small connector box. You basically run your CAT5 from the controller card to this box (they say 15 to 50 metres away) and everything for the second PC plugs into the box. I'm a big fan of this setup as it means you're not limited by the length of the keyboard/monitor cables (as you would be if the connectors were on the card itself). On the back of the unit, it has the input from the host PC port (CAT5) and the VGA output port (Standard female high-density DB15, same as every modern video card). On the front of the box are the keyboard and mouse connectors, both PS/2. An interesting feature on the front of the box is a small LED. This gives the user and idea of the system status. I didn’t really pay attention to it because it was always green. I guess this means the system was functioning ok and I am gathering it may go red if there is a problem. Another little gadget inside this little box is the speaker that emits a horrible noise if there are any errors with the unit. I heard this once when I was playing around with the cables. This would be a handy feature for people that are trying to get phone support and it would help the tech on the phone distinguish what’s wrong with the unit.

So with the unit all rigged up, I configured the software and I ran a few tests to see how the test PC coped with running both terminals. I ran applications such as Quake 2 and also the standard array of benchmarking tools. In short, it seems that when the Buddy software is loaded and the client PC is doing basic wordprocessing or surfing, expect a performance drop of about 10-15% on the host. When the Buddy unit is not being used, you can turn off the software and get all your performance back for those cpu-thrashing games. If both systems are doing something intensive like playing a game, you're pretty much splitting the memory and CPU power between the two screens, with an appropriate drop in performance. If you're planning on gaming on the Buddy system, be aware that the Trident chipset is not a performance chipset. Quake 2 ran about 4 times slower on the Buddy than on the Voodoo3, but that’s expected considering the chipset on the Buddy card. On the other hand, I found that applications such as Word 2000, Access 2000 and other titles from the Office 2000 Suite loaded and operated faster on the Buddy System if already opened on the host system. This is where the Buddy shows its strength and it shows that a virtual system can be as good or if not better than a physical machine. The reason these programs loaded faster was obviously because it was already in the host PC's memory, and this could propose itself as a very feasible alternative to businesses who use the same application on every PC. Not only do you get a speed increase, but also better system management in such an environment - also, the buddy allows a total of 4 Buddy Systems to run off the one host PC!

Conclusion:
The Buddy B-210 Virtual PC System is an absolutely fantastic alternative to shelling out over a grand on a whole new machine. Businesses and of course the home can greatly benefit from this product. With its abilities to share peripherals such as modems and printers, the Buddy System is a very good option to keep in mind when thinking about purchasing a second PC for the home or office.