upgrading computer with FPGA interface

thanks for the additional detailed information. Although it is a new computer it will have windows XP professional SP3, do you think Quartus II will run ok on it? (Is the Quartus software only for reprogramming?) Also if I plan on not making any changes to the FPGA but the FPGA may communicate with the host program (running on the PC), will I still need the Quartus software? Also sounds like VMWARE converter might be like Microsofts' virtual PC. Do you think the host program on the pc communicates to the EP20K FPGA through the COM port on the old system? Also I found a card that plugs into PCI express and has a com port with the db-25 connector.