Update on my end, as already reported on facebook group:
bought a gx620 on ebay, 6600 graphics card. Loaded it up, couldn't get the chipset right after loading the game and therefore sound was not working. Worked on this forever, not helped by the fact that Dell no longer had the chipset for download, nor the sound drivers, for the desktop I got off the used market. Tried to get them from Intel's site but I think I installed wrong ones. Took a chance on some drivers I found on a 3rd party website (dicey) but they were solid and worked like a charm. Dongle would not emulate though, even though I was certain I was doing the steps right. I thought there was a chance the original chipset install might be the issue.
Finally decided to just try again from scratch, and this time after the OS recovery I loaded chipset and sound right away, then the game, and bam, emulator worked easy as pie on first try.
Then... I loaded all access. Oops... forgot that the server patch won't work with all access. Now I feel like a total idiot because I am going to have to do the install all over.
Oh well - at least I know it all works now! And the new machine runs faster, and oh so much quieter!
Quick question - anyone tried to run the game using a new USB Happ trackball instead of the one with the IO card? Now that the dongle can be emulated, if there is a way to use the buttons with a small ipac and a Happ USB trackball I was thinking I could build another machine without needing any of the oem equipment.