Playing with virtualisation

I've not had a PC quick enough to really use PC-on-PC virtualisation in anger before, until ednun gave me the carcase of his old one. AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+, 2G RAM, no drives or graphics.

I've upped it to 4G, a couple of old 120GB EIDE hard disks, a DVD burner, a replacement graphics card (freebie from a friend) & a new Arctic Cooling Freezer7 Pro heatsink/fan from eBay to replace the old, clogged-up AMD OEM one. Total budget, just under £20; result, quick dual-core 64-bit machine with 64-bit Linux running very nicely.

For some work stuff. I've been using Linux-under-Linux in VirtualBox, which works rather well - but it's a kinda specialised need. There are still a few things that either don't work all that well in Linux or which I can't readily do, though. Spotify runs under WINE but crackles & pops then stops playing after 2-3 minutes & never emits another cheep. My CIX reader, Ameol, also runs OK under WINE, but windows don't scroll correctly. I don't think there's any Linux software to sync my mobile phone or update its firmware, although I'm not sure I'd want to try the latter from within a VM anyway, just in case...

So I decided to try running Windows in a VM under Linux just for occasional access to a handful of Windows apps, without rebooting into my Windows 2000 & Windows 7RC partitions. (Makes mental note: better replace that Win7 one before the RC expires.)

I've always had reservations about running a "full-sized" copy of Windows this way. It seems very wasteful of resources to me. That is, running one full-fat full-function OS under another full-fat OS, just for access to a couple of apps. (Also, you need a licence, if the guest is a modern, commercial product, not some ancient piece of abandonware.)

So I thought I'd try some "legacy" versions of Windows to see how well they worked. I have a fairly good archive here, from Windows 3.1 up to Win7.
( Read more... )

When NOT to use a VM & what Linux to use

A final caveat to my previous post: there is one thing you probably shouldn't try doing under XP-inna-VM: play games. The VM does sport optional 2D graphics acceleration, although I've spotted a few display glitches, but the copy of Windows in the VM can't get at your shiny whizzy fanheater of a 3D card & any modern 3D game is going to run like crap. For that, I'm afraid, you need to dual-boot into real native Windows.

TinyXP will do that just fine, but remember, you're going to have to find the latest drivers for every bit of kit in your machine. My advice:
- install TinyXP first, in a primary partition on the 1st hard disk.
- leave plenty of space for Linux; put all its partitions in logical drives in an extended partition
- next, after TinyXP is working but before it's got its drivers, install Ubuntu
- now, in Ubuntu, you can carefully peruse the output of

dmesg | less

... and work out what motherboard chipset you have, what graphics, sound, network card(s) &c. your machine is sporting. The best way to identify a motherboard, though, is just to look at it. Use a torch. You'll probably find the makers' name and the model number printed between the expansion slots.

- Using Linux, go download all the relevant Windows drivers from the manufacturers' websites.
- Go to Places | Computer and open your Windows partition. Copy the downloaded drivers into

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop

- Then reboot into Windows again and they're all there, ready to install.

This method saves an awful lot of hassle trying to get Windows working if you have no driver disks.

If you install Ubuntu after Windows, it's smart enough to set up dual-boot for you. Install Windows after Ubuntu, it will screw your bootsector and you won't be able to boot Ubuntu any more. Also, Windows likes being in a primary partition, preferably the first, whereas Linux doesn't care.

Oh, and don't waste your time on anything other than Ubuntu. If you are at the level of expertise to have got any useful info from this piece, you probably don't need advice on choosing a distro... but just in case:

- OpenSUSE is huge and its package-management system is frankly a bit past it.
- Fedora is a sort of rolling beta. It never stabilises, it's not supported and there are no official media addons, which are free with Ubuntu.
- Kubuntu is OK if you're a KDE freak but if you don't know the difference between KDE & GNOME, just go for vanilla Ubuntu, which involves a lot less fiddling.
- Mandriva is OK but again its package-management system, like that in SUSE and Fedora, is a decade or so less advanced than the one in Ubuntu.
- Debian is too much like hard work unless you actively enjoy fiddling.
- Gentoo is for boy-racers, the sort of person who drives a 6Y old Vauxhall Nova with a full bodykit and a 150dB sound system. Just don't.
- All the rest are for Linux hackers. You don't want to go there.