Virtual PC

[Kyllani]

Does anyone have any experience with Virtual PC? I want to use it to put Linux on one of my computers, but I don't exactly understand how it works or how to set it up. Could someone please help me out?

[SunSparks]

Ahhhh, I've done this before. Its quite fun to use. Basically, what you will do is get a program that will run the OS in an OS. You can use something like VMware Player... what happens is that the app will reserve a chuck of your hard drive by creating a file and will run the OS in such a way that that file works out to be your displayed hard drive in the virtual OS. The app will handle all of the things from booting and "hardware" to network/internet connectivity and will emulate them as connected hardware to the virtual OS.

You can use an app like the one above or if you have something else you want to use, go for it. Just get an ISO image of the OS you want to install on the virtual PC and after you install the app, it will take you through a set of basic instructions on getting your vPC running.

Its a great way to try other OS's if you dont want to partition your HDD or really use it.

Hope it helps... if you need more detailed instructions, just google "how to install ____(Ubuntu?)____ on vmware player" and you will find tons of detailed instructions

[PaulV]

If your trying Linux heres another way you would need a program called unetbootin and a flash drive write the iso to the flash drive using unetbootin once done boot your system from the usb drive that has linux it wont destroy or use your hard drive at all

[SunSparks]

Yep, thats a great alternative - I used this technique for booting linux at school for this engineering thing I was doing... it can be a little slower doing that, but it works!

[thylvin]

Well that depends on what you want to achieve and how you want to install it and how you want the virtual hardware to behave. In most cases if you want dual boot functionality, you can either choose from the host OS or the added OS though various different type of dual boot software out there. There are many, so I would suggest you look for one that will not only work with your hardware, but also with all the OS systems you wish to install.

Another way you can do that, if that is what you want, have the additional OS reside on an image on your drive, this way, while you are in your host OS, you can start up the extra one like you would start a software package like MS word. The OS installation and all the software reside in a single image file that was installed. The advantageous of this, is that you can have both OS running at the same time, then to take a file from one OS to another is a simple matter of drag and drop. The disadvantage of this though is that it uses allot of system resources. But with today's fast computers it isn't that much any more any way.

If you want duel boot system, where you must choose either of the two to start-up, your disadvantage of this, drag and drop isn't available between OS's any more, so you have to copy the file to a location where both OS's have equal rights to, like a memory stick or a third drive. (Almost forgot this) With duel boot, you must have at least 2 drives, cause OS's don't like sharing space on a single drive. You can split your drive in two partitions.

With the OS living inside a single file or even on it's own drive, you don't have the problem of choosing which OS you want to work with. A very good example of this is BEOS's PE 5. The entire OS live in a single file, and you can start it up when ever you like.

[Kyllani]

For now, I just want to play around on Linux and teach myself more about it than I've already learned in school. I start programming classes this fall, so eventually I will want to use Linux for writing and compiling code. I understand how to partition the disk for a dual boot, we did that for my Linux class last semester...but some girl in my class was all "dual boot is not the way to go! You need to do a virtual PC." So that left me a little confused.

So which would be better in the long run for, say...working on a video game?

I'm not at home or I'd give you my computer specs. But it is fairly new(bought within the last year), with at least 6 gigs of ram(or maybe it's 8?). So, I assume it would be just fine for running both systems at once, but if it's going to get bogged down during the compilation of code...then I'd rather do it another way.

[SunSparks]

I'd say run it off a flash drive or partition your HDD. If you want to do some programming on it, I wouldn't recommend doing it vPC style. Especially if you want to be working with hardware, it would be much better to run the OS separately.

[thylvin]

if you going to use it for coding, i'd suggest virtual pc you don't want to be bothered by incompatible hardwere settings when you take your file to a friend or at school. Virtual pc option offers generic hardware settings, making your file more compatable. Duel boot is for the guys that want to do serious processing, which virtual pc lacks as it runs of a host which also uses resources. If you want to eventually switch to linux, then i suggest deul boot.