I recently became aware of the fact that vmware's runtime is now free. Just have a few questions before I go for a dual os system.

1) I've already got windows set up on there, will I have to reinstall it into a vm after I install vmware?
2) How will performance be with a stock c2d (the 1.83 ghz), 2 x 1 gig ddr2 800, sata 16 meg cache, and nvidia 7800gt?
3) Any last minute tips?

I've run linux for a long time on an older machine which was scrapped together from tons of other old computers, and I've been itching to try it out on my newly built rig. I just don't feel like going through the trouble of setting up a dual boot with windows already installed, since windows never played nice with linux in my experience if it was installed first. Besides, having them both run side by side would be incredible.

*hopeful bump*
Anybody? Please?

Ive noticed this in a few VMWare threads here at BC. I dont think many people on BC use it. If they do they're keeping very quite about it.

Most Linux distros will allow you to shrink the windows partition and set up a dual boot. Or you could use partition magic, to shrink the windows partition. You will then be given the option of Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP, etc, and linux.

-Steve

Well, I went ahead and took the plunge anyway. Using Virtual Box (open source and free virtual machine runtime), I now have ubuntu running great with windows as the host. For anyone who wants to try it out, it doesn't affect your windows install at all, and all you need is the linux .iso to install it with. Only thing is don't expect to do any gaming on it, since with virtual machines it doesn't actually interface with your graphics card, it only uses ram to emulate a graphics card.

Performance on my rig is just fine, I can use both ubuntu and windows at the same time without any lag in either. Graphics such as menu animations are a tad slow though, because of the lack of a graphics card.


Good luck!

I just thought i would ask this question hear since my question applies to virtual machines. Ive read about them in the past but i'm not sure if i quite get what they are. What does a virtual machine do. Is it simply a program that emulates a second machine in software so that you can run a second OS on top of an already running OS? Virtualization seems to be a pretty common buzzword now a days and im just trying to get a firm grasp on what the concept is. Sorry for the newb question.

Lucius

Since I use debian, I just use virtual terminal. I've never tried to use it to boot the xp partition, but it works great for messing around my network...especially since I'm too lazy to go upstairs and maintain those computers.

ummm idk how much ram do you have ... cause i was at my friends house playing games on his virtual computer and it was running just as fast as my computer thats just running xp .... so i think it depends on how much ram u have

Basically yes.


It sort of depends on the game also. There is no way I could run XP as a guest system and play Oblivion, or Call of Duty, or any other number of games, and I have a pretty beefy system. If that were the case, I would dump my dual boot.

my friend had americas army running fast on his mac with boot camp .... idk i agress very intense games wont work but i think some will

Just top let you know Boot Camp is not a virtual Machine it is Macs way of Dual Booting. A virtual machine allows you to have BOTH OS up at the same time. Also you can get 3D support in Vmware Server and Workstation. You will need to edit your vmx file however. Also it is still experimental. The new VMware 6 workstation has better support and also supports USB 2.0.

ahhh thanks for clarifying

And if I could make one more clarification. Instead of hitting the quote button when responding to a post, do you suppose you guys could just hit the reply button instead? The staff gets awfully tired of cleaning up nested quotes in threads, and I get tired of reading the same stuff 3 and 4 times just to get to one line of information. There is no need to keep quoting previous posts over and over again.

Thank you.

kk