Sooo...As you can tell from this post (http://www.lucasforums.com/showpost.php?p=2383474&postcount=32) I'm quite chuffed with VirtualBox and I wanna ask a few favors to the Dons of tech around here (yes I am aware it's none of your daughter's weddings)

1) Has anyone else used this proggie before? And if so, what OS was your host and which guests did you have etc. What's the general consensus?

2) Has anyone got it/had it running on a Linux machine and successfully had WinXP run as a guest? If not, could anyone with a Linux machine maybe be so kind to maybe find out? (if you've got a copy of WinXP lying around that is, pwetty pwease :) )

3) For the Vista users, has anyone used this to sub-install WinXP? Cause if it works properly it could be quite handy to play games that refuse to play in Vista and such...Again, anyone with a Vista machine is welcome to give it a go if they want and let me know...Who knows, you might find it useful.

I wanted to go into more detail about some Linux distros here but I'll keep that for another thread to keep this one unbloated lolz

Discuss plz

I have played with vmware and MS virtual pc..... at the end of the day virtualisation is limited, but depending on what you want to do. For basic stuff, it'll be no problem, but if you are thinking to do this for game compatibility, then you shouldnt bother, as it virtualises and therefore limits the capabilities of your graphics hardware.

All the gaming hardasses that I know that want vista and XP dual boot, simple as that :)

The best use of virtualisation for the 'average user' I can think of is trying out a linux distro... I dunno - I dont know many 'average' people who have contemplated linux. Im *not* linux bashing, just pointing out an observation that 100% of the linux users I have met have been moderately to insanely tech savvie ;)


mtfbwya

Hmmm, good point there Astro.

So I take it Linux users who are also gamers are forced to have WinXP/Vista installed for the DX compatability?
Which is fair enough, I wouldn't mind dual-booting it's just the partitioning and stuff I'm a bit scared of lolz...But I'm sure I'll learn.

Anyone here dual-booting Linux/Windows? Or dual-booting other OSes?

Hmmm, good point there Astro.

So I take it Linux users who are also gamers are forced to have WinXP/Vista installed for the DX compatability?
Which is fair enough, I wouldn't mind dual-booting it's just the partitioning and stuff I'm a bit scared of lolz...But I'm sure I'll learn.

Anyone here dual-booting Linux/Windows? Or dual-booting other OSes?

I can imagine stinger would be doing this, but Im sure he can fill you in himself :D

There are some great guides out there to dual booting off partitions. It aint that hard. Just backup all your stuff before you start fiddling with it !

mtfbwya

Hmmm, good point there Astro.

So I take it Linux users who are also gamers are forced to have WinXP/Vista installed for the DX compatability?
Which is fair enough, I wouldn't mind dual-booting it's just the partitioning and stuff I'm a bit scared of lolz...But I'm sure I'll learn.

Anyone here dual-booting Linux/Windows? Or dual-booting other OSes?at this point, i am now tri-booting, so to speak. i just installed XP onto a partition on my 500 GB drive, and i've just finished updating Kubuntu to 7.10 on a much smaller partition on the same drive. Vista is still installed on the RAID disks while i do have a small recovery partition on the 500GB drive just in case.

my reasoning for it was that despite the compatibility modes in Vista, there just isn't a workaround for games that are designed with XP drivers in mind. some games work, others work when they want to work, and others, well, there are others that don't want to install correctly or they just don't want to run once installed. as such, i finally bit the bullet and got a copy of XP Home (it was given to me as an exchange for the ol' 8800 GTS i had plus a bit of cash). as the decision was purely based with gaming in mind, i'm not doing much to it aside from, well, running games on it.

as for Vista, i use it the most simply for simplicity's sake. Kubuntu is nice, and i do use it for school stuff since i don't want two installations of Open Office, but for most everything else, i just use Vista.

Cool, thanks for that guys...

One for stingerhs:
When you install Ubuntu/Kubuntu, it gives you an option to partition your drive automatically and manually, but automatic is just a format of that drive I've noticed (mind you I've only tried it in VB so far), and I haven't tried manual...

So my question is: if you install it with XP still on the PC, will the installer recognize XP and offer to partition a section not use by it? Would that be in the auto or manual partitioning page when you install it? (sorry I'm just asking here cause I'm a bit too lazy am to go and hunt for it elsewhere lolz)

The safest way to dual-boot, in my mind anyway, is to partition and install Linux after XP with no boot loader, then use Win32 GRUB (http://skyjammer.com/files/knoppix/) to boot Linux. That way you won't even touch the NT boot loader except to make it display GRUB as a boot option.

Cheers for that, seems like a handy proggie!

I use virtual machines a lot at work. One BIG MONSTROUS SERVER running linux which hosts 2, 3, 4 virtual whatever servers. Saves a lot of time and hardware. All you have to do is to make sure you have a proper backup concept for the virtual machines and you can strike 'hardware failure' off your vocabulary. Almost. The big advance is you can run that virtual machine on any backup/replacement host without that any hardware/driver/where-is-that-darn-installation-files problems occur. However, the only use for home sector I can imagine is when you want/need to have an older OS running or something.

However, the only use for home sector I can imagine is when you want/need to have an older OS running or something.
Or try out a Linux distro ;)
But I'd want to try out an older OS as well if I could get my hands on some old school games (like the way old LA games etc.)

just as a heads up for x64 users, the newest VMWare 6 allows virtualisation from an x64 host !! Finally !!

It also allows you to use x64 versions of linux as either host or vm

theres a 30 day evaluation(registration required) available HERE (http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/)

For those with x86 that want to try a great free solution, try vmware player (http://www.vmware.com/support/player2/doc/releasenotes_player2.html)

mtfbwya

Sounds groovy, let us x86 users know how that works out huh? ;)

Sounds groovy, let us x86 users know how that works out huh? ;)

yeah, I want to run x86 xp for some compatibility apps/games, which I have a feeling wont work anyway due to the graphical limitations of virtualisation - but I at least want to try and see what its like :)

mtfbwya

There's only one way to find out though... :D

OK! Had a go at VM6 using Vista x64 as host and xp pro sp2 as guest.

Heres a 1600x1200 vm window sitting inside my 1600p desktop.(vmware will allow me to increase to that rez though it must be said)

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc288/Astrotoy7/XPVirtual.png)

Pros
*easy to setup
*stable
*easy interface
*virtualisation settings tweakable for RAM, HDD, CD, even USB and CPU(can use single or dual core)
*dragging files across from host to guest is flawless and quick

Cons: not a major suprise
*graphics virtualisation limited to 16MB VRAM

(see pic insert which as a config test screen from Kotor 2 inside the xp vm)

Even though it wont allow me to play KOTOR(not my original intention anyway), it DOES allow me to use a video capture software/device that only has x86 drivers - as Im currently in the process of backing alot of VHS porn special memories :D

so vm ware stays on for the moment!!

VERDICT:
They've finally delivered the vmware goodness to x64 peeps !! \o/

mtfbwya

hmm, I guess I should use this instead of wine. Are there any security issues or any thing else that can pass between the OSs you use, or are each of the OSs pretty self contained like they would be on a partitioned disk?

hmm, I guess I should use this instead of wine. Are there any security issues or any thing else that can pass between the OSs you use, or are each of the OSs pretty self contained like they would be on a partitioned disk?

At the end of the day, virtualisation allows an OS to run within the context of a emulation application, rather than running of its own accord on its own partition.

As far as security from a network point of view, it can depend on how you set it up - whether you want to borrow the hosts Lan config(ie. a bridged connection) or creates its own profile. In that instance its as secure as your network itself is. As files can be dragged and dropped across OS's if you were really keen on security, you would take similar measures on the virtual rig as you do on the host. (of course, you could switch this feature off in setup)

Still, its worth having a think why you want to virtualise - I'd say its moreso application focused, rather than games....Though i am about to load CMI to see how it goes :) ...wonder if I can get rebel assault II working !??

EDIT: Neither CMI nor Rebeal Assault II work, once again due to the limitations of the gfx emulation. Again, not a huge surprise as gaming wasnt what virtualisation was designed for.

@ Du Man > if retro gaming is what you use wine for - then dont uninstall it :p

mtfbwya