I thought it may me instructive and motivating for some, if I present here a brief account of my very positive experiences with my new "Virtual Machine".
Virtual machines are a quite hot subject these days, notably for cross-platform development. That is also the main purpose for my "VirtualBox" and the reason for presenting it HERE.
The exciting very recent development comes from a German software company (InnoTek)
http://www.virtualbox.org/
that apparently added a very successful new member to the pool of existing virtual machines:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-- VirtualBox is professionally done,
-- VERY fast and 100% compatible with the guest OS
-- perfectly stable AND
-- OpenSource (!!)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
VirtualBox can be run with an arbitrary guest OS on any of the three leading host
Operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac OSX).
e.g. my present installation
host: Linux (SuSE 10.1)
guest: Windows XP
or e.g.
host Windows XP
guest Windows Vista
Once I install another MAC OSX guest, I'll be able to compile and test software also for MACs
There is obviously a wealth of most useful applications. Imagine that I don't have to reboot anymore if I want to compile and test Celestia code or my txtools both on Windows XP and Linux! Moreover, there is a perfectly working internal network, based on the Secure Shell (ssh).
Using the ingenious cross-platform tool 'rsync', my archives on the Virtual XP machine and on my Linux host are synchronized with ONE single click! Moreover 'shared folders' are also supported, allowing simply to copy files between the host and the guest file system.
Let me just flash a few screenshots to give you a feel how things look like. By clicking on the following thumbs you can see the original 1600x1200 images.
1) Start Windows from Linux like a normal application. After a few moments the familiar Login appears:
Have a click!
In the background, you see my KDE Desktop under Linux. Of course, there is also a full-screen option for the guest OS window.
2) After Login, you see here the familiar CYGWIN command shell on the left.
Have a click!
I always place my Windows taskbar vertical and renounce on displaying the icon labels. Then all icons fit orderly onto a fairly slim taskbar and leave maximal space for windows on the left....
From the icons you can recognize some familiar applications:
Windows Explorer
Firefox 2.03
Internet Explorer 7
Acrobat Reader 8
Notepad++
WordPad
Cygwin Terminal and Setup icon
Gimp 2.2.14
XnView 1.9.0 (+ nconvert)
NVIDIA's WTV dds display tool
DOS command shell
MS Visual Studio .Net 2003 compiler
Inno Setup 5 generator package
Cmake
7z archiver GUI
MS Media Player 11
First Class Client to edit our Celestial Matters site
HP 990cxi network printer
Software installation works just like in case of a real WinXP setup, i.e. mostly using Firefox and the net for non-commercial applications. CD's/DVD's for commercial programs.
Everything works flawlessly and VERY fast on my Linux host! From playing music to operating my network printer... The most important application is clearly the VS .Net 2003 compiler!
Here are some further shots:
3) My Visual Studio .Net 2003 compiler having just finished successfully building Celestia 1.5.0CVS
Have a click!
4) Typical Windows stuff: Media Player 11 playing Alicia Keys (Songs in A minor
), The latest Internet explorer 7 and Windows explorer.
Have a click!
5) Finally, FireFox and MS Media Player at work
Have a click!
Think about it! This is really a big step forward...
There is one weakness, though: NO 3d hardware support. I.e. Celestia runs fine, but slow. But everything else is perfect. You can also display Video DVD's and even read in ISO files or real CD's/DVD's via your host player.
Bye Fridger
