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VirtualMachine posts

Filed under: Linux, Freeware

vee-Dee Eyes Hooks You Up With Virtualbox Linux


Sure, the name makes you sound like you have some kind of horrible ocular infection, but vee-Dee Eyes has a massive collection of prefab Linux distros ready for you to run in VirtualBox.

VMware has been ruling the virtual machine game for quite a while, but Sun has made great strides with Virtual Box of late. Performance is very good (there's really no appreciable lag, even on our virtualized Windows Vista install), and it is free, after all.

You could also download five or six Linux iso images and install them yourself, but that requires a lot of additional time and effort. Since we're all about slack efficiency here, we figure why not take advantage of the virtualization community's efforts and grab some .vdi's that are ready to rock.

It's a great way to check out new alpha and beta releases and lesser knowns like Mandriva 2009.

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware

Microsoft VirtualPC 2007 available for free download

VirtualPC

If you thought it was cool when Microsoft began giving away free downloads of VirtualPC 2004 last year, check this out. VirtualPC 2007 has been released. And it's also free.

VirtualPC lets you run multiple operating systems simultaneously from within Windows XP or Vista. New features include 64-bit host operating systems, hardware-assisted virtualization, network-based installation of a guest OS, and the ability to run virtual machines on multiple monitors.

Heres' the list of supported host systems:
  • Windows Server 2003
  • Windows Vista Business, Vista Enterprise, and Vista Ultimate
  • Windows XP Professional, XP Professional x64 and XP Tablet PC edition
But I had no problem installing VirtualPC on my Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 system. And while the virtual systems supported are all Microsoft (Dos 6.22, Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, and Vista) and OS/2 Warp operating systems, I was easily able to run Damn Small Linux. Of course, Damn Small Linux also has an embedded version that comes with QEMU, allowing you to run a virtual installation within Windows without any other software, but hey I was looking for a complete operating system I could download and test quickly, okay?

Anyway, while Microsoft is promoting VirtualPC for developers that need to make sure their software run properly on multiple systems, it's also a great tool for Windows users who might want to give Linux a test spin.

[via DailyTech]

Filed under: Business, Developer, Adobe, Mozilla

Adobe donates JavaScript engine to Mozilla

adobe donation to mozillaAdobe will be generously donating some code that will allow JavaScript programs to run within Firefox. This new donation will form the Tamarin Project, a new initiative with developers from both Adobe, and Mozilla. The code in question is called the ActionScript Virtual Machine, and is used to run scripts inside the Adobe Flash Player 9. The new code integration is expected to be fully integrated into future Firefox versions, first released in the first half of 2008.

This new donation is the largest donation to date for the open-source Mozilla Foundation. The new addition will drastically help the development of the Firefox browser, especially since HTML and Flash developer communities will both be on the team collaborating on a common language. The addition of the script engine is said to be extremely important to open source projects including both Firefox and the Thunderbird email application.

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

VMware Converter: Turn your computer into a virtual machine

VMwareSo you want to upgrade to Vista or Linux but still have your old Windows install--the whole thing, apps, settings and all--available? That's just one of the scenarios in which VMware Converter could be extremely useful. It's a free beta app from VMware that makes it supremely easy to take your current system and turn it into a virtual machine. This is a task that in the past was possible but laborious. In addition to creating physical machines to virtual ones, VMware Converter knows a couple other tricks, like converting virtual machines to a newer version of VMware and converting images from other software like Microsoft Virtual PC.

In related news, LiveCD aficionados should check out this LiveCD Player Virtual Machine from vmwarez.com, which lets you create a virtual machine for VMware from any LiveCD ISO with just one click.

[Via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Utilities, Web services

EasyVMX: Build a virtual machine on the web

EasyVMXEasyVMX is one of those things that makes me sit back and say, "Huh... that's neat." It's a handy web app that will build a virtual machine for the free VMware Player based on your specifications. Just fill out a few drop-downs and checkboxes (or a lot, if you're more technically-inclined), download and run the small virtual machine file it generates, and then pop in your OS's install disc. EasyVMX will generate virtual machines for Windows, Linux, Solaris, BSD, and more. In case you're new to this virtualization thing like me, the EasyVMX tutorial is a good place to start.

[Via Rails Live CD Blog]

Filed under: Open Source

VMware Ultimate Virtual Appliance winners announced

VMware Ultimate Virtual Appliance ChallengeVMware has announced the winners of its Ultimate Virtual Appliance Challenge, a contest which challenged teams to build preconfigured open source virtual machine images for VMware. I posted earlier this month about some of the very cool "Virtual Appliances" available at the VMware web site, and VMware's chosen winners are impressive indeed. The first prize winner is HowNetWorks, "a network analyzer that works at a higher level than more traditional network analyzers like tcpdump or ethereal." The team from Finland that created it will take home $100,000. The second place team, which will take home $50,000, built Trellis NAS Bridge, which "makes it easier to access files from one location (i.e., a client) even though the files may be stored on different computers, different file servers, and different operating systems," and the third place team's entry, which netted them $25,000, is Sieve Firewall, "a virtual machine that runs an extremely small Linux kernel to create a transparent bridging firewall." VMware also gave away prizes in Collegiate, Consumer, Developer, Server, and Community Choice categories.

Filed under: Linux, Open Source

VMware preconfigured virtual appliances

VMware Virtual AppliancesOkay, so we get the big deal about VMware: Through the magic of virtualization, it lets you run multiple, varied operating systems on top of one host OS. But wait, here's a new wrinkle (well, new to me, at least): The VMware web site has a directory of "virtual appliances," which are "fully pre-installed and pre-configured application and operating system environments that run on any standard x86 desktop or server in a self-contained, isolated environment known as a virtual machine." What that means is that if you a Linux box with the free VMware Server installed and you want to, say, run a networked file server with it, you don't have to bother with downloading ISOs, installing and configuring software, etc.--all you have to do is download the FreeNAS virtual appliance and boot it in VMware. Okay, that's nothing fancy--FreeNAS is easy to install on its own--but what if you wanted to use the same machine for running a Ruby on Rails development environment at the same time? Just download the Rails Appliance. There's free virtual appliances for pretty much any server task, like running the Asterisk PBX, a Jabber IM server, or a Battlefield 2 game server. I'm seriously going to be trying this out as soon as I get a new hard drive for that bare-bones box I have sitting in the closet.

[Via Matt Croydon]

Filed under: Windows

How to build a smaller and faster Windows VM

Creating smaller virtual machinesWhen you're running a Virtual Machine, you don't always need all the trimmings--usually your goal is to get a particular set of tasks done, and a full-fledged install of Windows has a lot that gets in the way of that and can slow you down. Jeff Atwood has a great tutorial at his blog about creating smaller virtual machines. He says that since Microsoft made the Windows version of Virtual PC free, he's "become obsessed with producing the smallest possible Windows XP Virtual PC image." While your run-of-the-mill XP install takes up more than 1GB, Atwood's tutorial squeezes it down to 758MB. Still big, but better. One of his steps involves the use of XPlite, an app that will cost you $39.95, which might not be an investment more casual VMers would want to make. His tutorial is aimed at Microsoft Virtual PC, but it's probably applicable to other virtualization solutions as well.

Filed under: Macintosh, Apple

Convert your Boot Camp partition to Parallels

Boot Camp to ParallelsMac Virtualization software Parallels allows OS X users to run multiple operating systems simultaneously, much in the same way as VMware does for Windows, and has been building a solid reputation as a good alternative to Apple's Boot Camp, which allows a Mac owner to install Windows, but requires dual-booting and a separate partition. But what if you've been Boot Camping for awhile but want to switch to Parallels? Do you have to start from scratch? As it turns out, no. Though it's certainly no walk in the park, Ars Technica's Infinite Loop blog has some info on how you can back up your Boot Camp partition and re-create it as an identical Parallels virtual machine. Not for the faint of heart, but if you're sick of dual-booting, this might be right up your alley.

Filed under: Business, Developer, OS Updates, Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Commercial, Open Source

An introduction to virtualization

hypervisor overviewI've been having to use VirtualPC (among others) for virtualization for ages, so running an OS inside another OS is pretty old hat for me. But for a lot of folks, the new virtualization tools have really, finally arrived. Let's face it, hardware has finally gotten to a point where doing this kind of stuff isn't nearly as painful as it used to be. I'm not saying it's great, but at least we're moving beyond the point of "which runs faster than a box turtle." Rick Cook has an excellent article at informit.com on hypervisors, from what it does to what it needs and how you can use it. Rick breaks down the major offerings, and talks about what's lacking. This stuff is finally breaking loose, and for a future Intel-based Mac owner, I couldn't be happier.

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With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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