Filed under: Fun, Features, Linux, Lists
10 easy ways to play with Linux without leaving Windows
by Lee Mathews Sep 28th 2009
If you're still using Windows for your primary OS there are tons of ways to get your feet wet like a true penguin without making any serious commitments. Here are ten ways to play with Linux painlessly -- if you have another to share, please post it in the comments!
Virtualization
Moba LiveCD
Moba uses QEMU to boot LiveCD and LiveUSB images right from your Windows desktop. It works as a portable app and also offers context menu integration so you can right-click to launch fresh images.
Portable Ubuntu
Using Colinux, Pulseaudio for Windows, and the Xming X server, this package allows you to boot a fully-working Ubuntu environment inside Windows right from your usb flash drive. The bigger the better, obviously. I'd recommend an 8GB or 16GB if you plan on using it regularly.
Cisco, ever looking to stick its stubby fingers in a winning pie, is acquiring a stake in VMWare, makers of the ever popular line of machine virtualization software. 
If you love your Mac but still need or want to run Windows, Linux, or Solaris, then 
Virtualization software, allowing you to simulate a "computer within a computer", is increasingly becoming a tricky subject. With products like Parallels Desktop, VMWare and Microsoft's Virtual PC allowing you to, in a way, mix and match operating systems, the licenses behind those operating systems are becoming more complicated and restrictive. Microsoft, for example, doesn't allow low-rent versions of Vista (Vista Basic, or Vista Home Premium) to be used within a virtual environment; If you want that privilege you'll need to cough up some extra dough for Vista Ultimate, Vista Business or Vista Enterprise. Not to be outdone, Apple doesn't allow OS X in a virtual environment at all, ever; Not on Apple hardware or anyone else's.
For those of you who have been holding out on 
EasyVMX
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
