Since Linux has a lot of useful tools, while Windows has a lot of apps (like Chrome), instead of buying another machine to run Linux, is there a way to run it as a Virtual Machine on the PC? The Ubuntu installation CD-ROM doesn't seem to have such an option.
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Lots of options here: Tools Only If you just want the GNU/Linux tools, there are a few choices.
Linux in a Windows Process There are several packages that will run Linux as a Windows process, without simulating an entire PC as virtualization does. They use Cooperative Linux, a.k.a. coLinux, which is limited to 32-bit systems. These don't have the overhead of virtualizing, and they start up faster since you're not booting a virtual PC. This is a little more on the experimental side and may not be as stable as some of the virtualization options. Virtualization Virtualization software lets you boot up another OS in a virtual PC, one that shares hardware with the host OS. This is pretty tried-and-true. There are nice options here for taking snapshots of your Virtual PC in a particular state, suspend/resume a virtual PC, etc. It's nice to be able to experiment with a virtual PC, add a few packages, then revert to a previous snapshot and "start clean". Dual Booting
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It looks like VirtualBox runs on Windows, which should have decent Linux support. Virtual PC, as far as I know, does not offer very good Linux integration. If you're just looking for the regular set of command line tools, you might look at cygwin. A lot of the goodness without the overhead of maintaining a separate system. |
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An alternative to a virtual machine (meaning it can share RAM with Windows) is Portable Ubuntu, which runs Ubuntu as a Windows app. It's one of the niftiest ways to get the best of both. I can't post a link because I'm a new user here. The domain is: portableubuntu.demonccc.cloudius.com.ar |
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You can use cygwin if you just want the tools. You can use VirtualPC software to mount any Linux. There are a few distros that install on top of Windows like phat linux Many useful linux utils (including bash) have been ported to native win32 (unix utils). |
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Maybe andLinux would be interesting? From andlinux.org:
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It's not the job of the Ubuntu CD-ROM to provide virtualised installation. Just install VirtualBox, and then create a new virtual machine booted from the Ubuntu disc. Alternatively get VMWare Player and download a pre-made image. |
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You can run it in a virtual machine ala VMWare, but there's also Wubi, which you might find suitable. |
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VMWare gave me Ubuntu for a while, but then I used VMWare to create a virtual machine of Windows, then I installed Ubuntu and Windows in Ubuntu. |
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In terms of UNIX tools there is of course the Microsoft Unix for Windows. ATT Research also provides UWIN. |
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"Cooperative Linux (short-named coLinux) is a port of the Linux kernel that allows it to run cooperatively alongside another operating system on a single machine." |
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You can run Linux in Virtual PC, though your performance may suffer some. I've got a trixBox PBX running in Virtual PC, for testing purposes, and it works fine. I notice some performance problems when calling from one softphone to another in my network and getting the extension's voicemail. The sound is slow and stuttering, I presume due to how Virtual PC allocates CPU cycles, because the PC it's running on is fairly robust. (Dual core 1.4 MHz with 4GB RAM - 3.6 recognized, of course, because it's 32-bit hardware.) I'd say try it out and see how it works for you. It won't take too long to get it up and running, so it's probably worth experimenting. |
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