Running XP, OS X AND Linux at the same time, on Linux!! :)

Hi guys,

As most of you know, in Linux you can have multiple desktops running at once, either 2D (using Desktop Switcher) or 3D (Compiz cube effect). Basically you see one desktop on the screen at a time, but have three (or more) others stashed away in the background. Clicking on a desktop switcher or hitting a keyboard combo moves you between these desktops (or spins the virtual desktop cube if you have 3D enabled).

Turning this "multiple desktop" feature to my advantage, I've been playing around on VirtualBox (an Open Source version of VMWare Server) on my Ubuntu 7.10 machine. In 10 minutes flat I had it set up to have Ubuntu (the host OS) running on one desktop, and full screen virtual machines of XP Pro, Mac OS X and Fedora 8 running on the other three desktops.

Yes, you read right... Windows XP, Linux AND Mac OS X running on an x86 PC!

Since I told VirtualBox to run each virtual machine (guest OS) full screen at my monitor's native resolution, I now have FOUR OSs running side by side, at full speed, on one machine! Each virtual machine (OS) looks like it's running natively on the hard drive - you can't tell looking at them that they're running on top of Linux because they're all totally high res at full screen size, and so you don't see the Linux background behind it!

A simple keyboard click moves me instantly and smoothly from OS X, to Ubuntu, to Fedora to Win XP Pro and back to Ubuntu again. HOW cool is that?! 8) I get the super reliability and outright usefulness of Linux, all the while having a fully loaded, "ready to go" XP environment and even OS X platform ALREADY RUNNING should I want them at the touch of a button. No more dual (or quintuple) booting!

The fun part is, XP actually runs FASTER inside a Linux virtual box, than it does installed natively onto your hard drive. That's because the VM environment has been optimised for each particular OS and what it wants/needs. Clever Linux! Now I can encode avis to DVD in WinAVI on my Windows virtual machine, while actually "working" on my Linux machine, and having OS X sort my images out in another machine - all at the same time on the same PC

Obviously in real life I'd not delegate tasks like that (Linux can do them ALL), but it does show you the power of the (OPEN SOURCE) technology. All this on an Athlon 64 X2 4200 (2.2Ghz dual core), 2GB DDR RAM machine!

Anyway I just wanted to show off the power of Linux really. Here's a little video I made showing how the quickly and smoothly the switch works - and just how fast each OS actually operates. It really is just like they're running natively on separate physical PCs - everything loads so fast! I've only put Ubuntu to XP in the vid to save video size btw, sorry it's a crappy AVI but I didn't want to bog you all down in a full res 20MB ogg file

CLICKY HERE TO STREAM OR DOWNLOAD THE VIDEO

Sorta shuts up the "Wah! Linux is hard! Wah! Linux isn't ready for the desktop! Wah! Linux is rubbish!" crowd, eh? LOL Let me know what you think!!
Cheers,

Lee

Linux noob here, what filesystem do you use and can all 3 OS'es all access the same filesystem?

Also, will XP games such as half life 2 run ok on a virtual box?

Finally, will things like Logic Studio 8 on the Mac run ok on a virtual box?

Each virtual OS runs its own native filesystem. In this case I have Ext2 on Ubuntu, NTFS on XP and... well whatever OS X's file system is on that LOL You can set up the VMs to have shared folders so they can share files with the main OS (and each other), and also you can set up bidirectional clipboards so that you can copy a file/folder in one OS, and paste it into another seamlessly.

As for games, I haven't tried it this time around, but I'm pretty sure I have before (my memory's not what it used to be lol)... Someone else is better answering that one, but yeah I'm pretty sure as long as you install the right add-ons to access the host GFX card you can do it.

Rainmaker said:

Each virtual OS runs its own native filesystem. In this case I have Ext2 on Ubuntu, NTFS on XP and... well whatever OS X's file system is on that LOL You can set up the VMs to have shared folders so they can share files with the main OS (and each other), and also you can set up bidirectional clipboards so that you can copy a file/folder in one OS, and paste it into another seamlessly.

Click to expand...

Ok, I'll have to give it a go... I've already got the Ubuntu CD somewhere, and a spare HDD to play with... I'm guessing it's best to partition your drive first, then install Ubuntu?

I'm not too bothered about games TBH, it's just nice to have a bash at CS:S every now and then. Also, I forgot to ask before, I'm running a dual monitor setup... Do you know if Ubuntu works with dual displays?

Support for dual displays was improved in the latest stable release of Ubuntu (7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon"). Make sure you have that version before trying it out... if you have an older version you can download Gutsy for free HERE.

Boot up the live CD first to see how you get on, and if you like it you can arrange your partitions with System>Administration>Partition Editor (gparted). Do this BEFORE you start the installer, as gparted is more configurable and easier to work with than the installer's built-in partition tool.

While you're in the live CD you can install the nvidia driver (from the Restricted Drivers Manager) and hit ctrl+alt+backspace to refresh the desktop. That will load the nvidia driver and let you play at setting up the dual monitors (System > Administration > Screens and Graphics).

Have fun

Nice! I'm getting the CD now, so I should be able to give it a go tomorrow if I get some free time...

Forgot to mention that my gfx card is an ATI x800 right now, but I've got a 7800gt to go in there once I redo my watercooling. I should change my sig really but keep forgetting.

Which version would be best for a c2d?

- Standard personal computer (x86 architecture, PentiumTM, CeleronTM, AthlonTM, SempronTM)
- 64bit AMD and Intel computers

I've just gone and downloaded the Standard one...

A C2D can run either. The regular version is 32-bit. The 64-bit version is 64-bit, obviously. Unless you specifically need 64-bit operation, like you would if you needed 4+ GiB RAM or some program that is 64-bit only, there's little reason to use it.

And, of course, you can install a 64 or 32-bit kernel at any time to switch.

Ok, I'll install the standard one for now... I thought that the 64bit version might run faster for some reason.

I'm also on 2gb, so I won't bother switching unless I get another 2gb down the line...

Unless it has something very new to allow direct access to the graphics hardware rather than through virtualization, then games are going to die in a virtual environment. And thats the main use people have for windows really...

Gotcha - I'm not really too worried about games right now anyway, but I can always dual boot anyway...

I'm trying to get the CD to boot right now... for some reason it won't boot from my USB CD drive, but I should have it sorted soon.

Finally got the CD to boot, and it's all running well... It detected my wifi card straight away.

Is there a list somewhere if hardware that will and wont work? It didn't detect my E-mu 1212m soundcard, and I need this to work really.

Open a terminal and type
lspci
This command will list (ls) what it finds on pci. Look through the output for the entry for your sound card and post it here. It'll tell the chipset in use. We can then look around for support information regarding that chipset.

Here's what happens when I type LSPCI...

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82P965/G965 Memory Controller Hub (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82P965/G965 PCI Express Root Port (rev 02)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Contoller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev f2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HB/HR (ICH8/R) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) 4 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc R480 [Radeon X800 GTO (PCIE)]
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc R480 [Radeon X800 GTO (PCIE)] (Secondary)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 12)
05:00.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy (rev 03)
05:00.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Creative Labs SB Audigy FireWire Port (rev 01)
05:01.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

For some reason it sees it as an audigy

Also, I've just formatted and gone for ext3... Is this any different to ext2 as rainmaker says he was using ext2 above...

ext3 is a more advanced implementation of ext2. ext3 includes journaling and, as such, is much more resilient.

Ok, looks like ext3 will be good for me then. It's all installed and running now.

Now, I've tried enabling the restricted ATI drivers, but I can't for the life of me get it to work with dual monitors... I'll have to have a look at the ubuntu forums, as I also want to get this soundcard working also...

Apart from these niggles tho, ubuntu seems very nice.

To be fair its not really showing off the power of Linux but rather the power of virtualisation, all 3 platforms you mentioned can do this with themselves as the host. As others have said you also won't be able to run anything which relies on 3d acceleration.

And theres the small issue of running OS X on a non-mac system breaking their terms of use

andshrew said:

And theres the small issue of running OS X on a non-mac system breaking their terms of use

Click to expand...

I know it's naughty, but I'm not really going to lose sleep over it.

Anyway, I've gone back to Windows XP as my main system for now, I'm gonna give VirtualBox a go under Windows... I know this is the Linux section but I miss my sound and dual monitors... I'm gonna check out the ubuntu forums tho, if I can fix the sound at least I may make the switch...

Finally a quick question about this whole "virtualisation" thing... Would upgrading from my e4300 help at all? I know chips like the e6600 claim to have virtualisation, but I'm not sure how much difference this would make (if any)?

and what did CS:S run like when running on virtual ??
ill switch to Ubuntu completely if you could get it to run

I didn't really try it as I didn't fancy it with no sound... If I can fix the sound tho, I'll give it a go.