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

[Rainmaker]

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

 

[Rainmaker]

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]

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

 

[Rainmaker]

Oops, I stopped getting notification of replies to this thread - I thought it'd died LOL Sorry. Yeah, as someone above said you can run virtual machines on Windows too. But what I meant was (and I'm sure a lot of folks here would think the same) is that once you load four OSs under Windows, it doesn't play too nice any more LOL

Linux carries on like nothing happened, whereas XP starts groaning under the strain and even crashing (OE refuses to load and the buttons start looking messed up for one). I tried it, on a clean fully updated install too - so it's not like it was an old fubared copy. Oh, and in Windows you've either got your VMs open, or you're in Windows. That is, VM runs as a windowed app and Windows is BEHIND it. You have to exit the VMs to get back to the host OS. With Linux you can (as I was showing) run all your OSs side by side on different virtual desktops, leaving them all running side by side for easy access. XP don't do that - neither does Vi$ta for that matter

It was just a little fun that's all