Easier way to "test" distros, and other OSs

[sunrat]

I've spent a few years partitioning, formatting up to 10 partitions per disk, deliberating which old distro to wipe,waiting to install from CD and then editing boot menus to make them boot.All to test what the new distros are like, because I don't want to miss the one which may be "perfect". Now with VirtualBox I can create a new virtual machine, point it's virtual CD-ROM at the OS's .iso file and install straight away. Or run a Live distro on a virtual machine. Either way (live or install) it all runs very quickly because the "CD" is actually running from hard drive. Yes, a live CD will run as fast as an installed system!I've used VMware Player and occasionally Workstation before, but they are either limited or expensive. VirtualBox is free to use and similar in function to Workstation, and is mostly under GPL. It's simple to use and install, and just, well, Awesome! Binaries are available for these OSs: * VirtualBox 1.3.8 for Windows Hosts * VirtualBox for OS X Hosts (Beta 1) * VirtualBox 1.3.8 for Linux Hosts: o Ubuntu 7.04 ("Feisty Fawn") o Ubuntu 6.10 ("Edgy Eft") o Ubuntu 6.06 LTS ("Dapper Drake") o Debian 3.1 ("Sarge") o Debian 4.0 ("Etch") o openSUSE 10.2 o Mandriva Linux 2007.1 o Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 o Univention Corporate Server 1.3-2 o All distributions

[Bruno]

Yep I noticed that on Mandriva 2007.1 virtualbox is installed by default ( anyway on the PowerPack edition it is )I had already bookmarked a site with nice screenshots because I was planning to experiment with it:http://www.go2linux.org/node/54 ( second part "Running VirtualBox" is interesting )Looks real easy to use and apparently it is less resource hungry then VMware. BrunoUPDATE: I have PCLos running in Virtualbox on Mandriva 2007.1-Spring . . . . .easy as pie !. . . . <== click. . . . <== click

[mthompso]

Thanks

[cybormoron]

bruno, what time is it. the clock is off by 11 seconds in the first shot. even gkrellm is off by 1 second. next shot is off by 62 seconds. if my calculations are correct then virtualbox runs about 62 to 71 seconds faster than the host. just read about virtualbox myself. kind of anxious to play with it myself.just kidding about the time. that's why i have a clock on the wall.

[havnblast]

VM does make it nice for testing distros. I still prefer vm-ware server, but VB is nice and easy to setup.

[sunrat]

UPDATE: I have PCLos running in Virtualbox on Mandriva 2007.1-Spring . . . . .easy as pie !

That's partly why I was amazed, it is SO easy! I haven't tried an OS in it yet (out of 4) that didn't connect to the net automatically, which I never managed to get right in VMware Workstation.To try a live CD distro you can make a VM without a hard drive, and just point the virtual CD to the iso file.No more burning CDs to try new distros! I've just read up on how to share folders from the host OS, and installed Dreamweaver in a WinXP guest on my Debian host. No more rebooting to use my fave web editor! Had a BSOD while running Firefox though. VirtualBox can't improve Windoze, I guess.

[lewmur]

I've spent a few years partitioning, formatting up to 10 partitions per disk, deliberating which old distro to wipe,waiting to install from CD and then editing boot menus to make them boot.All to test what the new distros are like, because I don't want to miss the one which may be "perfect". Now with VirtualBox I can create a new virtual machine, point it's virtual CD-ROM at the OS's .iso file and install straight away. Or run a Live distro on a virtual machine. Either way (live or install) it all runs very quickly because the "CD" is actually running from hard drive. Yes, a live CD will run as fast as an installed system!I've used VMware Player and occasionally Workstation before, but they are either limited or expensive. VirtualBox is free to use and similar in function to Workstation, and is mostly under GPL. It's simple to use and install, and just, well, Awesome! Binaries are available for these OSs: * VirtualBox 1.3.8 for Windows Hosts * VirtualBox for OS X Hosts (Beta 1) * VirtualBox 1.3.8 for Linux Hosts: o Ubuntu 7.04 ("Feisty Fawn") o Ubuntu 6.10 ("Edgy Eft") o Ubuntu 6.06 LTS ("Dapper Drake") o Debian 3.1 ("Sarge") o Debian 4.0 ("Etch") o openSUSE 10.2 o Mandriva Linux 2007.1 o Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 o Univention Corporate Server 1.3-2 o All distributions

I installed Vbox on my w2k partition and then tried to install the latest version of Ubuntu. The install seemed to work ok but upon reboot I got an error before the first splash screen. It started with Int 12 Tried a reinstall but still no luck. Tested the iso and it reported OK.So I then tried installing Kubuntu and it went without a hitch.

[cybormoron]

i was going to start a thread about virtualbox but i see we already have 3 threads running discussing vb in some form or other so i reckon i'll do my post here. here's the other 2 threads that contain good links for reference;http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.ph...p;hl=virtualboxhttp://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?showtopic=18551so what was i gonna post? i was just gonna show off some screenshots and ask what everyone else had in their virtualbox. i'm finding this to be a uber cool application to play with. so far i have ubuntu feisty fawn 7.04, and vector 5.8 soho installed. i'm working on the puppylinux but can only get it to run live currently. what's cool is that you don't have to burn cd's. you can install a distro right from the iso image. here's my shots;ubuntu was easy. i used my already burned cd.i'm having a little prob trying to figure out how to install puppy. i managed to get the virtual drive formatted but i didn't get the bootloader installed so i have to start over again.vector was a little tricky because i had to use cfdisk to format the virtual drive then the setting in the virtualbox dialog had to be changed to boot from cd rather than reloading the iso image.i think when you point virtualbox to an iso image and install the distro you need to change the virtualbox settings to point to the new installation rather than the iso image again. this way virtualbox will boot the distro instead of running the installer again.so what's in your virtual box?

Edited May 18, 2007 by cybormoron

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Pffffffffft! This is waaaaay too easy. You miss out on all the FUN using this method.

[cybormoron]

hehe, i'm a sucker for easy, besides i wanted a way to run multiple distros on my dual-monitor machine. now i can run 2 OS'es at the same time, 1 for each monitor.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.

[boilertech]

What about Video drivers? Can Nvidia/ATI drivers be installed?sunrat;

I've just read up on how to share folders from the host OS

How do you do this?

[sunrat]

I find the VirtualBox manual from VirtualBox Downloads page is essential reading to work with VirtualBox.Here's the relevant section (I had to reread this to post an answer, and couldn't explain it better):

5.4. Folder Sharing Shared Folders allow you to access files of your host system from within the guest system, much like ordinary shares on Windows networks would -- except that shared folders do not need a networking setup. Sharing is accomplished using a special service on the host and a file system driver for the guest, both of which are provided by VirtualBox. In order to use this feature, the VirtualBox Guest Additions have to be installed. Currently,Shared Folders are limited to Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Linux 2.4 and 2.6 guests. To declare a folder as shared to VirtualBox, you specify a certain path on the host (which will become the shared folder) and give it a "share name" that only VirtualBox will use. Using this share name, which the VirtualBox Shared Folders service will provide to the guest, a drive letter mapping can be performed in the guest. Shares are created using the VBoxManage command line interface; see Chapter 7, VBoxManage reference. The command is as follows: VBoxManage sharedfolder add "VM name" -name "sharename" -hostpath "C:\test" There are two types of shares: 1. VM shares which are only available to the VM for which they have been defined; 2. transient VM shares, which can be added and removed at runtime and do not persist after a VM has stopped; for these, add the -transient option to the above command line. Then, you can mount the shared folder from inside a VM the same way as you would mount an ordinary network share: 39 Configuring virtual machines• In a Windows guest, use the following command: net use x: \\vboxsvr\sharename Replace "x:" with the drive letter that you want to use for the share, and sharename with the share name specified with VBoxManage.• In a Linux guest, use the following command: mount -t vboxsf [-o OPTIONS] sharename mountpoint Replace sharename with the share name specified with VBoxManage, and mountpoint with the path where you want the share to be mounted (e.g. /mnt/share). The usual mount rules apply, that is, create this directory first if it does not exist yet.

What about Video drivers? Can Nvidia/ATI drivers be installed

VMs at present use an emulated card, so no 3D. It's one of the main disadvantages, but hopefully soon we will see VMs using the host card directly, or some 3D support at least. Edited May 19, 2007 by sunrat

[Urmas]

I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. :'(

I know... but, man, you ought to try this one! Here's Feisty guest on Edgy (I pointed VirtualBox to the Feisty image I had in my computer). Too easy!

[securitybreach]

Is there anyway to control how big the virtual OS window is. I have a 1280x800 widescreen display and all of the OSs I run show a resolution of 1024x768 so I do not have much display room to work with. I looked in the setting of both the global and the regular settings but nothing about video resolution. I also tried to change the resolution in slax while it was running inside VirtualBox but it still kept the window size but everything else got bigger. I want to set the size at like 800x600 or maybe even 640x480 so I can use both the vm and the host at the same time. Any ideals?Thanks

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Spiffy do-do, but not a whole lot different than running a Live CD, huh? If I'm going experience a distro, I want it actually, physically, for REAL, on my system.

[Urmas]

If I'm going experience a distro, I want it actually, physically, for REAL, on my system.

Easy for you to say, mr. Terabyte... This way I can utilize my external HD... and it IS different from running a distro "live"... you can do the usual chores... updates, installing stuff etc.@Breach: I've only played with this today, but in Mandy and Ubuntu I have a (limited) "pre-set" of resolutions... in Ubuntu 1024*768, 800*600 and 640*480. These with default video memory settings... and I haven't played with Xorg.conf yet. As for "it still kept the window size but everything else got bigger", have you tried the options in "VM menu"?

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I don't have a T-byte of space. I only have half that. Of course, if I ran in RAID 0 instead of 1, I could have 3/4 of a T-byte.

[Urmas]

I could have 3/4 of a T-byte.

[striker]

Imagine what would happen with JBOD, or RAID-6 !

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Hey! I have a bunch of junk drives around here, but my RAID controller is software. GNU/Linux no likum software RAID.

[sunrat]

Is there anyway to control how big the virtual OS window is.

You need to install the VirtualBox Additions in the guest OS. To do this, before you start the VM change the settings for CD/DVD to mount ISO image and change the drop-down box to the Additions iso (should appear there automatically). It will now prompt you to install Additions when you start up the VM. This allows you to change resolution and also makes the mouse work transparently between guest and host , plus some other features.As you have to install, this probably won't work for Live CDs, unless perhaps you set up a persistent home on a virtual HD. May as well install it then anyway.