[ILUG] VMware alternatives.

[Dale Dunlea]

> > I run an XP laptop and I have a linux based product that I want to
> > be able to demo on it.
> 
> Surely the obvious answer is "install Linux"?
> 
> > 1. Run VMware, or if anyone can point me in the right direction, a
> > free alternative that runs on windows. Install the Linux system on 
> > VMware and run it from there. This seems like the easiest and 
> > safest way of doing things.
> 
> There is qemu, which wont be as fast as VMWare, but often is fast 
> enough. You'd have to run Windows under qemu on Linux though.
> 
> > 2. Repartition my laptop for a dual-boot setup. Not quite as safe
> > as the first option, and requeires an amount of work to safely 
> > repartition. Yes, I have my data backed up, but I still would 
> > rather avoid the risk of hosing my system and having to reinstall 
> > XP and all of the (many) apps I have installed on it.
> 
> If your XP partition(s) are VFAT (no idea what XP uses), you can CD 
> boot or network boot Linux, mount those partitions and backup your 
> windows filesystem in their entirety to a network host, then 
> repartition, install Linux and restore your windows fs as-it-was when 
> you first boot Linux. (added benefit that you wont have windows 
> reinstalling the MBR on you if you install windows.. and you'll have 
> a 'snapshot' of your windows host to make your next-reinstall of 
> Windows less painful).

XP uses NTFS all the way. 


> > 3. Make a Live CD that can boot my designer system. I can then demo
> > this on my laptop, or indeed any other computer that happens to be 
> > lying around. Cons to this include the learning curve in building a 
> > Live CD, and also having to go out and get me a few re-writeable 
> > CDs to make it less expensive to release incremental improvements 
> > to the demo product.
> 
> This can be a lot of work. If previous suggestion sounds easy to you, 
> then this might be an option too.

That's pretty much what I thought,

> > What does the combined wisdom of the ILUG suggest as the 
> best means to 
> > go forward?
> 
> Backup your program~1 directory, install Linux, use Wine to run the 
> few apps you might have that dont have Linux equivalents ;)

Hmm, C# compilers, CAD programs and PCB/Circuit stuff. I suspect they're
not high on the list of priorities for Wine.

Regards,
Dale.