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BigV · 02-11-2006, 08:51 PM

Thanks for all the responses, folks!

tw -- With apologies to mbpark (whose technical advice has heretofore been flawless), the answer to your question is choice number three. Virtual PC is well described in busterb's excellent summary. VPC is a program that runs under Windows XP (and other MS OSs) that permits me to define the hardware parameters of an imaginary (virtual) machine, and then that "machine" runs entirely in RAM. What OS you decide to install / launch on / in this VPC is up to you, within the constraints of the CPU architecture, as you point out.

mbpark -- Your answer is 100% correct if the question is "What is Knoppix?", but I think tw was asking about VPC. Knoppix is indeed hands off boot from cd run only in RAM as the only OS running on that (virtual or real) machine at any given moment. VPC is something else.

busterb -- Bullseye. I would like to emphasize the "...very cool..." part. It is indeed very very cool. I didn't get much from your link, so I'll offer one or two (or more or so) of my own. Good job busterb!

Rock Steady -- I have nothing to warn you about at this time wrt VPC, with this exception: these machines all share the common physical pool of RAM. Don't cheap out on the RAM 2GB would be extravagant for only Windows XP, but would be put to use on the same machine running a couple of VPC "boxes". The incredible usefulness of having the machine "right there" is hard to overstate. There are a couple of caveats, hardware wise. The VPC presumes to have some pretty basic hardware and it's all virtual, of course, so if your testing involves OS-Hardware interaction, perhaps this is not the right tool for the job. But if you're hardware indifferent, you can't beat the mileage you'll get out of having three machines in the same computer. Seriously.

The degree to which you wish to integrate them into the native host machine is entirely up to you.

SteveDallas -- Thanks for the Damn Small Linux tip. I will explore it more. Boot from cd is nice, and Knoppix does that too. My current goal is to have access to my comfortable WinXP resources to help me learn Linux simultaneously, not alternately, and that's where the VPC comes in. Plus (maybe when I get a couple of 1 or 2 GB sticks of RAM for the laptop) I will be able to run multiple machines. I think I can get away with the 1 GB I have divided this way: 768 MB WinXP and 2 VPCs at 128 MB each. We'll see. I want to experiment with two Linux boxes talking to each other.

All -- There is a similar product from MS called Virtual Server. Same product, I don't need the "extra" stuff and since I'm spending my time in front of a pc running XP and not Server 2003, then this one makes more sense for me.

02-11-2006, 08:51 PM	#9
BigV Goon Squad Leader Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 27,063	Thanks for all the responses, folks! tw -- With apologies to mbpark (whose technical advice has heretofore been flawless), the answer to your question is choice number three. Virtual PC is well described in busterb's excellent summary. VPC is a program that runs under Windows XP (and other MS OSs) that permits me to define the hardware parameters of an imaginary (virtual) machine, and then that "machine" runs entirely in RAM. What OS you decide to install / launch on / in this VPC is up to you, within the constraints of the CPU architecture, as you point out. mbpark -- Your answer is 100% correct if the question is "What is Knoppix?", but I think tw was asking about VPC. Knoppix is indeed hands off boot from cd run only in RAM as the only OS running on that (virtual or real) machine at any given moment. VPC is something else. busterb -- Bullseye. I would like to emphasize the "...very cool..." part. It is indeed very very cool. I didn't get much from your link, so I'll offer one or two (or more or so) of my own. Good job busterb! Rock Steady -- I have nothing to warn you about at this time wrt VPC, with this exception: these machines all share the common physical pool of RAM. Don't cheap out on the RAM 2GB would be extravagant for only Windows XP, but would be put to use on the same machine running a couple of VPC "boxes". The incredible usefulness of having the machine "right there" is hard to overstate. There are a couple of caveats, hardware wise. The VPC presumes to have some pretty basic hardware and it's all virtual, of course, so if your testing involves OS-Hardware interaction, perhaps this is not the right tool for the job. But if you're hardware indifferent, you can't beat the mileage you'll get out of having three machines in the same computer. Seriously. The degree to which you wish to integrate them into the native host machine is entirely up to you. SteveDallas -- Thanks for the Damn Small Linux tip. I will explore it more. Boot from cd is nice, and Knoppix does that too. My current goal is to have access to my comfortable WinXP resources to help me learn Linux simultaneously, not alternately, and that's where the VPC comes in. Plus (maybe when I get a couple of 1 or 2 GB sticks of RAM for the laptop) I will be able to run multiple machines. I think I can get away with the 1 GB I have divided this way: 768 MB WinXP and 2 VPCs at 128 MB each. We'll see. I want to experiment with two Linux boxes talking to each other. All -- There is a similar product from MS called Virtual Server. Same product, I don't need the "extra" stuff and since I'm spending my time in front of a pc running XP and not Server 2003, then this one makes more sense for me. __________________ Be Just and Fear Not.