Update on VMs under Linux?

[Voltage Spike]

On Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:05:39 -0700, <vodhner at cox.net> wrote:

> 1. Run XP in some sort of emulation or virtual machine under Linux, for  
> light use (mostly MS Word 97).

If you don't demand Free (with a captial "F") software, then it is
fairly uncomplicated. I have had excellent experiences using VMWare's
Player software with virtual machine profiles created at
"www.easyvmx.com". I don't believe that you will be able to run your
existing copy of Windows (you'll have to install to the virtual
manchine), and there is that sticky issue of Windows licenses...

> 2. Have it able to access *existing* NTFS and FAT32 volumes on the same  
> box without much finagling?  I've got a fair amount of resources that I  
> use from both Linux and Windows.

That really depends on your setup, but, in general, this is also quite
easy. VMWare creates a virtual network between your machines and you use
all the traditional techniques for network shares.

> 3. Have other VMs for use on occasion to tinker with alternative Linux  
> distros?  And have them able to access my main Linux / FAT32 / NTFS  
> files?

Again, quite easy. Just keep generating new virtual machine profiles as
needed and install the OS onto them.

> I have a 1.3 GHz Athlon cpu and 0.5 GB of memory.  I'm not too  
> particular about performance, especially on the Windows side.

You may be hurting for memory. I'd say trimming the memory profile of XP
(e.g., disable Themes) would be worth the effort.

If you go this route, let us know how it works out for you.

-- 
                                                          Logan Kennelly
       ,,,
      (. .)
--ooO-(_)-Ooo--