windows thru Linux
Hi, I run Mandriva as my main operating system, but on a second computer I have windows 98 to run a small [windows only] accounting program. Can I join the computers together and operate the accounts program through Linux? The program will run on a Mack using virtual PC. Does linux have a similar program and would windows have to be loaded onto the computer? Regards, David
2009/11/15 David Giles <david(a)meadowbrook.co.nz>
Hi,
I run Mandriva as my main operating system, but on a second computer I have windows 98 to run a small [windows only] accounting program. Can I join the computers together and operate the accounts program through Linux?
The program will run on a Mack using virtual PC. Does linux have a similar program and would windows have to be loaded onto the computer?
Linux has a variety of virtualization options. If you are going to virtualize a desktop, I would highly recommend VirtualBox. QEmu and VMWare Server are also other popular options for desktop virtualization. -- simon
(Edit: Sorry mods - I sent this email earlier from the wrong email address.) On 15/Nov/2009, at 17:03 , David Giles wrote:
Hi,
I run Mandriva as my main operating system, but on a second computer I have windows 98 to run a small [windows only] accounting program. Can I join the computers together and operate the accounts program through Linux?
The program will run on a Mack using virtual PC. Does linux have a similar program and would windows have to be loaded onto the computer?
VMWare is the tool that I would recommend for doing this - install VMWare server[0] or VMWare Workstation on your Mandriva machine and I would try using the VMWare converter[1] to attempt to convert the physical machine into a virtual machine. The VMware site makes no mention of Win98 being supported for conversion, so YMMV. With VMWare, you keep your existing linux installation and install windows "within" a virtual machine. So far VMWare seems to have filled the gap for doing this work, and the licensing allows use free of charge. My preference for this type of task would be VMWare server 1, as it contains a native tool for display the virtual machine, however VMWare server 2.0 will display the screen through a browser plugin - this can be frustrating if you have an older computer running linux however as the computing requirements for VMWare server 2.0 are higher than for version 1. Alternatively there is VirtualBox (a Sun project - I can't recall off the top of my head how the licensing works for Virtual box) Parallels, as I recall, is the product that the Mac used to use to run Windows on the local machine - however I think this now forms part of Microsofts offering (I'm not 100% on this) If you can get the converter to convert your existing machine then you will not have to load windows into the machine as the tool will do that job for you. If the converter doesn't work, then you will need to install windows itself. Please note that you will need to be aware of the licensing requirements for Windows 98. HTH, Wazzä
Alternatively there is VirtualBox (a Sun project - I can't recall off the top of my head how the licensing works for Virtual box)
You can either get an open-source edition (OSE) or the full package, which is still free of charge if for personal use or evaluation purpose: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Editions Personally, I use VirtualBox quite a lot, to test-drive applications in various operating systems. VirtualBox also has this nice feature of "snapshots". Snapshots allow you to roll back to a certain point in time, e.g., if you only want to install some software for testing purposes. Take a snapshot before you install the software and when done with testing, roll back and the modifications are gone completely. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174
+1 for VirtualBox, it can run in seamless mode. CR -----Original Message----- From: wlug-bounces(a)list.waikato.ac.nz [mailto:wlug-bounces(a)list.waikato.ac.nz] On Behalf Of Peter Reutemann Sent: Sunday, 15 November 2009 5:41 p.m. To: Waikato Linux Users Group Subject: Re: [wlug] windows thru Linux
Alternatively there is VirtualBox (a Sun project - I can't recall off the top of my head how the licensing works for Virtual box)
You can either get an open-source edition (OSE) or the full package, which is still free of charge if for personal use or evaluation purpose: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Editions Personally, I use VirtualBox quite a lot, to test-drive applications in various operating systems. VirtualBox also has this nice feature of "snapshots". Snapshots allow you to roll back to a certain point in time, e.g., if you only want to install some software for testing purposes. Take a snapshot before you install the software and when done with testing, roll back and the modifications are gone completely. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174 _______________________________________________ wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug -- This message was scanned by the Turnstone managed spam filter and is believed to be clean.
participants (5)
-
Cameron Rangeley -
David Giles -
Peter Reutemann -
Simon Green -
Warren Boyd