Thank you all for your helpful ideas, comments, and suggestions.
Hardware configuration details are at the end.
(from memory)
Installed Ubuntu 9.10 64 bit on new hardware. Updated till system up to
date.
Using Synaptic Package Manager, installed the virtualbox-ose package.
Placed Windows 7 CD in drive.
Ran VirtualBox : Applications | Accessories | VirtualBox OSE
Pressed new button and created a new Windows 7 64 bit VM (2GB RAM, 20GB
disk).
Pressed the start button, selected CD drive source.
Entered some data (names if I recall right, nothing critical)
Partitioning saw a 20GB disk.
The install progressed as if it were done normally (not in VirtualBox)
including system restarts.
Entered password.
Here is where I first noticed something unusual. Tab to switch fields
seemed not to work.
Entered key code.
Keyboard entry was quite sluggish, sometimes taking 6 key presses to
enter a character.
Unchecked "activate when I'm on the internet". (so I didn't worry about
being stuck with a bad set up)
Went through Window's update followed by system restart a time or two.
The system seemed pretty normal (other than I've never run Windows 7
before), and the keyboard input was responsive. With the exception of
they sluggish keyboard and the smaller window size, the installation was
identical to a non virtual install. I experienced none of the
difficulties that I read about on the internet. Many were dated 1 or 2
years ago, so I guess the VirtualBox developers have fixed many of the
problems.
I downloaded, from www.zemax.com, zemax and the sentinel security key
install programs.
Installed the sentinel key drivers. Ran as usual without errors.
Plugged the security key into a usb port (the key lit up).
Installed Zemax.
Zemax would not run, as the hardware key was not found.
Since I need to use this system ASAP for work, I decided to make W7 the
host. Zemax works. I have not yet tried to install VirtualBox (and
Linux) on the W7 host.
My opinion: Hardware in the virtual environment needs special treatment,
so virtual W7 probably is not a good choice if one depends on
specialized 3D party drivers (presumably not designed for, nor tested to
work in, a virtual environment).
Future W7 guest on Linux experiments may use the following 90 day trial
version of W7.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/cc442495.aspx
Hardware configuration:
ASUS P6X58D Premium motherboard
Intel i7 930 socket 1366 cpu (quad core)
6GB RAM (3 chips)
USB keyboard and mouse.
Ethernet LAN.
Nvidia Quadro FX 580 graphics (PNY card)
Regards,
Mat
