On Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:04:11 -0800
Tim Wescott <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Tim Wescott wrote:
> > On to my real question:
> >
> > I really hate Windows. I really, really hate the fact that I need to
> > have it up and running sometimes (I have yet to fully break free from my
> > accounting software which uses Explorer for navigation, and some
> > microprocessor debugging tools only work under Windows).
> >
> > It's about time to upgrade the Ubuntu in my work desktop; I'm thinking
> > of wiping the whole thing clean and doing a fresh install, then
> > installing VirtualBox (for which there's a native Ubuntu install!!) in
> > which to run Windows XP for that dang accounting program and for those
> > few proprietary chip debugging environments that just have to have Windows.
> >
> > So:
> >
> > Does anyone have any experience with VirtualBox? How'd it go? Any
> > gotchas? Anything I should know before I just start happily installing
> > software? Is there a way to import an already-working hard drive image,
> > or do I just have to install Windows fresh in a new virtual machine?
> >
> > Danke
> >
> Several people have replied saying "it was hard to get USB up", and one
> has replied "you have to pay $$ to get the version that supports USB in
> the guest OS".
>
> So -- does "hard to get USB up" mean that it's hard to get USB working
> in the _host_ OS, and there's no chance at getting it going in the
> _guest_ OS, or does it mean that you found a way to get it working in
> the guest OS, too.
>
> ('cause if I want to run those chip debuggers I mentioned, I'm going to
> have to have USB).
I can't answer that definitively at the moment because I am on a new install of
OpenSuse 11.1 on a different hard disk and I haven't installed VirtualBox yet.
But I know that my Jaunty installation uses the OSE version and I could swear
that I had Windows seeing my thumb drive.
Also, I think the non-open source version is also free.
I should add that if you create shares on your Linux drive Windows can write
its data files directly to your Linux drive. The only files I leave in the
virtual machine are the Windows and application installation files. If I write
a letter in Windows I save it to my ~/ folder. Since all data that I create in
Windows is saved in my ~/ folder it gets backed up automatically when I back up
Linux. For that matter, the ~/.Virtualbox folder is also in your home folder,
so the whole virtual machine will also be backed up when you back up your home
folder.
Go ahead and install it. If you mess it up, just delete the virtual machine and
start over.
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