Not sure where to put this!

[katoiam]

This is more of a general question!
I have a friend who recently pointed out something that I had never though about before, and then I cam across something on macs that comes close. He said he wished there was a way to switch between windoze and Linux by just pressing a short cut or something like that. So basically having dual boot but with out having to reboot each time. I then came across boot camp on my friends Mac, he has a dual boot OSX and windoze xp, he can reboot into windoze if he wants but also he can use boot camp to run windoze inside OSX but the interesting thing for me is that its running the version of windows he has installed on the other partition, so what ever he does in the emulated version is there when he reboots into windows proper! Is there any thing like this in Linux, or is any one working on something like that? May be there is and it has just passed me by, but I am very interested to hear what people on this forum have to say!
ciao
Liam

[Snowhog]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

Not like what Mac has, no, not that I am aware of. What we/Linux can do, is to run Windows in a VM (Virtual Machine). The VM runs inside of Linux, so you can be running Linux, fire up your VM and run Windows (or what ever VM you've set up). You can be running both at the same time.

There are limitations when running an OS in a VM, but no many. I have Windows XP Pro running as a VM inside of VMware Player.

[katoiam]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

I am aware of VM's, but what from what I know (which is very limited) the version in the VM isn't the same one that one may have installed on another partition is it? So if you add files to it or install something in it they wont appear in the one on the separate partition will they?
Now this is probably a very retarded question that I just thought of, if one has a dual or quad core is it possible to run two different OS's on each core at the same time? and switch between the two?

[Snowhog]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

Yes, it is not. Yes, they won't. No. No.

[katoiam]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

concise, direct, effective, unfortunate, one day......

[Snowhog]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

[katoiam]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

can no one give me some hope? some ones got to be interested in this idea? no?

[dibl]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

can no one give me some hope? some ones got to be interested in this idea? no?

kato, like having a spare engine in your car, it's a virtuous concept but not very practical.

Only one operating system at a time can operate. Get it?

Seriously, I view my Windows VMs, when running on one side of a compiz cube, as coming pretty close to your concept. One flick of the mouse wheel and I have Windows in front of me. One more flick, and it's back to Linux. The only shortcoming is that this Windows system cannot use the real graphics card, so if I were a hardcore gamer, which I'm not, then probably it would not be a satisfactory setup. Otherwise, it's a perfectly functional way to have both Linux and Windows available at the flick of the switch(er).


http://www.kubuntuforums.net/index.p...o_show&ida=249

[katoiam]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

ok but can you (some one) tell me why Vms can not load the settings etc, and mount the windows partition as if they were the version running? sorry thats not the best way to describe it, but..........

[Fintan]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

Vmware had a utility like that some 10 years ago. It was to slow and stability was terrible, often causing a wrecked physical windows / OS and so was dropped.

Besides why do we have all those desktops to play with?

Anyway, I have my xp set up like this:
separate Data Partition (always a good idea )

You can make that with either gparted live:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

http://partedmagic.com/download.html]or better parted magic live:
http://partedmagic.com/download.html[/url]

While your at it make a vmware partition (min 20gig) for your windows guest to live in.

You can convert your physical windows with this tool:
http://www.howtoforge.com/vmware_con..._windows_linux

get the latest vmware player:
http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/d...are_player/3_0

get the bundle, it is easy to install.

When installed and compiled just go to the converted win guest and change the settings for it, shared folders, ram, network setup, etc as needed.

At this point give it as much Ram as vmware suggests as max.

As the next step you can now purge windows of all that crap you won't be needing anymore (firewalls, anti-everything BS, etc.) and point your "my files" to the separate data partition which you can share with your linux install.

Now you can switch between win and linux at will.

And as dible mentioned, if you are not a maximum player then it is perfect.
- you can run a copy of your guest system keeping the original as back up.
- you won't be playing with your physical install, thus borking something.
My win 7 guest runs Adobe stuff: PS, DW, FL, and other stuff faster and more stable on my desktop (see specs below at 512MB ram) than my physical install ever did.

Enjoy

[oshunluvr]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

ok but can you (some one) tell me why Vms can not load the settings etc, and mount the windows partition as if they were the version running? sorry thats not the best way to describe it, but..........

The short answer is the PCI hardware interfaces are controlled by the host system - and must be at this time. I have read that what you're wanting is in the works, i.e. VM access to the hardware bus, but for now it's not happening.

What it really boils done to is: What are you trying to accomplish?

If this post is just intellectual fodder for discussion, that's fine. But if you're actually looking for some kind of functionality, rather than focus on a scenario that can't be done (yet) why not describe what you are hoping to accomplish and let the geeks on the forum offer solutions?

[katoiam]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

oshunluvr to be honest it was just intellectual fodder, I have a dual boot for making music, as the software is windows based but use kubuntu for everything else. I was just chatting with a mate and he was wishing to be able to switch between windows and kubuntu with the press of a button with out having to reboot! It sounded like a good idea to me kinda like having more than one user running in kubuntu, pressing Ctrl Alt F-what ever!
thanks for every ones posts

[oshunluvr]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

That would be a nice feature - but I believe it would have to be hardware based. Wouldn't it be cool to be able to "divide" your quad core cpu and 8gb ram into 2 or three virtual machines?

[katoiam]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

Yeah it would be sweet, I didnt even know you could have 8 gigs of ram! I have a measley 1!!!

[GreyGeek]

Re: Not sure where to put this!

Between Jan 1, 2000 and March of 2005 I ran only Linux on my box. For the last five years I've been running XP and Linux dual boot in order to write and support a software package for an ag engineer friend of mine, and for the last year XP in a VM.

Last weekend I did a fresh install of LL and didn't restore the XP in a VM. The quotation by Martin Luther King seems appropriate here: "Free at last, free at last ....."