Arch Linux

colbert

Member

Registered: 2007-12-16

Posts: 809

Confusion about vmware/virtualbox

I am confused about these two, even after reading the Wiki. What I want to do is have Windows XP running on my Arch box while I'm in Arch, however that may be. Which one would do that? I didn't see in the Wiki where the Windows install process came in, just how to set up the software respectively.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

dschrute

Member

From: NJ, USA

Registered: 2007-04-09

Posts: 183

Re: Confusion about vmware/virtualbox

Which one would do that?

Both will do that.  They are products that do essentially the same thing, made by different vendors.
Wikipedia has a decent/concise writeup on both :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vmware
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualbox

colbert

Member

Registered: 2007-12-16

Posts: 809

Re: Confusion about vmware/virtualbox

Thank you dschrute. I think I'll give both a go to see which one I will use in the long run.

colbert

Member

Registered: 2007-12-16

Posts: 809

Re: Confusion about vmware/virtualbox

Okay, here: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Vir … figuration

I don't understand, it indicates that one follow the virtualbox GUI, but I cannot find it on my system?

Abecedarian

Member

Registered: 2006-07-30

Posts: 43

Re: Confusion about vmware/virtualbox

By the GUI it just means the program itself, in graphics (as opposed to command line). I would assume you could start it with the command of 'virtualbox'. If not, search for it with the locate tool (ie. 'locate -u; locate virtualbox'), as sometimes it gets stored in weird places such as /usr/lib or /opt, etc.

Just a bit, if you didn't understand how or why this will allow you to use Windows in Arch. Such a program runs a 'virtual machine' inside of yours - it uses software to emulate - pretend - that the program is a physical computer. So when you make a new virtual machine, it obviously has no OS on it, much like a new blank computer. So once you create a new virtual machine, you throw your Windows CD in the drive (because the virtual machine will use your computer's physical hardware as its own), and install it on the virtual machine inside of your physical one. This can be fun, because you can do dangerous or reckless things inside a virtual machine without it harming your actual computer or main OS (I've been tempted to do http://www.xkcd.com/350/). However, it also means that you can't do hardware-intensive things inside it either, because it takes a lot of resources to run. So no playing games or science apps, basically, although it's fine for everyday applications.

colbert

Member

Registered: 2007-12-16

Posts: 809

Re: Confusion about vmware/virtualbox

Thanks Abecedarian, that cleared it up and I have installed XP on Virtualbox now, works perfect