Alasdair Tennant wrote:
Today, I downloaded puppy Linux (50 megs) and gemu (IIRC) (2 megs) andI tried it. Unfortunately my XP is an OEM-version. I suppose they added a "feature" that only allows the system to be booted on the computer it was purchased with, so that doesn't work. Installing the XP into a virtual HD works, but thereafter I have to enter a password I have not yet created. Might be the same "feature" as first time. Running SuSE under SuSE also didn't work because it is a 64-bit version.
in ne3xt to no time got Puppy running happily in a Windows window.
It goes like this:
gemu installs in Windows - actually AFAIK just unpacks into a folder. You run a config batch file which asks a few questions, and makes a
local file (for swap, I think) and records answers in a config file. You then start gemu with a command line, telling it where the Linux .iso
file is, and it opens a window, booting into the OS. Unbelievably
simple.
A little more detail - Puppy is a small distro that boots from CD (or
USB or HDD or FDD or just about anything that you can persuade the
computer to boot from). It loads entirely into RAM, clearing the
originating CD for normal use. It aims to give you all the normal tools
you want, in a small package - Abiword, Firefox, etc. It's very easy to
roll your own puppy .iso, tweaked and augmented (or shrunk) to your
hearts content. Downside: You need RAM. The entire OS and software
loads into RAM. 128MB gives you everything. It is claimed that you can
get away with any 586 and 32MB RAM with tweaking. Upside, it is quick. You can point it to a USB stick or local filesystem for persistent
/home. Today was my first exposure to it, and I was impressed.
I haven't looked too closely at gemu, but it looks like a bochs
derivitive, with just a subset of the bochs options. The great thing is
that you can run it with a self-booting .iso of any distro - there are
some ready-made .isos available from the gemu site, including Knoppix
and Mandrake from memory. The downside could be performance, as it
emulates a complete virtual PC. Performance was definitely not an issue
with puppy. gemu is available for a number of host systems and can host
a number of OSs, so I will be trying Windows under Linux soon, then
GOODBYE TO DUAL BOOTING!
qemu is a very neat program that mostly works with some easy commands. I installed bochs but gave up during the configuration.
qemu uses the processor even if there is no activity in the emulated machine. Starting it in a konsole and using C-z is very useful. I had to be root and be connected to the internet. Otherwise the message 'Could not get DNS address' came out.
I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but it all looks promising. I was running a 3GHz machine with 1GB RAM, so I wouldn't have noticed if
there were performance problems. I allocated a 128MB swap and 128MB
RAM.
-- Happy Hacking, Robert Himmelmann
Use free software only. See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
Democracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you don't think.
-- /usr/bin/fortune
