On 08/07/10 17:29, Gordon wrote: > Apologies if this is a duplicate - the original seems to have > disappeared into the ether.... > > My Laptop is a Toshiba Satellite L40 with a 2-core 1.6 MHz Pentium > processor, 2GB RAM (the maximum the machine will take) and an 80 GB SATA > HDD. > My dilemma is this: > The machine has no built-in microphone or webcam. I have a (shudder) > Microsoft Lifecam VX 3500 which has a built-in microphone which we use > mainly for Skype video calls. (Also it appears that although there are > Linux drivers for an HP Officejet J5700 series, the scanning bit of that > doesn't work). > This webcam works in Cheese, but NOT in the latest Skype version for > Linux, and I can't afford (at the moment) to buy a new Linux compatible > Webcam with microphone. > > My question is this, which would be the best use of resources on this > machine - to dual boot 10.04 and Windows 7 or to install Windows 7 > within a virtual machine on 10.04? (Assuming that a virtual machine > installation of Windows 7 would be able to access the USB port the > webcam is plugged into...) > >
Technically you may be breaking the terms of the license agreement if you install Windows 7 in a VM, but using Virtual Box you should be able to do it (it has USB support in the Personal/Evaluation version which is free for personal use). Can't say how well Windows 7 will run on it with only 2GB Ram though as you'll have Ubuntu running on there too. Maybe you might be better dual booting although as always, make sure you back up anything important, just in case the unforeseen happens (might not, but hey, you never can be too careful). It's a bit of a shame about the memory, could be worth trying a 2GB stick of DDR2 memory if you can find someone who has one you can borrow. Rob -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
