Run Virtual Linux Machines On Windows
As Linux continues to offer a strong alternative to Windows, more and more people are curious about installing and using Linux. For a “newbie” or those new to Linux, one option is to use a Linux Live CD which allows you to start and use Linux from a CD. The advantage to this approach is that there is no installation required and you get to test drive a specific Linux distribution. A major disadvantage to using a Live CD is that it’s very slow due to the input/output speeds occurring from your CD-ROM. Also, if you only have 1 computer, booting from a Linux Live CD ties-up your Windows operating system, making it non-useable while you use Linux.
Another way to test Linux is using VMWare’s free VMWare Player which makes it possible to use virtual machines, including various Linux distributions, while using Windows. However, for the newbie, installing Linux as a virtual machine can still be intimidating. This is where VMPlanet comes into play. VMPlanet offers preconfigured virtual machines or “virtual appliances” which come preinstalled with Linux. So, your only steps are to install VMware Player, download and extract a Linux virtual machine of your choice from VMPlanet, and start the Linux machine. And, you get to run Linux at the same time as Windows.
For XP users, I recommend at least 1 GB of RAM to run Windows and Linux simultaneously. For Vista users, at least 1.5 GB of RAM which is cutting it close - 2 GB is a better choice.
For those using Linux for the first time, I recommend downloading the Ubuntu 8.04 virtual appliance from VMPlanet. This offers a rich Windows like experience, so it’s easy for new Linux users to become acquainted with using Linux for the first time.
Finally, this free video explains the aforementioned steps: VIDEO
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