Linux And A Virtual Machine

[unclekyky]

I have been using linux (RedHat) for a long time but i am still not that familiar with it. I have heard of using something called a virtual machine. It runs on linux and emulates a different operating system. My question is, does it perform as well as runing the operating system by itself? Or better(or worse)? Thanks.

[borfast]

Well, you have two choices: either you use an emulator or you use a virtual machine.

 

Wine is the best emulator (though their creators don't like to call it an emulator. Even the name means "Wine Is Not an Emulator" ) for running Windows apps. It basically takes your windows programs and executes them on Linux.

 

Performance really depends on the power of your machine. If you have a fast computer, you probably won't notice much difference except for when you start the application.

You can get it at winehq.com .

 

 

Then there's the other approach, which is to use a virtual machine, like VMWare or Win4Lin (www.vmware.com and netraverse.com , respectively).

A virtual machine can also be considered an emulator but at a much lower level: it doesn't emulate the operating system where the applications run; it emulates the hardware itself. So a virtual machine pretends to be the computer, allowing you to install a full operating system in it's virtual hard drive.

 

 

Personally I prefer the virtual machine method simply because Wine is too much trouble to set up and use. It's a fine piece of software but it still has too many compatibility problems.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited April 10, 2004 by TCH-Raul

[unclekyky]

Thanks i will try them out.