Getting Virtual with VirtualBox

Until recently all of my VM projects had been done in VMWare Server, as this version is available as a free download from VMWare. After upgrading my Linux Box to Ubuntu 8.10 I needed to reload my VM software but I was having some issues getting VMWare server to install correctly. Not wanting to spend a lot of time trying to get the software to work and aware that other options are available I started looking around and found VirtualBox.

VirtualBox is an open source VM software that is available free for download for Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris from Sun Microsystems. The current version is 2.1.0. The VirtualBox website has packages for the following Linux distributions and many packages are available for both i386 and AMD64 architectures.

• Ubuntu 8.10 ("Intrepid Ibex")
• Ubuntu 8.04 LTS ("Hardy Heron")
• Ubuntu 7.10 ("Gutsy Gibbon")
• Ubuntu 6.06 LTS ("Dapper Drake")
• Debian 5.0 ("Lenny")
• Debian 4.0 ("Etch")
• Debian 3.1 ("Sarge")
• openSUSE 11.1
• openSUSE 11.0
• openSUSE 10.3
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (SLES10)
• Fedora 9 ("Sulphur") / 10 ("Cambridge")
• Fedora 8 ("Werewolf")
• Fedora 7 ("Moonshine")
• Mandriva 2008.0
• Mandriva 2007.1
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 ("RHEL5")
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 ("RHEL4")
• PCLinuxOS 2007
• Xandros Desktop 4.1
• All distributions

As I am using Ubuntu 8.10 I downloaded the i368 deb package and installed it on my system. The install was very straightforward and did not require and special installation steps other than logging off and logging on again to get the program to appear in the Applications -> System Tools menu.

Coming from a VMWare background, getting started with VirtualBox was a snap. Setting up a new virtual machine is done very easily using the provided wizard and has all of the common configuration items. New VMs can be install directly from the ISO image without the need to burn a CD or DVD.

Virtualization is a great way to test out new Linux versions or to learn the internal workings of a Linux distro without reloading your primary machine. If you are interested in getting into virtualization at home and are looking for a good open source solution, VirtualBox may be the way to go.

Giving KDE a second chance

When I first started using Linux about 6 years ago, I did not even use any GUI. I preferred to run my Linux as a headless server providing web and other service and connecting from my Windows box via SSH. About 2 years ago, however, I started tying to use Linux as my main desktop. I started using Red Hat, then switched to Debian, tried several other versions along the way, and eventually ended up using Ubuntu. Somewhere along the way KDE fell out of favor with me and I became a Gnome user. It was not love at first site with Gnome, it was something that transpired over several different versions of Linux OS loads. I just kind of liked the simple feel of Gnome.

Now just I am definitely an adventurous person and I like to try new things. I regularly download several different versions of Linux and try each one in a VM just to see what the latest and greatest is in the Linux world. Along the way I have run into a few KDE desktops and usually load the Kubuntu desktop packages on my Ubuntu machines. But I never really got a good feeling for KDE, that is, until yesterday.

I have been reading alot on the Internet about the problems with KDE 4.0 and that 4.1 and now 4.2 made great improvements so I deciede to give KDE a second chance. Since I use Ubuntu I just loaded the kubuntu-desktop packages and switched sessions. I do a lot of photography and I have a saying that I can look at a picture I have taken for about 1-2 seconds and tell if it is a keeper or not. I just clear my mind, look at the picture, and see if it affects me in anyway or tells me a story. I used the same technique with the KDE 4.1 desktop and to my surprise is past the test. I really like the layout of the desktop and the feel of the whole setup from the icons to the color schemes. I have not had a chance to play with all of the customizable functions of the desktop yet but I find the choices available be very appealing.

The only problem that I found so far is that Firefox, my preferred browser, do not look to good in KDE. I did some research and found a couple of fixes that make the browser look a little better but it will do for now.

I think I am going to give KDE a go for a while and see what happens.

Is Linux ready for the average user? My wife thinks so

In the beginning, as we all know, Linux was an OS that was limited to those of us who had the time and patience to spend all night getting things to work. As the OS has progressed the user friendliness of the OS has increased dramatically. Now here we sit on the cusp of 2009 and there are numerous mainstream vendors such as ASUS, Dell, and HP offering pre-loaded Linux desktops and laptops, which brings me to my story.

My wife has been asking me for a small form laptop that she can use to access the Internet, check e-mail, type some documents, look at some pictures and listen to some music, which is what most average users do. Up until now small form laptops were very expensive but products such as the ASUS eeePC brought the price down to levels I was willing to pay. I actually purchased an ASUS eeePC for my wife but quickly sold it, another post for later, and purchased a Dell Mini 9 as soon as I saw the ad on the Dell web site.

Now to say that my wife is computer challenged is putting is nicely. She has killed more than a few of my computers over the years, mostly Windows. So it was with some trepidation that I ordered her Dell Mini 9 with Ubuntu. I have been an Ubuntu users for almost 2 years now so I felt confident the OS had matured to the point that I could get my wife using it without too much problem. So I took the plunge and ordered the PC.

We have had the Dell Mini 9 now for about 3 weeks. I set the PC up for her, added the Japanese character input as my wife is Japanese, set the OpenOffice default type to .doc so she can send docs to her friends, and set up the network printer and then let her have at it. In the 3 weeks we have had the laptop she has not had one single complaint. Everything works just fine.

So is Linux ready for the average user. My wife sure thinks so and if I can get my wife to use Linux without complaint, I can get anyone to use Linux.