Help me choose a Linux Distro?

[amish]

oh i didnt know abt virtualbox.. is it TRUELY Opensource/GPL?is it atleast as fast as vmware if not faster?

 

[kanishka]

oh i didnt know abt virtualbox.. is it TRUELY Opensource/GPL?

is it atleast as fast as vmware if not faster?

yeah Virtual Box is open source of Solaris people ........... i can't compare with it ... but both does the same work to u ....

 

[amish]

yep i read on their website. not everything is opensource. key features like USB, RDB ARE NOT opensource. so overall for me its free but not opensource. same as vmware server edition, free but not opensource.i am using vmware for a rare need of running windows (IT returns) so if its not going to be as fast as vmware, it wud not be of much use to me. Thats why i wanted to know where it stands when compared to vmware server.

 

[caterpillar]

Virtualbox is faster and leaner than VMware.However, I've found VMware Server 1.0.x stable and better compared to Virtualbox (closed & OSE), and VMware Server 2. The only trouble is that VMware Server 1.0.x is not compatible with kernel 2.6.26. I haven't tried any other kernel or compilng any modifications to get it running. Too much hassle just to get to Windows 😛I needed a virtual machine for the same reasons as you. Virtualbox was useful to run Windows and get on those websites that need IE.But the flaky USB support (in the closed source edition) and the frequent crashing pushed me back to VMware.

 

[vishalrao]

last time i checked, vbox full version is free for download and personal use (some PUEL version) PUEL = personal use or corp eval license.open source version is only if you want to play with the code 😀yes it is as good/fast as vmware now - earlier it was a little newish. vmware will see its downfall soon, microsoft (hyperv/virtualpc) and virtualbox will rule :irock:sadly with sun being bought by oracle who knows what will happen to their great technology/projects like vbox, opensolaris, openoffice etc... (even java who knows what will happen now)...

 

[operaman]

I am using ubuntu 9.04 on laptop.Some application like Photo Manager is giving problem.😢

 

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[Sushubh]

try using google picasa.

 

[Underclass Hero]

If you don't fear to play with your computer and are willing to learn something real, get Slackware or Arch Linux. They support almost all the Nvidia cards and I've never downloaded a single driver 😉

And yes, they are well documented :-

ArchWiki Tutorial
SlackBook

 

[alig]

try using google picasa.

I have recently installed Google Picasa on my laptop Ubuntu 9.10 . I have to say I am really impressed with the stability and good technology and ease of use.

 

[Sushubh]

picasa runs through wine on linux. a couple of features do not work. but overall it is a great app to use on linux.

 

[arun.carvalho]

i have decided to install Ubuntu, and i am using WUBI to do that for me. The question i have is that, how do i clear up the space hogged by Vista at the moment. So in short, i want to install Ubuntu, make sure it is working fine, and then remove vista completely. The concern that i have is that i want to be sure that i lose none of my files. There are not many at the moment, but still just to know that there is backup if something goes wrong.ThanksAC

 

[Sushubh]

alright. here is what i would say.... wubi is not designed for a standalone linux installation as it installs linux from inside windows. if you remove windows after installing ubuntu... you would have no way to remove or re-install ubuntu. what you need to do is... install ubuntu through wubi and play with it for a couple of days. once you are sure that ubuntu is working fine on your machine... then take a backup of all your data and then remove vista and install ubuntu the regular way. WUBI is designed for users who do not want to get into the hassles of partitioning their hard drives for ubuntu and run it as a secondary OS along with Windows.

 

[arun.carvalho]

is there an easy way to format my machine, assuming that Ubuntu will work fine. I am not savy with the installing OS as a clean install... i am used to updgrading windpws...will i have to create an ubuntu disk....for now though i will start the wubi install.... and check it out....

 

[Sushubh]

well...

once you are ready to install ubuntu properly, you just need to make sure you have good space available on your machine...

ubuntu installer has an option that automatically makes the partitions based on disk space availability.



just set aside some space and tell it to install ubuntu on that partition.

but first try ubuntu through WUBI. make sure you keep your personal data on one of your Windows partitions so that you do not lose it in case you format WUBI from Windows at a later stage. 🙂

 

[alig]

The way I do it when I need to make a clean partition for Ubuntu install . I download this program called Best FREE Partition Manager Software for Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7 : EASEUS free Partition Manager - Home Edition. which is for windows and is free, and I make free space using the software as much as I need for Ubuntu.(Note- Dont format the free space). Then I boot up into Ubuntu CD and while installing it asks for the options in the above post, I just select - The largest available free space. That pretty much takes care of everything related to partitioning, (It creates the Root and the SWAP) . Its quiet easy really. But yes I am using WUBI install since 9.04 on my Dell laptop with 4GB ram - I upgraded to 9.10 from inside WUBI Using Update Manager. I dont feel that Being on Wubi, Ubuntu runs slows, since there is enough Ram there is pretty much no need for a Swap file.