coLinux

[Sasq]

I read about it a while ago on slashdot,

got bored today while nursing a hangover that can only be achived after half a keg of beer.

http://www.colinux.org/

coLinux lets you run linux in windows as a service/consol. sorta like vmware, but at a much lower level.

Nice easy to install, the nic was a bit of a problem, but the howto's on the site helped.

They have prebuilt fedora, debian and gentoo 'lite' distro's for download.

You should be up and running with basic ssh/terminal ability in about 15 mins, and to get kde up about the same time again.

It's worth takeing a look at, particulary if you want to try out gentoo etc, you can save off your current 'working image' play with it, and if you break it, just change back to the other image.

All without rebooting your pc

[Sasq]

Just an extra, if you install, don't use ICS
go to

http://www.colinux.org/wiki/index.php/coLinuxNetworking

and search for
Native network (Bridged)

[dZeus]

it rocks!

currently running gentoo in WinXP. I used the bridged thing (but not the 'native WinXP bridge') that was described in that link, and it works great (even with DHCP getting through to the bridged CoLinux network interface).

[Sasq]

aye, it is really a great peice of software.

for the linux newbie i'd recomend the debian install, mostly as the docs describe debian.

[dZeus]

to get sound working, use enlightened sound daemon (ESound/ESD), as described on this page:

http://www.liquid-reality.de/main/projects/esound

works great for kde (arts can output to esd), as well as cli programs like mpg123

I also tried network audio system (NAS), but playback over nas was not as fluent as with esd.

[Kooldino]

Can it be run in full screen?

Which debian installer do you use when you install debian?

[dZeus]

you connect to the install either in a console (in a 'dos box'), or you can set up ssh or X through a remote X server or vncserver (KDE was much more responsive with VNC than with a remote X server on my machine).

as for images, you'll have to use a pre-compiled/installed image which you can download through the installation process (it will point you to the correct place to get it). I think you can also access/boot linux installs on existing partitions, but you should look in the wiki on the colinux page for more information.

[Kooldino]

Ok, so it's not like Virtual PC?

so the system runs a VNC server, and that's the only way you can get a window client?

[Sasq]

and you don't so much install it, as download a pre-made minimal image. and update it with apt / yum etc from there.

currently this release is restricted to 2.4 kernels, next will support the 2.6 kernel.

the GUI runs fine via vnc, but if you want to run bleeding edge versions of a distro you will have some trouble.

there is a good install guide here http://www.colinux.org/wiki/index.ph...ingStartedLong but i recomend our above links on the NIC setup

[Sasq]

It is sorta like a virtual pc, but there is no virtual interface for the Video as yet, video has a lower priority compared to tcp/udp connectivity and kernel support.

Remember it's still only at 0.6.1

Edit: on the other hand, i have a nice full apache/php server running in it.

*and this is not a VMWare type package