- Windows inside Ubuntu - QUESTIONS

[imagine]

But before I try this, I have a few questions for anyone who might already have tried, or anyone who has heard about this:
Will Windows actually be running on X? Will Ubuntu still be active?

The whole concept is called virtualisation, that means a virtual machine, a virtual computer is created on top of the host system (Ubuntu in your case). In that virtual machine you can install an operating system just like on a real computer.
That got nothing to do with the X server, the applications in the virtual machine don't know anything about the host system. (Of course you need the X server to display the virtual machine though)

If so, what kind of performance do you get running 2 OS's at the same time?

With a current version of VMware about 95% of the host system.
However you need enough memory for both Ubuntu with all its applications and Windows with all its applications together. If the virtual machine needs to start swapping then it gets much slower.
Just remember: There's only one thing that's better than much RAM: Even more RAM!

If poor, is it a worthwhile solution to play games (high 3D-accel)?

3D acceleration inside the virtual machine is sort of experimental [1] and of course it also depends on *what* games you want to play. Quake 4 needs way more resources than eg Warcraft. Other virtualisation software as Qemu doesn't have 3D acceleration yet AFAIK.
However I don't have any real experience with that, so it would be nice if you could try it out and report back here : )

Of course you need working 3D acceleration in your host system (Ubuntu) to even think about using DirectX-accelerated games in the guest system.




[1] http://www.vmware.com/support/ws5/do...sound_d3d.html

[nalmeth]

hmmm
qemu was the way I was going to go originally, but no 3D supports scratches that idea.
I heard VMware was commercial, but if I can find a free / trial version I will definatly give it a go and report my findings.

I wish there was some WindowsLite version or something, but what can you do?

What if I ran win98 or something? Could I still play games, maybe with lower memory usage?

I'm not thrilled about the chances of this working anymore, but I'll try anything.

Regarding this virtual workstation, could I perhaps have it setup to deliver an internet connection to the host system via a usb network adapter (for a different problem)?
hmm this sounds impossible

EDIT:
I have 512 mgs of ram, and a ready 3D-accelerated host (not spectacular). Does that help this cause?

[imagine]

qemu was the way I was going to go originally, but no 3D supports scratches that idea.

Umm I don't use Qemu, so maybe there is 3D support and I'm just not aware of it. But I doubt that.

I heard VMware was commercial, but if I can find a free / trial version I will definatly give it a go and report my findings.

Yes. VMware Workstation is closed source and it costs money, about 150 EUR here to be exactly.
However there's a trial version of VMware Workstation and also a free of charge player since a couple of weeks. The player can run existing virtual machines but not create or modify them. It's similar to Adobes PDF: The creator costs money, the reader doesn't.
See my other posting [1] for download locations and links how to create a virtual machine without actually purchasing VMware Workstation. This is legal, although I think VMware is worth every Cent.

The Windows drivers for the virtual hardware can be extracted out of the trial version of the Workstation, if you decide not to buy it. It's a simple *.iso image.

I wish there was some WindowsLite version or something, but what can you do?

What if I ran win98 or something? Could I still play games, maybe with lower memory usage?

There's also Win4Lin. It's supposed to work quite well with Win9x, but I have no experience with that.

Regarding this virtual workstation, could I perhaps have it setup to deliver an internet connection to the host system via a usb network adapter (for a different problem)?

Yes.
Make sure Windows recognizes your USB WLAN adapter, create a TCP/IP connection over two virtual NICs between the guest and the host and set up the guest (Windows) as a gateway for the host (Ubuntu), if you know how to turn your Windows box in a router.
But obviously this is not really a straightforward solution.

I have 512 mgs of ram, and a ready 3D-accelerated host (not spectacular).

512 MB would mean 256 MB to Ubuntu and 256 MB to Windows. Not real fun, but it should work.



[1] http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...4&postcount=24

[nalmeth]

thanks for indepth explanation imagine!

The USB Adapter part is for a friend of mine. He can't get linux drivers without paying for them, and ndiswrapper won't work for his driver. I kind of dismissed this option at first, but if you think it can be done its worth trying. I think he actually has a gig of ram so this may work out.

It seems like gaming isn't totally workable, but I think its still worth trying. Perhaps I could create a really chopped down user, run fluxbox or xfce to give up most memory for the windows workstation.
With luck, hopefully I'll be able to change RAM settings or something.

I really like this idea tho! Even though it won't be perfect, it would be really cool to have a fluid closed/open source system. The best of both worlds. And since I would only use the windows portion for a very limited amount of tasks, I might be able to spare some RAM.

hmm maybe more RAM is the answer for everything