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Dark Aspect
July 17th, 2007, 04:03 AM
Which one is better for emulating Windows XP?

I know VMware is more expensive but does it do anything better then what WIN4lin does?I am not referring to gaming as much as I am speed and compatibility with other office applications.Windows XP seems (when I used it) very fast on VMware but if I have ANY applications up in Ubuntu its quite slow.This may have to do with the fact I only at the time being have 512 MB for ram.I plan on getting a gig of RAM soon,I have never used win4lin is it faster as a virtual machine?
Dimitriid
July 17th, 2007, 05:13 AM
More expensive? I thought vmware player was free and would it be illegal to download a windows xp appliance if you own a copy of the OS? It would be fair use would it not?
starcraft.man
July 17th, 2007, 05:14 AM
Which one is better for emulating Windows XP?

I know VMware is more expensive but does it do anything better then what WIN4lin does?I am not referring to gaming as much as I am speed and compatibility with other office applications.Windows XP seems (when I used it) very fast on VMware but if I have ANY applications up in Ubuntu its quite slow.This may have to do with the fact I only at the time being have 512 MB for ram.I plan on getting a gig of RAM soon,I have never used win4lin is it faster as a virtual machine?

Neither IMO. I wouldn't pay for a VM if your just aiming to use it for a few things. Virtual Box (http://www.virtualbox.org/) is the completely free and good product that you should try. There is a documentation section where you can download the manual, the download section hosts debian installers (which you can just run and install) and the repositories. I recommend using the respository method, I find it much better and preferable. If you want an explanation on installing that way, check my blue link in sig.

Oh and ya, for optimal VM performance you should have at least a full 512 MB of RAM dedicated to the VM (with equal amount left to host).

As for actual performance of the VMs I have no experience with Win4lin so can't vouch for that. I have used VMware and VBox and they aren't that different in speed. I honestly prefer the menus and layout in Virtual Box over VMware but don't think theres much actual speed difference.