Darren New wrote:

> I've been thinking of playing with some virtual machine technology, but 
> I wasn't aware there was one under Windows that would run Linux. Which 
> virtual machine are you running here? (I.e., what's the Windows software?)

1. Go to http://www1.interq.or.jp/t-takeda/top.html

2. Download the zip file at the top of that page.

3. Unzip it somewhere.

4. Find an ISO image for a Linux LiveCD.

5. Do the following:

   qemu.exe -cdrom My_LiveCD.iso

6. Watch it boot up.

It's that easy.

(Actually no, it isn't. The path to the ISO image must contain only 
FORWARD SLASHES, not backslashes. Also, if the current directory isn't 
the QEMU folder, you must add the -L switch with the correct path so the 
emulator can find things like the BIOS image, keymaps, etc.)

The *home page* for QEMU is here:

   http://bellard.org/qemu/

But you have to hunt around a bit for the Windoze port. So I have you 
the direct URL...



If all of that is too much effort, go to

   http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

and download the "embedded" Zip file. This contains a .bat file that you 
can just double-click to start up Linux.



PS. If you want to "install" Linux rather than run off a read-only 
LiveCD, you can create a harddisk image using the qemu-img.exe tool. 
Something like this:

   C:\> qemu-img create Disk1.img 500MB
   C:\> qemu -cdrom My_Install_Disk.iso -hda Disk1.img

Now install Linux onto /dev/hda. Once you've done that, you can run

   C:\> qemu -hda Disk1.img

and you have a read/write Linux system. (Obviously similar steps work 
for *any* OS. Build an empty harddisk image, run the emulator with the 
install CD ISO image and the harddisk, install, you're done.)


My God... I sound like I know what I'm talking about! This morning when 
I woke up, I knew none of this. ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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