On Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:27:10 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>> Nuhuh. Apparently VirtualBox is "free" so long as you only use it for
>>> a week or two. You can also obtain a copy licenced under the GPL, but
>>> then you have to compile it from source yourself. (Which, obviously,
>>> is impossible.)
>> 
>> I know many people who have run VirtualBox from downloaded binaries and
>> it hasn't been "time bombed".  There is a pay-for version, but there's
>> also a free version.
>> 
>> In fact, just looking here now, Virutalbox-OSE is the name of the
>> package on OpenSUSE 11.0.  OSE = Open Source Edition.
> 
>  From the VirtualBox website, the OSE is available as source only. You
> have to build it yourself. (Suffice it to say my Windows box doesn't
> have automake, autoconf, Perl, Python, sed, grep, gcc, ld, tar, or any
> of the other things that 99% of all programs require in order to build.)
> 
> There's a binary package, but it has a different license.

Maybe from the virtualbox website, but the beauty of open source software 
is that others can package it *for* you:

--- snip ---

[jhenderson@krikkit ~]$ zypper if virtualbox-ose
Repository 'Packman Repository' is out-of-date. You can run 'zypper 
refresh' as root to update it.
Reading installed packages...


Information for package virtualbox-ose:

Repository: openSUSE-11.0-Updates
Name: virtualbox-ose
Version: 1.5.6-33.2
Arch: x86_64
Vendor: SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Nuernberg, Germany
Installed: No
Status: not installed
Installed Size: 15.6 M
Summary: VirtualBox OSE is an Emulator
Description: 
VirtualBox OSE is an extremely feature rich, high performance product
for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution
that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the
GNU Public License (GPL).

--- snip ---

This is NOT a source package.  It's a binary installable on my system 
from the openSUSE repositories.

So no, you don't have to build it from source, you have to look in your 
distro's package management system to see if someone has provided a 
binary package of the OSE version.

>>> OK then. So how about VMserver then?
>>>
>>> Nuhuh. They're demanding a real email address before they will let me
>>> download the product, and it looks like they're going to demand that I
>>> "activate" it after it's installed.
>> 
>> VMware Server does require a "real" e-mail address, but the system will
>> accept mailinator.com e-mail addresses if you don't want to provide a
>> real address.
>> 
>> And it doesn't require activation, you just need a license key.  I have
>> it installed on a system.
> 
> Hmm. Interesting.

Mailinator is a very useful service.  I use it often for site 
registration when I don't want to be spammed by the website.  Very few 
reject mailinator.com e-mail addresses, but I have run across a couple.

Jetable is another service that provides some obfuscation and temporary e-
mail addresses (but Jetable will forward stuff to you).

>> I would go with VMware Server for cross-platform support.
> 
> In the end, I got to fed up I used my laptop instead. ;-) My bedroom is
> currently a tangle of Ethernet cables...

I know that feeling - though the bedroom hasn't been the place for that 
in many years....my home office space currently is.  Stupid cable 
management stickies didn't stick to my glass desk very well.

Jim

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