Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> The Wikipedia article suggests that it only gives you low-resolution 
> 16-bit graphics,

The wikipedia article is incorrect. Oh, OK, 16 or 32 bit, but not 24 bit.
That's possible. My stuff is running at 32 bits.

OK, I just went into SuSE and set the color depth to 24 bits, no problem.
Gee, I guess since Microsoft never improves their products, the wikipedia
editors must not know wtf they're talking about, eh? Maybe they know less
about Linux than I do? ;-)

> and also that only certain OSes work. (E.g., not all
> flavours of Linux will install.)

I dunno. I haven't found any flavors of Linux that don't work. I'm pretty
sure I ran ubuntu on it, but give it a go and let us know. Note that
"Microsoft doesn't support running Linux under VirtualPC" is different from
"Linux doesn't run under VirtualPC".

The wikipedia article also says it runs 64-bit OSes, but that doesn't seem
to be the case here. Maybe I have a slightly different version, or maybe the
free one has some limitations.

Hmmm... Actually, yes, it looks like Ubuntu doesn't boot. Something about a
bad checksum on mumblefrob isapnp. (Funny enough, I can torrent down the ISO
faster than I can burn it to a real CD.)  Oh, on second look, the CD doesn't 
boot on either of the machines I have hooked up to screens here, so it 
doesn't really look like it's definitely a problem with VirtualPC.

> I would expect a VM to either work 
> properly, or not. It appears this one is "not".

It has some flakes, it seems. But I'm not sure how much I'd blame that on
VirtualPC and how much I'd blame it on Linux.  Certainly if the CD doesn't 
boot on the actual hardware, it's hard to say the emulated hardware will do 
better. And it's not like there haven't been (for example) calls to boycot 
certain manufacturers for making motherboards that only work with Windows, 
only three months later to find out it's because the Linux kernel wasn't 
actually following the standards and hence wasn't working with that 
motherboard. :-)

I don't imagine you'll find other VMs that are perfect either.

I guess it depends on what you want it for. What kinds of things will you be
doing with Linux on a virtual machine where (say) 16-bit graphics wouldn't
be good enough for you?  What do you do with Linux that makes Ubuntu 
necessary where OpenSuSE wouldn't suffice?

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   "Ouch ouch ouch!"
   "What's wrong? Noodles too hot?"
   "No, I have Chopstick Tunnel Syndrome."

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