Or not.

Well I managed to set up a Windows virtual machine easily enough. 
Although there is the *minor* problem of how to activate it. At work 
it's a non-issue; we have a volume license, so we can install as many 
copies as we want. But at home, I only have a regular single-user 
license, and I'm using that for my physical machine. Legally you're 
supposed to *buy* another license for the VM. Which is especially 
galling, given that MICROSOFT DON'T SELL THEM ANY MORE! >_< So I really 
have no idea what the legal way to proceed is here.

I tried to set up a Linux VM, but the installer tells me that the VM 
doesn't support 64-bit mode. I check the Virtual Box manual, and it says 
you have to turn on these particular settings. I turn them on; still 
nothing. (For some reason, some of the options are disabled; but they 
seem to be set correctly. I just can't change them, is all.)

So then I discover that you can also control Virtual Box from the 
command-line, and this gives you access to a bazillion options that you 
can't get at from the GUI. In particular, I had set the OS type to 
"OpenSUSE", but from the CLI I get access to an extra option called 
"OpenSUSE_64", which doesn't appear in the GUI. (Oh, that's nice!)

Now when I start up the VM, it instantly gives me some error about 
virtualisation hardware not being enabled in the BIOS. So I hunt around 
in the BIOS; no options available to change. So I start doing some 
digging...

...yes, that's right. I possess one of the last AMD CPUs ever to be made 
which does *not* support AMD-V. In fact, no processor supporting AMD-V 
has ever been made for socket 939. So if I want AMD-V, I must upgrade to 
a newer motherboard. And since Virtual Box won't do 64-bit on a 32-bit 
OS unless you have AMD-V (or Intel VT-x), that means I just plain can't 
run a 64-bit OS *at all*. At least, not using Virtual Box.

Well that's just awesome. *sigh*



In not entirely unrelated news:






Um... ouch.



always pay that much - or more - if you desire. But this is THE CHEAPEST 

stuff, so I suppose it's not *that* pricey. And hey, it's Kingston-branded.

Clearly I will have to sit down and see how this equation computes for 
various other platforms. (Core i5, Core 2 Quad, Phenom II...)

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