Re: OT Window 7

Les Cargill wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Les Cargill wrote:

Is there a high-quality virtualization that runs on Linux yet?

Huh???


Lemme re-ask - I'm somewhat trying to find a way to
run a handful of apps that I use now on WinXP on Linux.
These include, but are not limited to:
- N-Track 3.0
- CoolEdit96
- a MIDI sequencer from the '80s for Win3.1 (that runs
niftily on XP).

Is there a VMWare or open-source product that will allow me
to do this better than WINE?

Lemme re-answer - Yes. :)

Wine is sort of dinosaur tech. OK in a pinch if you want to run
one off the cuff app, but for anything serious it's a waste of
time. It's more like emulation than having a full blown WinBlows
environment running in a nice little resource "box" like
virtualization.

Even the virtualization software (Virtualbox) that comes stock with
Ubuntu will in all likelihood handle everything you need.
You'd install Ubuntu, install Virtualbox (from within the
software management application that comes with Ubuntu), and
install XP from your original disks if you want. Or most any other
version of WinBlows if you want.

Since it appears you're "home studio" oriented you might want to
consider a Linux distribution with that focus like Ubuntu Studio.
The low latency kernel won't hurt a thing, and you may even find
something of value to you in the Linux environment itself.

Best way to find out is to try it. :)

Virtualization was developed for and on *nix boxes Les. And the
WinBlows ports of most mainstream virtualization softwares are in
all likelihood STILL being developed on *nix boxes. VMWare certainly
is, and it's the cream of the crop in its commercial permutation.

I know nothing of datacenter apps, so....

Even Virtualbox, the layperson's open source version of something
like VMWare, is light years beyond anything anyone at any place
like MicroSloth might dream up after 3 too many bong hits. Hell,
even most WinBlows based web hosts run a hard *nix/BSD underbelly
with a bunch of virtual WinBlows "server" appendages scabbed all
over its back these days. WinBlows just ain't nuttin' but a babe in
the woods, and having a nice capable host underneath it means you
can spank it back to life relatively easy when it dies.

That is exactly the thought here. I was dual-booting Win3.11 and

If you were dual booting Win and Slack back then you'd probably be
tickled pink with virtualization in the 21st Century. You can have
both operating systems running on their own virtual desktops and
flip back and forth by rotating a 3D cube with different desktops
on each face. I can even have the XP desktop display on my 42" flat
screen and a Linux desktop on my laptop, and switch back and forth
by dragging the mouse off the edge of the current desktop. :)

Slackware in the '90s, but Windows grew better into an audio
platform at the time...

Let's be honest... with precious few exceptions WinBlows grew into a
better everything by at least one definition of the word. It's
better not on any technical merit exactly, but by virtue popularity.
Everyone uses it so there's no shortage of motivated developers
competing for the users' money. ;) Windows benefited from being in
that position, plain and simple.

Linux is really catching up though. It may not get the pro level
studio quality support WinClows gets from the guy after the big bux,
but there's enough talent behind it that it's maturing nicely.
Whether or not it will suit *your* needs is a question only you can
answer, but the underlying philosophy and the purely mechanical
advantages that make it a more stable and secure platform make it
worth exploring in my opinion.

.

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