Running Linux in a Virtual Machine
There are two things you need to run Linux in a virtual machine: a virtual machine application and an image.
Choosing a virtual machine application
If you are running Windows, two popular options for running Linux in a virtual machine are:
- VMWare Player (commercial but free)
- QEMU (open source)
- VirtualBox (commercial w/ free trial and open source)
If you are running OSX, two popular options for running Linux in a virtual machine are:
- Parallels (commercial - trial available)
- VMWare Fusion (commercial)
Choosing a virtual machine image
You can do a fresh install of virtually any Linux distribution in most modern virtual machine environments, including Debian and Ubuntu. However, it is easier to start with a prebuilt machine image. Such images are often referred to as virtual appliances.
There are a variety of images available. Please update the list below with your experiences running these virtual machines:
- Debian 4.0 (Etch) image for VMWare Player UNTESTED
- Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) image for VMWare Player UNTESTED
- Ubuntu (Gnome) and kubuntu (KDE) official 7.04, 6.10, 6.06 images for VMWare Player
- Kubuntu-7.04-desktop-amd64.zip Tested OK
- Ubuntu-7.04-desktop-amd64.zip Tested OK
- Others?
Note: The amd64 images work with Intel 64 Bit CPU's (ie. Core 2 Duo).
When connected to the university network, NAT will allow internet access for the virtual machine. Ensure that any firewalls are configured to trust the VMWare Virtual Ethernet Adaptor.