work related - my group is looking to switch from using sun/unix to linux for simulation work.

our preference is to get a linux server and get a linux box for all the users - to be set next to windows boxes running the usual ms stuff. no, we're not considering eliminating the windows boxes at this time.

since our company only has a little over $1.5B in the bank, we need to look at other alternatives to getting the separate linux boxes. dual boot won't work, as we won't be able to switch back to the windows side while our sometimes hours long simulations run. QUESTION: is there a way to run a linux shell inside windows? sort of like running virtual pc on a mac? we'd rather go for the "expensive" option, but need to check out other options too.

thx, Jeff

Well, you could look into vmware, but I think that would be FAR more expensive than some cheap linux boxes. I mean, a basic box (if the processing is done server-side) would only run you a couple hundred. Use a KVM switch and you can share (duh) keyboard/video/mouse. What kind of architecture are you using? Processes could be started over VNC or a remote X session from the windows box, is the server is to do all the processing.

VMWare will do what your asking.

EDIT: Sorry... didn't see that previous reply.

Thanks. it looks like vmware would be $200 - not much less than a separate box. plus there would be the learning curve of getting it, and a new linux installation, figured out.

Thanks for the quick response.

Jeff

I am able to run DSL-embedded-0.9.2 from a windows xp pro box. Unfortunately, from what I have read, qemu does not support USB. It may be something to look into though.

-g