Hello everyone


I have finally had it with windows and want to switch over to Linux for good. There is one small problem... I need some windows only applications. These would include InDesign, Photoshop, Corel, and MS Word (the spell and grammar checker is far better than OO.org's) now I have read on some posts that it is possible to share files between VMware and Linux. I need to be able to do this. Problem is my reading indicates it requires mapping a network drive and setting up a Samba server... I know nil about networking.

To sum it up I want to:

have 2 partitions... one has my OS (hda1), one has my stuff (hda2). I want to run VMware within hda1, and when i use doze in VMware I want to have access to hda2.

Please dumb your responses down for a total networking newbie.


Thanks
Shane

You will need to install VMWare first - either on a Windows base or a Linux base.

On top of this VMWare shell, you will create 2 virtual machines - one for Windows and one for Linux.

The VMWare manual has all the info to walk you through the installation processes.

If you select to install Windows in a FAT32 partition, you wouldn't need to worry about Samba at all.

why would i need to install 2 virtual machines?


I am using VMware 3 btw

I have only used 4.x VMWare series, so I don't know if they are different in VMWare 3, but in any case, they should be similar. In VMWare, click "edit virtual machine settings." In the hardware tab, click the "Add" button. The Add Hardware Wizard will pop up. Add a new hard disk then select "Use physical disk" option. After that, select "Use individual partitions" and select partition you want.

First, I know I am working back to front (i.e. I have VMware working on Windows hosts) but from what you posted I assume that you are running Knoppix3.4 as your host. Hence my comments may be somewhat off the mark, but in my experience, running heavy graphics such as Photoshop and Corel in a virtual machine (i.e. a windows guest) will suffer from the allocation of resources - video RAM, as well as real RAM allocated to the VM. I know that you have one advantage over me, in that Linux processes can be shut down so that the host requires much less resources to run, Windows on the other hand needs between 192 and 256 MB just to run VMware.

So, unless I am missing something, you might be better off to try Wine if the windows progs that you want to keep using are compatible - that way you can throw your whole machine's resources at the application. Just a thought.

my expierences with wine are not the best :/

I did some searching of the vmware documentation and it seems to point to using a samba server.... if i can ever configure that damn thing i will be amazed.

In that case I would suggest that you read the following thread:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...3&goto=newpost

forgive me, but I haven't cracked how to make an autolink.

HTH

One question ... do you plan to use Linux and Windows simultaneously?

If not, you can go in for a simple dual boot - Windows on one drive and Linux on the other and no VMWare overhead.

If you only want to read off a Windows partition, you can use the NTFS partition. But, if you want to read and write off the Windows partition, you would better stick to FAT32.

To read from Linux partition from Windows, you have explore2fs.

I use the Linux version of Vmware on one of my two computers. It allows me to jump back and forth between Linux and Windows in a couple of seconds when they are both running at the same time. Vmware has a way to share folders without using Samba. Sharing folders is easy and can be setup by choosing what you want to share. The folders are only being shared between the two operating systems that are running on that one computer. It works great for that limited purpose. To share folders with other computers Samba is still needed. I would eventually like to be able share folders between both of my computers. I plan to use Samba as a file and printer server on one of the two computers. I have not yet taken the time to figure out how to configure Samba. So far I have just been using sftp to transfer the files between the two computers. Using sftp and ssh is also very easy. Both ssh and sftp come with Linux and if I am not mistaken they can also be installed on Windows computers.

The hardest part about the Linux version of Vmware is figuring out how to share USB or parallel port devices between both operating systems. Sharing USB devices is probably much easier when Windows is the host and you are using the Windows version of Vmware. I only occasionally use the Windows virtual machine and have not yet bothered to figure out how to get my USB printer to work with both Linux and Windows. The printer works great with my host but not with the Windows guest running in the virtual machine. The Vmware manual is not very clear about how to do that. Only recently have my Linux skills reached the point where I understand how to do what they only vaguely describe. Another alternative solution would probably be to use Samba to share the printer.

One thing the Vmware does make easy is the fact that no repartitioning of the harddrive is required. The guest operating systems can be installed on a virtual partition instead of on a real partition. When Windows or another copy of Linux is being installed it is fooled into thinking that it is looking at a real hard drive. It isn't, I just let the Windows installation program think that it is creating real partions and reformating them. Some of the hardware that it is using is emulated virtual hardware created for it by Vmware.

By the way, I can run Word 97, Excel 97 and Adobe Photoshop 7 under Linux without using either Windows or Vmware. Codeweavers makes something called CrossOver Office which sells for about $39. It allows some versions of some Windows programs to be used with Linux. It is a slightly enhanced version of WINE with a nice user friendly front end. I does not work with the very latest versions of MS Office or Adobe Photoshop but, it does work with many versions. With some Windows programs it does not work at all. Despite that, overall it is a good product that is inexpensive, easy to install and works well.

One other drawback to using Vmware Workstation is that not all versions of all Linux distros are supported. I use Slackware which is definately an unsupported distro. I found some special Slackware specific instructions on the Internet on how to use Vmware with Slackware. Overall, I love Vmware but am uncertain if I sould recommend it for a newbie. The normal dual booting of one OS at a time is much easier to setup.