Running Windows on Linux
 

I would like to be able to run windows on my linux box. Which program would be best for this? Also, once I decide on which virtual machine would be best for my ubuntu system, how do I go about installing it and installing windows to it?

My final goal is to put iTunes on windows and have access to that since I've been having so many problems with gtkpod. It's a roundabout method and I know that. Thank you in advance for the help and advice!

Ruth

I use vmware. It is easy to install (vmware has a good installation guide) and use. I have used it on Ubuntu/Suse10/FC4.

Ruth:

The commercially available Win4Lin 9x has served me well for several years. It allows you to run a genuine copy of Windows 95/98/ME on Linux. You then install your Windows programs on Windows just like you normally would. Compatibility is excellent with the exception of software that tried to access the hardware directly, and there is no USB support. You do require a licensed copy of Windows 9x besides the Win4Lin program itself. The only other problem is that Win4Lin's support has gotten to be really bad this past while. Their Win4Lin Pro product, which supports Win2K and XP is not yet ready for prime time.

An open source project is qemu, and is free for the download. I've not tried it.

However, for compatibility and low cost, it is tough to beat Win4Lin 9


Frank.

Win4lin9x is good (and fast) for windos 9x, I used this a long time before crossover (and a 64bit OS), then you have win4lin Pro for XP (slow)... Vmware, of course, but more expensive...

iTunes may run on crossover tho, so check there first as it's a lot cheaper and you don't need a copy of windows.

yeah vmware all the way. IT's fast and has built in file tranfer between the emulated windows and your linux partition. U can try qemu (free) as well but it's slow. I experienced quit extreme slowness even on a 3gig amd64bit pc. But I must say I haven't tried the newer version.

If you just need to run a specific program (iTunes), have you considered using Wine, which doesn't require installing Windows, and is free?

I use cedega, crossover, wine (and until recently, win4lin) they all have their strengths and weaknesses, and price (wine being free and crossover and cedega being 'real cheap).

Crossover will run iTunes quite well but I've been experimenting with qemu (+ kqemu) lately and Windows XP runs extremely well. I'm on a P4 3GHz and WinXP runs much much better than it did on my old Athlon 800.

I have never even heard of Wine although I am now certainly looking into it. Have you used it?


-Ruth

Ruth:

WINE stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. What it attempts to do is to duplicate the Windows programming interface (API) and map it directly to the Linux programming interface. It is a work in progress. For some very carefully targeted applications (MS Word, Adobe Illustrator), it works amazingly well. For other lesser-known and therefore less targeted applications, it is a big zero. WordPerfect will not run on WINE, for instance. Support for other applications is therefore quite spotty. Some work, many don't.

Win4Lin 9, on the other hand, runs Windows programs on genuine Windows code. You can't get better compatibility than that, other than the lack of support for direct hardware calls (like games often do) and lack of USB support.

VMWare and Parallels create virtual machines. These are 'heavy duty' ways to run Windows on Linux. Very capable, but also more expensive, and usually quite a bit slower.

Frank.

There are pros and cons for all these options. Codeweavers do a nice version of wine with gui tools that has fairly good compatibility and it's cheap. Straight wine is okay for a lot of things too... Compatibility is an issue tho, but if the app you want works then it is nice as it runs right on the desktop as a psuedo-native app... and you don't need windows at all.

win4lin9x is good, but you will need a kernel patch or special kernel for it to work. And a copy of windows 95, 98, SE, ME etc. Compatibility with ordinary apps is good. Price is higher than crossover. VMware is more expensive again and not as quick as win4lin. Also need a kernel module I believe?

I used win4lin for a long time, but now use crossover as it runs the apps I need now and is more convenient as I can run apps on the normal desktop like all the other linux apps...

I'd say go with VMWare. Because it's commercialised, it's made to be easy to use and is probably going to be the fastest emulator. The best way to go is to install the evaluation version of VMWare Worksation, use it to install a virtual Windows OS, set it up as you want (the VMWare settings, not installing Windows applications), then uninstall Worksation and use the free (for personal use) VMWare Player. That way it's free and legal.

You're sneaky. I like it!

Ah, VMware, win4lin and crossover are all commercial and made easy to use :)

Well, as I'm just into free/open source software, I would say just go for qemu. I've been using it for quite some time now to run windows, linux, *bsd, and i'm pretty satisfied with it..