Okay first off, I'm not there yet, but wanted to know about upgrading VirtualBox.

I've downloaded and built SlackBuild packages, and as is common, there are more recent updates to the software. Not that I'm feeling the need for an upgrade right now, but at some point I am, and I'm wondering the best way to do this.

Do I, simply d/l the new sources, make the appropriate version changes to virtualbox-ose.SlackBuild, and then upgradepkg?

I haven't installed VirtualBox yet, and was actually considering the closed source complete version, which is free too, since it supports RDP and USB (which the OSE edition does not at this time) - two features that I think management and use of the virtual machines can benefit from, but it's not a deal breaker for my intents and purposes.

I'm interested in hearing suggestions and what everyone has to say...

I don't know about the OSE but the PUEL will let you know when to update and will do so more or less automatically should you choose to do so. PUEL works great here and for me at least, doze without USB is almost useless.

I went from OSE to PUEL after recompiling a kernel a while back. The slackbuild version would not perform the "rc.vboxdrv setup" to rebuild the driver. I installed "VirtualBox-3.1.4-57640-Linux_x86.run" with no messing around. The "rc.vboxdrv setup" has worked every time (despite my other recompile problems in another thread... vbox worked great), the extra features are enabled, and it does seem to perform the update check.

I, too, have chosen to use the PUEL version, mostly to get USB functionality. I simply run the downloaded file & it upgrades automagically, everything in the proper location, fully Slackware compatible.
Regards,
Bill

I've used the PUEL version for a while, and it has never failed me. Upgrades are as straightforward as grabbing the latest version and let it do its thing.

Yet another recommendation for the PUEL version, upgraded flawlessly through three(?) releases.

I'm running the PUEL version on the latest -current64 with no problems. I did have problems with the sound under ALSA, but the latest updates to -current64 seem to have fixed it.

That's a pretty compelling vote of confidence, and the issues that I could forsee with building a SlackBuild package and then upgrading OSE seems to have been alleviated by the resounding vote of confidence the PUEL has received here - so I've adopted that version.

Might have done so anyway because of USB, and for my purposes, RDP, or VRDP (to be more specific).

So do you have a link to that thread with the 'other' compile issues? Or were they unrelated to VirtualBox?

Anyway, thanks guys!

There are no "compile issues" with OSE. If someone tries to run "rc.vboxdrv setup" with a vbox installed from SlackBuilds it explains perfectly what the situation is and what to do.
There will never be a "working" "rc.vboxdrv setup" for the SlackBuilds on SBo as I despise the fact of manually messing with something there is a SlackBuild/package for.

Are USB devices working? There are some known bugs with them in 3.1.4 that suggest it is a lottery whether they work or not with a ~10% chance of them working:
http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/5873 http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/6251 http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/6262

If that's the case, I'm in the lucky 10% with all of my USB devices ranging from a cheapo samsung phone that always wants to be a modem to my wife's Iphone and my kid's 'doze-only mp4 player (I really need to get him a proper player!)

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Thanks damgar That's useful to know. AFAIK the 10% chance is not per-installation but per-"USB device insertion"! But hey -- if it works for you that's great. I'm not so lucky but I only upgraded from 3.0.10 to 3.1.4 because USB devices stopped being attachable (greyed out in Devices->"USB Devices" menu) -- sometimes! -- so maybe the problem is not with the VirtualBox version. Hey ho.

ditto...the only device I need is the USB antenna for my Garmin Forerunner 405...for the uninitiated this is a GPS enabled training "watch"...there's been some work to get the antenna working in Linux, but so far no joy. Curiously there is an OSX port of the software so I'm not sure just how difficult it would be to hack it for my favourite OS...

I do not use VB much, but have the 2.0.6 OSE installed under SW 12.1.

Yesterday I needed to test a new PXE option and thought I'd try a PXE boot in my Virtual box - but no joy!

I found some posts on the net about the OSE PXE option being broken and they suggested using the binary.

So today I am looking into how to upgrade from 2.0.6 OSE to 3.1.4 binary and found this thread.

Looks like I will try the binary for sure!

But as a VB novice - is the change as simple as running the binary installer and letting it "do it's thing", as one user said? Or do I need to remove my OSE install then run and reconfigure?

That seems to be the general consensus here Plus, according to one post in this thread the OSE is somewhat broken with regards to upgrading some components, since, even though upgrading the platform itself would be a snap to perform an upgradepkg there's other aspects of the system that have been (apparently) intentionally disabled.

If you installed the OSE, you can just save your virtual machines (.vdi I think is what the guest images are called which you will need to import into an "other" installation of VirtualBox) and then do a removepkg virtualbox and if there's anything left just whack those old post install configs/dirs that weren't part of the original package installation.

That will put you back to square one so you can install the PUEL, which I've been extremely pleased with. Furthermore, I have yet to have any issues with USB ports/devices either, and I'm running an almost 20 year old installation of Yggdrasil LGX Linux and Linboard Linux 2.03, a 32 bit and 64 bit Sorcerer Linux, Solaris 10 u10/09, DragonFlyBSD 1.4, mACROSfOT WyndozeXP SP2, IBM PC DOS 1.04 (Hey, it does 160k single sided single density floppy images and I wanted to brush up on my Edlin), MS DOS 6.02 w/DesqviewX, and Artisoft Lantastic's AILANBIO for NetBIOS transport supporting a RIP enabled Searchlight BBS and an UltraBBS node and Telegraphix's RIPterm, and I'm looking at learning a bit about Arch Linux and installing both an NT 3.51 Server w/IIS 2.0 (or is it NT 4.0 that I need for that? ah... I've got both anyway LOL) so I can run a gopher server and finally a WFW 3.11 isntall - I think I'll run that on and old version of DR DOS coz - All on a Slackware 13.0 box

And as you might have gathered, I have been very pleased with the performance of Virtual Box's PUEL edition!

Next I'm going to start playing around with importing guests from one VB installation to another!