Boston Linux Meeting Wed, October 21, 2009 Virtualization on the Desktop

[Jerry Feldman-2]

When:      October 21, 2009 7PM (6:30PM for Q&A)
Topic:     Virtualization on the Desktop
Moderator: Jerry Feldman
Location:  MIT Building E51, Room 325

I will discuss the various ways one can use virtualization on your
desktop or laptop computer. We will discuss the various virtualization
software that you can obtain for Linux, Windows, and Macintosh
computers. We will also discuss some of the pros and cons of
virtualization. And why you might want to run Windows in a virtualized
environment rather than WINE or CrossoverOffice. We'll also discuss some
Linux advantages for being the Host OS.

http://legacy.blu.org/cgi-bin/calendar/2009-oct

For further information and directions please consult the BLU Web site
http://www.blu.org
Please note that there is usually plenty of free parking in the E-51
parking lot at 2 Amherst St, or on Amherst St.



--
Jerry Feldman <gaf@...>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846
































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[jay-118]

Vmware is also doing a seminar, in boston, tuesday morning (oct 20).  If anyone is really getting into virtulization.  And we may be able to coerce some vmware experts to come, on wendsday.

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

-----Original Message-----
From: Jerry Feldman <gaf@...>
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:36:44
To: BLU Discussion List<discuss@...>
Cc: BLU Meeting Announcements<announce@...>
Subject: Boston Linux Meeting Wed, October 21, 2009 Virtualization on the
        Desktop

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[Brendan Kidwell]

Eek! I showed this after Jerry's informative talk and I promised I'd post it here, and I almost forgot!

Motivation: VirtualBox and VMWare (I believe) have "seamless" modes whereby a Windows in a Guest system will project its windows separately on the Host desktop where they sort of co-mingle with the Host's own windows. In actuality what I've observed is that all of the Guests windows are projected as a single window on the host with transparent holes in it for other windows to show through. If you activate a Guest window, all Guest windows are brought on top of Host windows. Furthermore, I've never been able to get this to work with two displays, which is somewhat irritating.

Anyway, as I am forced to use Windows at work to support particular job functions as a developer (I switched to Ubuntu and held out for a few years but eventually broke down and switched back to Windows 7)... I wanted to get a similar effect with a Windows Host and a Linux Guest. VirtualBox and VMWare offer no "seamless" mode in their Linux add-on drivers.

But hey! Linux desktop apps are just X clients, right? And X is network transparent and all that. All you have to do is peel away all the Linux desktop stuff from a modern Linux distribution on your Guest, install an X server on the Host computer, and launch an appropriate toolbar/panel to provide Start menu, Run command, and whatever other widgets you need. Here's how I did that:

http://www.glump.net/howto/seamless_remote_linux_desktop_in_windows

I didn't immediately post this on the mailing list Wednesday because I wanted to change my advice in the article from launching xfce4-session as your first X client, to running lxpanel instead. Unfortunately this week has been nuts at work and I forgot all about it until today. In case I just never get around to rewriting the article, I just crammed an addendum about lxpanel into the introduction and I'm writing this email now.

The article is CC-licensed. Please read, learn, rewrite and repost and let me know so I can toss mine out. :^)

[Jerry Feldman-2]

There are some neat things being used in the virtualization world today,
such as Application Virtualization (HyperV), VMWare ThinApp, and more.
Most of these features are targeted to enterprise computing. In any
case, this is neat.

On 10/23/2009 10:17 PM, Brendan Kidwell wrote:

> Eek! I showed this after Jerry's informative talk and I promised I'd post it
> here, and I almost forgot!
>
> Motivation: VirtualBox and VMWare (I believe) have "seamless" modes whereby
> a Windows in a Guest system will project its windows separately on the Host
> desktop where they sort of co-mingle with the Host's own windows. In
> actuality what I've observed is that all of the Guests windows are projected
> as a single window on the host with transparent holes in it for other
> windows to show through. If you activate a Guest window, all Guest windows
> are brought on top of Host windows. Furthermore, I've never been able to get
> this to work with two displays, which is somewhat irritating.
>
> Anyway, as I am forced to use Windows at work to support particular job
> functions as a developer (I switched to Ubuntu and held out for a few years
> but eventually broke down and switched back to Windows 7)... I wanted to get
> a similar effect with a Windows Host and a Linux Guest. VirtualBox and
> VMWare offer no "seamless" mode in their Linux add-on drivers.
>
> But hey! Linux desktop apps are just X clients, right? And X is network
> transparent and all that. All you have to do is peel away all the Linux
> desktop stuff from a modern Linux distribution on your Guest, install an X
> server on the Host computer, and launch an appropriate toolbar/panel to
> provide Start menu, Run command, and whatever other widgets you need. Here's
> how I did that:
>
> http://www.glump.net/howto/seamless_remote_linux_desktop_in_windows
>
> I didn't immediately post this on the mailing list Wednesday because I
> wanted to change my advice in the article from launching xfce4-session as
> your first X client, to running lxpanel instead. Unfortunately this week has
> been nuts at work and I forgot all about it until today. In case I just
> never get around to rewriting the article, I just crammed an addendum about
> lxpanel into the introduction and I'm writing this email now.
>
> The article is CC-licensed. Please read, learn, rewrite and repost and let
> me know so I can toss mine out. :^)
>
>  

--
Jerry Feldman <gaf@...>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846



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