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Virtual computers in a virtual world.

Just about everyone has a computer nowadays. You wouldn't be reading this if you didn't have a computer. Even mobile phones have evolved to the stage where they are mini computers and you can do many things on them just as you could on a desktop computer (well almost :). It has even come to the stage where a popular mobile phone has its own iVirus circulating around.

Not only are there a plethora of computers floating around there are also a plethora of operating systems to choose from. The average person is becoming more knowledgeable about computers which are becoming less and less the mysterious beige box which does stuff. With the recent changes in the most popular operating system at the moment there has been an opening for other operating systems to get a word in edgeways.

In fact those changes of this popular operating system have been the direct cause of many to try other operating systems as an alternative. They do this for many reasons. It could be financial or hardware related. It could also be as simple as they don't like the new operating system. For what ever the reason these people have heard of, or seen, different operating systems and have started to wonder.

The problem is most people do not have a spare computer floating around to test out these different operating systems and they do not wish to fork out unavailable money just to try something which they may not like. Naturally there is a solution or I would not be writing this article :)

Some operating systems, namely many different Linux distributions, can be run directly from a CD so they can be evaluated for suitability before being installed. This method does have some shortcomings though. For starters the operating system is being run directly from a CD. This means that loading up of programs is extremely slow and a large amount of memory is used. It also means that the existing operating system is not available while testing out the Linux distribution.

Another method is to dual boot the computer. In other words to load the operating system you wish to test in a spare partition and when booting the computer choosing which operating system you wish to load. This has the advantage of the operating system you are evaluating running at a native speed. Yet you still cannot have more than one operating system running at the same time.

The method I like the best for evaluating different operating systems, whether they are different Linux distributions, BSD, MacOS or the latest windows offering, is to use virtual machines. This means that with the quality of virtual machine programs available now, these operating systems you are evaluating run at near native speed. In fact you would be hard put to notice the difference with relatively modern hardware.


Using a virtual machine program you can easily create and delete your virtual machines, making evaluation of different operating systems an easy task. It is also environmentally friendly as you do not even have to burn a CD or DVD ROM which you may never use again. Using the downloaded ISO image you can install direct from that to your virtual machine. This has effect of actually installing faster than installing from a CDROM. It is also very easy to copy or transfer virtual machines to different computers with different hardware and the guest operating system running in the virtual machine will never know the difference. If you decide that you actually like the Linux you are evaluating you can transfer it from your virtual machine to your physical machine with little effort. Other operating system are not that easy but can be done with more effort and a ninety percent chance of a phone call to re-activate that operating system.

Virtual machines are not just for evaluating different operating systems either. As an example lets say you have found your dream Linux system. My current flavour at the moment is Gentoo. For some programs or duties you have no other choice but to use a different operating system. As you do not need to use this other operating system all the time and dual booting is such an inflexible hassle. It makes sense to install that rarely used but necessary operating system in a virtual machine for access when you need it without having to reboot the computer.

There are several different types of virtual machines, also called emulators, of which the most flexible are those which mimic and allow access to your native hardware. There are others which, although less efficient, emulate completely different hardware architectures. These are often great for nostalgic moments such as reliving your first love of computers. In my case it is my Dick Smith system 80 blue label and my Apple ][e+. Other uses are for playing those arcade games which used to swallow so much of our pocket money when we were young.

Not just for home use either. Businesses are becoming wise to the benefits of using virtual machines to make better use of their hardware. Both in hardware efficiency and in redundancy where a virtual machine in a clustering environment will allow it to be shunted around without losing service. In fact the boffins have just recently used virtual machines to simulate a million computer bot net for research purposes.

So if you have not thought about virtual machines I suggest you give it a thought. You might be pleasantly surprised. If you already use virtual machines then I am preaching to the converted :) In that case tell us. What do you use virtual machines for?



Visiting Borgs

Read 4 comments


Virtual machines seem great for the reasons you outlined including test driving new linux distros / releases. However, any "reviews" or evaluations published done from being run through a virtual machine, I try to take with a grain of salt as key issues of new releases / new distros relate to whether hardware works properly (sound, video, wireless networking, etc.) from which, it seems to me, cannot be accurately evaluated via virtualization. I would afford much more credence to an evaluation of a dual boot (or single) installation.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, insight, and wisdom.

They are very good points you have made there. I would like to point out that even if a review is made with real hardware it still cannot relate whether the operating system works properly for all the thousands of combinations of hardware available.

At least with a virtual machine you have a consistant base line from which hardware independant features of an operating system can be reliably compared. A virtual machine is by its nature virtual. However, the operating system running under that virtual machine doesn't neccessarily know this.
When VMWare was first introduced I was quite excited by the idea and tried to get my manager to try it out for testing of the web applications that we were developing (one VM for each specific client configuration).

Sadly, my manager (and the other people I worked with) just didn't get it. They preferred to just do adhoc testing on whatever machine and configuration was available.

That was ten years ago. It's good to see how far virtualisation has come since then.
I had been using VMWare server because I needed virtulization on my home system, they made it tough though. The supported Linux kernels were limited and after a while I couldn't get a patch for current kernels. I tried upgrading to the newer series (2, I assume,. I can't remember). Starting that version got me a web browser window complaining about needing a plug-in I couldn't find.

I hunted around and found VirtualBox. Not as smooth as VMWare, but it worked without issue and seems not to care what kernel revision I'm using.

Primarily I use a virtual Windows session for updating my Garmin GPS, backing up the contents of my cell phone, and using Endicia postage, which some claim to have running under Wine, but I've never managed it.

Since firmware updates for my printer arrive buried in a Windows executable, I also use it for that. The printer runs nicely when Linux apps drive, I just can't flash the device.

I have a virtual machine of every major Windows version from XP back to 3.1 (The looks I get when I boot up that VM are priceless.) I know the vendors don't view it that way, but to me, software is just another salvageable part when dismantling an old computer. This is handy when I get a call from one of my Windows-using friends, I can match them click for click when figuring things out.

I also like to test Linux distributions, and have one VM I use to play with Live CD/DVD images.

Then I have an Ubuntu VM that I kept because I found a need for an older version of an application that will not allow multiple versions of itself to exist on one machine, but I need the newer version also. My main Linux is Slackware.


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Archive Category: Opinion
Keyword Tags:  virtual   machine   evaluate   operating system

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