Hi, I was the one that mentioned it....
I will have to explain things in some length since if you are new to this,
things may seem mixed up.
a) FULL version of VMWARE workstation{trial} = create & plays virtual
machines
b) FREE Player PLAYER = only plays (runs) virtual machines
c) FREE VMWARE SERVER = creates and runs virtual machines but in a console
like style.
You need to have XP pro at least to run server and its a but advanced for
a newbie.
I suggest you try the trail workstation and player first... to get used to
the idea, then
use the free server version once you learn your way around.
The free vmware player is only to PLAY a pre-made virtual machine.
download player here:
http://www.vmware.com/download/player/
There are pre-made virtual machines on the vmware site but these are only
linux
since they are free. Here are the free linux virtual machines:
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/
(that list has 3 pages...-see the numbers at the bottom of the page)
I suggest you use ubuntu if you want to start out with linux, here:
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/ubuntu.html
Download link here:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/vmware/Ubuntu-5.10.zip
This means that you can run XP on your machine normally and run ubuntu
linux in a virtual machine window!
If you would want to make a WINDOWS version you would have to do this:
1) install the full version of vmware (trial) and install windows on it.
[[have in mind that if you use an original version of XP you will have to
activate it,
and that may cause problems, since you cannot activate xp on more than 1
machine,
and the vitrual machine counts as a machine]]
2) you can use the trial untill it expires OR uninstall it and use the
FREE PLAYER
to use that virtual machine you have constructed from that point on.
3) You could always tell a friend that has the full version of vmware to
create a virtual machine for you and send you the virtual machine folder
(that is called an "image") so you can run it with your free player.
in otherwords FULL version = create & plays virtual machines
and Player = only plays (runs) virtual machines
and SERVER creates and plays virtual machines from a console. (again this
is a little advanced becaus you dont have a gui window in front of you
like
you do with desktop and player)
there is also a free server virtual machine version from MICROSOFT, that I
must mention here
so you will know:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx
You will find all this information and more on my site soon
www.computerboom.com on virtual.computerboom.com (this does not exist
yet)
SamF. said:
I read on an earlier post that some one suggested that people use a
"virtual computer" to test software. They also posted a link to
free software that would do this.
I like to try out software. The problem is that few things mess my
machine up faster than trying out several kinds of software on it.
While total uninstall is nice I don't have the patience to use it as I
should. Also, sometimes parts of software are left behind when I try
out software even if I use Total Uninstall.
At this time I use disk images to rebuild my computer. I back up my
data and programs separately so my computer is in good shape when I
rebuild it.
Still, If I could build a virtual machine or have a test area that
would only mess up part of the computer this would be nice.
Please if someone knows the link to this virtual
computer or has a better way to play with new software please let me
know.
