Okay, So...
I am looking at checking out some old Win games Dad found in a box. Infocom and Sierra stuff. I was thinking first that these are _so_ Win'95 that I really ought to just be able to use WINE (wine 1.2.1-0ubuntu1 Microsoft windows compatibility layer)
But then... I really do not want to junk up my nice fresh system, when I can just spin up a virtual machine.
Initially, I was just going to run the WIN7 VBox and have at it. But then I got to thinking again about how old these are, and how they are more than likely 16 bit dos-ported-to-windows games. DOS I could actually handle easier, I think, running DOSBOX, but that won't work here.
But, Win95 was bad. Win98 was a little less bad. Win98SE was starting to get not too bad. Then there is Win ME. That's Millennium Edition, just in case you were not keeping up. I mean, hey, that was a long time ago. So, Win ME was like the last of that old base of windows. XP was not too far off in some ways, but far enough in the ways that are going to be a factor here. Vista and Win 7 are quite the OS's in their own way, but I am looking at some really old software.
Oh, sure, I am sure that some of you out there are all like, "Windows is great. XP can handle it." Well, no and yes - but... Windows is not as bad as I like to make it out to be. Mushrooms and I do not get along (stay with me here) and neither of us have anything good to say about the other. Other people like 'shrooms. Fine. That does not make them bad people but it also does not make me want to go out and eat them. The 'shrooms, not the people. I do not eat people, that I am aware of. Except for Green. That Green from Soylent is some tasty stuff. Kidding.
The point of all that is: I don't wanna pickle.
Wait... no. The point is I am not trying to debate the pros and cons of the operating systems in general not point out any over merits or faults. I just have to find the best tool for the job.
But, here is what I have ready to go as far as virtual machines go: Win2k, Win2k3, Win2k8, Win7... see a pattern there? Server, server, server and Se7en. Well, somewhere, I think we do still have a Vista virtual box exported on disc, but as it would not be very helpful.
Oh, and if you have a "new" Win OS and are running old, 16bit windows games, I am not trying to invalidate you at all. If there is something about all this that I apparently do not know, that is okay - it is not the end of the world - I am quite certain that there is a lot that I do not know about a great many things.
Take Care-
LQ
PS. The LINUX tag in the tag cloud is to remind people that the host system for the virtual machine is LINUX.
Showing posts with label VirtualBox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VirtualBox. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
I likez me some cheezies
Hot apple cider, crackers and cheese while watching The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Film ended and I left Dad and his lady friend to have the livingroom to themselves. (It is better than me thinking about them going off to his bedroom together. But then, I do sit on that sofa from time to time.) Pay me no attention there. I don't /know/ if they have even taken their relationship to that level. Best if I try to not think about it much.
It has been a busier day that I anticipated and I think I am going to turn in early. Already have the music going and just finished polishing the pearlies.
But... I have some old Win apps from Dad that I want to check out. Do I run me some virtual Windoze, or set up WINE? What's your opinion?
Take Care-
LQ
It has been a busier day that I anticipated and I think I am going to turn in early. Already have the music going and just finished polishing the pearlies.
But... I have some old Win apps from Dad that I want to check out. Do I run me some virtual Windoze, or set up WINE? What's your opinion?
Take Care-
LQ
Friday, November 5, 2010
Friday: Back to Linux Mint 10 RC
Hi, and welcome to Friday.
As far as moods and disposition goes, this was not a good week for me to have been messing about with OS's. There are times when I am in a much better frame of mind for Slackware based distros.
Most of my "grief" came from three simple things, but there was more to it than just these:
1) Virtual Box & Guest Addition display drivers
2) Package management
3) I'm an idiot.
So, it went something like this.
I was running Linux Mint Debian Edition, but the RC for Linux Mint (Main~Gnome) 10 which has a lot of cool new features on the mintMenu in particular. And, it is available in 64bit.
Okay, great. Got it installed. Got Rosetta@home going again. All was good.
Well, while going through all that, I was thinking to myself... I wonder what Zenwalk has gotten up to lately. I mean, we are talking about a virtual machine, right? I stayed up on LM10 the whole time. No problem.
So... yeah.
First off, Zenwalk Core is great for a number of things. I mean, the file server here (an old 333Mhz Pentium got mercy's sake) that I built up scraps (with Dad's help - it was my first computer assembly) is still running Zenwalk Server for about four years now. Very stable, but anyway.
One of the things I like about it is it is really easy to switch from init 3 to 4 and back. (console environment to graphical environment) This is a good thing because I needed it. I just could not really get Xorg configured. It wanted to use nothing but the vesa driver and stuck me in 800x600 in stead of 1280x800 and the mouse integration never really worked right.
Going on the supposition that these were VirtualBox issues and all this would work fine in a "real" installation, I decided to set that aside and have a look around - the real purpose of the exercise. Well, the package manager - netpkg was not too bad. I mean, I am spoiled to Mint's updater and whatnot, but I could work with netpkg/zenpkg. It is better than it was four years ago when I set up the file server. But you kinda have to know what package you are looking for. There are plenty of resources for looking around the interwebs for package names, then hope that netpkg can find it out there. I mean, I did get the kernel headers installed so I could install the VBGuestAdditions. It was livable. Zenwalk is very pretty, but I do not want to settle. If I really wanted a MAC, but did not want to pay for it, I could run ZW and install everything under the sun and be happy, I suppose.
Quickly, I just went back to LMDE, but I could not get it to install. I got kinda frustrated with that because I _had_ installed it before.
So, I looked at Absolute. It too is slackware based. And kinda pretty. I had kinda tested it out in the past, but as soon as I saw that I could not just run it in VBox out-of-the-box, I moved on because I was looking for something kinda specific at the time. So, install again.
It had a nice little "Here is what you can do now" welcome message. Google Chromium was installed out of the box as were some other things I use and others I don't. Typical.
During the install, it prompted to create a root password, but did not have a step for setting up the user. Here in the welcome screen, the message was something like this:
Here is where I am supposed to tell you that you should create a user for yourself, but I don't because I need root for everything because the only things I do on this distro need root access and I do not want to su or sudo and keep having to type the password over and over.
Well, 1) sudo can be set such that one does not have to enter the password every time. It is not as secure, but better than running around as root all the time. 2) I suppose that is fine when one is the only person to use the computer or everyone using it is just going to all use the same ID. Whatever.
So, okay. I could just set myself up my user account and configure it the way I want - I hardly have to subscribe to the author's policies, right? I *see* where he is coming from, but I just don't go there myself. No biggie. Moving on.
I downloaded all the kernel source and started building modules and installing the guest additions. Pfft - same thing; 800x600 and no mouse integration. Oh, and no mounting host shares. That is definitely a show stopper... ish.
Then it comes to the package manager - yeah, right. Search the web, find the package its self, install it. Okay... this really is fine for plenty of situations. I can really see jumping into this methodology really easily. Especially in an IT type environment where you probably have a file server with all your packages on it and can just mount your share, get to your own little custom repository and pick and choose.
BUT, if I was doing that, I would probably just run SLAX, you know? This just does not suit my current mission. Maybe when I am setting up something where that would be more appropriate, then that would be more... well, appropriate.
Now, a few things about the installers. What ever happened to letting me use more than one drive for the install? No... What drive would you like to install this on. Pick one and I am going to ignore the rest. This is fine for some things, but I want to go through this setup during installation and not have to revisit it after the fact. I want swap on a disk all its own. I want to choose where my home gets mounted - on its own drive. Putting /media in its own partition has its purpose too. Sure, I can add them later, but during install really is when I want to do it. After install, I just want to get the extra packages I need, remove the ones I don't and get to work, you know? Not the end of the world, but I feel like this was a bit of a step back in the evolution of linux installers. (Sure, someone is going to read this and think to themselves - hey, if she had just done it this way, or that way, everything would have this or that. Did I mention that I was not in the proper disposition for doing this stuff this week? Maybe later. It's virtual, I can pick it up again when I feel more like gettin' teckie wit' it.)
So, I go back to my good old Mint. What is this? I had not reset the environment back to 32 bit when I was installing LMDE! Oh... I am an idiot. But, well, I am installing 64 bit now, so no problem.
I put the VM back to Linux Mint 10 RC so I can track it until the release comes out and see if I want to install it on my laptop, or stick with the debian.
Frame of mind? I had kind of had a few setbacks when I kept blacking out during the Zenwalk tests. I would be in the middle of something, then the next thing I would know, I would be doing something else, somewhere else and have no idea where the past few hours had gone. A major setback in the trying-to-get-things-done department.
Now, all that is set aside for now and I am back on my laptop. :sigh: Comfy.
Thanks, take care, and happy Friday!
As far as moods and disposition goes, this was not a good week for me to have been messing about with OS's. There are times when I am in a much better frame of mind for Slackware based distros.
Most of my "grief" came from three simple things, but there was more to it than just these:
1) Virtual Box & Guest Addition display drivers
2) Package management
3) I'm an idiot.
So, it went something like this.
I was running Linux Mint Debian Edition, but the RC for Linux Mint (Main~Gnome) 10 which has a lot of cool new features on the mintMenu in particular. And, it is available in 64bit.
Okay, great. Got it installed. Got Rosetta@home going again. All was good.
Well, while going through all that, I was thinking to myself... I wonder what Zenwalk has gotten up to lately. I mean, we are talking about a virtual machine, right? I stayed up on LM10 the whole time. No problem.
So... yeah.
First off, Zenwalk Core is great for a number of things. I mean, the file server here (an old 333Mhz Pentium got mercy's sake) that I built up scraps (with Dad's help - it was my first computer assembly) is still running Zenwalk Server for about four years now. Very stable, but anyway.
One of the things I like about it is it is really easy to switch from init 3 to 4 and back. (console environment to graphical environment) This is a good thing because I needed it. I just could not really get Xorg configured. It wanted to use nothing but the vesa driver and stuck me in 800x600 in stead of 1280x800 and the mouse integration never really worked right.
Going on the supposition that these were VirtualBox issues and all this would work fine in a "real" installation, I decided to set that aside and have a look around - the real purpose of the exercise. Well, the package manager - netpkg was not too bad. I mean, I am spoiled to Mint's updater and whatnot, but I could work with netpkg/zenpkg. It is better than it was four years ago when I set up the file server. But you kinda have to know what package you are looking for. There are plenty of resources for looking around the interwebs for package names, then hope that netpkg can find it out there. I mean, I did get the kernel headers installed so I could install the VBGuestAdditions. It was livable. Zenwalk is very pretty, but I do not want to settle. If I really wanted a MAC, but did not want to pay for it, I could run ZW and install everything under the sun and be happy, I suppose.
Quickly, I just went back to LMDE, but I could not get it to install. I got kinda frustrated with that because I _had_ installed it before.
So, I looked at Absolute. It too is slackware based. And kinda pretty. I had kinda tested it out in the past, but as soon as I saw that I could not just run it in VBox out-of-the-box, I moved on because I was looking for something kinda specific at the time. So, install again.
It had a nice little "Here is what you can do now" welcome message. Google Chromium was installed out of the box as were some other things I use and others I don't. Typical.
During the install, it prompted to create a root password, but did not have a step for setting up the user. Here in the welcome screen, the message was something like this:
Here is where I am supposed to tell you that you should create a user for yourself, but I don't because I need root for everything because the only things I do on this distro need root access and I do not want to su or sudo and keep having to type the password over and over.
Well, 1) sudo can be set such that one does not have to enter the password every time. It is not as secure, but better than running around as root all the time. 2) I suppose that is fine when one is the only person to use the computer or everyone using it is just going to all use the same ID. Whatever.
So, okay. I could just set myself up my user account and configure it the way I want - I hardly have to subscribe to the author's policies, right? I *see* where he is coming from, but I just don't go there myself. No biggie. Moving on.
I downloaded all the kernel source and started building modules and installing the guest additions. Pfft - same thing; 800x600 and no mouse integration. Oh, and no mounting host shares. That is definitely a show stopper... ish.
Then it comes to the package manager - yeah, right. Search the web, find the package its self, install it. Okay... this really is fine for plenty of situations. I can really see jumping into this methodology really easily. Especially in an IT type environment where you probably have a file server with all your packages on it and can just mount your share, get to your own little custom repository and pick and choose.
BUT, if I was doing that, I would probably just run SLAX, you know? This just does not suit my current mission. Maybe when I am setting up something where that would be more appropriate, then that would be more... well, appropriate.
Now, a few things about the installers. What ever happened to letting me use more than one drive for the install? No... What drive would you like to install this on. Pick one and I am going to ignore the rest. This is fine for some things, but I want to go through this setup during installation and not have to revisit it after the fact. I want swap on a disk all its own. I want to choose where my home gets mounted - on its own drive. Putting /media in its own partition has its purpose too. Sure, I can add them later, but during install really is when I want to do it. After install, I just want to get the extra packages I need, remove the ones I don't and get to work, you know? Not the end of the world, but I feel like this was a bit of a step back in the evolution of linux installers. (Sure, someone is going to read this and think to themselves - hey, if she had just done it this way, or that way, everything would have this or that. Did I mention that I was not in the proper disposition for doing this stuff this week? Maybe later. It's virtual, I can pick it up again when I feel more like gettin' teckie wit' it.)
So, I go back to my good old Mint. What is this? I had not reset the environment back to 32 bit when I was installing LMDE! Oh... I am an idiot. But, well, I am installing 64 bit now, so no problem.
I put the VM back to Linux Mint 10 RC so I can track it until the release comes out and see if I want to install it on my laptop, or stick with the debian.
Frame of mind? I had kind of had a few setbacks when I kept blacking out during the Zenwalk tests. I would be in the middle of something, then the next thing I would know, I would be doing something else, somewhere else and have no idea where the past few hours had gone. A major setback in the trying-to-get-things-done department.
Now, all that is set aside for now and I am back on my laptop. :sigh: Comfy.
Thanks, take care, and happy Friday!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Oh, is this a Friday again?
I haz a Friday.
Well, lookie her. Apparently I found the way to boost site traffic:
Talk about all kinds of weird and popular stuff.
Like, I could probably look at what the latest top google searches are on, and just talk about all of them. Presto - my blog would show up among all the other completely useless and irrelevant search results.
Well, only useless to those searching for one of those popular search keywords.
Oh, was that it?
No, I haz a Friday. No, sorry; a Fridai. No... uhg. I never did get the hang of that.
But, instead of talking about all the hot films, songs, tv shows, I am going to talk about...
*queue the dramatic music*
LINUX!
Let's hear it for the penguin.
I have been using LMDE (LinuxMint Debian Edition) for a while and am _really_ happy with it.
I am not going to bad mouth Ubuntu. I mean, it is popular for a reason. I do not know what that reason is (kidding) but it has its merits. I mean, (shudder) even Micro$loth Windoze has its merits, and it is, like, at the bottom of the OS gene pool, eh?
So, what I really need to do is convince the peoplz what be that making a 64bit LMDE is worth while.
Constant updates? Sure! I like getting the new toys. I like keeping my personal unit right there on the immediate up-to-date. Risk? Well, I have to justify my back-up paranoia some how, eh?
Ah, yeah, Dad, I really do need that 5TB NAS... for backups. I am pulling testing/unstable packages every morning! =^_^=
So, it looks around here I lot like this:
LMDE on my netbook (Acer-one. 64bit cpu, dual core, 1gb ram. Yeah, even with the wireless and the flash.)
LM Isadora Main 64bit on "our" workstation. (This is the one we run all the virtual machines on.)
Zenwalk server on the file server. Yeah... only very stable packages there.
So, there you have it. A Friday post on Friday.
Take Care!
Well, lookie her. Apparently I found the way to boost site traffic:
Talk about all kinds of weird and popular stuff.
Like, I could probably look at what the latest top google searches are on, and just talk about all of them. Presto - my blog would show up among all the other completely useless and irrelevant search results.
Well, only useless to those searching for one of those popular search keywords.
Oh, was that it?
No, I haz a Friday. No, sorry; a Fridai. No... uhg. I never did get the hang of that.
But, instead of talking about all the hot films, songs, tv shows, I am going to talk about...
*queue the dramatic music*
LINUX!
Let's hear it for the penguin.
I have been using LMDE (LinuxMint Debian Edition) for a while and am _really_ happy with it.
I am not going to bad mouth Ubuntu. I mean, it is popular for a reason. I do not know what that reason is (kidding) but it has its merits. I mean, (shudder) even Micro$loth Windoze has its merits, and it is, like, at the bottom of the OS gene pool, eh?
So, what I really need to do is convince the peoplz what be that making a 64bit LMDE is worth while.
Constant updates? Sure! I like getting the new toys. I like keeping my personal unit right there on the immediate up-to-date. Risk? Well, I have to justify my back-up paranoia some how, eh?
Ah, yeah, Dad, I really do need that 5TB NAS... for backups. I am pulling testing/unstable packages every morning! =^_^=
So, it looks around here I lot like this:
LMDE on my netbook (Acer-one. 64bit cpu, dual core, 1gb ram. Yeah, even with the wireless and the flash.)
LM Isadora Main 64bit on "our" workstation. (This is the one we run all the virtual machines on.)
Zenwalk server on the file server. Yeah... only very stable packages there.
So, there you have it. A Friday post on Friday.
Take Care!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Woo! Hoo! I have sarcastic enthusiasm!
Well, it is not raining, drizzling or misting today. That is good. I can ride my bike without getting wet.
Except for sweat, but that is different.
It is warmer today too. I wonder if it will last. I suppose I could look at the forecast, but I hate to spoil the surprise.
Fiddlesticks. It may rain later. (Yeah, I peaked. No, peeked.) Not a big chance though. Maybe I will be in the 70% that it misses.
Anywho-
It is Tuesday, not Friday. I have nothing all that special/important to say - except:
LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) is out. 32bit anyway. I am running it in a virtual box for now. I am not entirely sure that I want to go back to a 32bit OS, but... does it really matter that much? I have never been a huge fan of Ubuntu - but put up with it because Linux Mint is teh awesome. So, I am excited (on the inside - deep down where the nerdy me lives.) I mean, I think I like slackware even better, but that is mostly because I like my little Slax USB drive so much. (Especially at public terminals.)
It is installed (VBOX) but I have not really played around with it much. Okay, any.
So, if you are into that sort of thing, try it out. If not, oh well.
Take care. I think I am going back to bed now.
Except for sweat, but that is different.
It is warmer today too. I wonder if it will last. I suppose I could look at the forecast, but I hate to spoil the surprise.
Fiddlesticks. It may rain later. (Yeah, I peaked. No, peeked.) Not a big chance though. Maybe I will be in the 70% that it misses.
Anywho-
It is Tuesday, not Friday. I have nothing all that special/important to say - except:
LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) is out. 32bit anyway. I am running it in a virtual box for now. I am not entirely sure that I want to go back to a 32bit OS, but... does it really matter that much? I have never been a huge fan of Ubuntu - but put up with it because Linux Mint is teh awesome. So, I am excited (on the inside - deep down where the nerdy me lives.) I mean, I think I like slackware even better, but that is mostly because I like my little Slax USB drive so much. (Especially at public terminals.)
It is installed (VBOX) but I have not really played around with it much. Okay, any.
So, if you are into that sort of thing, try it out. If not, oh well.
Take care. I think I am going back to bed now.
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