The Future

[SarahsDad]

I think I see a glimpse of the future of Linux, so to speak. VM Player and Community Virtual machines. I have been reading some articles about this and it could replace live cds in the very near future as a way to run Linux along with windows. If this catches on and more people with the know how start creating Linux virtual machines to run with the FREE VM Player, it could be the next big thing for Linux. Just think: you want to show your windows friend Xandros (or pick your fav distro). You just instal VM player on his pc and download the Xandros vm and run it in the VM Player and not even mess with his windows setup. He is impressed by Linux. Someone should start churning out virtual machines of all major distros and that will give Linux some more exposure. I wish I had the know how, but from what I read for the average geek it is quite easy to "roll your own" virtual machine. The future awaits! At least I think it does.

[Cabhan]

Erm...

I doubt that these will replace LiveCD's (as LiveCD's can be used by those who don't have Windows installed for system rescue), and frankly, I don't think that these will be the future.

If you want to show someone Linux, get 'em Knoppix. Don't make them install a VM and suffer the performance hit of running two OS's.

I'm not saying that VM's aren't useful. I actually seem them going the other way: being useful to Linux users as a way to still access necessary Windows tools (primarily games). This will be especially useful once the x86 architecure meets the virtualization standards.

But VM's being "the future of Linux"? I think not.

[SarahsDad]

You have a point, but don't you think it would be a good thing for Linux distros that do not offer live cds, like Xandros? You could try out Xandros with out installing it. I do not think Xandros would allow a vm made of its pay versions, but surely would allow for there OCE version. VMs are maybe not "THE future of Linux" but a big part of it to help in its effort to go mainstream, so to speak.

[oz]

Hello... and welcome to the forums, SarahsDad!

I've never liked to judge any distro by the way it feels from within Windows, or when it's on a Live-cd. Doing it that way is okay to see how they look, but that's about it. To me, they feel totally different from the way they do when they're installed properly on the hard drive. However, I do like Live-CDs as emergency boot disks and for the utilities and other tools they carry.

Just my opinion, though.

[Weedman]

i have nothing against knoppix being used as a rescue cd, but it isnt that good for showing off linux. it is WAY too slow for that.

i use the smaller live cd's for that (like damnsmall).
(imo of course)
/weed

[bryansmith]

As someone who has used both live CD's and VMWare Player (Freebsd 6.0 and Ubuntu 5.10 images), I feel that there are quite a bit of similarities. Virutalized images seems to run faster (surprisingly). With that said, live CD's have the ability to recover systems while at the same time can have absolutely no effect on the computer. In short, virtualized OSes are fantastic (I am enjoying trying the images) but they are unable to compensate for the major aspects of live CD's.

They do provide a great way to show people Linux and other OSes but they are still quite different from live CD's.

Bryan

[Mr_Tricorder]

I haven't messed around with VM yet, but I really like Live CDs and they have the advantage of not having to install anything in order to work. No installation=no risk, which puts Windows users at ease whenever you're trying to show off Linux. My favorite live CD distro for both system file recovery and showing off Linux is definitely Slax. It's lightweight and fast while still giving the hopeful Linux initiate a familiar interface (KDE) and plenty of apps to play with, especially if you add some useful modules. I have a friend who had a flakey HP laptop (I must have done a complete system restore for her about fourteen times). I gave her a Slax CD (KillBill edition since she's a Kill Bill fan) and she absolutely loved it (keep in mind that she knew virtually nothing about Linux at the time)! She used it as her primary OS for about a week and then asked me about installing Linux on her laptop. After going through reviews and descriptions of different distros with her, she settled on Mandriva, and everyone lived happily ever after.

[techieMoe]

I think resting the "future of Linux" on the shoulders of a proprietary piece of software which may be free of charge now but may not be in the future is a shaky prospect at best. LiveCDs do not rely on anyone else's operating system (read: MS Windows) and do not require any else's software (read: VMWare Player), and they also allow the demo system to be executed at near-native performance, easily much faster than that of a virtual machine. I just don't see how a VMWare image is any "easier" or "better" of a demo for Linux. In my opinion, they do the same thing, but LiveCDs just do it better.

[SarahsDad]

OK, I know when I am whupped. I have been spanked by superior intellects. ^See me waving the white flag.^ Just thought it was an interesting topic to discuss. I will now get back on the porch where I belong and leave the big dogs alone.

[bryansmith]

I think resting the "future of Linux" on the shoulders of a proprietary piece of software which may be free of charge now but may not be in the future is a shaky prospect at best. LiveCDs do not rely on anyone else's operating system (read: MS Windows) and do not require any else's software (read: VMWare Player), and they also allow the demo system to be executed at near-native performance, easily much faster than that of a virtual machine. I just don't see how a VMWare image is any "easier" or "better" of a demo for Linux. In my opinion, they do the same thing, but LiveCDs just do it better.

I have actually found VMWare Player to be quite fast, faster than some live CD's. Obviously, performance differs from computer to computer so your experience may be different from mine. One nice advantage of VMWare Player though is the fact that you can save your state. I know some live CD's can as well but it is quite easy with VMWare Player.

I do agree that live CD's are better but I also believe that although you require a host OS, virtualization is a great (and fast) way to show off an OS .

Bryan