VMWare: Ready For Primetime
One thing that always kept me from switching to linux over the years was the unavoidable fact that some things just plain don’t work in linux. You could dual-boot with Windows, but I tried that back in my college days and find that I quickly got tired of rebooting all the time and just stopped using the linux setup.
Now we’ve got access to free virtualization products. We’ve been using VMWare a lot at work and it’s really handy. It seems like a pretty robust program and therefore it ought to be REALLY hard to install, right?
Wrong. Here is a pretty well-developed program. Installation was this simple: Download the RPM. Install the RPM (I even used the GUI RPM installer). Run a script that prompts you for various configuration options. Start the program.
And it worked! I didn’t have to dicker around with anything! I just started it up, provisioned a virtual machine and kicked off the XP install. It works like a champ. I could probably put the XP virtual machine into full-screen mode and X would never even realize she was using a VM. I can also give it direct raw access to my old NTFS drive. Very convenient.
So now I have a sensible fallback. If I find something that simply will not work under linux, I now have the option to just switch to the XP VM and do it from there - no muss, no fuss.
Another note, I set my printer up last night. That wasn’t primetime, but it’s at least 6 o’clock news. I had to track down a driver. Canon isn’t too linux-friendly. They do have some linux drivers, but they aren’t too forthcoming about drivers that work for multiple printers. I have an IP1600 which has no linux driver, but I read reports that the IP2200 linux driver will work. I installed the driver RPMs and this caused the printer config wizard to segfault. The pre-populated list of drivers vanished! Removing the IP2200 driver caused them to return. I’m not sure what that’s about. But once I tracked down where the .ppd file hides, I was able to choose that in the wizard and the printer worked right away.
Things are much better than they used to be, but there’s still a ways to go.
April 26th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Per your comment on your last email, have you considered a Skype handheld phone?
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Wi-Fi-Boingo-Manager-F1PP000GN-SK/dp/B000GTSEHQ/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b/102-7197439-4232921?%5Fencoding=UTF8&qid=1161110825&sr=8-1
May 1st, 2007 at 10:27 am
Actually with a little bit of hacking, I can install skype on my existing phone. Of course you still need to find an access point.
I have only travelled internationally enough in the last couple years for it to be a minor annoyance. I would love to be able to use mobile internet which has been immensely useful when travelling in the US and make an occasional phone call. It’s one of those things where I really would love to have it available for a reasonable cost, but I don’t want it bad enough to go out of my way for it.
It was doubly-frustrating in Germany and England - T-Mobile has a strong presence in England and of course they are headquartered in Germany. It’s roaming even though I’m on the T-Mobile network?
OK, maybe there are international tariffs involved. That’s fine. Would someone care to explain why my Total Internet package that includes “unlimited T-Mobile Hot Spot access” also carries a “roaming fee” to use Hot Spots overseas? There is certainly no international tariff involved in making a WiFi connection that uses the Hot Spot’s local ISP.
It boggles my mind that we’re applying steam-era logic to 21st century technology.