[Ham-Computers] 64 bit v 32 bit question(s)

[jeff]

On 01/16/2011 03:57 PM, Gene,  WØQFC wrote:
> You said
> "linux.
> You could run any version of Win under it in a virtual machine.  All
> that ram couldn't hurt".
>
> One question:
>
> In a VM in linux, will you be able to rull ALL of the XP programs?

When running a virtual machine, everything `looks' to the program like 
Windows (or whatever OS you're running), so there are no issues that way.

There may be hardware issues, though, depending on what you're trying to 
do.  If you need several serial ports under Win, it would be a good 
thing to make sure the host computer physically has them.

For instance, I have an old physical box that I run XP on, which I use 
to control my radios.  It would hurt to think of what I'd have to do in 
order to control them in an XP VM under linux, simply because the linux 
box doesn't have all the extra serial ports.  I remember a USB to serial 
adapter worked fine in that instance.

You have a number of options for running VMs under any OS (free!). 
VMware is the most popular.  You download the free VMplayer and it will 
help you create a VM from scratch from a cd or ISO.  I used VMware 
exclusively til recently, as there seemed to be a problem each time the 
linux kernel updated, requiring patching.  After switching to 
VirtualBox, the patching stopped.  There is also KVM/qemu.

I'm pretty sure all of them run under Windows or linux (and Mac, in some 
cases, although they have a commercial package called Parallels).  Some 
people run a linux vm under Windows, but that's kind of like building a 
fortress on swampland :)   It will absolutely work, and is your best 
choice for simply learning linux, but it will eventually sink.

The downside to linux is that there isn't a wealth of radio software 
available.  And you have to learn it (not a huge deal, but still).

You can also dual-boot if you don't need both OSes at the same time.





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