Virtualization: veeDee Eyes

A little class on Virtualization first:

Virtualization is abstraction of your Hardware resources. There are different kinds of Virtualization. See Wikipedia if want more details. What does this mean to a regular computer user? Well, you run a piece of software called Virtualization software, that allows you to share your computer hardware between two different Operating Systems at the same instant. In even simpler terms, you run an OS from within a window while you are booted into a different OS. This software basically sits between your hardware and System Software (OS). The OS that is running the Virtualization software is called, “Host OS"” and the OS’s you run further on your Virtualization Software are called “Guest OS’s”. You usually boot into your regular Host OS, Fire up the Virtualization Software and then run your “Guest OS”. Simple huh?

Now, usually, you have to install the “Guest OS” on your hard drive before you run it using the Virtualization Software. This might not be very appealing to some of you folks, for various reasons. Imagine the hassle of partitioning your hard drive, installing a new OS, etc. That’s where "veeDee Eyes” comes in.

veeDee Eyes will let you run the operating system off of a single “VDI” file. So, no changing your partition table, no installing a new operating system. Just run VirtualBox and point to the “VDI” file to start running Linux on your Windows machine.

That’s enough for a class. Let get moving.

Stuff you need:

• Sun xVM VirtualBox. (Get it here)
• Some tool that can extract “rar” files. (Get 7-Zip here)
• VDI file for the operating system you want to run. (You will need a BitTorrent client to get that file)

You are well on the way to be running Linux on your Windows machine. Hit this link for a detailed walk-through.