Windows 7 Beta...

[jgleason]

So, I pretty much skipped Vista (we use XP Pro at work) but thought I'd give Windows 7 a try. The beta is available to download from Microsoft and try out. I'm typing this from Windows 7 Beta installed in a virtual machine running on my XP Pro system. I gave it 1.5GB of RAM and 32MB of Video memory. It actually is usable running in a virtual environment.

Anyone else in here running the beta?

[davem]

If I can help it, I'll skip W7 too.

My motherboard uses DDR400 PC3200 which hasn't fallen in price like the new stuff, so I've only got 1.5GB. I'd like to put in 4 to play with some vmware stuff but I get hung up on the price.

[jgleason]

But Dave, it is Windows 7 Ultimate

As for the vmware - my laptop is a Thinkpad Z61t with 3GB of RAM. I run XP Pro on it for work but use Sun's xVM VirtualBox software to run virtual machines. Most of my virtual machines I use for testing are either W200Pro or XP Pro with various combos of software configured so I can test program compatibility. Other than the W7Beta, I only give 256MB to each virtual machine. You'd be able to run two or three simultaneously with 1.5GB on your system.

[HS345]

Wow, that's cool. I've heard about virtual environments, but didn't realize it was readily accessible.

Joe, do you run Sun's xVM VirtualBox on machines you care about, or have important files on? Is it fairly easy to install and configure, for us non-geeky types? No offense, the term geek is now a major compliment.

I have 3GB RAM, and an older (2006) Pentium 4 630HT processor, if that matters.

[jgleason]

Hi Greg,
Your system shouldn't have any problem running the VirtualBox software. Pretty easy to do although it helps if you're a bit geeky! Here's the link to the VM software I've been using - http://www.virtualbox.org

There are other VM environments, vmware, microsoft virtual server, etc. I like VirtualBox and there latest version is pretty decent.

My daily work system is my Thinkpad. I run VirtualBox on it and don't have any worries about my important files as they are all backed up at the end of each day. (I run a script using Robocopy to mirror my notebook files to the file server at work.)

[HS345]

Thanks Joe!

Maybe I'm a little geeky after all. I had already looked up, and found out where to download Vitural Box. But I went to Sun's website, not VirtualBox.org. hehe Thanks for the heads up on the .org site.

I still long for the day when I can be as geeky as you Joe. But, that would require like, school and stuff.

[jgleason]

Originally Posted by HS345

But, that would require like, school and stuff

Well, at least the "stuff" part. My degree is in Theatre. All the computer stuff has been self taught.

[HS345]

So there's hope for me yet.

[jgleason]

Let's not jump too far ahead of ourselves yet. Let me know when you have a virtual machine working, then we'll see.