This is the first in a series of posts outlining the feature, methods and ideas surrounding the tool: Ubuntu-VM-Builder.

Ubuntu-VM-Builder

Caution, security warning:
These are default settings for a new virtual machine, you will want to change them immediately or better idea would be to set them during build, for more information keep reading after the break.
Default fullname: Ubuntu
Default username: ubuntu
Default password: ubuntu

Here is some quick information on what Ubuntu-VM-builder is:

ubuntu-vm-builder provides a method to quickly create a clean testing environment, a way to automate the virtual machine installation process, and for software developers, the ability to integrate the creation of a virtual machine into the build process of an application. If using a local mirror the virtual machine creation process can take less than two minutes from start to finish. (source)

Step 1. To install Ubuntu-VM-Builder on your linux workstation, requires 8.04 or greater

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-vm-builder

ubuntu-vm-builder Depends on:
Depends: debootstrap
Depends: kpartx
Depends: parted
Depends: qemu

These will automatically be installed by apt-get during the installation, no other installation is required.

Step 2. To build a virtual machine, first move into the directory where you will want the vm folder to be created
mkdir ~/virtual-machines
cd ~/virtual-machines

Step 3. Run Ubuntu-vm-builder, with the required flags and options
sudo ubuntu-vm-builder kvm hardy

For more flags, options and some examples keep reading.
Read more »

What are you willing to pay for an operating system, including all these great programs:

Calculator, Calendar, Cardfile, Clipboard viewer, Clock, Control Panel, Notepad, Paint, Reversi, Terminal, and Write.

Now if you guessed $99.00, and the year was 1986 you would be correct.

Just incase you where wondering: what cost $99 in 1986 would cost $188.40 in 2007 (source).

Now lets compare that to the market today.

According to NewEgg: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic is only $189.99, so in 21 years the prices of Windows has only gone up $1.59.

Keep reading to see the video of Steve Ballmer selling Windows 1.0 from youtube.
Read more »

If you are running on the cutting edge, with Ubuntu Hardy 8.04, and recently decided to install VMware Server Console on that machine you may have gotten a very strange error message, something along the lines of this:

/usr/lib/vmware-server-console/bin/vmware-server-console: /usr/lib/vmware-server-console/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/lib32/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware-server-console/bin/vmware-server-console: /usr/lib/vmware-server-console/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6)
/usr/lib/vmware-server-console/bin/vmware-server-console: /usr/lib/vmware-server-console/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/lib32/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware-server-console/bin/vmware-server-console: /usr/lib/vmware-server-console/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6)
/usr/lib/vmware-server-console/bin/vmware-server-console: /usr/lib/vmware-server-console/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/lib32/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware-server-console/bin/vmware-server-console: /usr/lib/vmware-server-console/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6)

This is caused by VMware Server Console being compiled with an older version of those libraries then included in Hardy. To resolve this problem I found a variety of solutions on multiple sites, but the simplest and one which worked for me is the following:

$ sudo cp /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/lib/vmware-server-console/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/
$ sudo cp /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 /usr/lib/vmware-server-console/lib/libpng12.so.0/

The explaniation, in French is:

Il s’agit du bug #189250 is not in libcairo (Ubuntu) recensé sur le launchpad Ubuntu, lié au fait que VMWare Server a été compilée avec une version plus ancienne de GCC que celle intégrée nativement dans Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. Pour fixer ce bug, il faut copier quelques librairies spécifique (on va d’abord sauvegarder les anciennes…) (source)

UPDATE: 64 bit users, there is a second step required to get Server Console Running on Ubuntu 8.04

sudo ln -s /usr/lib32 /usr/l32
sudo sed -i -e 's/usr\/lib/usr\/l32/g' /usr/lib32/gtk-2.0/2.10.0/loader-files.d/libgtk2.0-0.loaders
sudo sed -i -e 's/usr\/lib/usr\/l32/g' /usr/lib32/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0.1200.9

Take from: vmware-server in hardy - Ubuntu Forums and vmware-server-console on Hardy 64-bit - Ubuntu Forums

For information on fixing VMware server on 8.04 or more information on this issue visit these sites:
VMware Server 1.0.5 sur Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron - Taltan.blog.bkp
VMware Server, Ubuntu “Hardy Heron” 8.04 and Linux 2.6.24 « Federkiel
vmware-server in hardy - Page 4 - Ubuntu Forums
Bug #177869 in ia32-libs (Ubuntu): “vmware-server-console broken after 2.2ubuntu2”
Bug #193692 in ia32-libs (Ubuntu): “[hardy] ia32-libs_2.2ubuntu6 failure when running VMWare”

Here is a screenshot of VMware Server Console 1.0.5 running on Hardy:

Ubuntu comes in 3 main sizes, Large, Small, and tiny to meet different needs.

Complete description of each version after the break.
Read more »

Sun Microsystems, NASDAQ: JAVA is on a shopping Spree

Just recently it was announced that Sun would be investing over a Billion dollars in mysql, as reported in x86Virtualization post: “Brighter Days for MySQL, The Sun Rises Over MySQL“, now less a few weeks later Sun has struck again, and is purchasing Innotek the makers of the very popular Virtualization product: “Virtualbox“.

x86Virtualization reported on Virtualbox back on April 20, 2007 with the post “VirtualBox, Everything You Need To Know“, I’m happy to announce, under recent testing the mouse issue has been resolved in Windows 3.11 (yeah not a big deal for most people, but I like 3.11 for testing virtualization products.)

If you are curious about what else Sun has purchased in the past check out their complete (but not up to date) history: Sun Facts - Acquisitions History

Related How To’s:
VirtualBox, Everything You Need To Know
klikit wiki / How to install Windows in VirtualBox

Recently while visiting relatives for the holidays I got to play around with Windows Media Center for the first time. It really isn’t much but a clean simple interface for watching “media” on a windows XP system. I personally have always been a fan of Winamp, even though it is owned by AOL, but it is a great platform with tons of options.

So, the idea came to me, that if I virtualized Windows Media Center I could hook up a USB HDTV tuner and map it to the virtual machine. With all the specials at Best Buy this weekend it was really promising, until I actually tried it.

As you can see, from the image it doesn’t support the media center inside of the virtual machine. So I decided not to purchase the HDTV tuner, so there may be ways to get it to work, but it really seems unlikely.

Vista Ultimate Media Center in Virtual PC Form - Not Great
Virtual PC Guy’s WebLog : Windows Media Center 2005 under Virtual PC
Microsoft Announces New Media Center Extenders
Microsoft’s Virtual PC 2004 is now FREE - Does it work from MCE 2002? | Ask MetaFilter

Sources:
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005: Frequently asked questions

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/onthego/default.mspx
http://www.mce-components.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_Media_Center_Edition
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1741030,00.asp

Buy a copy of Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 OEM

Once you have worked on any system with multiple monitors going back to a single monitor is difficult. I myself have done web development on a triple monitor setup, 3 19″ LCD panels and now anything less is hard. Now moving into the virtualization space, you may think that the multiple monitor setup is dead, but truly there are actually more possibilities then ever before. With vmware tools installed, and 2 monitors you can drag files back and forth between not only monitors but completely different operating systems.

Here are the most common setups which are possible in a virtual world, in regards to multiple screens:
1) Multiple Monitors = Multiple Virtual Machines
1.a) User a single computer with multiple monitors to display multiple virtual machines, either in VMware workstation or VMware Server.
1.b) Use multiple physical computers to remotely connect to many virtual machines on a virtual server.

2) Spanning all the monitors on one pc with a single virtual machine
2.a) Using VMware Workstation 6 or greater to span the physical monitors on a single system.
2.b) Using Microsoft remote desktop to connect to a remote virtual machine, and using the remote desktop spanning capabilities to cover all monitors

3) Connect to virtual monitors on a virtual machine from a physical machine
3.a) Using a tool like VNC, connect to a machine, and display one of its virtual monitors remotely, useful when you have multiple computers, each with a single monitor, as the mouse can seamlessly move between any monitor.

2 Programs Which Every Multi Monitor Setup Should Have:

Ultramon
Realtime Soft UltraMon
UltraMon is a utility for multi-monitor systems, designed to increase productivity and unlock the full potential of multiple monitors.
* efficiently move windows and maximize windows across the desktop
* manage more applications with the Smart Taskbar
* control application positioning with UltraMon Shortcuts
* multi-monitor support for desktop wallpapers and screen savers
* mirror your main monitor to secondary monitors for a presentation

UPDATE: You only need a single license for the base workstation, not each Virtual Machine
I have confirmed with Christian Studer of Realtime Software, that “you would only need a single license, the virtual machines don’t require a separate license.” So if you have a license for your main system you are all set for licensing.

Splitview
SplitView - Split screen monitor
Split your monitor! SplitView increases productivity by making it easy to work with two or more applications side by side. It helps make full use of your high resolution monitor and gives the benefit of dual-monitors without their associated cost. SplitView is perfect for deploying Citrix and Remote Desktop with dual-monitors, and ideal for using dual-monitors in ’span’ mode.

Sources:
VMware Communities: Rotated Monitor in XP Pro
Breaking News–Workstation 6 Previews VMware’s Future Server Virtualization

Ultramon forum
Realtime Soft Forum
Realtime Soft Forum

VMware Workstation 6.0 Users Manual [PDF format]
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/ws6_manual.pdf

Virtual PC Related:
Using Virtual PC with Multiple Monitors, Sort Of

Terminal Server Client
Terminal Services Team Blog : Multi Monitor support in the Vista TS Client

Here are 5 virtual machines some are even prebuilt, for uses that you wouldn’t normally expect to see a virtual machine made for. x86 has chosen virtual machines for all aspects of life, beyond the normal workstation and server virtualization needs. The collection includes gaming, entertainment, science, voip and a few more unique ideas.

1. Mythtv: Linux based home entertainment console, inside a virtual machine

NOTE: Virtualization doesn’t allow direct access to PCI cards, so there is no way to access ANY pci turner cards. But usb devices can be passed through to the linux host with virtualization software such as VMware Workstation 6.0.

Sources:
http://www.mythtv.org/index.php
http://www.techwandering.com/…/how-to-run-mythtv-on-windows/
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/…/180429
http://www.opensolaris.org/jive/thread.jspa?messageID=130910
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/991

2. Asterisks: Voip phone server, to handle your voice mail and conference calls all preconfigured.
Asterisk-Skypho 0.9.1

This VM is a ready-to-go appliance with Asterisk 1.2.4 pre-configured to access italian VoIP operator Skypho (www.skypho.net). Once installed you will be guided in a simple installation process.
An integrated readme will help users configure asterisk files with their own phone numbers, username and password.
The VM has been tested with VMWare Server 1.2.
Note: for now the readme files and other documentation is only in Italian language.

sources:
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/800

3. Folding at home

Folding@home is a distributed computing project — people from throughout the world download and run software to band together to make one of the largest supercomputers in the world. Every computer takes the project closer to our goals. Folding@home uses novel computational methods coupled to distributed computing, to simulate problems millions of times more challenging than previously achieved. Help fight the war on cancer with this simple to run virtual machine.

sources:
http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=29163
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/963

4. Zoneminder

ZoneMinder is intended for use in single or multi-camera video security applications, including commercial or home CCTV, theft prevention and child or family member or home monitoring and other care scenarios. It supports capture, analysis, recording, and monitoring of video data coming from one or more video or network cameras attached to a Linux system. ZoneMinder also support web and semi-automatic control of Pan/Tilt/Zoom cameras using a variety of protocols. It is suitable for use as a home video security system and for commercial or professional video security and surveillance. It can also be integrated into a home automation system via X.10 or other protocols. If you’re looking for a low cost CCTV system or a more flexible alternative to cheap DVR systems then why not give ZoneMinder a try?

http://www.zoneminder.com/…a50c78df4edda9819
X10 + Linux + $50 = Automated lights | Hack Your World.com

5. Backtrack 2

BackTrack is the result of merging the two innovative penetration testing live linux distributions Auditor and Whax. Backtrack provides a thorough pentesting environment which is bootable via CD, USB or the network (PXE). The tools are arranged in an intuitive manner, and cover most of the attack vectors. Complex environments are simplified, such as automatic Kismet configuration, one click Snort setup, precompiled Metasploit lorcon modules, etc. BackTrack has been dubbed the #1 Security Live CD by Insecure.org, and #32 overall.

The Only Official Version of BackTrack2 as Virtual Appliance with Metasploit 3

The Ethical Hacker Network proudly releases this Official Version of BackTrack 2, so DL and start (ethical) hacking!

http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/1048

Runners Up:

RoboDeb A complete robotics simulation environment for teaching concurrency and parallelism.

MediaCenter: podcast-video-music

DNALinux VDE: Virtual Desktop Edition: Suite of Bioinformatics software
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/963

Nostalgia: Old DOS games from the early 90’s
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/directory/126

Scientific Linux 5.0 Virtual Machine

Scientific Linux is a recompiled Red Hat Enterprise Linux put together by various labs and universities around the world.
Connie Sieh has announced the release of Scientific Linux 5.0, a distribution rebuilt from source packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and enhanced with a variety of additional applications: “Scientific Linux 5.0 i386 is now available.” Some of the extra applications include: “CFITSIO - a library of C and FORTRAN subroutines for reading and writing data files in FITS; FUSE - an implementation of a fully functional file system in a userspace program; Graphviz - graph visualization tools; IceWM - a lightweight window manager; Intel wireless firmware, MadWiFi and NdisWrapper; Java; MP3 support; OpenAFS; R - a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics.

sources:
http://www.mininova.org/tor/791643

OLPC: One Laptop Per Child

XO is built from free and open-source software. Our commitment to software freedom gives children the opportunity to use their laptops on their own terms. While we do not expect every child to become a programmer, we do not want any ceiling imposed on those children who choose to modify their machines. We are using open-document formats for much the same reason: transparency is empowering. The children—and their teachers—will have the freedom to reshape, reinvent, and reapply their software, hardware, and content.

Sources:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OS_images_for_emulation

Bit Torrent Client:
http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu_lamp_torrentflux_vmware

New and Improved Virtualization Videos Section Powered by Youtube.com

Now with better organization, more videos and details descriptions of each video.

After having the video section in disarray since the beginning it was time to look into the page and clean it up and add more content. The previous page had fewer then 10 videos on it, now with well organized categories we are able to display dozens of videos without confusion.

Check out the videos in the following categories, more to be added soon:

• Linux Virtualization Videos
• Microsoft Virtualization Videos
• Parallels Virtualization Videos
• Sun Microsystems Virtualization Videos
• VMware Virtualization Videos

If there is a missing video or any additional categories you would like added, just drop a comment on this post.

Thanks,
x86Virtualization.com

Good News!!

x86Virtualization is updating our download pages and software pages during the next few weeks. We are looking for suggestions for more packages to add to these pages. If you have come across a product your use on a regular basis, a product your love and can’t live without or even a product your company produces feel free to plug your product in a comment on this post or either of the pages and we will do a full in depth writeup and post about it, to the best of our abilities and hardware limitations.

Information we need is:

Company Name
Company URL
Company Logo URL (with permission to modify to match our listing style)
Product Name
Download URL
Product Description
Pricing (any bonus codes for x86Virtualization Readers would be awesome)

To View the Current Download Pages Click Here
To View the Current Software Pages Click Here

Next Month: We will be reviewing hardware, so if anyone has equipment they would like reviewed please post a comment with a way that someone can get in touch with you regarding the arrangement for shipping the hardware. The comments are private, so nothing will be released to the public for privacy reasons.

Thanks,
x86 Virtualization.com

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