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

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