Hi all,

I want to hear about your experience running Windows emulators inside Linux.

I am also trying to learn about emulators, virtual stuff, etc, so if you folks have any advice (or know some really good, educational links) then I would love to hear what you have to say!

For starters (this is not the only question I have): How would a Windows / Linux "dual" boot system compare / contrast to a Linux system running a Windows emulator?

Hope to hear from y'all soon! Thanks!

/ Windows XP and Linux MEPIS 3.43 dual boot
// Want to learn how to run a Windows emulator while in Linux
/// Very n00b

sup, I recently started using qemu and vmplayer- Google search for guides. it easy and pretty straightforward, i have dual boot Ubuntu and xp, also inside ubuntu i use vmplayer to play around with another xp.

When dual booting you get performance of whole system, as opposed to sharing resources on emulators, but the downside is having to reboot to change OS.

start here

Recognize the difference between emulation (eg wine)--which allows Windows apps to run on Linux---and virtualization which allows Windows to run on Linux.

the best performance will alway be dual-boot. In any other scheme, **something** is inserted between the app and the OS that is actually talking to the hardware.

Within virtualization, there are numerous schemes. Qemu--eg--is not the same as VMWare and is SLOW. ( I don't remember the technical details)

tidi and pix:

If dual boot actually provides better performance than emulation or virtualization, then why would anyone perform emulation or virtualization? I don't mean that as a smartass question, it just seems odd.

I must be missing something so please fill me in.

Additionally, if I understand correctly, "emulate" refers to a Windows application or program within Linux. Meanwhile, "virtual" refers to an actual Windows OS within Linux.

Am I correct?

There are hundreds of fantastic uses for virtualisation in the server market. Things like Vmware Server etc were never intended for home users to run iTunes in which is why people often aren't as happy as they thought they'd be. My extent of using Windows stuff in linux is playing WoW in Wine which works fantastically on both linux and FreeBSD

Because you can't run both systems at once in duel boot. You need to restart and boot into the other OS.

Correct.

I spoke imprecisely. The correct statement is that any given OS or application runs best when it is the only one running--with nothing added or in series.
"Somebody's law" states that there is no free lunch--ie you cannot add functionality without some sort of compromise.

everybody has been right so far MBA Whore; I personally use virtualization on my system because i attend school and some projects require Windows, and i cant afford to keep rebooting and switching systems to do one little thing. Its more of a necessity thing than just because you can, for me; also convenient.

Are any of these emulators mentioned above both free and open source? I tried to do a bit of research but it looks like they are close and proprietary source. Of course, I could easily be mistaken.

Anyone who knows may comment. Thanks.