Bob St.John, Mark Dodel and Mike Snyder:

Thanks for your very helpful responses to my Subject query off and
onlist (os2hardware).

Based on your recommendations, I'll do a Boot Manager or AirBoot install
of eCS 1.2 and Linux then wait a bit until InnoTek's Virtual Box gets
through Beta and reaches General Release, especially when it comes to USB
support. I'd still prefer to run eCS as host and Linux as a guest, not vice
versa.

If InnoTek takes too long and I'm in dire need of a VM then I'll
look at the other options, not including using W2K as host. I've had an
idle, half-built all-SCSI box in the basement for 4 years waiting for SCSI
HD's prices to fall from $1300 to $500 (Seagate 1181677LW Barcuda 181 GB
U-160) and for a VM capability to do real time multitasking. I do not want
to replace a M/B to accomodate cheap, SATA drives given the H/W investment
I've already made, no matter how enamored some users are of the low HD
prices. I'll stay with quality SCSI drives. They have served me well since
1984 and enjoy excellent driver support by all OS'.

My multitasking solution up to now is John Dvorak's dictum:
Run separate computers for separate tasks.

I routinely have 2-3 machines on old non-networked machines runing at the
same time - Warp3 on a 486/66 an old Seagate SCSI 1gb HD runs 24/7; Warp 4
on a P133 lap top and occasionally use Win2k on a Fujitsu laptop for
multimedia moved around the house to plug into output sources. Time is not
my friend: the two older Warp machines will die and I need to have a
working all-in-one box backup.

I've reduced the options for a VM under eCS and/or Linux to those described
below, and I'll outline them for the benefit of those facing the same hard
choices and the developers who are engaged in VM development:

Windows as a VM guest:

Given W2K's nasty habit of trashing Boot Manager (BM) by overwriting the HD
media descriptor in the MBR (unless SP2 is installed) maybe even as a VM
image file (speculation- not tested), I'll resign myself to use W2K only on
the stand-alone Fujitsu. A W2K install on the new box under a VM entails a
messy use of a licensed upgrade version of W2K without SP's using my old
Win95 full version licensed CD, and then download SP2 so I don't have to
run DFsee after the image file install or after VM guest sessions to
restore BM.

(Random thought: Switching to XP or Vista for use as a guest under a VM is
fraught with unknowns: What happens to XP/Vista after the 5th re-boot under
a suspicious VM session that emmulates a pirated version of XP/Vista? It
tries to call home to revalidate the registration. Being paranoid and
protective of my hardware, I suspected SP3 for W2K would try the same thing
and so never installed SP3, ending any use an unpatched W2K system online.
All the more reason to move into eCS/Linux combos of browsers.)

To get Win apps to run in a VM without installing W2K as a VM guest, I
could, but won't, get the Deluxe version of Xandros Desktop for $99 and use
the bundled CrossOver to run Windows apps to avoid the BM/MBR problem and
take an unknown performance hit under emmulation.

Optionally, it would probably be easier to just migrate to apps on eCS and
Linux that replace Win2K's often-used functions (CD/DVD burns, USB support,
audio editing, support for a digital camera and photo image printing) and
apply the KISS principle to my single-user computing.

Time and learning curve-wise (not money-wise), I still don't see any easy
or cheap solutions to a fully functional VM box running eCS, Linux and
Win2K Pro with eCS as host until Virtual Box reaches general release,
leading to Linux as first choice as a VM host?

Linux as host:

Linux as host seems to be the second-best option. However, Linux' short
Kernel (6 months) cycles for some distros makes Linux a perpetual work in
progress unless I am content to live on the trailing edge between stable
kernel versions that now take about 5 years as occurred between
2.4 and 2.6. Frankly, I don't see the difference between doing kernel
recompiles and Windows Service Packs. Nursing a working computer is not one
of my priorities. Instead I'd prefer to support eCS' future survival, not
join the exodus of Windows users migrating to Linux. Linux is becoming
mainstream. It will survive handsomly. Learning still anonther OS to get
about the same hardware support eCS offers is not attractive to me unless
eCS cannot find a VM partner, and I can't live without a VM.

For daily work, stability is more important than Gee-Whiz bleeding edge
technologies and that's why I'm still using old boxes and Warp 3 and 4 but
want to end my "addiction" to Win2K to use 21st Century multimedia. I've
been a happy Warp user since 1994, kept a closet version of Win95 since
1995 and Win2K since 2000, and have lived virus-free into my real-world
retirement years and intend to remain healthy in both environments for the
duration.

I hope to see infrequent posts to the list as VM options for eCS evolve.
Thanks for your thoughtful and helpful comments to clarify options for my
computing conundrum.

George Archer






 
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