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55 Operating Systems On A PowerBook
OttoMagick writes "I found an article called 'Many Systems on One Machine' over at Kernelthread.com that shows over 55 operating systems running on a 17inch Powerbook. The article includes screenshots and descriptions of each system, and also hacks and tips on getting the nasty ones installed. The author Amit Singh (the Hanoimania guy, covered earlier on Slashdot) explains his reasons for all this in a related FAAQ (frequently asked + anticipated questions) ... In all a very interesting read, specially the FAAQ, where he calls the setup "the iPod of operating systems". Now thats an Apple Power User! I wonder what Steve Jobs would say if he sees people doing such things to his machines!!"
"With the exception of Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, all systems listed are x86 based" Well, sorry..., but at least Linux and the various BSDs also exist for ppc architecture. And probably even more OSs. I would have liked to see those installed natively. But then again...
I'd hate to burst your bubble there, but Windows does not run on PPC architecture. Neither do most of the OSes.
The important point here is that he is able to use those environments from within the Powerbook. Whether there is a major speed drop, that's another story. And if he were to choose a x86 notebook, that would have left MacOSX, OS9 out.
There are a lot of emulators available for the Mac. Check out emulation.net for a good rundown. Many of these are console emulators (ala mame) but you'll find many computer and OS emulators there.
Trolling is a art,
No, because only two of them were running PPC operating systems. OK, so some of the x86 OSes were available in PPC versions, but it would still be about 40 x86 laptops.
Virtual PC makes it really easy to set up disk images for each OS. These images do not have a set size and can expand as needed. Saves a lot of time in formating the hard drive, rebooting, etc. Also, once you get your base image set up, you make a backup copy and then start in on your kernal tweaking or whatever. You screw up something, just toss the bad image and start a clean copy. Saves a lot of time re-installing OS's when they become corrupt. So, yeah, he could put multiple partitions on his laptop hard drive, install 10 or more Unix/Linux/BSD variations, or he could just shuffle drive image files around.
I think that's one reason Microsoft purchased Virtual PC. Your PC could be running a secure *cough* MS OS and then you could run other versions of Windows within VPC and have an easier time of things. Would be usefull for gaming, where each game is installed on it's own drive image, with it's own, tweaked OS. Since it's not really emulating on the PC, just running in a box, there shouldn't be a performance hit, just like Apple's use of OS9 within OSX.
I drank what? -- Socrates
one could certainly load 55+ OSes native on a PC notebook, all directly bootable with one of those new-fangled boot managers. :p
Ahh... but with VirtualPC you can run the all AT THE SAME TIME. Or at the very least you are running your primary OS at the same time as whichever one (or two or three) you are working with.
Of course you can do the same with VirtualPC for windows but then you are stuck with windows as your primary OS.
Actually, Windows NT was made for PPC.
FAQ
Join the Free Software Foundation
So I guess you didn't read the comment where he says, "Technically, these are actually operating environments".
If you are interested in running various emulators on your Mac, then I recommend John Stile's Emulation.net web site. It covers Game consoles, desktop OSs, arcades and handhelds. IMO, worth the visit.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
What about VNC? That was relatively recent, and definitely a boon for a lot of us. Came from AT&T Cambridge, AKA Bell Labs.
Old PowerMac running BeOS with SheepShaver - > which emulated Mac OS, running Virtual PC - > which emulated Windows, which ran IIS.
Nitpick: SheepShaver on BeOS is similar to WINE on Linux -- it doesn't actually emulate the OS, but lets it access the processor without completely switching. Thus SheepShaver wouldn't run on anything but a PowerPC chip, just as WINE won't run on anything but an Intel-compatible chip.
Nitpick: SheepShaver on BeOS is similar to VMWare on Linux, it allows you to run a PowerPC OS in it's own protected environment, and was geared towards Mac OS.
WINE on the other hand is an implementation of some of the Windows API's, allowing Windows software to run on top of Linux without sticking Windows inbetween.
Don't call me back. Give me a call back. Bye. So yeah. But bye our, well, but alright we are on a shirt this chill.