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WinOS+QEMU+Knoppix 3.8 = WinKnoppix!
chronicon writes "As reported earlier Knoppix 3.8 was presented and CD's distributed at CeBIT recently. For those of us who were not able to attend, some kind folks have posted a torrent for all to enjoy.
Now, here's where it really gets interesting. Using QEMU (processor emulator) chris-uk has posted a modified version of Knoppix 3.8 that will run under Windows if auto-played, or if you wish, you can boot the CD for normal Knoppix. You can find the torrent here."
I should have the download finished sometime within the next two weeks or maybe not.
What is the point? What is the point of art? What is the point of music? What is the point of climbing everest? What is the point of spinners? I digress. . . The point is well - hey it is cool! ( I think) :)
i never tried out qemu, but i suspect it to be substantially slower than a native knoppix boot.
on top of qemu comes the fact, that the whole system runs from a cd, which by itself has bad seek times.
i hope that people won't get false implessions, because they will get that 'linux runs slower than windows' feeling.
Only morons moderate based on a sig.
Because you can then let people try before they buy without even needing to reboot.
It just removes one more hurdle. People aren't going to wipe out their system just because the local geek said "its ready for the desktop".
People need some proof that it really is better.
liqbase
I understand people are supposed to login for getting torrents of illegal stuff. Why are we supposed to login for getting a legal torrent?
You want to put a perfectly good running OS on a shiddy Windows base why?
free, is it?
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!" - Alfred E. Neuman
You're right about Knoppix not needing an installation process, but in the case of naive Windows users, even asking them to reboot can be a scary concept for them.
The other case where I can see this being useful is when you're trying to demonstrate Knoppix to someone and they already have work running on their Windows desktop - spreadsheets, telnet sessions, and things of that nature. If they can see Linux running within a window, they'll be much more likely to play around with it since they know that they can just click a close box and return to their normal routine whenever they want.
It may not work for everyone, but for those people who this can influence, I see nothing wrong with extra shiny things to attract the naive.
How do you explain to your friend/relative whos computer is configured to NOT boot from cd to change their BIOS settings?
I agree though, Live eval cds are invaluable, and are preferable to running a slower emulated environment, but this cd allows both options, so why not say its a good thing?
liqbase
Holy crap!!! the Poster actually linked a .torrent, maybe all the complaining actually got somewhere.
Now only if others would follow.
Im glad
how is this news? some guy put in qemu to a distro and this makes it to slashdot?
I got news damnsmall linux has been doing this for sometime now in an "embeded" download to test out the distribution in windows. Running linux inside of windows at 1/10 normal speed isn't gonna make people switch over to linux any faster....
but in the case of naive Windows users, even asking them to reboot can be a scary concept for them.
Hmm, I think you're exaggerating a bit... Windows users should (and I'm not even joking) be quite used to booting and rebooting their systems. Even my mom would understand the implications of restarting the computer.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
QEMU is an EMULATOR. They want to demo linux to windows users running under a full blown emulator? I can see it now. "This lunix thing looks nice, but it's just so SLOW!".
They're going to end up convincing dumb windows users that Linux is slow as hell!
Before you say anything, keep in mind that they are running QEMU on windows, and the QEMU virtualizer is closed-source and linux only. So they can ONLY do full emulation.
Stability of Linux is only a small part of the story. But you're not right anyway. An emulator is a nice cozy environment for an OS. It should be more stable there than running natively.
The bigger advantage for users is the number of applications freely available for Linux.
What comes with a new Windows machine? Usually a lot of "lite" versions of various payware. Word processor, maybe. Eventually the system gets hosed and even those may be lost.
I don't think most users have any idea what it's like to think "I wish I had a program that did ____" and then apt-cache search'ing for it 3 or 4 programs that do it ready to be downloaded...
And Knoppix has a lot of stuff just available in the menus right off the bat. Just give the users the caveat that, yeah, this isn't going to be real fast, but it will give you an idea of what is available.
...but in the case of naive Windows users, even asking them to reboot can be a scary concept for them.
OK, people are asking why this is scary. Here's why:
You reboot, and suddenly, all this small text in bright colours is crawling across your screen (at least, that's what Knoppix did, the last time I tried it). Your Windows environment is gone. You don't know if it's coming back, or even if it's reformatting your hard drive, that's what it's supposed to look like, right?
Yeah, I know, this crap is irrational. But guess what, if the world was purely rational, Microsoft would have gone out of business ages ago...
Having Knoppix run on the Windows desktop is reassuring. It lets you know that Windows is still there and you can return there at any time, and since all your icons are still on your desktop, your files must therefore be safe. Yeah, more irrational fears, sorry, but that's how many people think.
Maybe I just know a lot of stupid people but if you run linux under windows, your average user won't understand that linux actually replaces windows. A lot of people just assume to see the little magic start button when they power up. Booting directly into linux helps simple folk (in regards to their technological prowess) realize that windows isn't magically built into the hardware and doesn't need to boot for the computer to run.
Every post in this thread I've written from Firefox running in a coLinux instance displaying via the Cygwin X server. I use coLinux, I like coLinux, but that's not to say that other solutions like QEMU have no place. The parent asked if there existed any advantage of QEMU over coLinux -- not specific to Knoppix but in general. I answered that question.
If your aunt is that stupid, the only way she'd be at university would be in a jar of formaldehyde.