Virtualizing Windows on Linux

I use both Windows and Linux, but I hate dual booting. Everything ends
up being scattered among the two systems.

Ideally, I would like to be able to switch seamlessly between Windows
and Linux with no delay or performance loss involved, and without
having to have to computers running. But we're not quite there yet, I
guess.

But how good _can_ it get?

I want to run some Linux distro and then run some virtualization
software on it with Windows running as a guest OS inside.

Now! I have some questions:

1) I currently have a dual core Athlon 64 (socket 939). Are there
processors significantly better for virtualization than this? Should I
get another more virtualization-friendly system, and which?

2) Which virtualization software should I run? VMware, Xen, foo, bar,
or whatever they're all called?

3) Are some distros better than others for this?

4) Does it matter if the host and/or guest OS is 32-bit or 64-bit?

5) Can I virtualize Vista also, if I want to?

/David

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: virtualisation on SBS
    ... ....and some recent non windows guest OS as well. ... Qualified Linux Guest Operating Systems ... of supported guests for Virtual Server 2005 R2: ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: VM Linux client && smbclient host OS
    ... the possible extensions (in Windows code) of such a file system. ... other way round (Xp/vista/whatever as guests on a linux vmware host) ... Every machine behaves best with the host OS that is shipped together ... and Windows guests on a Linux host - the guest systems run and react ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Re: Searching for Linux Laptop
    ... I prefer to co-exist in a Linux and Windows ... The Linux laptop solution that I am looking for has the following ... I would prefer to run these apps either via virtualization or Code ...
    (comp.os.linux.setup)
  • Re: VMWare as a networking alternative
    ... My laptop has a broadcom wireless card which seems to be ... It seems that the reverse config (windows host, linux guest) ... for the windows guest to provide net ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: gconf problem
    ... font sizes are too small. ... I use it for all of my clients windows systems in combination with the ... guest and host significantly degraded response time. ... which would show VNC which would show the Linux desktop... ...
    (Ubuntu)