Re: I want to migrate to Linux

General Schvantzkopf <schvantzkopf@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:KfSdnW7OJqrJd1janZ2dnUVZ_qrinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx:

Can I test a VM with 512MB or is that hopeless?
Probably, especially with Win98 which will run in a small amount.

I am very fuzzy on this VM thing. Will I install WIN98 in VM like I
would a freshly formated drive? So Linux will supply drivers so WIN98
can use my hardware? If so then that is excellent and when the day
comes to build new PCs I could still run WIN98SE and not need any
drivers. At that point I'll be able to build anything I want and run
anything I want.

VMware has this very straight forward GUI that allows you to create a
VM. When you create the VM you can have it use the real CDROM in your
system or you can attach an ISO as the CDROM. After you have created
the VM all you do is boot it and it will operate exactly as a real PC
would. The virtual BIOS will look for a boot sector on the virtual
disk (which you defined when you created the VM).

Many and sundry virtuals. Will Lawnmower Man or Max Headroom make an
appearance too? ;-)

It won't find a boot
sector so it will look for a CDROM to boot off of. It will find your
Win98 install CD and then boot the installer. You will then do an
install just as you would if you were doing it on a real machine. The
reboots that Windows requires during an install are a lot faster than
a real reboot so the install process will be faster than it would be
on real hardware.

I want be sure I understand this. After a typical WIN98SE install there
are several missing drivers in Device Manager. These are fixed by
installing the MOBO and VGA drivers. Can I assume that this is no longer
necessary because Linux dealt with this when it was installed?

Can I also assume that any drivers needed for adapter cards found by
Plug and Play are already dealt with by Linux so there is nothing for me
to do?

After you have done the install and all of the updates to the Win98 OS
you'll install all of your software. Once again you do this exactly as
you would on a real machine. When you have finished setting up the VM
in the way that you want it you should save a copy somewhere so that
you can restore it if it gets broken. Also you can copy that VM to
another system and use it there. Once you have created your Win98 VM
you never need to do it again. If you put the VM on another system all
you will have to do is change it's IP address (assuming that you are
using static IPs) and it's hostname so they won't clash with each
other on your network. You make these changes in Win98 exactly as you
would if they were running on real hardware.

Yes. Since I use a switch and not a router I have no DHCP so I must
assign static IP addresses for each PC in my network. I will configure
my network just as I would on a normal PC in Network in Control Panel by
adding the necessary protocols and configuring TCP/IP for the NICS and
Dialup Networking.

One more thing. The Windows desktop is displayed in a VMWare console
window. The desktop gets autosized if you change the console window
size. Gnome supports multiple virtual desktops. You can flip between
desktops by clicking on a little windowpane icon on your toolbar. What
I usually do is put my Windows desktop in it's own Gnome desktop so
that it doesn't interfere with my Linux apps. However you can also
have Linux apps in the same desktop if you want which is frequently
convenient. For example you might want to cut and paste something
between the Linux app and the Windows app (VMware supports cutting and
pasting between Linux and Windows).

Is SAMBA a file management tool? So I will keep the files I create
with WIN apps on a drive other than the one that holds my apps? Will
the files I create with my WIN apps still be readable by a WIN only
PC?

SAMBA is the Windows networking server in *nix. You can share Linux
directories with Windows systems (real or virtual) and you can access
shared Windows folders from Linux.

So a networking server is used to manage drives, directories and files.
I am not familiar with the use of the word "network server" in this
context but as long as I can find my stuff with Samba (or Webmin) then
all is well.

You can also share printers. Linux
distros all contain a SAMBA configuration GUI but I prefer using
Webmin. Webmin is a browser based administration tool that works on
most Linux and Unix systems. After you have Webmin installed on your
system you access it from any browser on your network by accessing
port 10000 on that system, i.e. https://machinename:10000.

So I use a browser (as in web browser) to share hardware or access
drives, or directories or files? The top of my head is coming loose.

The Webmin
modules are much better thought out than any of the distro based admin
GUIs. They are pretty self explanatory, and they will also allow you
to see at a glance which options you have available. The other good
thing about Webmin is that it's common to every distro so if you
decide to have Ubuntu on one box and CentOS on another you can
administer them identically. If you use the distros tools then you
will be faced with a different set of admin GUIs on every distro.
Redhat, Ubuntu, Suse all have fairly easy to use GUIs and they all
accomplish the same things, but they are all different. Webmin works
on all of them. You can get Webmin from,

http://www.webmin.com

On Redhat and Ubuntu systems it's a one click install. You click on
the download and the package installer will pop up automatically when
the download is done.

I wonder if I dare ask this question. I'm already in way over my head.
How is networking as in the NICs and TCP/IP configured after Linux is
installed but without or before WIN98 is installed? Lets assume I was
building a Linux only system.

--
pcbldrNinetyEight
.

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