hi all,
got myself a new computer over the weekend and i am rapped with it and i so chuffed that i just have to post the details.
For starters I am one of those geeky guys who has about 6 computers in a room and they are all chugging away doing something. That may explain the specs of the new comptuer.
Anyway, the new box is basically a Quad core with 8 Gig of RAM, 3 Tb hard drive and 1 Gig twin HD video card and this is what I've done with it.
Installed 64 Ubuntu onto it and then installed VirtualBox. With that, I've created 5 virtual computers on this one box and each virtual computer works and is configured as basically a separate standalone computer. These are the virtual machines I've created:
- 1 x 32 bit Ubuntu with Gnome (100 Gig HD and 1 Gig RAM). This will be my basic work machine
- 1 x 32 bit Mandriva with KDE (100 Gig HD and 1 Gig RAM). This will be my KDE play/experimentation box
- 1 x 32 bit Mythbuntu (200 Gig HS and 2 Gig RAM). This is my multimedia machine
- 1 x 32 Bit Win XP Pro (10 Gig HD and 512 Meg RAM). This is my scratch/experiment Microsoft box for generic web surfing
-1 x 32 Bit Win XP Pro (60 Gig HD and 1 Gig RAM). This will be my generic M'soft box for those apps i have bought.
All of the above virtual boxes are being managed by 64 bit Ubuntu.
So anyway, it all works perfectly. I can toss away the 6 comptuers i had before and now run them all on one box. Saves power as I am not running 6 separate comptuers and monitors, and plus, saves room and save power points.
The virtual boxes are happy working all together and i am able to cut and paste and clipboard between each. Plus, especially with the Windows boxes, if one was to get a virus, then the other boxes are all safe as the virtual manager isolates all the boxes and all the boot sectors. And if one virtual box gets corrupted (either by a crook file, or registry or whatever), i can still work on the other boxes and basically just delete that corrupt virtual box and create another. Alternatively, if i am happy with the status of a particualr virtual box, then I can take a snapshot of it and resume from that snapshot at any time (in case something happens with the virtual box).
I have also created a shared data drive (which is a separate 1 tb hard drive) and i use this drive for the data on the virtual boxes. the installs on the virtual boxes is just for apps and OS tweaks, and i keep the data on the shared drive. This means that all the virtual boxes can access the same data but the code is all separate on its own install.
I'm amazed and chuffed at this new computer. I bought the parts for a total of $1170 and i saved $150 by putting it all together myself. I'm amazed at the technology that is available to all now.
Thanks
g
got myself a new computer over the weekend and i am rapped with it and i so chuffed that i just have to post the details.
For starters I am one of those geeky guys who has about 6 computers in a room and they are all chugging away doing something. That may explain the specs of the new comptuer.
Anyway, the new box is basically a Quad core with 8 Gig of RAM, 3 Tb hard drive and 1 Gig twin HD video card and this is what I've done with it.
Installed 64 Ubuntu onto it and then installed VirtualBox. With that, I've created 5 virtual computers on this one box and each virtual computer works and is configured as basically a separate standalone computer. These are the virtual machines I've created:
- 1 x 32 bit Ubuntu with Gnome (100 Gig HD and 1 Gig RAM). This will be my basic work machine
- 1 x 32 bit Mandriva with KDE (100 Gig HD and 1 Gig RAM). This will be my KDE play/experimentation box
- 1 x 32 bit Mythbuntu (200 Gig HS and 2 Gig RAM). This is my multimedia machine
- 1 x 32 Bit Win XP Pro (10 Gig HD and 512 Meg RAM). This is my scratch/experiment Microsoft box for generic web surfing
-1 x 32 Bit Win XP Pro (60 Gig HD and 1 Gig RAM). This will be my generic M'soft box for those apps i have bought.
All of the above virtual boxes are being managed by 64 bit Ubuntu.
So anyway, it all works perfectly. I can toss away the 6 comptuers i had before and now run them all on one box. Saves power as I am not running 6 separate comptuers and monitors, and plus, saves room and save power points.
The virtual boxes are happy working all together and i am able to cut and paste and clipboard between each. Plus, especially with the Windows boxes, if one was to get a virus, then the other boxes are all safe as the virtual manager isolates all the boxes and all the boot sectors. And if one virtual box gets corrupted (either by a crook file, or registry or whatever), i can still work on the other boxes and basically just delete that corrupt virtual box and create another. Alternatively, if i am happy with the status of a particualr virtual box, then I can take a snapshot of it and resume from that snapshot at any time (in case something happens with the virtual box).
I have also created a shared data drive (which is a separate 1 tb hard drive) and i use this drive for the data on the virtual boxes. the installs on the virtual boxes is just for apps and OS tweaks, and i keep the data on the shared drive. This means that all the virtual boxes can access the same data but the code is all separate on its own install.
I'm amazed and chuffed at this new computer. I bought the parts for a total of $1170 and i saved $150 by putting it all together myself. I'm amazed at the technology that is available to all now.
Thanks
g