DarrenKitchen.net

It’s like those little people inside of each other

Yesterday I checked out the latest copy of Knoppix, a distribution of Linux that can be booted from a CD. The awesome thing about Knoppix is that you can bring the power of Linux with you on a CD wherever you go and not need to install it. It’s saved me a couple of times when repairing broken windows machines. Now I’m really excited because the latest version sports an even cooler feature, the ability to run Linux from within Windows. See below for a screenshot. After inserting the Knoppix 3.8 CD it autoruns a web page asking for language, after you select your language a window pops up with Linux booting. It wasn’t the fastest starting up on my 2.8ghz machine at work but once it was started it got the job done. I’m totally impressed.

I’m even more impressed at how fast I could download the 700MB CD image file. I was getting a constant 500KB/s, no higher, no lower, the entire time. I guess 500KB/s must be my downstream cap from Cox. The file took a little over 20 minutes to download with the awesome bit torrent client ABC (yet another bit-torrent client). The speed of the download may have something to do with the torrent file being link to from the main page of Slashdot, but at least this was a good slashdotting.

While reading some of the comments on the article I found a few interesting screenshots depicting what happens when you try to run a virtual machine inside a virtual machine. I sometimes use a MS product called Virtual PC that allows me to run a virtual computer inside my own. This is very useful when your trying to troubleshoot, or test a new application. I will often load up a Windows 2000 virtual machine inside my XP box to test new software. It’s a nice sandbox that keeps me from messing up my main machine. If the application has bugs or spyware its not going to affect me and I can delete the virtual machine as easily as I created it.

MS Virtual PC was not always a Microsoft product though. It was acquired from Connectix Corp. in February of 2003 and later re-branded as Microsoft Virtual PC 2004, much the same way Microsoft did with Giant Software’s Anti-Spyware / Microsoft Anti-Spyware, and countless other assimilations. Back on topic, the screenshots I found within the conversation threads depict the difference between a cool company like Connectix and, well, Microsoft.

Below is a screenshot of what happens when you try to run Virtual PC within a Virtual PC using the Connectix product:

Now here is what happens when you try the same thing in the newly re-branded Microsoft Virtual PC product:

Just for good measure I’ll also throw in this dandy screenshot of Windows doing its best to protect users from itself.

That’s all for now.

Try not to fall asleep at the wheel.