Achilles’ Tortoise

VirtualBox rocks!After spending a lot of time fiddling with WINE on Ubuntu trying to get
the Full Tilt Poker client running so I can “get my gamble on” while
running Ubuntu, I decided to abandon it, since it doesn’t work, nobody
else seems to be able to get it to work, etc. etc.

Since then, I stumbled upon Innotek VirtualBox.
This software is nothing new, similar to VMWare, but the
licensing allows you to use it for personal use for free, so I gave it
a try. Literally less than an hour after starting the
download of VirtualBox, I was playing poker on my Ubuntu desktop.
Since then I have tried the Windows version of VirtualBox and
it is just as easy and free as the Ubuntu version. Now I can
run Ubuntu in a VM on my windows desktop.

VirtualBox is a great way to try new OSes…. Hmmm..
Maybe I need to give gOS a try…

I’ve found the best way to use VirtualBox is to have ISO installer files for your OS.  If you have a Windows install CD, you can use ripping software to create an ISO file from it.  From that point, you can use VirtualBox to “mount” the ISO file as a CD drive to the VM.  When you first start it up, the boot order will cause the VM to boot the installer CD image.  By having the ISO image file instead of the installer, it makes it easier to install it multiple times / reinstall / etc, without having to deal with the physical CD and the slow speed.

VirtualBox – It’s worth every penny!