Virtual or Real

[K_evin]

Should TC better be installed within a virtual computer or on a hardware partition, if I want to try TC as second system on a modern PC with 1 GB RAM.

And which free virtual computer software is regarded to be the best.

[bmarkus]

Personally  I vote for real. By default it is safe, as your NTFS partitions (guess you have WINDOWS installed) left intact and risk to demage your existing installation is very low. If you have a modern system it boots from USB. So just grab an USB stick and start playing.

Less work, more joy

But if yo want virtual, start with www.virtualbox.org

[K_evin]

... USB stick ... Less work, more joy

Really?

But could I use both systems in paralel? or at least switch between two stand by versions? - I fear, each switch would mean new booting what makes comparison so uncomfortable that you stop comparing soon.

I once created a Windows Rescue Boot CD. It was great  I use it till today. But for me as non-expert it took damm lot time till that creation was working the way I wanted it.

I don't have the time now to do a similar adventure with an usb medium I'm not accustomed to.

So my plan was, first getting to know TC in the most fast and easy conventional way either by installing TC on a partition or as guest system of a virtual computer.

If I got you right you would prefer a virtual computer to a partition install.

[Guy]

I would use Windows to reduce the size of the partition. Then create an Ext3 partition, and a swap partition, in the free space for Tiny Core and install it.

Then set up the Grub bootloader for both.

That's my opinion. You do whatever you are happy with.

[K_evin]

I would use Windows to reduce the size of the partition. Then create an Ext3 partition, and a swap partition, in the free space for Tiny Core and install it.

Then set up the Grub bootloader for both.

Thanks for your detailed answer.

So supposed I would succeed

• to aquire the expertise to change an existing partition
• to learn what's a swap partition
• to learn to set up a bootloader

What would be the advantage of using your solution compared to a virtual computer?

Maybe your solution would be a little bit faster - would that really make a big difference on modern hardware?

On the other hand using a virtual computer probably I can use both systems at the same time, whereas using partitions it seems impossible to exchange data between two running systems - only one system can be running at the same time.

So where do you see the advantage of installing TC on a partition instead as guest system of a virtual computer?

[Guy]

What you do depends on what you are trying to achieve?

Do you plan to keep Windows as your primary operating system, and just experiment with Tiny Core, or do you want to use Tiny Core as a serious operating system?

I started using Linux quite some time back to avoid viruses, and to avoid the need to buy Windows every time I bought a computer. (I will probably only buy notebooks in the future which normally come preinstalled with Windows). For several years I have only used free computers, which other people have discarded, for the internet.

In the early stages I had both installed, so I could use Windows if I didn't know how to do something in Linux?

For years I have only used Linux for the internet. In recent times, only Tiny Core.

I don't use Windows very much now. When I have Windows on a computer, it never gets connected to the internet, so it can never get a virus.

I have a notebook which came preinstalled with Windows. I did what I suggested to you, and also installed Linux.

If you install it on a separate partition, it remains separate, and keeps Windows unaffected.


Which version of Windows are you using? I resized the partition with Vista. There may be differences with other versions.


A swap partition is a partition on the hard drive the computer uses like extra ram. Windows automatically creates a swap file. With Linux it is normally a separate partition.

If you want to go ahead, a fair amount of information is on the wiki. You can ask questions about anything you don't know.

If you do use Grub, to start Windows you need.

title   Windows
root   (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader   +1

The (hd0,0) may need to change, depending on which partition you use.


Another option as suggested, is to install Tiny Core on a usb drive, and leave the hard drive unaffected. Are you likely to want to stop using Linux, and go back to just using Windows in the future. If you are, a usb drive would be the best option.

It is up to you. I don't know how you think.

[OldAdamUser2]

I don't care for using a virtual machine to test operating systems. The Windows overhead has always drastically slowed down the OS being tested when i have done it, and many features of the OS were hard for me to use in the virtual machine.

I think booting from a CD or (better) from a USB stick is a much better way to test out any version of Linux.

After a bit to testing, an installation on your hard drive is the way to go. A separate partition is nice to have (for lots of reasons). But in some cases Tiny Core Linux can coexist quite happily with other installations on a single partition. (That's probably hard to achieve on an NTFS partition.)

My short answer is that the easiest and safest and quickest way to test Tiny Core is to put it on a USB drive.

[^thehatsrule^]

It really depends on your preference.  The main advantage of using a system on bare metal is that it will have direct access to all of your hardware.

I think there's also some USB booting support in some vm solutions, such as vmware and qemu.

[JoXo009]

Do you plan to ...  experiment with Tiny Core,
or do you want to use Tiny Core as ... operating system?

In fact that's a disadvantage of using a virtual machine, you don't get TC working as your main operating system.

If you need to start using a new operation system here and now, a virtual machine is no option for you.


But to my opinion in nearly any other case using a virtual machine is better for a newcomer than starting with usb and far better than using partitions.

Even if your target is usb or dual boot, first using a virtual machine brakes down the learning process, first step you learn how to handle TC and second step you can deal with specific questions of usb or partitions.

Both, usb and partitions, aren't trivial at all. Setting up usb can be problematic if you don't have a working internet connection during setup. And working on partitions can easily result in crashing your system and loosing all your data.

The Windows overhead has always drastically slowed down the OS being tested when i have done it, and many features of the OS were hard for me to use in the virtual machine.

That isn't my experience at all when using modern hardware.

True a virtual machine probably will be a little bit slower. Maybe somebody could post comparative measurements.

Calling TC homepage on my PC in Firefox seems to take about 0.2 sec in Windows and about 0.3 sec in a virtual machine hosted on Windows. That's 50% slower but nevertheless doesn't matter as 0.3 sec is fast enough for a nice user experience.


On the other hand using a virtual machine has got amazing advantages.

1. You don't need to waste time in learing new techniques like usb boot or resizing partitions but can start immediately just by installing the virtual machine.

2. You can work in parallel, you can go on using the system you are accustomed to and at the same time start working with TC Linux on the virtual machine. Thus you get an easy learning curve which might result in switching one day to a main TC Linux system.

3. You get a level of top web security no other solution comes up to, as the virtual machine offers the possibility to block out web risks by isolating them. Just use two virtual machines, one for crazy browsing and one for banking and no attacker triggered by crazy browsing can reach your real computer or your bank account.

[curaga]

For experimenting a VM is the easiest way.

On the other hand, it's not fair for any comparison with an OS running on the metal. A virtual machine will always be slower, sometimes will have bugs, and will not reflect the experience you would have running the OS on the metal.

Maybe install both TC and 7 in the same vendor's virtual machines, then it would be a fairer comparison

[bmarkus]

Still I do not understand why is it easier for a newbie to

1) Learn what virtualization is
2) Install virtualization on WINDOWS
3) Learn virtalization environment
4) Install/configure TC
5) Learn TC

just to learn what TC is instead of just to make an USB stick?

More work, more new thing to learn.

And finally it is like a 'no fat, no sugar, no calories, no ...' coffee. Doesn't come close to a good Italian espresso

[curaga]

And finally it is like a 'no fat, no sugar, no calories, no ...' coffee. Doesn't come close to a good Italian espresso

With the fat, sugar, and calories right there on the table, waiting to be added if the customer wishes so

[JoXo009]

1) Learn what virtualization is
2) Install virtualization on WINDOWS
3) Learn virtalization environment
4) Install/configure TC
5) Learn TC

A newbie following screenshots or even better my (coming soon) a ready made Virtual Machine Image
1) doesn't need to
2) not necessary, it's just clicking through the usual Windows setup
3) doesn't need to
4) probably that's necessary on usb but not when using a ready made VID
5) That is hopefully done on usb as well as on virtual machine

Maybe one day an automated script and a readable manual with screenshots will be available enabling a newcomer who never heard of usb to create a TC usb within less than an hour.

As long as there is only the Wiki manual with more than 300 expert lines of bare text without a single screenshot I got the impression many newbies struggle one or two weekends till they get their usb espresso if they succeed at all.

[roberts]

If one wishes to use a pendrive, it does not take hours.
How difficult is it to burn a cd, boot from cd, run usbinstall?
Virtualization means having a large and powerfull computer.
So many, like me, do not own or cannot afford such things.

[JoXo009]

Virtualization means having a large and powerfull computer.

That's true, virtualization works best on modern hardware.

But older hardware isn't excluded. Above results (two virtual machines working in parallel) were achieved with an old 2.6 GHz AMD Athlon on 900 MB RAM - a system  (case, mainboard, CPU, DVD, RAM) which will cost less than $300 without monitor