FREE virtualization

Darendo2

I recommend VirtualBox, too. I run it on a Mac without issue. Just be sure to install the kernel headers in Linux before you install the guest additions.

ezarf

use hyper-v, its part of windows server 2008

Eric Whitmore

Virtual box - hyper-v doesnt allow for all the different flavors of linux you might want to install.

PlutoX

jeb01

I use VMware player, not all the features some product have, but it works great for a free product. http://www.vmware.com/products/player/[^]

Jassim Rahma

I am already using Virtualbox now and it's good except one issue.. Serial port is not working on the guest.. I am connecting a serial to the server to read the PBX data and I want to collect it from the guest linux machine but it doesn't recognize the serial?

Reelix

VMware player here as well - It's crashed less than Virtual Box for me, and 100% free!

-= Reelix =-

Bogdan Zamfir

You can use VMWare Server http://www.vmware.com/products/server/overview.html[^] I use it and it works great. I run it on a win7 x64 PC (AMD quad core, 12 GB RAM) and it hosts my virtual Win2008R2 server - x64, (where I have my web server, ftp, email server, sharepoint server), a Linux server, a Linux Ubuntu (which I use as a virtual linux desktop) and a virtual WinServer 2008R2 (configured as a desktop development machine). It works 24/24, 7/7, for almost 18 months now, and had no problems with it.

wbaxter37

Definitely VirtualBox. I've used it for years to write Linux code on a Windows machine. It's easy to install the guests OSs on it. The Guest additions (which I highly recommend) are pretty easy to get goign in the last year. The one gotcha is that you need to do a separate install of the VirtualBox Extension Pack. Documentation is OK, too. I've mostly used Ubuntu and Fedora on it.

mahmood seyedkarimi

Hello I used Vmware Virtual Machine,And it Work Good For Virtualization.... ;)

Mike Poz

From the VirtualBox help file: 3.9. Serial ports VirtualBox fully supports virtual serial ports in a virtual machine in an easy-to-use manner.[16] Ever since the original IBM PC, personal computers have been equipped with one or two serial ports (also called COM ports by DOS and Windows). Serial ports were commonly used with modems, and some computer mice used to be connected to serial ports before USB became commonplace. While serial ports are no longer as ubiquitous as they used to be, there are still some important uses left for them. For example, serial ports can be used to set up a primitive network over a null-modem cable, in case Ethernet is not available. Also, serial ports are indispensable for system programmers needing to do kernel debugging, since kernel debugging software usually interacts with developers over a serial port. With virtual serial ports, system programmers can do kernel debugging on a virtual machine instead of needing a real computer to connect to. If a virtual serial port is enabled, the guest operating system sees a standard 16550A compatible UART device. Both receiving and transmitting data is supported. How this virtual serial port is then connected to the host is configurable, and the details depend on your host operating system. You can use either the graphical user interface or the command-line VBoxManage tool to set up virtual serial ports. For the latter, please refer to Section 8.7, “VBoxManage modifyvm”; in that section, look for the --uart and --uartmode options. In either case, you can configure up to two virtual serial ports per virtual machine. For each such device, you will need to determine what kind of serial port the virtual machine should see by selecting an I/O base address and interrupt (IRQ). For these, we recommend to use the traditional values[17], which are: COM1: I/O base 0x3F8, IRQ 4 COM2: I/O base 0x2F8, IRQ 3 COM3: I/O base 0x3E8, IRQ 4 COM4: I/O base 0x2E8, IRQ 3 Then, you will need to determine what this virtual port should be connected to. For each virtual serial port, you have the following options: You can elect to have the virtual serial port "disconnected", which means that the guest will see the device, but it will behave as if no cable had been connected to it. You can connect the virtual serial port to a physical serial port on your host. (On a Windows host, this will be a name like COM1; on Linux or Solaris hosts, it will be a device node like /dev/ttyS0). VirtualBox will then simply redirect all data r

Jassim Rahma

I wish it was that easy my friend! I have tried all the options with the serial but it's still not working... Ok.. could you please guide on this.. My host is WINDOWS SERVER 2008 and my guest is Debian Squeeze. 1. I have gone to the Serial Port Setting in VirtualBox. 2. Enabled Serial Port is checked. 3. Port Number : COM1 4. Port mode is : Host Pipe. 5. (Create Pipe) is checked. 6. Port File/Path: \\.\pipe\COM1 In Debian 7. I started Putty. 8. Choosed Serial Mode 9. In Serial line : \\.\pipe\COM1 10. In Speed: I tried 9600 and 115200 BUT... I am getting the following error when I click Open in Putty to open the connect:

Unable to open connection to:
Unable to open serial port

Thanks, Jassim

Florin Jurcovici 0

Depends on how you intend to use the machine. If it's a server, and what you want virtualized inside is also a server, use VMWare. If it's a desktop, use VBox.