Simple Quick Start Questions for Newbie

[Mel_3]

It would really be helpful if some kind soul would answer a few questions to help me with a Quick Start on this...

I need to install VM software on a Windows XP box and VirtualBox was suggested... so here I am.

1 - Is VirtualBox OSE the only free edition?
2 - Is there a downloadable version that is already compiled and ready to install on a Win XP box? (Didn't see it on the download page)
3 - What is the generally suggested RAM requirements?
4 - Hopefully we will be installing DOS 6.2 as a Guest OS... (wonder if 1GB or 2GB ram will work OK for this case ?)

Thanks for any help.

Mel_3

[dmcgraw]

It would really be helpful if some kind soul would answer a few questions to help me with a Quick Start on this...

I need to install VM software on a Windows XP box and VirtualBox was suggested... so here I am.

1 - Is VirtualBox OSE the only free edition?
2 - Is there a downloadable version that is already compiled and ready to install on a Win XP box? (Didn't see it on the download page)
3 - What is the generally suggested RAM requirements?
4 - Hopefully we will be installing DOS 6.2 as a Guest OS... (wonder if 1GB or 2GB ram will work OK for this case ?)

Thanks for any help.

Mel_3

1. No, the PUEL version is also free for non-commercial and (if I understand correctly) in some cases for commercial use.

2. The latest 3.0.0 build is here:

http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualb ... 15-Win.exe

Or the more stable 2.2.4 build cam be found here.

http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualb ... 78-Win.exe

3. RamNeeded = HostRamNeeded + GuestRamNeeded

VirtualBox allocates all memory assigned to the guest when the guest starts. For example, I run a Windows XP guest on an Ubuntu 8.04 host. I assign 1GB to XP. This leaves 2GB for Ubuntu from the 3GB the box has. This system would probably still run well with 2GB on the host.

4. It depends on how much memory your host OS needs. I have not run DOS as a guest, but it has been discussed here in the past. Try the following search on Google.

dos guest site:forums.virtualbox.org

Dave

[Mel_3]

Dave,

Thanks for the help.

I downloaded the stable version from your link.

1 - Sounds like you are running VirtualBox on a Linux box... I'm assuming the one you pointed to in the respose is the version to install and run on a Windows system... right?

2 - Was the one yo pointed to the PUEL version or is it the OSE version?

3 - Is there any difference between the PUEL version and the OSE version?

Thanks for the help.

[dmcgraw]

Dave,

Thanks for the help.

I downloaded the stable version from your link.

1 - Sounds like you are running VirtualBox on a Linux box... I'm assuming the one you pointed to in the respose is the version to install and run on a Windows system... right?

2 - Was the one yo pointed to the PUEL version or is it the OSE version?

3 - Is there any difference between the PUEL version and the OSE version?

Thanks for the help.

1. I run VBox on both Linux (Ubuntu 8.04) and Windows (Vista x64) hosts. The links I gave you are the downloads for Windows hosts.

2. Yes, those are the PUEL versions.

3. Yes, there are some differences between PUEL and OSE. I have never used the OSE version so I don't know them off the top of my head. The biggest one that I can remember is that the OSE version does not have support for USB.

Dave