running windows via kvm module -- any experiences?

[Matt Price]

On Wed, 2007-01-31 at 23:31 -0500, Howard Gibson wrote:
> On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:06:05 -0500
> Matt Price <matt.price-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> 
> > Hi there,
> > 
> > My girlfriend is buying a new computer a month or two from now and I'm
> > hoping to convince her to let me install ubuntu feisty on it...
> > 
> > So I am looking for stories from people who have done this successfully,
> > and if possible some web postings that explain how easy it is to do, who
> > transparently it works, and how happy customers are when they get a look
> > at the superior OS which is GNUlinux (or ubuntu, or gentoo, or debian,
> > or whatever).  cross-posting to the 3 communities I sort of belong to
> > (ubuntu, debian, toronto lug), sorry if you get multiple copies.
> > 
> > Thanks loads!  Looking forward to lots of success stories,
> > 
> > Matt
> 
> Matt,
> 
>    I picked up a second-hand Pentium III for my mom and I put Fedora Core_2 on it.  My objective was to hand her a computer with an OS I understand and that I can reinstall if neccessary without violating anyone's intellectual property.  My assumptions are that the machine will not slowly deteriorate in performance as spyware and other crap gets installed from internet, and that the machine will be reliable.
> 
>    So far, so good.  I delivered the reliability I said that I would. 
> 
>    She was unable to cancel a print job because she launched the print window, but did not realize she had to select a printer.  Windows would have failed too.
> 
>    I advised her to use Open Office rather than AbiWord to prepare documents.  AbiWord looked simpler to her, but I figure Open Office does everything, somehow.  There is something to be said for bloatware. 
> 
>    The main incompatibility between Open Office and Microsoft Word is that OO spaces its lines out more, messing up the formatting a bit.  Other than that, you can generate documents in DOC format and switch back and forth between machines.
> 
>    I know nothing about endnote.
> 
>    The correct Microsoft Windows resource for editing HTML is NOTEPAD.  A functional level of HTML can be taught in about an hour.  Stylesheets can be figured out in an hour or two more.  You can send her to http://www.WebPagesThatSuck.com to find out why the graphic editors, particularly Microsoft FrontPage, don't work very well. 
> 
I'm glad to hear hwo successful that worked with your mom, that's
excellent.  

I think michelle is a slightly different use case.  A few things:
- in my experience going back and forth between OOo and MS Word usually
introduces some formatting errors as you say, and they can be multiplied
if the back-and-forth is extended.  THere's also an o ccasional problem
with bloating of the files.   Since Michelle has lots of important docs
(parts of books, finished books, articles, course outlines...) in .doc
format, switching them over to .odt or .odp will be a hassle, and I
don't want her to experience the shift to linux as a hassle.  so I
really do want to be sure she can use MS Office without difficulty.
- right now endnote really is irreplaceable under GNU/linux.  Endnote
itself is a terrible, inflexible, incredibly frustrating product that
changes its own undocumented standards with every release and is often
self-incompatible, but since michelle has thousands of references in her
EndNote db and also relies on it to format her citations within word,
she needs it functionality.  I hope that something much better will be
available within say a year, through the zotero firefox extension and a
redesigned bibliography component of OOo, but as I may have said already
I've been thinking this is right around the bend for about 3 years.  
- I hate dreamweaver, but michelle's websites already feel like nothing
but hassle for Michelle, and dreamweaver gives her a well-understood
environment from which to edit her docs, maintain the web repository,
and collaborate with her grad students;  that's going to be hard for her
to replace, and while I'd like to have that as a goal, it's something I
would want for her to get weaned off of slowly.

so I think my two options are really wine/crossover office, and
virtualization through kvm.  vmware's ok but pretty pokey in my
experience.  though of coursee the interface is very friendly and easy
to use, which I guess is an advantage.  

Matt

Matt

-- 
Matt Price
History Dept
University of Toronto
matt.price-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org
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