progeCAD under Ubuntu Linux

Comment

Comment by Armando Soto Baeza on May 29, 2009 at 7:23pm

Just a little bit more about Dave's expierence. I have been using progeCAD in a virtualBox Windows XP Pro installation hosted by Ubuntu 8.04 in the past days, cause we have givven some demos of progeCAD to a few possible new users. Release 8.04 is a so called Long Term Service edition (LTS), meaning that it will get support (updates mainly) for 3 years (desktop) or 5 years (server), while "normal" releases get support for 18 months.
I think Ubuntu 8.04 as host, using progeCAD in a virtualized Windows machine is a great selection.

Comment by Dave Brownscombe on January 29, 2009 at 12:36am

Hi again Caddit,

The following is an interesting article with some information that may be of interest to you regarding VirtualBox and image files vs. raw hard disk access. I thought it might be of some interest to you regarding writing directly to the partition vs working with disk images.
They are different, of course, and this benchmark is only one test but it does shed some light on the VirtualBox processes involved for each, the ability to perform both and the performance hits, if any.

http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=7670&highlight=backup+routine

I found it interesting and informative, hope the link relates to what you refer to above.

Dave

Comment by Dave Brownscombe on January 27, 2009 at 1:07pm

Update:
I decided to move back to Ubuntu 8.04 from 8.10.
During my Ubuntu learning curve, multiple installs and unintalls of various packages I wanted to start with a clean slate since I am using this (these) platforms for my work.
8.04 is very stable and has been around a bit longer.
I don't get as many updates now and am finding more, in depth, support from users.
It runs VirtualBox very nicely and progeCAD is a happy camper under this setup.
I see no slowdown, what-so-ever from when I was dual booting XP.

Dave

Comment by Dave Brownscombe on January 27, 2009 at 12:56pm

Hi Caddit,

I booted into a VirtualBox, Virtual Disk using Gparted today and was able to create a partition within just as with a native HD. This can be done during initial install of an OS but in my case I already had an OS on my Virtual Disk. I downloaded Gparted as an ISO file and mounted it as CDrom so I could boot from the Gparted image and thus add a partition.

I found it easier later, however, to just make another Virtual Disk and mount it as a Slave but as far as partitions go, I see no restrictions in creating, formatting, resizing etc.

Hope this helps,

Dave

Comment by Dave Brownscombe on January 18, 2009 at 2:07am

To be honest, I haven't grappled with the guts enough to know just how Virtualbox works but I do know that it does exactly what I need it to do. I can run XP along with Linux, switch between the two seamlessly and multitask without having to dual boot. Since my laptop is my office, this is a welcome addition. The folder sharing works fine for file exchange so it doesn't seem to limit what I do.
I have little doubt that Parallels could do the same thing even though I haven't tried it.
Since there are many different applications (e.g Linux host/ XP Guest., visa-versa etc) there may be areas where one of these programs/ packages might excell, I just don't know.
Installation of VirtualBox in Ubuntu was pretty straight forward and well documented (perhaps even over documented), so I had it up and running in a reasonable abount of time. Perhaps I'll try Parallels one day right now I don't feel compelled to since VB is running smoothly.
Not sure what you mean about building and OS from scratch, I'm a GUI guy although I do have an appreciaition for all those 1.s and 0's

Dave

Comment by Dave Brownscombe on January 15, 2009 at 4:24pm

Installation of VirtualBox is pretty straight forward and there's lots of documentation and help online.
I got the package directly from the SUN Microsystems website rather than going with the Ubuntu supported "Virtualbox-ose" version. The one from SUN is more up-to-date and free, of course. It's a nicely made package and easy to use once you get the hang of it.

As for Ubuntu, you can download the "Live CD" demo, iso file and burn it onto a CD. Once you have this you can try it out on any machine that will boot from CD. It doesn't put anything on your Hard Drive so it's a great way to test the waters and see if it's something that you would be interested in.
Linux has come a long way with these Ubuntu distributions, nearly everything is plug-play now and it has a nice stock set of packages tha cover most of what you will need. I really like it.
There's a bit of a learning curve using Linux but not bad really. You will need to learn a few command line terms the existing programs are well integrated and all set up.

If you like the demo, there's an option to install it on your hard drive. I went with a dual boot system using Linux and XP for a while. Just recently went all the way with Ubuntu 8.10.
Ubuntu, as with any Linux, is rock solid stable. No more crashes and unless you also have XP on your machine you really don't need virus protection of a firewall (although they are available and I have them).

Google Ubuntu forums and there is a ton of information there and a friendly group in general. They will get you up and running in no time if that is your goal.

All the best,

Dave

Comment by Howard Pennington on January 15, 2009 at 7:05am

Dave,
Sounds like you have a good thing going.

I too use open source software, such as OpenOffice, as often as possible. There are more and more programs available for an excellent price and as good as the name brand products.

I'll have to look into VirtualBox and Ubunto now that you have me curious.