Hello, I would like to know if there is a super thin Linux distro that's single purpose is to fire up a VMware image when the computer boots up. I would like to try doing something similar to the Cirtix Xen Desktop stuff that they showed off at Epic, but I would like the users Virtual Image to be on a USB flash or hard drive and the PC to have a very simple linux install that just loads the VMWare image when the machine is started up. Any suggestions? I'm thinking of going the "Linux From Scratch" route if there isn't anything already out there. -Montana
On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 10:09:50AM -0500, Montana Quiring wrote:
Hello,
I would like to know if there is a super thin Linux distro that's single purpose is to fire up a VMware image when the computer boots up.
I would like to try doing something similar to the Cirtix Xen Desktop stuff that they showed off at Epic, but I would like the users Virtual Image to be on a USB flash or hard drive and the PC to have a very simple linux install that just loads the VMWare image when the machine is started up.
Any suggestions?
I'm thinking of going the "Linux From Scratch" route if there isn't anything already out there.
Hi Montana, What about some of the CD or USB-based distros, such as Damn Small Linux or Puppy Linux? Either should be easily customizable. Puppy will load entirely into a ramdisk, dropping you directly into a lightweight desktop. It also can be set to save changed or new files to another session on a CD, or onto DVD; when rebooting, all the new bits are loaded on startup. I've used this for a simple firewall setup where I didn't want to write to the hard drive at all. Cheers, Tim
You should run VMWare Player on top of a small customizable distro. You need X, but you might not need a window manager at all. If you do need a Window manager (to move and resize the VMWare window), use the smallest one available. Do you want to run multiple VMs at the same time? Do you want to create VMs on this system? Which VMWare features do you need? -Brian On 2008-April-10, at 10:42 AM, tim@fractaldragon.net wrote:
On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 10:09:50AM -0500, Montana Quiring wrote:
Hello,
I would like to know if there is a super thin Linux distro that's single purpose is to fire up a VMware image when the computer boots up.
I would like to try doing something similar to the Cirtix Xen Desktop stuff that they showed off at Epic, but I would like the users Virtual Image to be on a USB flash or hard drive and the PC to have a very simple linux install that just loads the VMWare image when the machine is started up.
Any suggestions?
I'm thinking of going the "Linux From Scratch" route if there isn't anything already out there.
Hi Montana,
What about some of the CD or USB-based distros, such as Damn Small Linux or Puppy Linux? Either should be easily customizable.
Puppy will load entirely into a ramdisk, dropping you directly into a lightweight desktop. It also can be set to save changed or new files to another session on a CD, or onto DVD; when rebooting, all the new bits are loaded on startup. I've used this for a simple firewall setup where I didn't want to write to the hard drive at all.
Cheers, Tim _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
No, I just want to run a single VM on bootup The idea is that I would like my staff to have their workstation on a USB drive and they could plug into any machine turn it on and automagically boot into their VM. I guess the PC would become a thin client of sorts. On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 4:41 PM, Brian Doob <bdoob@acm.org> wrote:
You should run VMWare Player on top of a small customizable distro. You need X, but you might not need a window manager at all. If you do need a Window manager (to move and resize the VMWare window), use the smallest one available. Do you want to run multiple VMs at the same time? Do you want to create VMs on this system? Which VMWare features do you need?
-Brian
On 2008-April-10, at 10:42 AM, tim@fractaldragon.net wrote:
On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 10:09:50AM -0500, Montana Quiring wrote:
Hello,
I would like to know if there is a super thin Linux distro that's single purpose is to fire up a VMware image when the computer boots up.
I would like to try doing something similar to the Cirtix Xen Desktop stuff that they showed off at Epic, but I would like the users Virtual Image to be on a USB flash or hard drive and the PC to have a very simple linux install that just loads the VMWare image when the machine is started up.
Any suggestions?
I'm thinking of going the "Linux From Scratch" route if there isn't anything already out there.
Hi Montana,
What about some of the CD or USB-based distros, such as Damn Small Linux or Puppy Linux? Either should be easily customizable.
Puppy will load entirely into a ramdisk, dropping you directly into a lightweight desktop. It also can be set to save changed or new files to another session on a CD, or onto DVD; when rebooting, all the new bits are loaded on startup. I've used this for a simple firewall setup where I didn't want to write to the hard drive at all.
Cheers, Tim _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
You can probably start VMWare Player (in full screen mode) out of xinit, and not use a window manager at all. On 2008-April-11, at 9:35 AM, Montana Quiring wrote:
No, I just want to run a single VM on bootup
The idea is that I would like my staff to have their workstation on a USB drive and they could plug into any machine turn it on and automagically boot into their VM. I guess the PC would become a thin client of sorts.
On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 4:41 PM, Brian Doob <bdoob@acm.org> wrote:
You should run VMWare Player on top of a small customizable distro. You need X, but you might not need a window manager at all. If you do need a Window manager (to move and resize the VMWare window), use the smallest one available. Do you want to run multiple VMs at the same time? Do you want to create VMs on this system? Which VMWare features do you need?
-Brian
On 2008-April-10, at 10:42 AM, tim@fractaldragon.net wrote:
On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 10:09:50AM -0500, Montana Quiring wrote:
Hello,
I would like to know if there is a super thin Linux distro that's single purpose is to fire up a VMware image when the computer boots up.
I would like to try doing something similar to the Cirtix Xen Desktop stuff that they showed off at Epic, but I would like the users Virtual Image to be on a USB flash or hard drive and the PC to have a very simple linux install that just loads the VMWare image when the machine is started up.
Any suggestions?
I'm thinking of going the "Linux From Scratch" route if there isn't anything already out there.
Hi Montana,
What about some of the CD or USB-based distros, such as Damn Small Linux or Puppy Linux? Either should be easily customizable.
Puppy will load entirely into a ramdisk, dropping you directly into a lightweight desktop. It also can be set to save changed or new files to another session on a CD, or onto DVD; when rebooting, all the new bits are loaded on startup. I've used this for a simple firewall setup where I didn't want to write to the hard drive at all.
Cheers, Tim _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
_______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
great ideas. thanks guys! -Montana On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 12:59 PM, Brian Doob <bdoob@acm.org> wrote:
You can probably start VMWare Player (in full screen mode) out of xinit, and not use a window manager at all.
On 2008-April-11, at 9:35 AM, Montana Quiring wrote:
No, I just want to run a single VM on bootup
The idea is that I would like my staff to have their workstation on a USB drive and they could plug into any machine turn it on and automagically boot into their VM. I guess the PC would become a thin client of sorts.
On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 4:41 PM, Brian Doob <bdoob@acm.org> wrote:
You should run VMWare Player on top of a small customizable distro. You need X, but you might not need a window manager at all. If you do need a Window manager (to move and resize the VMWare window), use the smallest one available. Do you want to run multiple VMs at the same time? Do you want to create VMs on this system? Which VMWare features do you need?
-Brian
On 2008-April-10, at 10:42 AM, tim@fractaldragon.net wrote:
On Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 10:09:50AM -0500, Montana Quiring wrote:
Hello,
I would like to know if there is a super thin Linux distro that's single purpose is to fire up a VMware image when the computer boots up.
I would like to try doing something similar to the Cirtix Xen
Desktop
stuff that they showed off at Epic, but I would like the users Virtual Image to be on a USB flash or hard drive and the PC to have a very simple linux install that just loads the VMWare image when the machine is started up.
Any suggestions?
I'm thinking of going the "Linux From Scratch" route if there isn't anything already out there.
Hi Montana,
What about some of the CD or USB-based distros, such as Damn Small Linux or Puppy Linux? Either should be easily customizable.
Puppy will load entirely into a ramdisk, dropping you directly into a lightweight desktop. It also can be set to save changed or new files to another session on a CD, or onto DVD; when rebooting, all the new bits are loaded on startup. I've used this for a simple firewall setup where I didn't want to write to the hard drive at all.
Cheers, Tim _______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
_______________________________________________ Roundtable mailing list Roundtable@muug.mb.ca http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/roundtable
Montana Quiring wrote:
Hello, I would like to know if there is a super thin Linux distro that's single purpose is to fire up a VMware image when the computer boots up.
If you really really want to run VMWare, they have products that do exactly what you're want: http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop_virtualization.html The ACE product sounds more like what you're after, but I would suggest re-examining what you're trying to do and see if something like LTSP meets your needs instead. -Adam
participants (4)
-
Adam Thompson -
Brian Doob -
Montana Quiring -
tim＠fractaldragon.net