Win2k

[robbyn]

Questions:

1. How stable is Linux (Ubuntu) if Windows is the host system running Ubuntu under parallels?

2. When running linux from within Windows, is it running using its own kernel and only using windows drivers?

(If it is dependant upon windows for its operation I presume I will eventually have the the same instability using parallels that running Windows always brings.)

Background

I wish to switch fully to Ubuntu. I have it installed and working, but there have been some problems with drivers of the scanner and some specialist windows programs not working, under wine.

I have been trying since August to switch to Ub because Windows is unstable.It starts off wonderfully and then deteriorates and has to be reinstalled with all the labour and risk of omitted data that involves.

Robin

 

[robbyn]

Any chance of a reply?

Robin

 

[rooprob]

1. Linux is stable. Running it under Windows as the host should be fine. I wouldn't ever do it for anything other than "playing" but it works. I've done it the otherway around however. Because of the "simplified" hardware supplied to the guest by the virtualisation software (Parallels) then Windows should fair better than it does handling all the esoteric hardware it often dies on. Linux (IMHO) lives much better on diverse hardware.

2. Parallels supplies basic (standard in whatever sense that means these days) video, sound, disk controllers, ethernet controllers to the guest. I imagine Parallels simply then maps calls to these down onto the host operating system, which then uses the proper system drivers to perform the request.

If your host OS (whatever it is) isn't stable on your hardware, then your guest VMs in Parallels are going to fair as wells as your system does under load - ie badly. Perhaps software isn't your stability problem - maybe your hardware isn't up to scratch. Just a thought.


Jump into Linux (Ubuntu or Fedora - my prefered) - or buy a Mac for nice UNIX with nice hardware.