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run virtual PC as main OS


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My sister always breaks her computers no matter what we give her (the hardware and software, women is a mess). I want to find a different solution for her because schooling requires computers these days.

I want to run a virtual machine on my main computer which has plenty of computing power and somehow have her access this virtual machine over the network (lag free would be good, remote log in isn't nearly good enough).

Is this possible? I have seen these tiny boxes that you just put on the network and plug in monitor and keyboard and you are set. but i don't know what they are called.

any ideas? thanks.

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KVM?

http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Main_Page More specifically..

However it would be more appropriate to do this on a server machine with at least 12GB of RAM, and a decent CPU, as well as at least 1TB of storage if you want a serious solution.

Why don't you teach her the basics of safe surfing?

That's not what he was asking, he wanted solutions, not a lecture.

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Get a linux system up with X11 and enable remote connections then just get a 'dumb terminal', or, do an NFS boot over the network of linux.

Neither require a hard drive though you could put one in for the NFS boot to be better if you're needing large things like libre office, etc.

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More specifically, since the second person didn't provide a link for you to look into it.

Fair enough but that's not what I meant. Also, if I'd got that reply, I'd just google it.

I was specifically talking about the boxes on networks

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=kvm#q=kvm&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=shop:1&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf&fp=c69fbefbb4f66bcd&biw=1190&bih=891

Not that they actually run on networks.

It's either that or a terminal that he's talking about?...

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Fair enough but that's not what I meant. Also, if I'd got that reply, I'd just google it.

I was specifically talking about the boxes on networks

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=kvm#q=kvm&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=shop:1&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf&fp=c69fbefbb4f66bcd&biw=1190&bih=891

Not that they actually run on networks.

It's either that or a terminal that he's talking about?...

Well I didn't mean to sound offensive, thus I edited that last part out.

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Well I didn't mean to sound offensive, thus I edited that last part out.

Oh, that's why I had to go back and copy and paste that, thought it was a forum bug.

Ok, it's cool :yes:

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Cheap Vista PC with Windows Steadystate installed would be better in a home enviroment (cheaper and easier to manage than a VM solution with a thin client) http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.01.desktopfiles.aspx

if you still would like to do the VM I would use Virtual Server 2005 R2 as it can run as a service (dont have to keep a window open) and can use any old pc as a thin client and access the VM through its web browser

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With EasyBCD you can (among many other things) make it possible to boot from a .vhd file

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Cheap Vista PC with Windows Steadystate installed would be better in a home enviroment (cheaper and easier to manage than a VM solution with a thin client) http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2008.01.desktopfiles.aspx

if you still would like to do the VM I would use Virtual Server 2005 R2 as it can run as a service (dont have to keep a window open) and can use any old pc as a thin client and access the VM through its web browser

I highly doubt buying a new PC and a license for vista would be cheaper than reusing an old PC and plonking a free linux distro on it, if you can explain otherwise though please feel free.

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thanks for the suggestions so far. like i said in parenthesis she will break hardware... spilled milk and soda on the last two laptops we bought her. accidentally dropped a desktop PC she stubbornly moved on the table and i am not counting the software troubles she has.

I have thought abotu using something like deep freeze to stop all the software troubles she has but it's particularly annoying to have to restart every time I want to make a permanent change. also this still requires a bunch of sensitive hardware.

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thanks for the suggestions so far. like i said in parenthesis she will break hardware... spilled milk and soda on the last two laptops we bought her. accidentally dropped a desktop PC she stubbornly moved on the table and i am not counting the software troubles she has.

I have thought abotu using something like deep freeze to stop all the software troubles she has but it's particularly annoying to have to restart every time I want to make a permanent change. also this still requires a bunch of sensitive hardware.

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/6375734/Airtouch-Flexible-Waterproof-Full-Size-USB-PC-Keyboard/Product.html?_%24ja=tsid:11518|cat:6375734|prd:6375734

http://www.iosyst.com/EconoKeys-Mouse-EK-PM

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CRAZY-SALE,PANASONIC-TOUGHBOOK-CF-29-RUGGED-LAPTOP,OBD2_W0QQitemZ380260981749QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=232501985863&clk_rvr_id=232505262861&imp_rvr_id=232505262861&clk_rvr_id=232505262861&cguid=f2e0dec912f0a47a270778c7ffa105ef

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For the software side of things this might be easier. There is software you can get (one is called Deep Freeze I believe) which will allow you to setup and install everything you want on a computer, then when the computer is reset, it erases anything extra that is added to the PC. So you could setup a shared folder over the network, have everything save there, then when it's reset everything else, like viruses and spyware will get deleted. I know it may not be exactly what you want, but that's all I know about.

Good luck

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thanks for the suggestions so far. like i said in parenthesis she will break hardware... spilled milk and soda on the last two laptops we bought her. accidentally dropped a desktop PC she stubbornly moved on the table and i am not counting the software troubles she has.

I have thought abotu using something like deep freeze to stop all the software troubles she has but it's particularly annoying to have to restart every time I want to make a permanent change. also this still requires a bunch of sensitive hardware.

I suggest this:

white-6-d-straight-jacket.gif

and a voice operated OS.

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vmware virtualization and have her run vmware view on her computer.... vmware view will enable her to remote into her desktop hosted on your machine.

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vmware virtualization and have her run vmware view on her computer.... vmware view will enable her to remote into her desktop hosted on your machine.

this once again requires me to purchase a physical computer for her. I want to avoid that.

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get her a cheap laptop, netbook or somethin.... I think you can even run it on an ipad...

it doesnt require a quad core CPU and a GTX460..... just something that would be capable running xpsp2 level stuff so you can even get an old athlon 2700 system that someone threw out in the hopper or somethin....

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