Virtualisation is on the brink of turning operating systems into a commodity item. It may be realistic to see software applications shipped as virtual computer images in the near future. Linux has much to benefit from this, with a repeat of the phenomenal adoption rate it has enjoyed since the ASUS Eee PC.

When I want to set up a new GNU/Linux computer, rather than set it up on the hardware I’m going to use, I find it more convenient to create a virtual machine on which I do all of the setting up and then convert the virtual computer to a real one by copying the virtual disc to the real computer’s hard disc (if this is the opposite of virtualisation, is it “realisation”?).

Virtual machines are virtually taking over the world. By itself a virtual machine is just a container that describes various resources such as memory, disk space, processor, and network card, and allocates them from a physical machine. As with a physical machine, it's the software bits (the operating system and applications) that make a virtual machine usable.

The method I like the best for evaluating different operating systems, whether they are different Linux distributions, BSD, MacOS or the latest windows offering, is to use virtual machines.

The definition of virtual Linux is as fluid as the Linux platform itself. For the desktop user, virtual Linux translates into being able to use Linux without changing their existing operating system. For those working with servers however, virtual Linux can mean something very different altogether.

A virtual machine creates a virtual hard drive as well as a virtual computer, so you can install and run it from within another operating system. If you want to get rid of the virtualized (also known as the guest) operating system, just delete the virtual hard disk from the real (host) computer’s hard drive.

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install VMware Server 2 on a Fedora 14 desktop system (with kernel 2.6.35). With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems ("virtual machines") such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system.

In another sign interoperability between virtual Linux and Windows operating systems is gathering pace, Red Hat has quietly released a set of drivers to improve the performance of Windows guests hosted on Linux's Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor.

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to install VMware Server 2 on an Ubuntu 10.10 desktop system. With VMware Server you can create and run guest operating systems ("virtual machines") such as Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, etc. under a host operating system.