Denmark bans Google software and laptops in school
(reclaimthenet.org)
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Run Linux as your primary OS for day to day work, and have Windows in a VirtualBox virtual machine for your CAD software. CAD can be resource intensive, so you may have issues allocating enough to VirtualBox.
With this setup, you learn the ropes of Linux, but can always duck back into Windows when you get stuck. And it's a whole lot easier than setting up a dual boot machine.
That seems an interesting possibility... in that arrangement the windows OS is running as an application within Linux? Does that serve as an emulator? Or just a 'GUI' which holds the windows screen (as though one was using windows within that window)?
The last time I tried, I wound up giving up; between the dual booting, not having as many alternatives to windows programs at the time at least, while trying to get accustomed to the linux OS and its different commands...
That's why I was thinking about trying to use it off a USB for a short time for trying things out before committing to reformating everything for linux.
Booting off of a live USB will give you a feel, and is worthwhile and easy. You can play with different ones until you find a distro you like. Plus you can reverse everything by pulling the stick out of the socket.
If you have an internet connection, I think you should be able to do the Linux install straight from the live USB. That will wipe out your current OS, of course, so take care. Then you're committed.
Next install VirtualBox. You would use your distro's package manager: apt, yum, zypher, etc. to install it, or get it directly from Oracle. Then start VirtualBox. You will now have, to all appearances, an empty computer with hardware, but no OS. It's all virtual, being emulated by your Linux system, but you can treat it as a real machine. Point it's CD/DVD drive to the Windows install disk/usb (I stick with Windows XP if I can get away with it), and run the installer.
When you're done, you have a single huge file that is a dynamic snapshot of an installed version of Windows that VBox can start up at anytime. Once this is set, you install your CAD and other Windows apps on that virtual machine (again, just a single file).
It's amazing technology when you really think about it, but it really isn't that difficult to pull off. There are lots of moving pieces, and sometimes little things can stump you. That's when you need to jump onto a running machine and search StackOverflow for an answer.
If you can install anything on the USB OS, and there is enough room, you might be able to run through this whole process directly on the USB drive, just for practice. Not sure though.
Thanks for the summary, saving it for reference when I finally stop being lazy.
I always assumed the virtual box or emulators as something like the video game emulators, as the emulator needing more power and resources than what is being emulated + the OS it's running on... but that sounds like it's much more efficient.
Correct, the emulated machine sucks up resource and power from the host, but it is well managed so things stay smooth. But if you're playing games inside the emulator...