I’ve used Unix and Linux for a very long time. And I’ve always wanted to just completely switch to Linux on my desktop, but it has always been too hard. So instead — as I’ve posted here before — I would run XP and use a virtualization program (VirtualPC, Parallels, and VirtualBox, from oldest to newest) to run Linux. I’ve also flirted with coLinux installations including AndLinux.

But none of these really fit the bill. To add insult to injury, XP just won’t recognize the last 1GB of memory in my 4GB machine. I have Vista on the laptop and don’t find it compelling and I hear there are many compatibility problems with 64 bit Vista.

The big hold up has been the Endicia Internet Postage software and a few embedded tools that I use. But now all the embedded tools are USB or serial, so that leaves Endicia. I’ve experimented running it under Wine, but to no avail.

But with VirtualBox being cross platform and working so well (and being acquired by Sun) it occurred to me that I might just as well run Windows in the VM under Linux instead of vice versa. My Windows install was getting increasingly finicky (repair install didn’t help) so I determined if I had to do a reinstall I would install Kubuntu (the KDE version of Ubuntu).

My plan was to install it via Wubi first and make sure it worked OK. Well I had some trouble with dual monitors (I’ll post that solution soon). But after a bit, it was clear I could do just about everything with the setup. So I reorganized to free up a disk drive and moved the Wubi install over to it (you can’t just copy it, but the Wubi FAQ has a program that does it — it didn’t quite fix up my boot record properly, but other than that it seemed to work).

So I’ve encountered a lot of strange things and some fixes which I’ll be posting here. But I have the ability to program PICs, SXs, Xilinx FPGAs, and most everything else. Endicia runs fine under virtual windows (although I had to install a mail client so it could send e-mail — hadn’t thought about that). My Lexmark network printer isn’t supported under Linux, but I can use it via Windows machines on the network (including, presumably, my virtual Windows box — haven’t tried that yet).

I installed the AMD64 version of Kubuntu and have been happy with it. After all, my goal was to use all my memory. Java on Firefox for 64 bit is quirky (no Sun JVM). A few sites, like the excellent Thinkfree, won’t even try to run with the OpenJava VM, so that was a loss. Flash is a bit rough on 64 bit too. YouTube videos work OK but they don’t sense the dual screens correctly (some other Flash players do though). Some Flash players that work fine under Windows are jerky when playing full screen on my machine (which is quite fast CPU and video-wise). You can install 32 bit Firefox if you prefer not to rough these issues.

But meanwhile, I haven’t booted to native Windows now in almost 2 weeks. I’ll keep you posted on a few items I’ve found useful — some of them embedded related.