Virtual Linux

Running Ubuntu virtually is pretty straightforward with administrator privileges: just install VMware or VirtualBox and fire up an OS image. All of the kernel modules, etc. are handled by the install process, so everything runs smoothly (and with high performance).

But what about machines where one doesn't have admin access? Not so easy.

The Linux lab machines at NCSU are painfully out of date. I have many gripes about the Realm Linux distro they run, but my two main issues are the inability to run my NX client for remote logins to my work machine (Fortran environment) and an insecure version of Firefox (3.0.10).

If I could simply boot from USB drive or LiveCD, it would be no big deal. But the lab machines lock down the BIOS and the boot device cannot be changed. So it would be great to run virtualized Ubuntu 10.10, but the mainstream VM's require admin access.

Qemu showed a lot of promise, because I actually was able to run it and boot an Ubuntu LiveCD from my flash drive. However, I needed to manually compile Qemu, which took about 485 MB of disk space (contrasted with the unity disk quota of 200 MB). I moved the object files to my USB drive, but couldn't run the executable from FAT32. And the OS on the machine is too old to properly support USB file systems, so my ext2 partition was inaccessible (mounted as root).

So - back to more disappointment with software on the lab machines...

I need a netbook.