Running Linux on virtual machine under Windows?

Do anyone have much experience with various VM solutions and how well they handle running Linux in a Windows host OS?

I've spent most of today trying to get Ubuntu running in VirtualPC 2007 under XP, with mixed success. It runs now, but stutters badly (it seems to freeze up for a moment every few seconds) and the net connection is a bit shaky.
and so far, I've had to edit grub settings, xorg.conf and a few other things by hand to get around things that didn't work properly under VirtualPC.

Do anyone know how to solve these problems? (mostly the stuttering is driving me nuts, making it virtually impossible to use)
Are other distro's better able to handle running under a VM? (I don't have any particular preference for Ubuntu, just picked that semi-randomly as my first attempt)
Or should I try another VM app (VMWare, VirtualBox?)

 

vmware server/workstation runs it MUCH better. virtual PC is poo.

 

But that costs money.

 

Workstation does..
Server doesn't..

 

Ah nice, didn't know Server was free too...


And wow, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm impressed. I tried VMWare Player earlier, which basically sucked, which was why I tried using VirtualPC.

But damn, VMWare Server is awesome compared to both. It actually *works* without a hitch, and it seems *a lot* faster.

Thanks!

 

If you like server then I know you'd really like workstation. Workstation allows you to take ghost images (snapshots) of your OS'es and revert back to them with single mouse clicks. Works great for cloning OS'es and testing out stuff without being forced to reinstall. Just install, snapshot and revert back to a clean install with the click of a button. Thats pretty much how I learned networking on Windows Server 2003.

 

I'm not going to do much that can screw up the system though. I just need to be able to compile and run my code on a *nix platform for testing purposes

So Server does everything I need

 

Have you tried running Linux without ACPI services? It caused both my HP and Toshiba laptops to freeze and stutter quite a bit. Boot up, press "e" to edit your GRUB entry, and add "pci=noacpi" at the end of the line.

 

Ok, so follow-up question. It worked great until I installed the VMWare tools, including their special VM-optimized network driver. Then my network connection died.

Now, I know my way around actually using Linux, but I'm not an expert when it comes to configuring or troubleshooting.

So any tips on how to troubleshoot this problem?
ifconfig shows eth0 being up and running without any problems. But I can't ping external sites (not even on their ip addresses, so it's not just a dns problem)

 

I'll be honest and say that I'm in the same situation as you. My wireless doesn't work, and although I know how to use Linux, I don't know how to solve problems with it.

However, you don't have to shut down ACPI services just for PCI devices; what laptop do you have, Jalf?

 

A T60. And I didn't shut off ACPI. The stuttering was only with VirtualPC. Works like a charm with VMWare Server... Except for the mysteriously missing network connection

 

Oh.

Filler

 

are you using bridged networking?