Programming Software on Linux Virtual Machine

Has anyone tried running windows based programming software such as Step7 on a Linux PC using Virtual Machine Software?

I have a laptop running Ebuntu that I want to use for personal use with the free version of Step7, any ideas?

John,

I too have a Laptop running with Ubuntu. And I love it!

This concept of trying the WINE (Windows Emulator) for some of my applications but can't seem to find the free time to get that done. I have read some about this on the Ubuntu forum but have yet to really put it into action.

I will follow this thread to see if any others offer help.

Regards,
Joe_WaZoo

I'm interested in the idea as well -- more for the fun of it than anything else. Plus, I built Ubuntu boxes out of old '99 PC's for my kids and they think ladder programming is "awesome". It would be cool to be able to give them some software and a PLC to mess around with.

There is no reason why you can not run a Windows virtual machine inside an Ubuntu host. You can then install the PLC programming software of your choice on the Windows virtual machine. Your virtual machine will have access to the serial, USB and ethernet ports if you have the virtual machine configured correctly.
I would try VMware Server, it allows you to create and run virtual machines. Best thing is that VMware Server is free and works on both Linux and Windows.
However, you might run into performance issues if try to run a virtual machine on older hardware. To get the best performance out of your virtual machine I would recommend that you have:

- 2GB of RAM
- 2 or 4 core processor with virtualization extensions (see AMD-V or Intel VT chips)
- and preferably install your virtual machine on a separate hard drive to your host operating system.

I have a vmware workstation installed in opensuse and run windows xp inside it.
I chose to install XP on its own hard drive, so I can dual boot as well. This really helped setting it up: http://yousefourabi.com/virtualization/vmware-running-native-xp-on-sata-disk

XP activation is a bit of a train wreck, though..

Good luck!

Have used Virtualbox to run Linux, WinXp and WinME on a Vista machine and WinXP and WinME on a Linux machine. All installations had their problems but once working it seems to just keep working. USB can be a bit hit and miss, I tried three different RS232 to USB converters before finding one that was successful.

Bryan

I'm using Step 7 with XP in VirtualBox on Ubuntu (Hardy Heron). Works fine.