[NTLUG:Discuss] Modify VMplayer Download

[Chris Cox]

Robert Pearson wrote:
> Chris Cox <cjcox at acm.org> wrote to NTLUG
> [...snip...]
>>I do recommend that people give Ubuntu a try.  The
>>easiest way (IMHO) is with a VMplayer download...
>>http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/cat/45
> 
> I downloaded the Browser Appliance when it first came out and
> liked the Security but wanted to change some things in the User
> interface.

Some of the "appliance" downloads will have limited capability.
The OS downloads allow you to edit and make changes (unless it's
some sort of "live" variety).

> How do they get updated with the latest Firefox?

The Ubuntu one should "update" just fine.

> Can one of these downloads be modified on the fly?

In general, yes... but certainly there are VMware images
that are NOT designed for you to modify.

> Like with a package manager like apt or yum?

Ubuntu has a nice graphical interface... it's pretty
obvious (I think you can find it via the menus).

> 
> The last time I Googled all this out I just got confused. It appeared
> some people claimed they could be updated in place without being
> rebuilt.

Firefox is an interesting app.  They "want" to be in control
of their own self-update/mod... but they can't control/handle
all of the variants of Linux.  So... in general, the distros
update mechanism becomes the best choice for updates.

> 
> I would love to know enough to be able to do this:
>>From another mailing list---
> "My kids have to use Windows for school (example: oldest is taking
> photography and has to use photoshop for homework assignments), and I
> got tired of rebuilding their Windows box.  I bought a used shuttle xpc
> off ebay and installed SuSE (now running 10.1) and VMware.  I built an
> XP Pro guest OS for them to use for their school projects, and tar up
> the directory for the Windows XP Pro once a week.  Now whenever they
> break Windows, I just untar the xp.tgz file over the current guest OS
> directory and they're back to where they were the last time I built the
> xp.tgz tarball.  As for their user files, I'm running samba on the linux
> host OS and they use it for their "network shares."  So, even it they
> crash Windows, they don't lose their work.  Most of the time, the kids
> don't even bother to boot their Windows guest OS unless they're having
> to use Windows apps for school, and they're using Open Office to manage
> the MS Office documents they submit for other homework assignments."

This works ok... using VMWare's built-in snapshotting might be better
(not sure if the free player supports that though).

> 
> Could I do this now with my Windows disk? It is smb mounted to SuSE.
> Just tar it up and if it gets corrupted just tar over it?
> Microsoft used to have some hooks to prevent this. Maybe running
> virtualized neutralizes them?

There are problems with certain files... I think .pst files in
particular (not sure why though).  The virtualize thing works
because making a copy of the virtual computer and virtual disks
gets around any kind of "protection" that one could think up...
it's like making a full copy of an actual machine (e.g. put
Dell desktop into magic closet and out come to Dells that are exactly
alike).

> 
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