Cooperative Linux
Cooperative Linux (also known as coLinux), is software
which allows Microsoft
Windows 2000/XP/Vista and the Linux kernel to run simultaneously in
parallel on the
same machine. A number of other systems have been built wth the coLinux
kernel including Portable
Ubuntu for Windows.
Cooperative Linux uses the concept of a Cooperative
Virtual Machine (CVM). Unlike traditional Virtual Machines (used for
example by
VMware), the CVM shares resources that already exist in the host
operating system. The coLinux
kernel is executed in a privileged mode, and able to act just like a
native kernel. This effectively makes
Windows and Linux two coroutines. In this type of relationship
coLinux can then run at a comparable performance to a native
Linux distribution.
Unlike User Mode Linux,
coLinux only ever uses one process of the host OS for all its
Linux processes, privately managing their scheduling, resources, and
faults in a manner which is contained and entirely independent of the
way the host OS is implemented.
Unfortunately, installing Linux distributions is rather
complicated under coLinux. The easiest way to try out coLinux is to use
one of the images that are
made available by the coLinux community. We recommend
trying the Fedora 10 image in the first instance, which can be
downloaded from the coLinux's SourceForge project
page. As coLinux does not have access to native graphical
hardware, it is not possible to use the X server that comes
supplied with a Linux distro. Instead, to run a graphical user
interface, it is also necessary to install an X
Server under Windows. Xming is perfect for this job (another
possibility is to use the VNC server). It is left to the user to
install the X Server, which adds an
unnecessary complication to the installation procedure.
To start coLinux it is recommended to create a short
batch file, an example is shown below.
colinux-daemon.exe
kernel=vmlinux initrd=initrd.gz ^
cobd0="Fedora-10.img" ^
cobd1="fs_768Mb" ^
mem=512 ^
eth0=pcap-bridge,"Local Area Connection" ^
eth1=tuntap ^
root=/dev/cobd0
Given the complexity of the installation (and the fact
that networking can be
tricky to set up), coLinux is probably best suited for
experienced open source users who want to use their familiar Linux
tooks within Windows. coLinux is still in its early stages of
development, but already represents a good environment to learn how to
use a Linux system.
Given that the guest operating system runs in a
privileged mode in the host, the
coLinux kernel can potentially cause system instability.
The first screenshot is the default FLTK console running
Fedora 10. The
second is the Audacity audio application running under Xming.
Features include:
- Run Linux applications without rebuilding
- Fast, essentially as it is running on the native
hardware
- Achieves near-native performance for applications
which do not use graphical or sound subsystems. coLinux is
therefore well suited for running:
- Office applications such as KOffice, OpenOffice.org
- Web browsers such as Konqueror, Firefox
- Web servers such as Apache
- Terminal emulators such as kconsole, xterm
- Standard utilities
- Compilers including gcc
- Databases such as MySQL
- Programming languages
- X server is optional; it is perfectly possible to run
coLinux solely from the FLTK console
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