Advice Please: Running Ubuntu On My Mac
I run Ubuntu on my Dell desktop PC. But — for the sake of my commitment to this Web site — I’m ready to add Ubuntu to my Apple MacBook Pro notebook. I’m not an expert (yet) on virtualization options that will allow me to run Ubuntu and Mac OS X on my Mac. So, I’d welcome some thoughts on the two options I’m considering.
1. VMware: My neighbor is an IT manager at a major cable company. He uses VMware to run Windows XP, Windows Vista, Novell SuSE Linux and Mac OS X on his MacBook Pro. Frankly, this sounds like the way to go.
2. Parallels: The rare product that out-innovates Steve Jobs on Apple’s own hardware. Even employees in Apple Stores quietly recommend Parallels virtualization over Apple’s alternative, Boot Camp.
Generally speaking, I’m leaning toward VMware — especially since my neighbor is running the type of configuration I’m marching toward. But I’m keeping an open mind. If there are smarter approaches than the two I’ve mentioned above, I’m all ears.
Neither solution will give you good speed results. I would recommend VirtualBox. I switched about 6 months ago from vmware and have never looked back.
Well, what are you going for exactly? Do you want to run Ubuntu apps while in OSX, or do you just want to have a dedicated Ubuntu environment available? Parallels is supposedly pretty nice, but I’ve never used it. Fusion I have used, and it is pretty sweet. The ability to seamlessly have Linux or Windows Apps on your OSX desktop is very nice.
It will come down to taste though I think. Both have demos available. Try them both out and then write up a comparison! 🙂
@Richard: What are you doing with your machines? I’ve used a variety of virtualization systems and I’ve never noticed an appreciable difference in performance among them unless I venture into corner-case areas where they are known to perform poorly.
Richard @1: I will research VirtualBox a bit.
Q Hartman Q2: I want to do more than run Ubuntu apps in Mac OS X. I want both Max OS X and Ubuntu platforms to live on my PowerBook, so that I can “live” in Ubuntu for a few hours and then “live” in Mac OS X for a few hours. But I also want to jump seamlessly between them at a moment’s notice.
Basically, whenever I blog about Ubuntu and write about Ubuntu apps, Ubuntu industry players, etc., I want to make sure I’m in the Ubuntu world. I have a Dell desktop with Ubuntu. But I travel a lot with my MacBook and I’m not ready to fully give up Mac OS X.
So, I figure it’s time to have both Ubuntu and Mac OS X fully available on my notebook. I’m going to give VirtualBox, Fusion and Parallels a closer look.
@Q Hartman:
I run virtualbox on about 10 Ubuntu boxes. Speed improvements are easily evident in every case. I switched many from vmware.
I use virtualbox for running Ubuntu,Opensolaris and BSD on my Macbook. It’s very easy and fast to work with. I was using VMware server on my HP desktop. But now both are running virtualbox. Give a shot to this amazing software from Sun Microsystems.
You may want two technologically completely different solutions:
1) dual-boot Mac OSX and Ubuntu so that you have a native version of both.
2) use a virtual machine for short bursts of Ubuntu while using Mac OSX.