How I put Linux and Windows windows together on my Windows desktop (Re: Boston Linux Meeting Wed, October 21, 2009...)

[Jerry Feldman]

There are some neat things being used in the virtualization world today,
such as Application Virtualization (HyperV), VMWare ThinApp, and more.
Most of these features are targeted to enterprise computing. In any
case, this is neat.

On 10/23/2009 10:17 PM, Brendan Kidwell wrote:
> Eek! I showed this after Jerry's informative talk and I promised I'd po=
st it
> here, and I almost forgot!
>
> Motivation: VirtualBox and VMWare (I believe) have "seamless" modes whe=
reby
> a Windows in a Guest system will project its windows separately on the =
Host
> desktop where they sort of co-mingle with the Host's own windows. In
> actuality what I've observed is that all of the Guests windows are proj=
ected
> as a single window on the host with transparent holes in it for other
> windows to show through. If you activate a Guest window, all Guest wind=
ows
> are brought on top of Host windows. Furthermore, I've never been able t=
o get
> this to work with two displays, which is somewhat irritating.
>
> Anyway, as I am forced to use Windows at work to support particular job=

> functions as a developer (I switched to Ubuntu and held out for a few y=
ears
> but eventually broke down and switched back to Windows 7)... I wanted t=
o get
> a similar effect with a Windows Host and a Linux Guest. VirtualBox and
> VMWare offer no "seamless" mode in their Linux add-on drivers.
>
> But hey! Linux desktop apps are just X clients, right? And X is network=

> transparent and all that. All you have to do is peel away all the Linux=

> desktop stuff from a modern Linux distribution on your Guest, install a=
n X
> server on the Host computer, and launch an appropriate toolbar/panel to=

> provide Start menu, Run command, and whatever other widgets you need. H=
ere's
> how I did that:
>
> http://www.glump.net/howto/seamless_remote_linux_desktop_in_windows
>
> I didn't immediately post this on the mailing list Wednesday because I
> wanted to change my advice in the article from launching xfce4-session =
as
> your first X client, to running lxpanel instead. Unfortunately this wee=
k has
> been nuts at work and I forgot all about it until today. In case I just=

> never get around to rewriting the article, I just crammed an addendum a=
bout
> lxpanel into the introduction and I'm writing this email now.
>
> The article is CC-licensed. Please read, learn, rewrite and repost and =
let
> me know so I can toss mine out. :^)
>
>  =20


--=20
Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846