Spaced Out ::

Just a reminder that VirtualBox remains a great option for virtualisation and running a range of operating systems. In addition to being able to spin up various Linux OSes on my Windows box, it also allows me to run a Windows VM for testing purposes (and for those in HE Microsoft’s DreamSpark provides a no cost way to use a range of software, including the OSes). I run all my ERDAS Imagine and Esri ArcGIS work through here. I had been on the venerable v4 of VirtualBox but have since upgraded to 5 and speed boost is very noticeable.

And, of course, those who know me know my penchant for portable apps. And yes there is Portable VirtualBox. Run it, get it to download the install files and then youre away. A base install of Win7 is about 5Gb, but with Imagine and ArcGIS runs at about 25Gb. But it’s nicely sandboxed and anything that goes wrong can simply be vaped.