VirtualBox: Seamless Windows
I have one web based service provider that requires me to use Internet Explorer - Parcelforce; the courier firm.
I have been using IE running on Wine up until recently - but I had never got printing to work quite right. You see, when I schedule a shipment for something, their software creates a barcode and label in PDF for me to print. But their system needs me to have IE and the Windows version of Acrobat installed so the label pops up in an IE with the Acrobat Reader plugin window.
I have asked them to support Firefox and Linux but they didn’t even have the courtesy to reply to my email…
Anyway - Wine and IES4LINUX worked for me very well, but I have had to save the pdf file to disk then open the Linux version of Acrobat and print it from there. I have recently moved partitions around on my PC and am running a new install of Ubuntu, so I decided to try a different route for a change…
I installed VirtualBox (the latest .deb from their web site which is 1.52) on my Ubuntu Gutsy desktop and then dug out my old CD of Windows XP and started the install.
What a palaver that was! I had forgotten how laborious the install is: I have an XP “upgrade CD” so had to go and find my Full version of Windows 95, show it that, then type in the stupidly long code and answer lots of questions. And it seemed to take so long to actually copy the stuff to the VM. Then you get the Activation question, registration and lots of network activity…
However, once I’d got it installed, it booted up just fine (In fact it boots much faster in a VM than I recall it doing natively) . After installing VirtualBox’s “guest additions for Windows” you get an improved Windows graphics driver and better mouse control too. The mouse just works when you move the pointer over the VirtualBox guest window or back to the Linux desktop. No need to switch mouse control between the two OSes.
The other nice feature is something they call “Seamless Mode”. This is really cool, it means your guest OS can appear on your desktop without having to be inside a window. By that I mean you can run application (say notepad) and it will appear as a single window on your desktop. Here’s a picture to show you what I mean…
It’s a bit of a chore just to get access to a barcode label from ParcelForce, but I can do it. It only took me about an hour and I haven’t had to go and buy any software (I already owned my old copy of XP Home and Windows 95) or have to dual boot my computer.
The virtualisation engine is Open Source, the host OS is Open Source. And if Parcelforce would wake up and smell the coffee perhaps they might even keep a customer.
