AZ> Reply at the top - Bob.... I'm puzzled by what you're   
    AZ> trying to accomplish.   
      
    AZ> Running in an OS in a virtual session does not mean running   
    AZ> it off a RAM drive, which I suspect is what you're thinking   
    AZ> of...   
      
    Yep.   
      
    AZ> You seem to be describing installing Win XP to an SD card   
    AZ> in the netbook's SD card slot and booting to it and running   
    AZ> it. No virtual machine involved or needed.   
      
    Well, that is step one. I was hoping the virtual machine would   
    be faster. That and avoid excess writes to the SD card.   
      
    AZ> In order to make use of a virtual machine you need lots of   
    AZ> storage and RAM - since you are storing and running two   
    AZ> operating systems: the 'host' OS which you boot to and the   
    AZ> 'guest' OS which is running in the virtual system. On your   
    AZ> netbook as you describe it, you have neither storage nor   
    AZ> RAM to spare.   
      
    That is what I was worried about.   
      
    AZ> In comparison, my mainly-used system right now is a Macbook   
    AZ> Air - it's got a 256GB SSD and 8 GB of memory; it boots to   
    AZ> Mac OS X 10.8. But I'm teaching a class right now where I   
    AZ> need a Win 7 system, so I've got Windows 7 installed in a   
    AZ> virtual machine... with the 8 GB memory, I give the Win7   
    AZ> virtual session 4 GB when it's running, and still have 4 GB   
    AZ> for OS X - when I had systems with 4 GB memory total, I had   
    AZ> to skimp on memory when running virtual sessions.   
    AZ> Win7+Office2013 (and not much else) takes 12GB of storage   
    AZ> for the virtual hard drive.   
      
    Ok, I don't have that problem, as I don't have Win 7 or MS   
    office any version. Well, I have them, but not for this purpose.   
      
    AZ> Running XP would require less memory and storage - but   
    AZ> still relatively significant amounts when you add them   
    AZ> what's needed by your host OS...   
      
    AZ> I can think of one scenario where you might want to do this   
    AZ> - let me imagine a netbook with 1 GB of soldered-in,   
    AZ> unexpandable RAM (which is pretty standard with many   
    AZ> netbook models) and (say) a 16 GB SD card (you might be   
    AZ> able to use a smaller capacity card)... and let's also   
    AZ> imagine that you can't install/boot XP from the SD card but   
    AZ> can install/boot a small Linux distribution. (I don't know   
    AZ> if that's the case or not).   
      
    Ok, my SD card is 8GB, but 16 is doable. I have 1GB laptop ram,   
    could probably go to 2GB. I have booted it to Puppy Linux.   
      
    AZ> In that case, you might want to install Puppy Linux and   
    AZ> then install XP as a virtual machine using the free   
    AZ> VirtualBox software. Note that your restore CD probably   
    AZ> would NOT be usable for this as the hardware virtualized by   
    AZ> VirtualBox is different from the actual hardware.   
      
    Hmmm...not that's interesting. I have used the restore CD to   
    install XP on another machine, just for testing. So I could get   
    XP from there.   
      
    AZ> Giving the virtualized XP session 512MB of RAM would work...   
      
    Ok, now that sounds promising.   
      
    AZ> But it would only be worth doing if you're unable to   
    AZ> install/boot XP directly to the SD card - in which case you   
    AZ> might be able to use the restore CD.   
      
    So far, no success in installing to the SD. It won't install   
    directly to the SD card in the SD slot. I have an adapter to put   
    an SD card in a laptop in place of the HD. Only the one I tried   
    it on the install CD still sees the SD card as a removable disk,   
    and won't install.   
      
    AZ> What make/model netbook is it? I've found SSDs for the Dell   
    AZ> Mini 9 to be relatively affordable - about $25/30 for 16 GB   
    AZ> SSDs, for instance.   
      
    Yes, but I tried installing a Zif adapter for a CF drive, and it   
    doesn't work, which makes me suspect the drive interface doesn't   
    work. It is the HP Mini.   
      
    I will look further into the Linux solution. OTOH, Linux seems   
    to take a lot of work, and a translator to understand the   
    instructions.   
      
      
      
   BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn   
      
   ... Don't ban flag burning as long as politicians wrap themselves in it.   
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