Win on Linux options

[SmoiL]

I've been asked to setup a few machines for web developement, specifically to test various browsers. I need to be able to test IE 5, 5.5, 6, Opera 6, 7, Netscape 4.7, 6, 7, Mozilla 1, 1.5 on Windows based platforms as well as Konqueror, Mozilla, etc on Linux.
I was thinking my best bet would be to install Linux and run win2k and xp virtually. Before I get going on this I would appreciate any suggestions you folks might have regarding which program would be the best for me to use.

Thanks,
SmoiL

 

[Crusty]

Well, actually it would be better to do it the other way, install Windows and then run Linux virtually, as least IMO.

 

[SmoiL]

In order to run the various versions of IE I will need seperate instances of the OS....which sucks terribly.

 

[Crusty]

Ah...didn't think about that, is it not possible to have several different boxes instead of having to triple/quadruple boot?

 

[SmoiL]

Space is an issue. Putting them all on one box would be the most elegant solution.

 

[Crusty]

I have never used any windows emulation under Linux other then Wine...but you will fight that quite a bit to get it to do what you want.

I would suggest just doing a seperate install for each IE, and then one Linux install for all the other's that you need. It would be the most elegant way to do it, other then having a bunch of different boxes.

 

[SmoiL]

I was thinking about doing mutli-boot as well, and will do that as a last resort. The main problem with that is the time involved in switching OSes. When checking a design change waiting several minutes for each can be a real pain. I came across some good info on vmware and that may be an option.

 

[Crusty]

I suppose you could use Virtual PC to run different Windows versions as well, I didn't think of that.

So in reality you could have one Windows install then use Virtual PC to boot the rest of the OS'es...

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: SmoiL
I've been asked to setup a few machines for web developement, specifically to test various browsers. I need to be able to test IE 5, 5.5, 6, Opera 6, 7, Netscape 4.7, 6, 7, Mozilla 1, 1.5 on Windows based platforms as well as Konqueror, Mozilla, etc on Linux.
I was thinking my best bet would be to install Linux and run win2k and xp virtually. Before I get going on this I would appreciate any suggestions you folks might have regarding which program would be the best for me to use.

Thanks,
SmoiL

For what it's worth, Netscape 7 (and maybe 6) should render the same way Mozilla does, and should be the same on all platforms.

 

[silverpig]

VMWare. That one's easy. You can load up different virtual machines if you want, and can even have all of them running at the same time if you like. You can get a free 1 month trial from them too to test it out.

 

[pitupepito2000]

I would suggest you install linux, and use VMWare to install another version of Windows to test things.

 

[Abzstrak]

Originally posted by: pitupepito2000
I would suggest you install linux, and use VMWare to install another version of Windows to test things.

agreed... dont use windows as the host, use linux... just makes more sense to use the stable secure OS as the host.....

 

[Klixxer]

ummm, i don't get it, mozilla, FF, konquerer, epiphany, galeon, all of those Linux browsers are based on the same Gecko engine, Install IE, Opera and Mozilla or FF and you have your bases covered.

Nowadays MS IE uses whatever JVM that is available, so that would be the same too, and AFAIK, all of the tools, extensions and plug ins available for FF or Mozilla on Linux ar available for Win too.

Yeah, sure, they all have their own quirks and features, but when it comes to web development, if it works on FF, it will work on Konqueror, epiphany, galeon, Mozilla and Netscape (which is basically Mozilla with a lousy licence anyway).

You want to strip it down? Mozilla and FF adheres to the standards, if it works there it will (or maybe i should say should) work anywhere.

If not, blame MS, that's what i do, and rightfully so.

 

[Haden]

ummm, i don't get it, mozilla, FF, konquerer, epiphany, galeon, all of those Linux browsers are based on the same Gecko engine,

Konqueror is based on KHTML engine, MacOS Safari is based on in too.

 

[Klixxer]

Originally posted by: Haden

ummm, i don't get it, mozilla, FF, konquerer, epiphany, galeon, all of those Linux browsers are based on the same Gecko engine,

Konqueror is based on KHTML engine, MacOS Safari is based on in too.

I stand corrected, this man speaks the truth.

 

[SpeedFreak03]

Yea VMWare would work best for you, just make sure you have plenty of ram (I'd say anything over 256MB would be good for 1 virtual machine at a time, if you wanted to run more then one id say 512-1GB). I've run VMWare on fedora core 1 with Windows 98SE and Win2K Pro at the same time no problem (P4 2.6C, 1GB DDR).

 

[Nothinman]

VMWare rocks.

 

[sciencewhiz]

Have you tried browsercam.com?

There is a reason to test the same rendering engine on different platforms and browsers. Fonts. Mozilla uses different fonts on mac, linux, and windows. Netscape has different default fonts then mozilla. Konqueror and Safari use different fonts. If you have anything that is wrapping or flowing around something else, it will look different.

 

[SmoiL]

Thanks for all the responses. I tried out the vmware trial and it is exactly what I was after. Fedora as the host and win95->2k3. Was an easy sell to the boss too, infact I got myself a license for home use as well.

Thanks again folks,
~SmoiL