Major Upgrade: Sun's VirtualBox 2.0 Released

[CadCrazy]

xVM VirtulaBox 2.0, Sun's open source, free and very efficient virtualization tool has been released yesterday, together with Sun xVM VirtualBox Software Enterprise Subscription, with support for enterprise users. This release is a major upgrade as it brings 64-bit guest OS, a new and improved GUI, a new version notifier, and also guest information interface.

With this version, systems with AMD chips will get a visible performance boost, and 64-bit operating systems like RedHat Enterprise Linux or Windows Vista are fully supported, along with all the other well known host OSes. Also with this release, Mac users will enjoy a native Leopard GUI, as well as improved networking, the latter also being brought to the Solaris OS. In addition to the development of xVM VirtualBox 2.0, Sun Microsystems has released the new enterprise subscription, which offers certain advantages including non-stop support and a Right-to-Use License.

Steve Wilson, vice president, xVM, Sun Microsystems stated, "Sun xVM VirtualBox software continues to dominate the desktop virtualization space with over 6.5 million downloads to date and rave reviews from press and customers. Now with xVM VirtualBox 2.0 software and the new enterprise subscription, customers can confidently roll out xVM VirtualBox software across their business. Virtual desktops, such as those provided by the xVM VirtualBox software, are the future of business desktops because they are more flexible, manageable and secure than traditional PC architectures. Enterprises will be thrilled with the xVM VirtualBox platform because it provides them an easier way to deliver a standard operating environment across their enterprises."

Providing all the necessary tools for and efficient user experience, VirtualBox has become a choice for a large number of customers. One of the major ones is the German Federal Government, as Torsten Werner, IT Strategist, Federal Foreign Office of Germany declared, "With more than 12,000 PCs in German embassies worldwide, we wanted to move to an open source desktop architecture that provided more flexibility and reduced costs. With that goal in mind, we selected xVM VirtualBox software as the migration tool. This choice turned out to be ideal as it allowed our desktop users to continue to use the Windows applications they were familiar with, but on the new desktop platform. Users can't even tell the difference. The xVM VirtualBox software is that simple and easy to use."

See the full Changelog for a complete list of improvements and bug fixes this version introduces.

Source

Here's How to install Virtualbox 2.0 on Ubuntu:

1.Online Method: Download virtualbox 2.0 .deb package and double click on it to install. The package manager will automatically download additional dependencies for it.

2.Offline Method(For Ubuntu 8.04 32 bit only):
In addition to virtualbox 2.0 deb file download following packages and install them by double clicking on them before installing virtualbox deb package

http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/poo...9.1-1_i386.deb
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/poo...untu3_i386.deb
http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/poo...untu3_i386.deb

enjoy

[IronManForever]

Great news. Thanx.. I wanna view the release notes.

[NucleusKore]

Yes, thanks for the news. VirtualBox has been a big help for me

[MetalheadGautham]

Awssome! I love this software.

[thewisecrab]

I have been using it for quite a while now, Its a great soft.
Are 64 bit OSes supported now?

[NucleusKore]

Originally Posted by thewisecrab

I have been using it for quite a while now, Its a great soft.
Are 64 bit OSes supported now?

See here
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog

This version is a major update. The following major new features were added:

* 64 bits guest support (64 bits host only)...............

[sourav123]

I have been a long time VirtualBox user and currently running both XP and Ubuntu from Vista using VBox. But when upgrading to the 2.0 release I am getting some error while trying to start VBox like some module loading error. So, I went back to VBox 1.6.6 which was also released last week and they have resolved the XP folder sharing issue.

I think we better wait for sometime before the bugs are fixed on VBox 2.0 and 2.0.2 is released.

And finally, a big thanks to Sun for this software. Saved me big time.

[hellknight]

Yipeeeeeeeeeee.. new version of Virtual box.. i use it on Ubuntu and Vista.. its killing VMWare and Parallels.. btw.. innotek was the brain behind Virtualbox.. SUN buyed innotek and software became theirs..

[Krazy_About_Technology]

Is this Virtualbox same as Innotek VirtualBox? I use that one? Please reply fast guys! Thanks in advance

EDIT: OOPS! Sorry, i forgot to read the previous post. I got my answer Downloading it now...

[ThinkFree]

Thanks for the news.

[Krazy_About_Technology]

Originally Posted by sourav123

I have been a long time VirtualBox user and currently running both XP and Ubuntu from Vista using VBox. But when upgrading to the 2.0 release I am getting some error while trying to start VBox like some module loading error. So, I went back to VBox 1.6.6 which was also released last week and they have resolved the XP folder sharing issue.

I think we better wait for sometime before the bugs are fixed on VBox 2.0 and 2.0.2 is released.

And finally, a big thanks to Sun for this software. Saved me big time.

I upgraded my installation from an even older version (1.5.x) but i did not had any problem. Buddy, There must be some issues with your particular config. What i did was to first uninstall the previous one and then install the newer. It automatically grabbed my two virtual machines (one windows 98 SE and another Windows XP SP2) . Both started fine with default settings, but had to remove the previous Virtual Box Additions and install the newer ones. Thats it!

[mavihs]

thanx for d news!!!

[NucleusKore]

Just installed it today on Ubuntu 8.04 amd64

*Open Synaptic
*Search and mark virtualbox-ose for installation
*Mark the two dependencies when prompted
*Unmark virtualbox-ose, and again mark the two dependencies when prompted
*Search and mark qt4-lib and qt4-gui
*Click apply

After this download virtualbox 2.0 for ubuntu amd64 from http://www.virtualbox.org

Using a shell and the sudo dpkg -i command install it.

Press Alt and F2 and type

VirtualBox

and press enter. Observe the case of V and B in the above command.

[CadCrazy]

Offline installation instructions for Ubuntu 8.04.1 32 bit added. First post updated

[gary4gar]

Good to see a nice Open Source Software

[FilledVoid]

Upgrading my Virtualbox install to the current version now on Arch Linux. Keeping my fingers crossed for a couple of solutions to problems I had earlier .