Hello,
I've just downloaded and installed a copy of Robolinux on a spare desktop machine. It says that it's a replacement for Windows XP as it will keep the Windows stuff secure without fear of a virus or malware.
I paid a few dollars for the basic version as I thought I would be able to configure the XP stuff myself. But it seems they want me to pay for more of it first.
But then the thought occurred to me that I might be able to do all this stuff with VirtualBox anyway. This is the link to the info about the secure bit - http://www.robolinux.org/stealth-vm-info/
There's a video on the site showing how a virus attacks the VM. What I find more than a little annoying is that it says I can do this for free and yet there's no way to get past the donation page.
The question remains though. Is this special software or simply a cunning bit of configuration of a virtual machine on the part of Robolinux?
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OK, it's lunchtime and I just got back from holiday, but I'm not seeing what this is doing that you couldn't do yourself by building a Windows VM on Virtual Box and running it on Linux?
On 28 April 2014 11:32:20 BST, Chris Walker alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk wrote:
Hello,
I've just downloaded and installed a copy of Robolinux on a spare desktop machine. It says that it's a replacement for Windows XP as it will keep the Windows stuff secure without fear of a virus or malware.
I paid a few dollars for the basic version as I thought I would be able to configure the XP stuff myself. But it seems they want me to pay for more of it first.
But then the thought occurred to me that I might be able to do all this stuff with VirtualBox anyway. This is the link to the info about the secure bit - http://www.robolinux.org/stealth-vm-info/
There's a video on the site showing how a virus attacks the VM. What I find more than a little annoying is that it says I can do this for free and yet there's no way to get past the donation page.
The question remains though. Is this special software or simply a cunning bit of configuration of a virtual machine on the part of Robolinux?
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On 28/04/14 11:32, Chris Walker wrote:
Hello,
I've just downloaded and installed a copy of Robolinux on a spare desktop machine. It says that it's a replacement for Windows XP as it will keep the Windows stuff secure without fear of a virus or malware.
I paid a few dollars for the basic version as I thought I would be able to configure the XP stuff myself. But it seems they want me to pay for more of it first.
But then the thought occurred to me that I might be able to do all this stuff with VirtualBox anyway. This is the link to the info about the secure bit - http://www.robolinux.org/stealth-vm-info/
There's a video on the site showing how a virus attacks the VM. What I find more than a little annoying is that it says I can do this for free and yet there's no way to get past the donation page.
The question remains though. Is this special software or simply a cunning bit of configuration of a virtual machine on the part of Robolinux?
Looked and the video and a couple of times he mentioned that it would secure the windows install from getting infecting by a virus but that was obviously not the case because he demonstrated the install being infected.
I have installed XP in a virtual box. Its easy to take a snapshop or clone the initial installation. I clone it and use the clone. I have a log in that doesn't have admin rights for normal useage and data stored in a shared folder with the host OS using guest additions.
If the version I was using got corrupted/infected, I would just clone another one.
But to be honest I don't hardly ever log into XP these days. Can't think of anything that I do in XP that I can't do in Linux :)
On Mon, 28 Apr 2014 13:03:42 +0100 Tony tony.bronze@tiscali.co.uk wrote:
On 28/04/14 11:32, Chris Walker wrote:
Hello,
I've just downloaded and installed a copy of Robolinux on a spare desktop machine. It says that it's a replacement for Windows XP as it will keep the Windows stuff secure without fear of a virus or malware.
I paid a few dollars for the basic version as I thought I would be able to configure the XP stuff myself. But it seems they want me to pay for more of it first.
But then the thought occurred to me that I might be able to do all this stuff with VirtualBox anyway. This is the link to the info about the secure bit - http://www.robolinux.org/stealth-vm-info/
There's a video on the site showing how a virus attacks the VM. What I find more than a little annoying is that it says I can do this for free and yet there's no way to get past the donation page.
The question remains though. Is this special software or simply a cunning bit of configuration of a virtual machine on the part of Robolinux?
Looked and the video and a couple of times he mentioned that it would secure the windows install from getting infecting by a virus but that was obviously not the case because he demonstrated the install being infected.
I have installed XP in a virtual box. Its easy to take a snapshop or clone the initial installation. I clone it and use the clone. I have a log in that doesn't have admin rights for normal useage and data stored in a shared folder with the host OS using guest additions.
If the version I was using got corrupted/infected, I would just clone another one.
But to be honest I don't hardly ever log into XP these days. Can't think of anything that I do in XP that I can't do in Linux :)
I already have an XP installation running on VirtualBox and have had for some years. There are some programs, Tomtom for example that won't run under linux so I have no choice. I also have an installation of Windows 7 to backup the installation of the system on the main machine.
I do tend to take snapshots of the machines before I do any installs or before I run anything that might be a bit dodgy. But I also run things like RPCEmu which is an emulator of an Acorn machine. The editor on that is simply superb. So if I have any files that purport to be one thing but may be another - attachments that I'm not sure about - I can examine them safely there. I also have a home accounts program which one of my sons wrote many years ago and which only runs on that environment and I run that as a backup to a commercial program.
But back to my question, it seems from what you say that I wouldn't gain anything from running Robolinux over and above the VB installation I currently have. So thanks to you and Ewan for responding.
On 28/04/14 14:09, Chris Walker wrote:
I already have an XP installation running on VirtualBox and have had for some years. There are some programs, Tomtom for example that won't run under linux so I have no choice. I also have an installation of Windows 7 to backup the installation of the system on the main machine. I do tend to take snapshots of the machines before I do any installs or before I run anything that might be a bit dodgy. But I also run things like RPCEmu which is an emulator of an Acorn machine. The editor on that is simply superb. So if I have any files that purport to be one thing but may be another - attachments that I'm not sure about - I can examine them safely there. I also have a home accounts program which one of my sons wrote many years ago and which only runs on that environment and I run that as a backup to a commercial program. But back to my question, it seems from what you say that I wouldn't gain anything from running Robolinux over and above the VB installation I currently have. So thanks to you and Ewan for responding.
I gather some versions of Windows can run a Windows XP in sort of sandbox mode, or a virtual XP box mode. I gather it needs something other than the "Home/Personal" version of windows. It might be something that only Windows 8 does - I'm not entirely sure. If you can do this in your Windows 7, you may not need to use Windows XP in a virtual machine.
Other than that, I can't see that Robolinux would/could do anything more than XP in a virtual machine and appropriate firewalls and antivirus software installed would do.
Steve
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Chris Walker -
Ewan Slater -
steve-ALUG＠hst.me.uk -
Tony