Linuxlandit & The Conqueror Worm: Run Linux inside Windows

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Run Linux inside Windows

andLinux is a complete Ubuntu Linux system running seamlessly in Windows 2000 based systems (2000, XP, 2003, Vista; 32-bit versions only). This project was started for Dynamism for the GP2X community, but its userbase far exceeds its original design. andLinux is free and will remain so, but donations are greatly needed.

andLinux uses CoLinux as its core which is confusing for many people. CoLinux is a port of the Linux kernel to Windows. Although this technology is a bit like running Linux in a virtual machine, CoLinux differs itself by being more of a merger of Windows and the Linux kernel and not an emulated PC, making it more efficient. Xming is used as X server and PulseAudio as sound server.

andLinux is not just for development and runs almost all Linux applications without modification.

Requirements

OS: Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista (currently only the 32-bit versions are supported)
Memory: at least 128 MB (192 MB or more is recommended)
Note that you should have enough memory left for Windows (at least 128 MB for Windows 2000 / XP / 2003; at least 512 MB for Windows Vista)!
Hard disk space: 2.5 GB (XFCE version) / 4.5 GB (KDE version)
Note that you need an NTFS file system (which is default since Windows 2000) because you can't create files larger than 2 GB on FAT(32) file systems!
A good internet connection (to be able to install further applications via apt-get / Synaptic)
Some basic Linux skills to proceed once andLinux is installedWhat you will get

You will get:

a fully functional Linux system, however without the usual desktop (you've already got one from Windows)
a second panel (e.g. at the top of your Windows desktop) or a second start menu (in the system tray next to the clock), from which you can start Linux applications
Linux applications and Windows applications can be used simultaneously and you can cut and paste text between them
apt / Synaptic to install further applications

You will NOT get:

another desktop
the bench of applications that usually ship with Linux distributions (you have to fetch whatever you want)
a printer driver
trouble with further drivers ;-)

Security warning: It is recommended to use andLinux only on single-user-PCs or in a trustworthy environment because the communication with the X-Server and the launcher is not secured, i.e., every user who can login to Windows can access andLinux.

Latest Stable

andLinux Beta 1 rc6 (02/12/2008)

If you have Torrent, please download via torrent!
http://linuxtracker.org/index.php?page=torrents

minimal / XFCE version, 143 MB:

SourceForge.net [http]
University of Paderborn, Germany (600 MBit) [ftp]
Mirror (thanks: Brian Honaker) (1000 MBit) [http]
Mirror (thanks: Scott Wagner) [http]
Mirror (thanks: Mark McCorkle) [http]
md5: 98761730a81097fe3e5084b6359a6693
sha1: db229d4e1f2de3dd171e0868e1399cc70efee53c

KDE version, 665 MB:

SourceForge.net [http]
University of Paderborn, Germany (600 MBit) [ftp]
Mirror (thanks: Brian Honaker) (1000 MBit) [http]
Mirror (thanks: Scott Wagner) [http]
Mirror (thanks: Mark McCorkle) [http]
md5: 25bdf8ee6b60866b29cacc9b2419906b
sha1: 666c0d6a20ea4e298c8408721d5df388ca70c68c

Development Snapshots

currently n/a

Previous Versions

andLinux Beta 1 rc3

minimal / XFCE version, 194 MB:

University of Paderborn, Germany (600 MBit) [http]
md5: d4867c0d956a8d10ae8c325fe82b6308
sha1: ed1c2b27986da7a9ec6891156fcd427caf8cd95e

KDE version, 876 MB:

University of Paderborn, Germany (600 MBit) [http]
md5: 1554c9f2d0ba98325c33e03d379237c2
sha1: 4fe68f2d4b8d79804becd0e60473bcb7f50ffc33

andLinux PreBeta

minimal / XFCE version, 190 MB:

MadTux ($5.95 highspeed download to help support the project)
TU Dresden, Germany (600 MBit) [ftp]
md5: b56c25da5dcae10bcef6a88bcf97c843
sha1: 87a33674aa1bd88451277c17406de60f524f9dc7

andLinux POC v2.1

You can download andLinux POC v2.1 (320 MB) at the following locations:

TU Dresden, Germany (600 MBit) [ftp]

Licensing / Copying

This software is covered under the GPL. Use this software at your own risk! No fault will be taken by andLinux or anyone involved with andLinux.

You may not sell andLinux, but are welcome to distribute it freely. This is not a GPL violation as the andLinux name is owned by David Solomon.

You may not use the andLinux name without written permission from David Solomon.

News

Feb, 12th 2008

andLinux Beta 1 rc6 is available. It's almost final now. A few bugs introduced in rc5 have been fixed in the Launcher and Samba mounting. Besides, ESD has been replaced by its successor PulseAudio (which is cygwin-free). - Joachim

Feb, 5th 2008

andLinux Beta 1 rc5 is available. It's not a final version yet, but this release candidate is "nearly final". Major improvements include updated Ubuntu (gutsy) and CoLinux (0.7.1) versions. All known bugs should be removed now, including the BSOD bug. Besides, the download time is improved by a better compression ratio. - Joachim

Jan, 17th 2008

To provide an installer and an improved launcher to the community while the next release is still pending, I made a development snapshot available in the downloads section. Feedback is highly welcome (to fix any possible bugs until the next release)! - Joachim

Jan, 9th 2008

Security note: In case you grant colinux-slirp-net-daemon.exe the permission to open ports to the internet in your firewall configuration, please carefully check the list of configured port forwardings in settings_static.txt (the line starting with "eth0=slirp")! Especially ensure that you have set a root password if you keep SSH (port 22) enabled! (To reduce the risk that ports are accidentally opened by granting colinux-slirp-net-daemon.exe full permissions in the firewall, the list of preconfigured port forwardings will be empty in release Beta 1.) - Joachim

Jan, 3rd 2008

The next release Beta 1 will be out soon! - Joachim

Jun, 22nd 2007

Welcome to our official website http://www.andlinux.org/ ! Our forums are now open! - Joachim

May, 16th 2007

I thought I would give an andLinux status update. I am waiting for some of the other projects that andLinux uses (Ubuntu, Xming, etc...) to settle a little before releasing Beta1. - David

Mar, 20th 2007

I've written a few small tools to even better integrate andLinux into Windows (start menu, quick launch icons, file type associations, and explorer shell extensions). They're available for download on my website: http://www.joachim-gehweiler.de/en/software/andlinux.php - Joachim