Virtualisation is ultra-cool. For the uninitiated, virtualisation is being able to have a virtual computer running on top of a real one. It’s a great way to run two operating systems at the same time, or test out the latest stuff without committing a physical machine.

There are a couple of open source virtualisation solutions, xen and qemu. I might be taking a look at xen in a future tutorial, because today, it’s qemu time!

First of all, you’ll need to install qemu. For most Linux distributions, that is a simple case of opening up your package management or software management tool and search for qemu and choose to install it. There’s a Windows build here (note that I have not tested it though) and a very nice Mac port with a GUI here (which I have tested and is very good).

Once you’ve got it installed it is pretty much ready to use.

One of my favourite uses for qemu is to run live distributions of Linux and other OSes. Unlike solutions like VMware, you don’t need to create a virtual hard drive (although you can, of course) to run a VM. This makes it ideal for testing out live CDs, without even burning the .iso file to disc.

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