virtualbox: are there two versions?

[Gilles Gravier]

Actually, if you download the .deb, you can just double click on it from
the file manager and it works just as nicely.

If you follow the Linux link, you get taken to :
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads ... scroll down to the
part titled "Debian-based Linux distributions" and check how to add
repositories depending on your own "deb" Linux version...

As has been pointed out elsewhere, if you download the one from the
wiki, you will get the full version that includes USB and RDP support
(the full list of differences between the 2 versions is at :
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Editions ).

If you want to stick to pure open source software, then you probably
want the OSE (Open Source Edition) which is in the repositories. Since
it doesn't support RDP, it comes with VNC support.

As to why stick to OSE rather than the closed source edition, it's a
personal choice. Some people have a dogmatic approach to open source and
will want OSE at all costs... others are more pragmatic. If you need
proper USB support, then get the normal version from the
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads page.

It's like graphics drivers, right? You can get the open source nvidia
drivers... or get the proprietary, highly optimized one. It's anybody's
choice...

I'd say if the vendor offers very optimized support for my platform, I
tend to use that... in particular if it's through a at-no-financial-cost
download. Others will prefer the freedom of using open source, possibly
less optimized drivers.

Gilles.

On 25/10/2010 18:28, Sarunas Burdulis wrote:
> On 10/25/2010 12:03 PM, Arnaud G wrote:
> > you can dowload it from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
>
> > to install :
> > dpkg -i the.deb
>
> > et voilà
>
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > *From:* Leander Jedamus <ljedamus at googlemail.com>
> > *To:* "Ubuntu user technical support, not for general discussions"
> > <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> > *Sent:* Mon, October 25, 2010 12:27:30 PM
> > *Subject:* virtualbox: are there two versions?
>
> > Hi!
>
> > I recently read in a magazine that virtualbox from oracle comes in two
> > different flaviours: an open source edition (which is in the
> > repositories) and a proprietary one, which has usb-support, what I need.
> > Do I have to install that package without apt-get? I like that
> > update-thing from ubuntu, but did not find the proprietary package in
> > the repositories.
>
> > Thanks in advance
> > Leander Jedamus
>
> The wiki page above also tells how can one add a repository for
> Debian-based Linux, so that your "update-thing" will still work for the
> proprietary version of Virtualbox...
>
> `arknas

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