Running windows programs under Linux

[NoOp]

On 08/28/2014 03:50 PM, Peter Goggin wrote:
> On 29/08/14 04:55, NoOp wrote:
>> On 08/25/2014 01:50 AM, Peter Goggin wrote:
>>> Further to my earlier message I have installed Virtualbox on my test
>>> machine. I have installed Windows XP and Office XP in the virtual
>>> machine. I now want to be able to exchange data betwen the Virtual
>>> Windows machine and the Ubuntu operating system. So far I have tried
>>> copying the files to a cd but the virtual machine (Windows XP) claims
>>> the cd is the wrong format although it was created by a windows XP
>>> laptop.  I have copied the files to a usb stick but I cannot see how to
>>> access it from the Virtual XP machine.  Is there any way of accessing
>>> the virtual machine disk space from the linu host and vice versa?
>> Yes.
>> <https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/End-user_documentation>
>> <https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Community>
>> <https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualBox>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> Thankyou all on this list for your willingness to help. I found out how 
> to install the rest of virtualbox so I now have Windows XP and Office XP 
> installed in the virtualbox  with all office applications able to read 
> and write to files in my Linux home directory.  I can continue using my 
> first laptop as a ubuntu machine ut still maintain my access data base. 
> This will give me the breathing space to explore a complete linux 
> solution for the database.

You might want to consider installing and using VMWare Player (as I
suggested previously). While you can easily share bnary files on
VirtualBox via shared folders (heed the security warnings), you can copy
& paste and drag & drop files and folders between the Ubuntu host and
the Windows guest using VMWare Player - no need to set up shared folders.

Note: I use both VMWare and VirtualBox for different tests/purposes, so
my suggestions are not particularly biased ther othan what I find
convinient for my own purposes and/or review.

> 
> I now have my second XP laptop to convert.  The main problems I have 
> with this are
> 1.finding an equivalent program to Windows Picture and Fax viewer
> 2. Getting sane to recognise the scanner pare of an ink jet 
> printer/scanner (Epson XP 100).
> 3. Confirming the libre equivalent to Powerpoint will let me use an 
> interactive device as the main display screen

You might find these helpful:

https://help.ubuntu.com/
  https://help.ubuntu.com/community
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows
  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CommonQuestions
Note: use the search box.

> 
> I have successfully installed the three printers  I have and also a 
> stand alone  Epson scanner, but sane does not find the scanner built 
> into the XP 100.

<https://help.ubuntu.com/search.html?cof=FORID:9&cx=004599128559784038176:vj_p0xo-nng&ie=UTF-8&q=XP+100&sa=Search>
   https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Scanners
https://www.google.com/#q=ubuntu+++epson+xp+100+scanner
http://www.openprinting.org/printer/Epson/Epson-XP-100_Series
etc.


> 
> I hope that with this machine I can be completely free of Windows.

Right... that attitude won't get you much purchase here. Most/many
regulars here are smart enough to use applications that suit their
actual needs & try to forgo the 'I'm a new linux zealeot' altogether.

Relax, take your time, read, learn & use whatever suits your
requirements... for example for genealogy I use GRAMPS - can run circles
around my brother (whom I support remotely) who uses Family Tree. But
who cares - he's happy with FT and I'm happy importing & fixing his
files in GRAMPS. My point is this; I've been using linux/Ubuntu for
quite a few years (search these archives), and typically only use
Windows for customer/relative support, but I've certainly nothing
against keeping active Win2K/XP/7/8 in VM's for this, *and* for running
a few applications that I can't use with linux.
...