I Want My Wubi

wubi_logo
Originally uploaded by aOliN.Tk Blog.

So I have a LAMP server I set up using Ubuntu Server at my home. I had to do this because I have a Windows laptop and the Virtual Machine & WAMP/XAMPP softwares were not working for some reason. But then someone did something amazing (to me anyway).

I needed something that I could use on the road, however. So I began backing up all of my data on my laptop (a must at all times) in case of data loss. You see to do a dual-boot system (a Win/Linux machine), most of the time you have to resize the Windows partition and create a new one to install Linux on.

While doing all of that, you hope that your drive doesn't get hosed or any number of other things. If that happens you will have to reinstall your other OS and any data, that is.. if you backed it up. Anecdotally in one instance, I lost the MBR after a Linux Mint install and couldn't load Windows recently.

Finally, I get to my point: I found Wubi. It by-passes all of the problems of fiddling with your computer's brains. What it does is "install" Ubuntu as a file that sits on your Windows system. It also puts some code into your MBR that lets you choose which system you want to use.

I haven't been able to access my Windows hard drive while in Ubuntu, but everything Linux (with ample room for itself) works with native 64-bit 4GB RAM speed, unlike VM or live-USB versions. Then I installed Apache, MySQL and PHP. Now I have a mobile development station without the need to connect to shared hosting or my home dedicated server through something like No-IP. Both of those methods, while do-able, have their issues, and sometimes getting on the web is not possible.

For the casual user, this is really the way to go. You don't have to worry about persistent USB installers, or even burning a disk. Just install Wubi, or be able to uninstall it if you don't like it, just like any other Windows program. No fuss, no muss.