TryLin

1. Introduction

What is TryLin?
TryLin is a fully functional Linux system emulated on a Windows system. It is based on an opensource emulator called QEmu by Fabrice Bellard. The system on which it relies uses only the memory.

Where can you download from?
Directly from here!
Download the latest update, extract it to the folder where TryLin is installed, overwriting the old files and launching the script avvia.
In the new version, the previous CTRL-SHIFT combinations become CTRL-ALT.

2. Step by step installation

Double-click the TryLin-??.exe file (where ?? ndicates the version number).
Type in the space after "Extract to" the folder where you want to unpack TryLin (for example C:\TryLin as shown in the figure).

Wait for the extraction to complete, go to the new folder and open it. Then launch the script avvia.

3. First execution

If everything went well you should get a screen like that.

At this point the Linux kernel will start: it will stop for a while both at the writing:
Falling back to a sane timesource now.
both after the writing:
scsi: <fdomain> Detection failed (no card)
It is absolutely normal!

At the end you will come to this screen:

At this point if you click in the window you will no longer have control of the mouse and keyboard in Windows, but as the window title says to resume checking (to exit grab) just press CTRL-SHIFT (in italian MAIUSC) or in the new CTRL-ALT version.
This key combination is very important, otherwise you will no longer be able to perform other tasks outside of the emulation.
Understood this we pass to the login:

Just write user and give twice ENTER and you are inside!
If you are really lazy, just double click on the word utente and then right-click and then ENTER twice.
Now you are inside Linux, the shell per utente is the Bash while for c is the Tcsh.
To make a correct exit from TryLin it is necessary, before closing the window, to shut down the emulated system using the sudo halt command.

4. Troubleshooting

I can not start TryLin. What can I do?
Well, I tried TryLin on Windows 2000 and XP and there were no problems. It should also work on Windows 98, but I have not tried yet.
A reason could be the memory, the emulator uses 128 MB by default, so it means that to make it run decently it takes at least 160. However, it is possible to change the amount of memory that TryLin uses by giving from the "Command Prompt":
cd C:\TryLin
avvia -m ?? (where ?? is a number that corresponds to half of the memory you own)

It's tremendously slow and it also slows Windows down.
You've to remember that TryLin is still an emulation, so by its nature it is slower than a real Linux installation. However, a solution to the problem can be found in the previous advice to vary the memory to be given to TryLin.

I started TryLin for the second time and this screen appeared. What can I do?

This happens when you close TryLin in the wrong way i.e. without giving the CTRL-ALT-DEL (in italian CANC) to the emulated system or you have not given the command sudo halt. In fact, it is not enough just to close the QEmu window!
However, as you can see from the screen after Linux has put the disk filesystem back into place, the system reboots and soon you are back at the login screen.

Can not I prevent the kernel from starting every time? Can not I immediately get the login screen to start working right away?
Yes, it's possible, but it's not that simple.
When you are at the login screen press CTRL-SHIFT-F2 (or CTRL-ALT-F2) until you get the emulator monitor:

From here, write the command:
savevm vm
The emulator in this way creates a new file called vm in the TryLin folder. Now you can close the QEmu window.
At this point the next time you run avvia, do not worry about starting the kernel and press CTRL-SHIFT-F2 (or CTRL-ALT-F2) at any time and at this point type:
loadvm vm
Wait until the file is loaded and then give CTRL-SHIFT-F1 (or CTRL-ALT-F1) to go back to TryLin: you should be at the login screen.

Can I share with Windows what I save in TryLin?
Of course, you can use a virtual disk and save everything you want to share. Then all you have to do is pour all its contents into a real floppy and use it under Windows.
Let's go step by step:

download the virtual disk from here
unzip it to the folder where you installed TryLin
from the Command Prompt type:
cd C:\TryLin
avvia -fda a.img
at this point after the kernel is booted, you get to the usual TryLin login screen
log in as root and type the command mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy
if everything went well, you should access the virtual floppy located in /mnt/floppy and you can save everything you want inside
at the end, do umount /mnt/floppy and then exit
in the picture you can find an example of what you can do. In this case, all the contents of the home folder of the user utente are copied in the floppy.
from Windows you will have the contents of the virtual floppy in the a.img file
to pour it on a real floppy run rawwrite, click where there are those three dots and choose the folder where there is TryLin (for example C:\TryLin), put a floppy (even unformatted) in drive A and press the button "Write" as in the figure below:

Warning: in this way you will lose all data on the floppy!
now you have all the files saved on a floppy and you can open it using My Computer
be careful that if you have texts made on TryLin on Windows you do not see the "line feed", open it with Wordpad and you will see the text file as on Linux.

This guide is made by whitone (TryLin creator) and updated on 13/10/2005.