looking for a cross browser test platform

[blackhawk]

Does anyone know of any creative software or web pages that allows multiple browser testing without actually testing in IE's browser? Something I can use on the fly?

Thanks

[blackhawk]

I found a good link here -

Cross-Browser Testing: A Detailed Review Of Tools And Services - Smashing Magazine

[ridexbuilder]

The joys of VirtualBox, run different environments/browsers for free - when I remember
Lets you test jquery, Flash (yeuk!) and so on, which a screenshot just won't do.

[blackhawk]

last that I recall, virtual box required more room than I had on my partition drive in order to be used properly. Unless I'm doing something wrong, its asking me for a huge amount of harddrive space to have on reserve. If this sounds weird, how did you install it on your system. On my partitioned laptop, I only have 25 Gigs of use for my linux system (ubuntu).

[blackhawk]

yeah, i just tried installing it again and there is a message that pops up that says...

"The recommended size of the boot hard disk is 10240 MB."

Then below that are 2 buttons that says "new" or "existing"

I have no clue which one to select, or to just press next.

[ridexbuilder]

These days with so much development work and clients' supplementary backups, I'm fortunate enough to have 250Gb storage. I also store about 10,000 photographs. In terms of what is actually required for complete multiple Linux installs, this space is considerably less.

Separate bootable partition 6Gb
Full blown Vbox virtual disk - Linux 6Gb - cutdown WinXP 4.5 Gb
I also run various LiveCD distributions directly via ISOs stored on disk.

When installing Linux (most modern distros.), if you allow the partitioner to do it's own thing, it will 'gobble up' as much as it can get. Choose the guided manual mode, for a much more controlled installation.
Example:
Root (/) = 4Gb
Swap = 512Mb or slightly bigger than RAM, if you wish to use hibernation.
tmp = 1Gb (for example)
home = anything from 1Gb up, depending on whether you wish to run a webserver, share data on a Windoze partition. I have a 6Gb one.
Use ext4 as the filesystems for all except tmp with should be ext2.

The above is similar to what I have, even with plenty of space, plus the addition of an independent test linux partition of 5.86Gb (arbitrarily enough for most distributions).

HTH

EJ

[ridexbuilder]

I'll try to create new one just now... update shortly.
[If I'm doing this I ain't testing the new Category image resizer ]

[ridexbuilder]

New Virtual Machine
Name: Linux Test
OS: Linux
Version: Linux 2.6
RAM : 384Mb (on my 1Gb lappy)
Boot Hard Disk (ignore recommended)
Create New Hard disk
Create New Virtual Disk
Fixed Size Storage (if you value performance)
Location: browse and create in a ext4 filesystem (preferable) or (as I have done, in most cases) in an NTFS data partition, in a linux-virtual-disk directory.
Size: 5Gb - that'll be fine for most purposes.
Finish.

Once completed,
Click on system and untick floppy. Boot order to CD first.
Storage: Secondary IDE - set to a downloaded ISO or select your CD/DVD drive, with passthrough enabled.
That's the basics.
(Pop a CD/DVD disk if required.)
Start the VM and off you go - hopefully

[blackhawk]

I'm with you so far. I promise I'm not lying but I can't find my original windows vista authentic cd for the life of me! What's your recommendations for a plan b on installing a media drive location for virtual box? my only other option is an iso file, but i don't have an iso of my system...at least i dont think.

[ridexbuilder]

I'm in a similar situation in terms of Vista. It's a pre-installed one and I don't have a CD. Until I can figure out a way to generate an install CD (as can be done with XP), I'm unable to run a Virtual version. Given that it happily swallows 20Gb, without the addition of useful programs, I don't think that I'll bother.

If you download an ISO eg. Linux Mint (my fav.) then you can not only dual boot Vista (if you wish) but also run it in a virtual machine, using Vbox, under Vista.
'Lighter' distributions can use up considerably less disc space.
http://distrowatch.com