Linux F.A.Q – part II

Is it possible to switch from one distro to the other without having to reboot your PC? I have on my PC, Ubuntu Edgy and Fedora Core 6 and I’ll certainly prefer to switch from one distro to the other without having to reboot each time.
Many of us have a dual boot system like Windows and Ubuntu. Others have even three distros. Its no big problem having more than two running distros on the same PC as a boot loader is configured automatically when a second distro is being installed(GRUB, LILLO). But to be able to switch from one distro to another you need and extra package.
There are several packages out there; commercial, graphical and even Command Line packages. The most common are VMware, VirtualBox, Bochs and the new KVM. The KVM by Qumranet became part of the Linux Kernel as from the 2.6.20 version.
Putting together cost and practicality, I’ll prescribe VirtualBox; its free, easy-to-use, and averagely fast.
To use any of the above apps you need at least 1 GB of RAM, if you have more the better, cause these apps consume a lot of RAM to run properly and to permit you to work without any problems. For now this is the only way. If you can’t afford much RAM, then I’ll advise you to use the traditional method: REBOOT.