USE THREE

SYSTEMS
on a PC
W indows can do a lot, but it

cant do everything. Windows

users occasionally shoot
envious glances at Linux, which promises
good security, is rarely infected with
viruses and is thus well suited for online
banking. Apples Mac OS X is also quite
coveted owing to its trendy user interface
and dedicated applications. Some users
may also want to test console games
or other software not meant to run
natively on Windows or on their systems.
Virtualisers and emulators enable you to
run all these systems on a Windows PC.
Should I emulate or
virtualise?
You can install a virtual system on your
system with VirtualBox (on this issues
DVD). You can choose to install either
Linux or a second Windows version.
VirtualBox shares the CPU and main
memory with Windows, enabling the
OS installed on it to run simultaneously.
It also allows you to use the Internet
connection or existing USB ports
simultaneously. The virtual computer can
read data on your physical hard disk to
install an OS, but it cannot write to it.
You require an emulator for systems
with special hardware components,
for example, the RISC CPU of the
PlayStation 1 or the architecture of
an Apple PowerMac computer. This
tool simulates the complete hardware
of the external device in a special
environment. Emulators generally run
slower than virtualisers because they
must clearly carry out more operations.
The legal situation is often unclear
and may be a problem in the case
of emulators. The BIOS of a game
console is copyright reserved, but you
can read the BIOS from your own
PlayStation. We explain in this article
how you can manage the task quickly
and safely. Likewise, you must have an
original copy of Apples Mac OS X.
More tools, more games,
more user value
On the following page, we show you
how you can extend your computers
functionality by way of virtualisers and
emulators. You shall fi nd all necessary
tools on the DVD bundled with this
issue. We also demonstrate how you
can safely clone your system for testing
applications, software or extravagant
confi gurations.
Virtualisation enables you to make online transactions safely, test
software without risks,
clone your computer and emulate consoles. BY MARKUS HERMMSDORFER
SMS us! Story code: F3S to 51818
THREE SYSTEMS ON A PC
FEATURED
94 09/2012 INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

1 INSTALL BITBOX: BitBox (www.

sirrix.de) is one of the best solutions
if you dont mind virtualisation or Linux.
This banking software is a heavilyarmoured
version of Firefox that runs from
inside a secured Debian Linux installed on
a virtual machine. To begin, click on the
set-up icon and let the application start
the set-up wizard. The set-up wizard fi rst
unpacks the system to a folder of your
choice and subsequently installs VirtualBox
and reboots the computer. Once booted,
run the BitBox set-up fi le again and follow
the wizards remaining instructions. Select
Expert mode to set up each aspect of
the system by yourself. For security
settings, we recommend selecting the
Confi rmation by the user choice, which
will enable you to check on all data traffi c.
The remaining steps are self-explanatory.

2 SAFE SURFING: Double click the

newly saved Browser in the box
symbol after the installation. BitBox fi rst
initializes the virtual machine and a new
window opens in which the Linux version
of Firefox starts. Now you can type in your
banks website and carry out your
transactions. Once done, select File |
Close in BitBox. All browser tracks are
automatically deleted when shutting down
the virtual PC and all changes are rejected.
A clean, newly installed BitBox is available
with the next start.

3 ARRANGING A VIRTUAL PC: If you

want to run fi nance software on your
virtual PC, start Oracle VM VirtualBox by
BitBox and set up a virtual PC inclusive of
the hard disk and main memory using
New. Note that the resources shown in
the wizard for the operating system are
shared from your Windows installation. For
Puppy Linux (www.puppylinux.org), you
need only 128 MB of hard disk space and
256 MB of main memory. If the new virtual
PC is listed in the main window of
VirtualBox, click Mass storage and click
Blank under IDE controller. Now you can
give the path for the Puppy Linux ISO fi le.
Confi rm with OK and Start the virtual
PC with the mini Linux. The new operating
system is installed there.

4 STARTING HOME BANKING: You

can immediately start a banking
software adequate for home use using
Menu | Business | Homebank Finance
Management. You can fi nd additional
tools by clicking Install | Click button to
run the Puppy Package Manager. Enter
gnucash in the following window to
install this well-known banking software.

12
34

Online Transactions on a
virtual PC
Rule out hack attacks with a high security operating system for online
transactions that protects
you against hackers and viruses
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP 09/2012 95
12
34
1 CLONING SYSTEM PARTITION: To
clone Windows 7 and your
applications to a virtual hard disk, enter
Save in the search line of the Start Menu
and select Create backup of the computer
| Create system image. Follow the
instructions of the wizard. Reject the
option to create a repair data carrier thats
off ered in the end.

2 EXTRACTING A VIRTUAL HARD

DISK: Windows creates a
WindowsImageBackup folder when
saving a new fi le. The [Computer name}\
Backup [Date] subfolders are located
there. Confi rm the pop-up dialogue by
clicking Continue when opening this fi le
to receive the necessary access rights. You
will fi nd VHD fi les in the backup folder
which include the System reserved
partition and a big fi le with the Windows
partition. If you have a separate partition
that includes your application or have a
multiboot hard disk with diff erent operating
systems, you will see several large virtual
hard disks. Now create a new VHD
directory outside the Windows Image
backup folder. Copy the virtual hard disks
to this new directory. Right click on one of
the VHDs and select Properties | Security
| Advanced | Owner | Edit. Now, you can
change the owner from System to
Administrator and copy the virtual hard
disk to VHD. Also change the fi le name
for a better overview. Name the small VHD
system reserved and the big one as
Windows 7 copy.

3 ORGANIZE VIRTUAL PC: Create a

virtual PC in VirtualBox (free
download) using New and add your
VHDs using Mass storage. If you have an
IDE hard disk, you must also select the
IDE controller in the virtual PC. You also
require a Windows 7 DVD. You include
these two in the Mass storage fi eld.

4 ORGANIZE BOOT SECTOR: Start

the virtual PC and press [F12] to
boot the Windows DVD. Click Computer
repair options in the Wizard. Open the
Input request in the System restoration
option in the dialogue. Type in the control
sequence that is given on the DVD as a
test fi le (diskpart-listing.txt). Afterwards,
make the Windows partition bootable with
the bootrec/fi xmbr and bootrec/fi xboot
commands. Close the input request and
select System start repair. You must
execute it three times because the boot
manager cannot fi nd the Windows
partition easily. Only after you do this can
you boot your cloned computer.

Duplicating Your
Personal PC Virtually
Test semi-finished software on a virtual copy of your personal computer or
test extravagant
configurations
96 09/2012 INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP

12
34
1 PREPARE: You require a legal copy
of Apples OSX as an ISO fi le for this
workshop. The PearPC emulator (on issue
DVD) supports OSX versions 10.2 (Jaguar),
10.3 (Panther) and 10.4 (Tiger). First,
create a new directory C:\PPC and
decompress PearPC there. Create a
subdirectory image in the PPC folder.
Unpack a blank virtual hard disk the
PearPC image fi le (pearpc.sourceforge.
net). This is compressed in the bz.2
archive format. If unpacking fails, install
IZArc (izarc.org) and decompress the
image with this tool into the folder PPC\
Image. In pearpc.img, you can change
the fi le name of the packed image fi le.
Lastly, copy the Mac OSX ISO fi le in the
image folder.

2 CONFIGURE EMULATOR: Now

install the PearPC tool Vbox GUI.
Click New, enter a name, in the wizard
and select the operating system to be
emulated here. Enter the path to fi le
pearpc.img under Primary master HD
image. Give the fi le path for the ISO fi le of
the Mac OSX in the IDE slot fi eld. Exit
the wizard with Finish and switch the
display resolution to 1024x768x32 under
Video. Click Next and change the entry
to select under Boot | Boot method. If
you have a PC with at least 2 GB of RAM,
increase the main memory to 1 GB under
System.

3 INSTALLING MAC OS: Click Start

to activate the emulator. The tool
shows a bootable partition marked with
cdrom0, which you select with the [1]
button. Subsequently, the installation of
Mac OSX starts. It runs automatically to a
large extent and lasts for approximately 40
minutes on a computer with a multi-core
CPU and 2 GB of RAM. At the end of the
installation, PearPC shuts down the Apple
operating system automatically. Remove
the entry for the set-up DVD using IDE.

4 CREATE SHORTCUT: Click Create

desktop shortcut by clicking the
main window of VBox GUI to start Mac
OSX easily in the future. From now on, you
can start your new Apple PC using the
shortcut. The operating system requests
all sorts of data and a compulsory
registration. The registration is used to
avoid the installation of the OS copy on
several Macs or PCs. Once the system is
installed, you can start programs like iChat,
Safari and the QuickTime player using the
task bar. Otherwise, open System
settings and confi gure the system by
yourself.

APPLE MAC OS X on
Windows PC
Revive old programs that do not run on Intel Mac with the PearPC emulator in
Windows
INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP 09/2012 97
12
34
1 READ PLAYSTATION BIOS: If you
have a PlayStation 1, you'll have read
the copyright protected BIOS on it. Unpack
the BIOS dumper (forums.ngemu.com/
showthread.php?t=93161) and burn the
psx.exe fi le from the archive onto a CD
ROM. Insert a blank memory card in the
PlayStation and insert the CD you just
burned. Once the dump tool starts, select
the BIOS parts displayed fi rst with the [X]
button on the controller. Once the
selection is done, exit the console by
pressing the [O] button. To read the
memory card on the PC, you'll need a
device called DexDrive available on eBay
for approximately 20 Euros (approx. Rs
1,362), and the tool Memcard Rex
(shendosoft.blogspot.de). Do the same for
all four parts to retrieve all components of
the BIOS. Change the extension .gme to
.mcr with every BIOS part that is
downloaded. Now, install Biosmerge
(forums.ngemu.com/showthread.
php?t-93161) and move the fi ve BIOS
parts to its directory. The tool merges them
in a SCPHxxxx.bin fi le. Replace the four
x-digits with the serial number of the
PlayStation that you will fi nd at the
bottom of the device.

2 CONFIGURE EMULATOR: Unpack

EPSXE (www.epsxe.com) and open
the fi le. Now, copy the BIOS of the
PlayStation in the bios directory. Start the
emulator and follow the instructions in the
wizard. If you are unsure whether a driver
functions on your system, click test. If an
error occurs, use another driver. Use
Confi g to confi gure video, audio, CDROM
and controller settings according to your
preference.

3 LOAD GAME: EPSXE can read your

PC's DVD drive. As soon as you insert
a game disk, you can run it via File | Run
CDROM. With Nero or ImgBurn, you can
also save games that are not copyright
protected onto a hard disk and load them
using File | Run ISO. If it rejects the game,
see under Help | Contents | Specifi c
games whether the developer of the
emulator off ers any solution.

3 TUNE GRAPHICS: High-end

graphics are never to be had from
nostalgic block graphics. However, testing
plug-ins available on pbernert.com is worth
the while. If one from those available is
able to better support your graphics card,
you can go for high resolution in the video
confi guration of the emulator or increase
the image frequency (FPS).
- feedback@chip.in

Emulating Game
Consoles on the PC
Do you have children playing with your PlayStation all day? Get the console
absolutely legally on
your Windows desktop with an emulator.
98 09/2012 INTELLIGENT COMPUTING CHIP
COMPARERAJA.COM

F requent online shoppers will be

well-aware of how tedious the

price comparison process can get.
The newly-launched CompareRaja does
all the work for you, bringing you
results from a whole range of sites.
In terms of design and layout, the site
is quite intuitive and easy to navigate.
After a user selects a category and
enters the product, it displays a list of
websites selling that product against its
cost. Search results are arranged from
the lowest price to the highest, with
the best deal highlighted. Additionally,
the website also shows discount
coupons, if any are available. Results
are pulled in from sites like Flipkart,
HomeShop18, IndiaPlaza, Naaptol,
Yebhi, Infi Beam, Indiatimes Shopping
and Sulekha. Choose your deal, and
the site takes you to the e-commerce
site to complete your transaction. You
can compare prices of mobile phones,
tablets, cameras, camcorders, laptops,
watches, perfumes, and books.
An interesting feature is an add-on
for Chrome and Firefox browsers. When
youre browsing an e-commerce site,
it displays prices and discount details
from other sites. Apart from price
comparison, it allows you to ask your
Facebook friends their views about a
product. You can set price reminders for
notifi cations when a particular product
is available at the price specifi ed.
The site displays ratings by
experts and users alike. In addition,
CompareRaja plans to have a userrating
system for e-commerce sites so