Debian pre-built virtual machines available

[Antonio Ognio <gnrfan@gnrfan.org>]

Hi there list,

Just wanted to mention this so you can spread the
word and perhaps blog about this:

VMware is giving away for free their VMware Player software,
a trimmed down version of their VMware Workstation product
that lets you "play" (but not create) a virtual machine
in both Linux or Windows.

I mention this here because Debian GNU/Linux happens to
have two pre-built virtual machines listed in the community
area of their site as seen here:

http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/vm/community.html

The links are these:

01. Debian Sarge 3.1, minimal (netinstall) version. 115M zipped.
    http://www.thoughtpolice.co.uk/vmware/

02. Debian Sarge 3.1r1, minimal. 98M zipped.
    http://chaz6.com/?page_id=141

The advantage of Debian here is that both of them are the smallest
downloads among the other distros and OSes showed there and perhaps 
the easiest to update and turn into a desired functional virtual box.
 
So if someone you know, a friend, client or collegue needs to check
Linux out you could suggest Debian and you could suggest VMware Player
as a "safe" way to get the know the product for them.

Perhaps it's the ideal deal for those guys that want to learn to 
sysadmin their own dedicated server or simply want to learn about
Postfix, Squid or Samba to set a server in their office.

Hope this info is useful for you or your friends,

Antonio.