I recently decided to try VirtualBox because I wanted an alternative to VMware Server 2.0 which I find to be clunky and buggy compared with the VMware 1.x series.  After a couple of hours of fiddling with VirtualBox and an Ubuntu Jaunty guest – I am very happy with how nicely VirtualBox works.

Particularly, I am pleased with how the graphics driver works once you have installed the “Guest Additions” which are the equivalent on VMware tools, but *much* simpler to installer.

This is what I did:

1.    On my Windows XP installation, I downloaded and installed VirtualBox (62.9M download vs 507M VMware download).
2.    Configured a VM for Ubuntu and added an 8G disk, note if you want a bridged Ethernet Adapter as per VMware, you must change it from the default of NAT.
3.    Booted off an Ubuntu 9.04 CD which was in the host CD drive
4.    Installed Ubuntu and booted into the VM
5.    In VirtualBox, click Devices -> Install Guest Additions
6.    A mounted CD shows on the Ubuntu guest desktop
7.    Open terminal and run:
8.    $ /media/cdrom/autorun.sh
9.    Restart Ubuntu guest

Once the guest has restarted, you can resize the VirtualBox Window and the Ubuntu guest will automatically resize the X resolution.  If you toggle fullscreen with Left CTRL + F and your resolution automagically resizes.  Splendid.  Also comes with auto sensing mouse goodness.

I think I like VirtualBox much more than VMware Server!