As posted on the TKFP mailing list. A solution for running TK family practice under Windows XP (eg. on a Tablet). Read On for more information.
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 21:23:48 -0800 (PST)
From: Alexander Caldwell
Subject: tkFP + coLinux 1.0 for Windows XP uploaded to Sourceforge

I uploaded a coLinux “root filesystem” image file containing a copy of Tkfp installed on a Gentoo Linux distribution. It is preconfigured and ready to run Tkfp under Windows XP using coLinux. coLinux is a special version of the Linux kernel that allows Linux to run as a “guest OS” or “Virtual Machine” under Windows XP. coLinux boots it’s filesystem from a special file that appears to Windows XP as an ordinary file. But to Linux, it appears as a regular ext3 filesystem and Linux reads and writes data to it just like a regular Linux partition.

It is somewhat slower than a real ext3 file system. But we are talking about running tkFP and Linux a the SAME time under Windows XP – not rebooting into Linux. This is similar to VMWare but coLinux is open source software. We also use the XCygwin X server that runs
on Windows XP, and send the X display from tkFP on the coLinux side to the XCygwin X server running on the Windows side. We have configured it to use about 128mb of RAM for coLinux.

I’m running this set up on a Tablet PC running Windows XP and it works quite well and is very stable. I like this better than the alternate methods of running Linux Tkfp on VNC or running Tkfp on a remote Linux
server and sending the display to the XCygwin X server on Tablet PC.

See the release notes on the http://tkfp.sourceforge.net site in the files area for more detailed instructions. It is actually quite easy
to install. The major headache is in configuring the network “bridge” needed to allow the coLinux “virtual machine” to communicate with the host Windows XP over tcp/ip. But Windows XP and coLinux have everthing
needed to set it up. It requires about 10-12 gb of free disk space and probably at least 512mb of RAM and a Pentium 4 class computer to run well.

Alex Caldwell