Although it was called "non-free" in the past since it wasn't an opensource app back then, but now since Oracle (Sun Microsystems actually) decided to make its source-code available under the GNU-GPL license... this has become one of the favorites of the GNU/Linux Geeks ;-).
Virtulization software in general usually releases new version a bit frequent than many other kinds of software since stability and a higher level of security is a must for a "virtualized-environment" thus there's always "space" for bug fixes (yikes) and improvements in general.
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| What the! ;-)... |
As a result Oracle also releases new versions quite frequently which usually means bug fixes rather than "features" but few hours ago they've released Virtualbox 4.1 which brings some major changes to the overall application such as...
*. Enhanced virtual disks creating wizard.
*. A totally new wizard for copying virtual disks.
*. Aspect ration related bug fix (only concerning MS Windows and Mac OSX).
*. A new and experimental Windows display driver model that eliminates the need to installing the Guest drivers in Safe Mode + supports the Aero interface (including Direct 3D of course) as well.
*. New network driver model (open-architecture) which separately distributable virtual network implementations.
*. With VboxManage now an experimental SATA hot-plug is available... are just the major ones to mention.
But the 4.1 version do come with a lot of bug fixes as usual too. You can install Virtualbox 4.1 in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, 10.04 and 10.10 by using main two methods.
Note: If you have installed Virtualbox before, then please remove it first. This may not be necessary... but in most cases having a fresh-install is the best way to go ;-). To remove Virtualbox use the below command.
sudo apt-get purge virtualbox
The first method I think is the easiest since all you gotta do is just download the pre-built ".deb" packages from Oracle themselves and once the downloading is complete, just double click on it and follow the on-screen instructions. So... if you use,
Ubuntu 11.04 - Then get the 32-bit from here and 64-bit version from here.
Ubuntu 10.10 - Then get the 32-bit from here and 64-bit from here.
Ubuntu 10.04 - Then get the 32-bit from here and 64-bit version from here.
If you're a bit of a old-school geek, you can also install Virtualbox 4.1 using the command-line by using the below steps if you like as well.
1. First you'll have to enter the Virtualbox repository into the Ubuntu Linux OS.
Open your Terminal and enter the below commands.
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
This should open the gedit (text editor for Gnome desktop) with "source.list" file opened and ...
If you use Ubuntu Linux 11.04, then enter the below text into the "sources.list" file.
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian natty contrib
If you use Ubuntu 10.10 then use the below one instead.
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian maverick contrib non-free
If you use Ubuntu 10.04 then you'll have to use the below one.
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lucid contrib non-free
Then as said before, if you have already installed a previous of Virtualbox, then remove it and then afterwards use the below commands.
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.1
That's it dudes...enjoy!.
