internet explorer on ubuntu

Question

I need IE on my Ubuntu Karmic, better yet various versions of IE at the same time. What's the best and most reliable solution? Tx

Answer 1

1. Install some kind of virtual machine (e.g., vmware, virtual box)
2. Install a version of Windows in the virtual machine
3. Install Sandboxie in the virtual machine
4. Upgrade IE within the individual sandbox.

Answer 2

the most reliable method would be a VBox with Windows XP, if you don't have a license, you may use a Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image, although designed for MS VPC, these virtual hard disks work with VirtualBox.

Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image are free time-limited virtual machines, either XP or Vista with IE6, 7 & 8 , the current set is valid until April 1st, 2010.

Answer 3

Install wine, and install each version in a separate wine "bottle".

IEs4Linux ( http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Main_Page ) does a bunch of the work for you, but it can be challenging to extend the installation to other applications

Alternatively, use Cross-over Linux - they roll in some of the Windows stuff that IE needs. It has worked well for me.

Answer 4

At work we have an old machine running Ubuntu with lots of VMs on it. One runs IE6 on XP and another runs IE8, again on XP. The IE8 browser can be put into IE7 mode with the developer toolbar.

To access the VMs we use Remote Desktop. This works very well within the team as we can get someone else to easily log in and see 'the problem', hopefully to fix it.

The main benefit of the Remote Desktop approach is that one's machine is not slowed down by running a native copy of Virtualbox.