It does seem a bit strange doesn't it, but it's right, you need to get
the PUEL version to enable USB and one or two other features.

I had no qualms whatsoever about installing the PUEL version, and it's
worked nicely for me for some time now.

Me neither, I use virtual box to run win2k SP4 and Office 2000. Runs very well,
I inten on installing dragon naturally speaking so I hope that will be problem
free too.

I always hate spending hours on something to only
find out I need to start all over again. With luck, this will actually work
right the first time.

The only extra step is to make sure that you add your user name to the
vboxusers group. It may also be necessary to install build-essential before
you install Vbox.

I will remember to do that. I do have build -essentials
installed, so hopefully that would be all the compilation tools I
need. But do you think it would be better to build from source, or to
install with aptitude after adding the virtualbox repositories as
described on the vbox site for debian-based installations?
(<http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads>) I am thinking to
go with the apt-get method, as I figured that would be less likely to
leave me in a pickle...even though compiling hasn't failed me yet
<knocking on wood>. I'm Using Ubuntu 9.1. (I didn't even realize
this was an option at the time of writing the original question.)

You don't need to build from source. There is a deb package from the
Virtualbox site. But during installation it
will compile some modules and build-essential will ensure that happens.
Otherwise installation will be incomplete.

I'm not sure you even have to do that any more (add to the vboxusers
group I mean). Mine seems to work without - can't hurt to do it though.

I see no reason to compile anything. When I've dled Vbox (you have to go
get every new release, it gives you a link when you open it when there's
an upgrade) ... when I've dled it it comes as a .deb, which has an
association with synaptic so I just choose open once it's downloaded and
sit back and watch.

My two penn'orth on what extra you might need to do: go into the
settings for Vbox and /or your virtual machine and add a USB adapter,
plus anything else you might need, to its configuration. It's all done
graphically and is quite straightforward with maybe just a bit of trial
and error. You can also do it on the fly from the Vbox devices menu.

I did NOT say that you have to compile anything. I said that Virtualbox
takes care of it for you. If you install Virtualbox and have the terminal
window open you will see what I mean. It will tell you what the install
script is up to. This is a good practise anyway as it shows you things that
you would otherwise miss. I think that build-essential is part of the
default Ubuntu installation, but it did not used to be. I really don't keep
track.

In the past if you did not have build-essential installed then the
installation would seem to work, but when you clicked on the icon to start
Virtualbox, nothing would appear to happen. If you then ran virtualbox from
the commandline you would see an error message that you need to run a config
script. Nothing would happen if you ran this script until you installed
build-essential first.

The modules I referred to may or may not need to be compiled. It is just
helpful to have the tools pre-installed in order to avoid an incomplete
installation. It used to be that VB would compile modules for your current
kernel/ headers. I think that it now uses dkms and these do not need to be
changed as your kernel changes. But since some people here are working on
older versions of Ubuntu, I threw that info in. It pays to be prepared and
cover all of the bases.

I admit the installation process is much streamlined these days. I used it
when it first came out from Innotek and have seen much improvement over the
years. I used VMWare before that and would never go back. :) I think that
you still need to ad your user name to vboxusers, at least according to
Virtualbox documentation.

Yeah, that was my misunderstanding. I "assumed"... and we all know
what that does. I saw what I thought were the source links at the
top of the vbox download page, saw your comment on build essentials,
and didn't keep reading on the vbox site. I appreciate the
clarification, here and above/below.

Interestingly, I didn't know build-essential could be used by
automatically installing bits, so I am glad I was confused, as it is
good to learn!

No. You need to get Virtualbox (PUEL) from the virtualbox.org site. The OSE
version is crippled and has no usb support.

Installed and all done. That was incredibly easy compared to the
hassle in VMware just to boot an image. Thanks guys for making sure
I got the right version installed! Now to dig up those windows
install disks...

Good luck with installing Windows. Just a couple of things. Sound and
networking may not work until you install Windows drivers, just like you
would have to do for a physical installation. This is annoying because
sometimes you need to download drivers and you can't if there is no network.
Catch 22. That is where the shared folder comes in handy. You can download
drivers on the Ubuntu host machine and copy it to the shared folder from
which you can use them in Windows. It is a round bout way of doing it but it
works if you don't have driver disks. Also if you check Passthrough for the
CD drive then you can use it on both Linux and Windows. Otherwise you have
to turn it off and on manually on the bottom taskbar of Virtualbox (icons on
the bottom right of the VM window).

I think you must have anti-jinxed me! Internet connection and sound
were working great after install. Getting a driver installed for the
proper monitor resolution was a bit of a chore, but in all pretty
snazzy. I love the seamless mode, and it's pop-up menu and moving in
and out of the guest OS is nowhere near as annoying as it is with
VMware.