Virtualbox to Qemu

Migrating from virtualbox to qemu can be as simple as this:

vditool COPYDD vbox-image.vdi raw-image.img
qemu-img convert -f raw raw-image.img -O qcow2 qemu-image.qcow

Kvm problems on intel

Kvm can sometimes just abort when trying to install a new OS in an image (Like Ubuntu 7.10). The solution is to install with the -no-kvm flag but it is just very slow

kvm ubuntu.img -cdrom ubuntu.iso -boot d -no-kvm

once installed you can run the image with the flag and run at full speed :-)

kvm ubuntu.img

Ubuntu 8.10 on Dell studio

I tried to install Ubuntu 8.10 on a new Dell studio desktop PC but encountered some problems with the sound card. After some browsing and trying different proposals this is how I got it working on my system:
1) Follow this instructions to install the latest alsa
2) use this line in your modprobe:

options snd-hda-intel model=6stack-dell probe_mask=1

3) reboot and adjust the volumes.