You could attempt to run Toad natively on your Linux PC via software emulation such as WINE (free) or CrossOver Linux (~$40). And there are web sites out there that document such setups (e.g. www.winehq.com –>Browse Apps–>Productivity–>Database–>Toad). However none of these Windows emulators is ever 100% reliable in my experience. So I needed a better solution, and thus I turned to “VMware Server” – a freeware wonder-tool. 

Simply download and install the correct VMware Server software for your specific Linux distribution (www.vmware.com/products/server). As part of that process, you will asked to register so they can email you a key – but rest easy, VMware have never ever emailed me or otherwise pestered me in any way. It’s been such a wonderful experience – I love this company and their software. Now if I had just been smart enough to buy their stock this year during their amazing IPO and tripled my money – oh well, maybe next time.

After VMware Server has been installed, then simply create a new virtual machine using an old (and legally licensed) copy of Windows that you have lying around. Then install Oracle’s client, either the full version or the newer lite version, and finally install Toad. 

Now you can reliably run Toad on your Linux machine with zero hiccups. Yes, I know that this method wastes a few gigabytes of disk space – which simply amounts to about one dollar with toady’s cheap disk drives. And yes, running Windows under Linux means splitting CPU and memory – again, so what these days. When I run Windows 2000 and Toad 9.1 (both fairly light footprint software) my notebook shows very little overhead. So I can live with these costs since it gives me the stability of Linux and the ability to successfully use Toad on my Oracle databases!