Post date: Jul 25, 2011 8:1:38 PM
Oracle's Virtualbox allows you to run guest operating systems on your local desktop, for Free!
You can download the application here http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/virtualbox/downloads/index.html
I've now got a stable of Operating Sytems including Oracle Linux, Ubunto, Solaris x86 and Windows 7 to try out things on.
Plus the Oracle Developer Day's image builds are also available, even with the instructions for each lesson/demo in the image.