vmware
 

I just got my grubby little hands on a copy of Vmware Workstation 4, and I wanted to share my experiences with you guys (and dolls:)).

Vmware allows you to create completly independent operating systems inside your existing system, unlike old emulators that just pretended to be one OS inside of another, Vmware is a fully functional virtual machine.

Last night I installed a RedHat system inside of my XP Pro PC for example. I went thru the full install process from the 3CD distro, rebooted the virtual machine and voila...instant Linux learning enviroment. Since I'm new to Linux this is ideal for me, I can't wait to start browsing the web and emailing from this new "alien" enviroment. Linux is very exciting to me (my GF is just shaking her head). Best part is that I didn't have to aquire any new hardware.

But I digress, Vmware is the point here, the applications are virtually :lol: endless with a virtual emulator like Vmware:

*use a virtual OS to test software without risking your base OS
*use a virtual OS to run all your P2P apps, any virus or adware you my aquire would be contained to your virtual enviroment.
*rebuild fully functional OS's in a fraction of the time.

Anyway, I should mention that I do not work for Vmware, I just had to pass this on as I can't remember the last time I was this excited about software.

It costs around $200 and there is a free 30 trial here: http://www.vmware.com/index.html --download link upper left, get the Workstation 4.5 binary

It's a great product - I've been using it for years. It does have some issues but your milage might vary.

If you run XP without rebooting for awhile, as I do, VMWare may start consuming large chunks of CPU time, slowing everything down. Often, you can terminate the vm-auth process and you're OK.

Another thing I've found is that drag-and-drop from your desktop to a VM may stop working if you frequently use the Pause/Restart feature in the VM. I haven't updated my software in awhile so maybe it's fixed in a later release.

I've been unsuccessful at installing some Linux distros - they have issues with the virtual video driver of VMWare. This impacted me on Mandrake 9.0 and another distro I can't recall. I haven't tried anything recently.

You can't use Remote Desktop (RDP) and attempt to resume a Paused VM. I am guessing the video parameters of the remote session conflict with what it's expecting and it won't Restart the VM. In fact, I don't think it'll even start a VM from scratch using RDP. You're best off using VNC although it's slower.

Microsoft has released Virtual PC which may prove to be a good competitor. Although it's targeted to running copies of Windows, it supports running Linux and DOS. Hopefully they won't cripple the software when it comes to runing Linux.

I actually have used vmware on many occasions.

When I was learning Server 2000, I set a virtual machine as a Server, so that I could do some exercises.

I also used it to learn linux.

Nice indeed!

do not forget you can run multiple vmware-OS's at once and network them together on the same pc. (your NIC is now functioning as a virtual hub - bridged). very nice for networking excercises.
I used it for quick test set-ups in a mixed linux - MS enviroment.

a lot of operating systems wont work in it :-(

syllable didnt work right, slax live CD doesnt work (with the one config i tried) and some others dont.

I want to try OpenBSD in it so I can figure out how to configure X and KDE on it.

is there a list floating around that has what you can use on it? The price kinda scares the crap outta me cause i've never bought anything over 40 bucks.

I've used it before, I love it. I've used it to:
- Run Linux (RH7.2) in Windows (2K)
- Run Windows (XP) in Linux (RH9 or FC1)
- At work we run AD Servers (W2K AS) on our Linux boxes (our own brand of Linux, although they'll soon be going to RedHat).
- Another place I worked at used it to run WinXP on a Win2K machine (don't ask hehe)

Besides the performance degredation you can get from running 2 OSs on the same system, it's not a bad system ;)

There's alternatives.. and if you're keen.. check out bochs: The Open Source IA-32 Emulation Project (Home Page)... it's like vmware.. but Open Source (and more difficult to setup, beware!)

I had a problem with syllable as well. Boot CD had some problems. Ah well, maybe in the future...

When you set up a "virtual machine", it gives you a list of "guest OSs" that it can customise itself for (default amounts of mem/disk/etc). I'm not sure that's a definitive list, but it's a good start. Oh.. and definitely give it a free trial before shelling out $200 for it.

http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/ws_specs.html

The other Linux distro I couldn't get to work was FreeBSD. The video was scrambled. If I knew more about Linux I might have been able to fix it, however I was installing the OS to learn more about it. Catch 22!

Sometimes trying to use the cd doesn't work, and in that case you need to use the iso or image file.

I had to use the iso when installing redhat ver. 8 & 9. With windows OS you don't need to do that however.

I use VMWare all the time. I keep a copy of fresh 98/2000/XP installs so when I need to test an app out, I can run it on a FRESH system and get a good idea of how well it runs. Once I'm done, I delete the "tainted" windows and replace it w/ the files of the fresh install. Much easier than formatting & reinstalling windows on actual machines, ghosting too.

It also comes in handy if you need to take a server down. Install linux and switch DNS/Mail/etc to your vmware while you take the other box home & format it (that is, if you don't normally have a secondary box).