[XCSSA] vmware, and that "other" OS

[xcssa@xcssa.org]

On Thu, 2006-08-03 at 09:34 -0500, xcssa-admin@xcssa.org wrote:
> On 8/3/06, xcssa-admin@xcssa.org <xcssa-admin@xcssa.org> wrote:
> 
>         2) If it involves VMWare on a sturdier base (Linux), what
>         distros does
>         VMWare work with (in practice, I think the only officially
>         supported 
>         distro is RHEL)?
> 
> I've run VMWare on RH, FC, Debian, Ubuntu, and Gentoo.  In all but
> some rare cases you'll need gcc and the linux headers to compile the
> vmware module for your kernel.  vmware-config.pl takes care of all the
> dirty work and warns you appropriately if you are missing something.
> 

AFAIK, Official support is on RHEL and SLES.
I run it on Suse.  Only have to do the following if you upgrade the
kernel (alnong with having gcc/kernel source/make):
`cd /usr/src/linux;\
make mrproper;\
make cloneconfig;\
make prepare;\
vmware-config.pl`

> 
>         3) If it involves VMWare, can guests access hardware that the
>         host
>         doesn't have drivers for?
> 
> VMWare can make USB devices available to the guest.  PCI devices can't
> be seen by windows unless they added that feature recently.  I've used
> a USB scanner in a windows VM that was not supported in Linux. 

I did a firmware update and "dial-up" with a sprint wireless card in a
vm, since the PCMCIA card simulates a usb->serial interface.

>         4) How good is stuff like game support (DirectX) under VMWare?

Can't speak to that.

> To solve the whole re-install problem, VMWare has a persistent flag
> that you can set that will return the system to it's original state
> when it's powered off.  It's also very easy to backup the virtual disk
> file to CD or another disk.  You can also expect VMWare to remain
> constant so even if you swap out video cards or buy a complete new
> computer, your vmware will still look the same to windows and it won't
> complain a bit.

Benefits of virtualization.  
"Non-persistent" is the setting for consistent reboots.  This paired
with snapshots is very powerful for testing and the like.


> I should probably disclaim this by stating that I haven't used Windows
> in a VMWare in about a year now and even then it was just to run
> iTunes to burn up a couple gift cards I got.  Thankfully jHymn was
> able to rip the DRM and I haven't needed to boot it back up again. 

I have to keep a WinXP VM around for testing/simulation of some of our
sales guys PCs, just so that I can remember what the "Other" OS
looks/feels like :)

John