<div dir="ltr">the only drawback of virtualbox open source is that it doesn't allow to attach a usb. The binary version allows that.<br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 12:01 AM, boazg <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:boaz.gezer@gmail.com">boaz.gezer@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div dir="ltr">have you tried virtualbox? it's GPL, and i've had some good experience with it.<div>
<div></div><div class="h5"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 21:06, Eli Billauer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:eli@billauer.co.il" target="_blank">eli@billauer.co.il</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Hello,<br>
<br>
<br>
I've been playing around with my new Fedora 12 computer (Intel i7 quad<br>
core) for a few days, mainly for the purpose of making educated<br>
decisions about how to virtualize two old computers, which I want to get<br>
rid of. They are running Windows 2000 and Redhat 7.3. I only tested the<br>
Windows part (Linux should be much easier). Fedora 12 is the host, of<br>
course.<br>
<br>
I've looked at QEMU/KVM vs. VMWare. I want to share my experiences and<br>
insights with you, because I don't like the bottom line, which is the<br>
VMWare is better for almost all home purposes (I'm not talking about<br>
cloud servers and such). Which makes me wonder: Is VMWare a honey trap,<br>
or is it currently the preferred choice?<br>
<br>
In case you wondered, both tools can run simultaneously on the same<br>
computer, seemingly without disturbing each other. It looks like I'm<br>
going to take advantage of this.<br>
<br>
I ran VMPlayer (free as in beer version) with VMTools in the Windows<br>
guest machine. I take it that their licenses don't limit me in time nor<br>
the number of guests I can run simultaneously. Please do correct me if<br>
I'm wrong on this.<br>
<br>
The concept is to copy these machines' disks as image files, and then<br>
seamlessly go on working as if nothing happened. The most important<br>
issue for me is that after the transition I can go on doing everything I<br>
did before (including using electronic development hardware through USB).<br>
<br>
I should mention, that both tool's documented and encouraged flow is to<br>
install a new operating system from scratch on a blank (virtualized)<br>
disk, and not run a previously installed one. Indeed, a preinstalled XP<br>
image tends to give me the blue screen. The Windows 2000 image runs<br>
beautifully.<br>
<br>
QEMU/KVM Pros<br>
* Free (as in freedom)<br>
* Allows incremental images (good for running possibly malicious software)<br>
* Can be run from the command line, and is generally script friendly.<br>
* Appears to be more secure (SELinux is all over)<br>
* Display on VNC allows remote access to guest<br>
<br>
QEMU/KVM Cons:<br>
* Doesn't currently have an EHCI driver (and hence guest sees only USB<br>
1.1, not 2.0)<br>
* Didn't manage to attach a USB device I need for electronics<br>
development (Xilinx programming cable).<br>
* Has Windows paravirtualization drivers for network card only. Display<br>
is slow.<br>
* Using the mouse is annoying (poor tracking, clicks are sometimes missed).<br>
<br>
VMPlayer Pros:<br>
* VMTools offers a nice set of paravirtual drivers<br>
* Very good emulation of graphics card (through paravirtual driver).<br>
Feels like a real computer, it's possible to play movies. The guest's<br>
desktop size is dynamically adjusted to the virtual machine's window<br>
size, which is pretty convenient.<br>
* Very good handling of USB hotplugging. Needless to say, it handled my<br>
special piece of hardware seemlessly.<br>
* Easy to feel with mouse.<br>
<br>
VMPlayer Cons:<br>
* Feels like it was designed for Windows host. If you can't do it<br>
through GUI, you can't do it at all (?)<br>
* Everything about their website says "we'll give you this for free (if<br>
you manage to find it), but you really want our million dollar version"<br>
<br>
So this is my grim bottom line: I don't like the music I get from<br>
VMWare, but VMPlayer does the job, and QEMU is almost there. But almost<br>
is not enough when you want something to work. Remember that I'm the one<br>
who wants his computer working, first and foremost?<br>
<br>
Your information, comments and insights are mostly welcome.<br>
<br>
Eli<br>
<font color="#888888">--<br>
<br>
Web: <a href="http://www.billauer.co.il" target="_blank">http://www.billauer.co.il</a><br>
<br>
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