Re: [gentoo-user] Ethics of vmware use

[JimD]

JimD wrote:
>> Kevin O'Gorman wrote:
>>
>> Yes, the price is right, but when I tried it I could not make it work.
>>
>> ++ kevin
>
> I am using VMware 4.x workstation.  The workstation performance is
> better than the free versions.  I use Linux for my main desktop, however
> I do MS Win C# programming for a living so I couldn't just ditch WinXP.
>  I find using VMWare very acceptable performance-wise, about 90% of my
> AMD64 3200+ speed, with 2GB I don't even notice I am running WinXP in a
> virtual machine.
>
> However, the 4.x version is getting a little outdated, and doesn't have
> the cleanest install on a 2.6 kernel.  From time to time, I get sound
> locking issues, or the VMware kernel modules won't load even though I
> didn't change my kernel.  So I went to look to upgrade/purchase the 5.x
> version and it is a little costly for home use.  It is dirt cheap for
> corporate use though.
>
> Thanks for the link to Parallels.  The price is great.  I will go give
> it a test and and report back.
>
>
> I would think that Parallels works on Gentoo.  They have a screenshot of
>  it running on Gentoo with a Fedora VM.
>
> http://www.parallels.com/files/upload/ecomfedora_gentoo.gif
>
> Jim

OK, I have WinXP installed in a Parallels VM.  Parallels was *very* easy
to install.  They have an official Gentoo ebuild on their download page!

I grabbed the ebuild and extracted it to /usr/local/portage.  It put the
ebuild in app-emulation/parallels-workstation.

Now just do:

sudo emerge app-emulation/parallels-workstation

It downloads a tar.gz file and installs everything.  Next run:

sudo parallels-config

This sets up the main vm options and compiles kernel mods.  It took a
few seconds with no errors.

Now as a regular user just run the app:

parallels

A nice wizard walks you through setting up your VM.

I need to do a lot more testing and usage to give a better opinion.
However, I will give what I think so far.  The price is great!  The
overall speed is right up there with VMware IMO.  I use VMware
workstation 4.x 8 hours a day Mon-Fri to do dev work.  VM performance is
important to me.

Make sure you install the parallels tools inside of the VM to get better
performance.

I have noticed two negatives so far.

1.  The video performance is not as fast as VMware 4.x.  In VMware 4.x I
really don't notice I am using an OS in a VM.  With Parallels I have
noticed that the mouse can "jerk" a little if you move the mouse a lot,
especially on a web page with a Javascript rollover graphic.

2.  The full screen support in VMware 4.x doesn't work for me.  So I
maximize the window and then use the VMware option to set the guest to
fill the scree.  I like it this way because I get the largest possible
guest resolution while still being able to quickly get to my Linux apps
without having to switch from full screen.  Full screen support in
parallels worked perfectly.  However, I haven't found an option to make
the guest fit to the host window size.  While not a major issue, it is
an annoyance to me because I want my guest OS to be as large as possible
without being in full screen mode.  For now I set the parallels VM to
1152x864.

If parallels can speed up the video a little, it could be a real killer
to VMware workstation.  VMware workstation has great all around
performance, however the price puts it out of reach of home
users/developers.

I will keep doing some more testing.  I still have to install Visual
Studio 2005, SQL Server 200 Dev and IIS/.Net.  I have all of these
running in VMware, so I want to see the performance of the same setup in
parallels.

Jim
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JimD
Central FL, USA, Earth, Sol
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