Forget dual-booting! Virtualization 101 - Page 8 - Overclock.net

devsk · 02-26-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by error10

You can't run 64-bit virtual guests since Intel didn't include the virtualization feature in that line of processors. You can run 32-bit virtual guests, but they will run slower than they would if you had a processor with virtualization.

Actually, this is a limitation of VBox only. VMWare Player can run 64-bit guests on 64-bit CPUs without hardware virtualization. vmplayer is a better product at this time. virtualbox has some way to go before it can reach the performance of vmplayer.

error10 · 02-26-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by devsk

Actually, this is a limitation of VBox only. VMWare Player can run 64-bit guests on 64-bit CPUs without hardware virtualization. vmplayer is a better product at this time. virtualbox has some way to go before it can reach the performance of vmplayer.

This is true. Keep in mind that without hardware support, virtualization will be much slower than it otherwise would be.

bourne-no longer · 02-26-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphi44

I use VMware to run backtrack while on vista. Very handy indeed....

Good choice.. backtrack is an neat distro of linux

I have some experience in backtrack3. I currently run it from a pen drive

That aside. VMware is probably the best thing that I have used for virtualization both from a Windows OS or a Linux OS. I currently have a linux box running both Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 with no problems.

It is free to which is great. However I don't like their web interface all that much.

ESXi (free) is also an interesting program however I have been unable to install it yet as my hardware doesn't play nice with ESXi

cheers

xlastshotx · 04-14-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by error10

Now there are several programs which allow you to run virtual machines, like VMware, QEMU, and some others. Linux has the most virtualization choices available so if you aren't a gamer you should consider using a Linux host and running Windows in a virtual machine.

You say if you arn't a gamer you should consider using Lunix as a host, but I am wondering why is this? If you have a virtual windows vista running out of linux, wouldn't you still be able to install all the drivers and whatnot from the virtual vista, which would allow you to game? Or am a missing something?

I haven't used linux for a long time (and even when I did use it back than I didn't know much), but I was considering going back to it.

*edit

Quote:

Nope, you can't have 3D graphics in a virtual machine, regardless of OS choice. This is a limitation of current virtualization technology and not of any particular operating system. Unfortunately, this isn't likely to change any time in the near future.

Examples:
If you run Vista inside the virtual machine, then you can't use Aero. (And your experience score is 1.0 for graphics.)

If you run Ubuntu inside the virtual machine, then you can't use Compiz Fusion.

nvm

Dual boot it is.

error10 · 04-14-09

I say that if you aren't a gamer then you should consider using Linux as your primary OS since it does virtually everything other than gaming much better than Windows.

devsk · 04-14-09

Quote:

Originally Posted by error10

I say that if you aren't a gamer then you should consider using Linux as your primary OS since it does virtually everything other than gaming much better than Windows.

Solid advice there! Actually, if you dual boot, you can still have linux as your primary OS, and boot into Windows to play games. In fact, you can use the same windows install inside the VM in Linux i.e. you can use your real Windows install inside a VM in Linux. So, all your programs/games are available to you for tinkering with inside a VM.

BTW, there is experimental 3D support in vmware. Make sure to use VMWare Player and NOT VMWare Server. It has been reported to work nicely for older games if you have new enough hardware. For most practical purposes (like I tested playing movies off of Netflix), the video support has come a long way now.

error10 · 07-07-09

In case you haven't heard, VirtualBox 3.0.0 is out, with guest SMP support, guest 3D acceleration and a whole bunch more features. Go pick it up today!

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Forget dual-booting! Virtualization 101

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