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Virtual Machines


Do you use Virtual Machines? If so, which one?  

24 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you use Virtual Machines? If so, which one?

    • VMware
      11
    • Win4Lin
      2
    • Qemu
      4
    • Other
      2
    • All The Above
      0
    • Don't Use
      5


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Thought I'd start a poll on Virtual Machines.

 

Comments on why you use and/or comparisons if you've used more than one product help for discussion.

 

I've used VMware mostly at work, and works quite well. Tried Win4Lin but could never get it to install the Windows 2000 OS (Windows probs eh :P ).

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What, no comments/comparisons?!? :P

 

Been trying qemu lately, and not having much luck. Way too slow, and trying to get the kqemu module into the kernel so that it can help speed it up, but no luck unfortunately.

 

If I had to rank:

 

1. VMware

2. Win4Lin

3. Qemu

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I have to use Windows for work, so I've never tried any of these VMs on Linux. I dual-boot each of my machines so I can have access to various versions of Windows and Linux available.

 

I do find rdesktop to be VERY useful on Linux, so that I can login to another Windows box on the network from Linux.

 

I installed vncviewer on WinXP so I could login to Linux from XP, but I don't use it much. May also install putty or some other ssh-compatible app on XP one day.

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No doubt that VMWare is the emulation king, and a superb program overall, but alas, rather too expensive for everyday use... only people who are into software developing for their living can justify the pricetag.

I don't really like win4lin, and qemu is still buggy and slow, but it has a future.

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I agree, the price tag can certainly put you off if you've not got a real reason for it. My main reason is I don't want to have to dual boot, but use Windows if I really need to within Linux, and I hear it runs faster because of the filesystem. Although I could be wrong.....

 

As I mentioned, Win4Lin was a show-stopper for me. If it couldn't find the CD to install the app after booting to the GUI to complete the install, it really doesn't get my vote. And qemu I've been trying, but yes, too slow at the minute :P

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  • 1 month later...

I've used Win4Lin for years with great success. I now have both Win4Lin9x w/Win98SE and Win4LinPro w/Win2kPro installed. Nothing else has the combination of terrific speed and solid stability of Win4Lin9x. If it does what you need, it's just unbeatable. Win4LinPro (basically a customized qemu w/kqemu) is kinda slow still, but useable, rock-solid stable, easy to setup and a good concept that eventually should be an excellent system. Just needs more development. Win4LinPro is better than 'plain' qemu/kqmeu, but of course at a price.

 

VMWare works ok but is just too friggin' expensive and has some things about it I don't care for. Parallels (a VMWare clone) is much cheaper, but I haven't tried it yet. Xen has possibilties, (I'm gonna try Xen + Win4LinPro when I get the time) but I haven't tried it yet either so I can't really comment further.

 

ianw1974:

 

...trying to get the kqemu module into the kernel so that it can help speed it up, but no luck unfortunately.

What's been the problem?

 

Win4Lin was a show-stopper for me. If it couldn't find the CD to install the app after booting to the GUI to complete the install...

Win4Lin9x or Win4LinPro? Have you tried installing Windoze from an ISO image on a HD instead of from the CD?

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I was running LE2005, and there was no kqemu rpm. I tried compiling, but it wouldn't work.

 

Then I switched to 2006, and there was qemu and kqemu, so I was OK then, but was still slow and unusable.

 

Win4LinPro was what I tried, but it didn't work reading CD. Never tried as ISO, but I could do, given time to test again :D

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ianw974:

 

Install the latest Win4LinPro 'testing' version, available here:

 

ftp://ftp.netraverse.com/pub/testing/pro/

 

Then try installing using an ISO image. It will almost certainly work if you have a Winblows disk that's compatible with Win4LinPro. When I installed Win4LinPro about a year ago, I couldn't get it to read the CD either. That stopped things for about 2 minutes while I read the instructions on loading Windoze directly from an ISO. I never bothered to troubleshoot the CD-reading problem.

 

If you have Win2kPro it will work much, much better than that friggin' bloated mess XP. This is true whether one uses VMWare, Win4LinPro, 'plain' qmeu/kqmeu or whatever. Jeez, XP is SOOO bad...didn't the ME fiasco teach M$ anything? Anyway, Win2k SP2 is the best choice with Win4LinPro, but if like me you only have Win2k SP3 discs (not Win4LinPro or qmeu/kqmeu compatible) you can download SP4 and use a nice utility called nLite (free download, but you must have a working Windows computer to use it) to easily slip SP4 in and make a Win2k SP4 ISO. You can then burn it to disc or load straight from the new Win2k SP4 ISO.

 

Of course, for best performance all the usual Windoze speed tweaks like disabling uneeded services, etc, etc. apply as ususal. Win4LinPro likes memory so if you have 512MB or more on board don't forget to increase memory allocated to Win4LinPro from the too-low default 128MB to 256MB or more if you have over 512MB (up to Win4LinPro's 512MB limit). With Win2k 256-384MB or so seems to be enough for most users. If you're stuck with XP use the full 512MB max if possible. And if you don't need sound in Windoze disabling that will let it boot a bit faster.

 

If you have questions about how to do any of this stuff or any other questions, just ask.

Edited by Crashdamage
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  • 1 month later...

Just started using Qemu (with the kqemu module) and it works really nicely. I needed to get a Windows installation for a course I am doing but didn't want to have to keep on rebooting.

 

I am having problems with disks though as it does not recognise a new disk being inserted, I tried the monitor option and can use a command line to tell it a new disk is present but it appears to be hit and miss (also it would be preferable if it were auto detected)

 

Any ideas?

 

Leo

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I'm not sure on qemu/kqemu. devries wrote a Tips and Trick here about it. On my system it was too slow and unusable, so I've tended to use vmware instead which works much easier, just isn't free.

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