VMware
VMware allows you to run 'virtual machines' inside a Linux host. It is not an emulator. It provides a virtual computer within the host which can boot whichever OS you decide to put on the filesystem image that is used as a harddrive. It will run DOS 6.22, Win 3.1, Win9x, WinNT/2000/XP/2003, Linux, Novell, and more. The only main requirement is a 400 MHz or better machine, along with lots of RAM (128M minimum, 256M recommended).
Recent releases
- 02 Apr 2009 17:22
Changes: VMnc codec heap overflow vulnerabilities, reported as CVE-2009-0909 and CVE-2009-0910, were resolved. Miscellaneous minor bugs were fixed. Support for guest operating systems was expanded.
- 02 Apr 2009 13:20
Changes: VMnc codec heap overflow vulnerabilities, reported as CVE-2009-0909 and CVE-2009-0910, were resolved. A denial-of-service vulnerability in a virtual device, reported as CVE-2008-4916, was resolved. The Web-based installer mount option was fixed. The data collection when the vm-support script is run was improved. Support for guest operating systems was expanded.
- 02 Apr 2009 13:19
Changes: VMnc codec heap overflow vulnerabilities, reported as CVE-2009-0909 and CVE-2009-0910, were resolved. Support for guest operating systems was expanded.
- 29 Nov 2008 20:01
Changes: Experimental smart card support for Linux guests was introduced. Repainting of application windows in Unity mode on Linux guests was improved. 3D graphics performance on Windows XP guests was improved.
- 29 Nov 2008 19:59
Changes: Experimental smart card support for Linux guests was introduced. Repainting of application windows in Unity mode on Linux guests was improved. 3D graphics performance for Windows XP guest was improved. Replaying of recordings by older VMware Workstation versions is now partly supported. A freeze on automatic update of VMware tools on RHEL5 was resolved. Several other bugs were fixed.
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Recent commentsLove this product
Been a user of VMware Workstation since the 2.0.x days - one minor correction to your description, though - it doesn't run "Novell", it runs "NetWare". Novell is a company; NetWare is one product delivered by the company, along with SUSE Linux and several other non-operating system products.
Re: VMWare
Hi,
VMware definetly rock the free server one and the Virtual Infrastructure version one. I have run all type of Linux guest OS in it. from Slackware, Ubuntu, and Redhat 3, 4, 5. All of them run quite stable and fast in it. I was always quite happy with it. I have actually implemented their VI3 to virtualize the full infrastructure of one ISP. It work really well. That does not mean there no other good virtualization software availables.
> Tried the beta on a p-ii/233, running RH
> 5.2, 2.0.36 kernel, 196MB RAM. I
> allocated a 1 GB disk file and 64M RAM
> to Win95 installed from an OEM CDROM.
> Installation and operation were and have
> been flawless. Very impressive product.
> I still must use two applications that
> are not available (yet!) for Linux -
> FPGA design tools - under Win95. This
> setup is very usable. There is a
> noticable performance hit on the Windows
> performance. Linux reports 90+% CPU
> allocated to vmware when Windows is
> actually doing something but at a very
> high nice level (14 - 19- seems to
> vary). The load average stays below 1.0
> unless I do something on Linux at the
> same time.
>
> Has anyone tried this on a K6-2? The
> vmware page indicates Windows has
> problems (unrelated to vmware) on k6's.
> Any insites?
>
> Thanks.
VMware Server vs. VMware Workstation
For those of you who are wondering about the differences between VMware Server and VMware Workstation, do check out this article:
http://kontrawize.blogs.com/kontrawize/2006/03/vmware_server_v.html (kontrawize blog)
Re: So it is not possible yet to have an OS on a Windows machine
For running Linux under NT, just get User Mode Linux. You can connect to the Linux system under NT using a VNC viewer or Cygwin's X11 server.
(If none of that makes sense to you, try Googling for the terms.)
Re: VMware Player -- limitations?
> what the limitations are vs. VMWare
> workstation. Can anyone comment?
That's the problem -- freshmeat.net doesn't allow for separate descriptions for project branches. Though the player is probably quite okay to be described as a branch instead of a separate tool.
This must be what you're looking for: http://www.vmware.com/products/player/comparison.html
Basically: No VM creation, no snapshot management, and some bells and whistles missing, if I understand correctly.
Also, jtroyer writes in http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/blog/:
'There has been a lot of excitement about VMware Player on Slashdot and other sites. I've also seen many people talk about it on IRC and some have messaged me with questions. Namely, what's the catch? Why give away our virtualization platform? Are the VMs DRMed? Will they expire? Do they not work as well as in Workstation?
There's no catch. This is the same virtualization platform we use in Workstation. The VMs are the same VMs. They won't expire. They should work just as well in the Player as they do in Workstation.'
> If it really is a free download, I'll
It is.
> Or maybe it just lacks the ability to
> create "virtual machines." But the last
> time I checked, VMWare virtual machines
> consisted of a simple configuration file
> and a disk image. Those can be created
> with ed(1) and dd(1), respectively; at
> least on a UNIX-like system.
Indeed they can, at least that's what I read in some sources. It's pretty much up to you to be smart enough, and the player then poses no further restrictions on you.
HTH,
Moritz