I spent some time with virtual machines today. It was interesting comparing the behavior of VMware's VMware Player against Oracle's Virtualbox.
I'm using VMware Player 3.1.4 and Virtualbox 4.0.6. (Microsoft's Virtual PC refuses to run on my PC. Apparently my hardware is not worthy of such a lofty program.)
I have VMware and Virtualbox running on Windows 7. I created virtual machines for Ubuntu and Kubuntu in each virtual environment, four machines in all. My experience has been good with both VMware and Virtualbox. I can install the guest operating system, configure it, get updates, and install new packages.
There are some differences between the two.
The machines under Virtualbox can use bridged networking to find my DHCP server; the machines under VMware cannot and must use NAT.
The installs for Ubuntu went well. The installs for Kubuntu were a little rougher for VMware. The VMware Tools package expects gcc and make, neither of which was installed by default. Running the Kubuntu Software Management package solved the problem easily.
Performance is acceptable but not stupendous. This is due, I am sure, to my equipment. The PC is a fairly recent one (about two years old) but it is not the datacenter-class server designed for hosting virtual machines.
Overall, I am pleased. I can work with the virtual environments, which is my goal.
Showing posts with label Virtual PC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virtual PC. Show all posts
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Virtual machines
This morning I planned to spend some time at the co-working site. After reviewing the work before me, I decided to stay at home. Some things are possible at the co-working site, and some tasks are better at the co-working site, but some are best (and some possible only) at my home systems. So pragmatism ruled!
I attempted to use Microsoft's Virtual PC. The package is interesting: it's not a Windows Application. Instead of installing as a regular application, it merges into Windows. There is no entry in the "Installed Programs" list for Virtual PC. Shades of the old "Internet Explorer is part of Windows and cannot be removed" argument.
Despite it's merging into Windows, installing the thing is not particularly easy. You have to find the download site, then specify the version of your operating system (Home, Pro, or Enterprise) and the word size (32-bit or 64-bit), and the language. And then you have to go through a little ActiveX dance to ensure your Windows is genuine. Only then can you install it. And after installation do you learn that Virtual PC is fussy about hardware and requires hardware support for virtualization. When I ran it, it did nothing but display a little dialog that says, effectively, "I won't run, because your hardware is lame". And then you learn that you cannot un-install the beast.
Oracle's Virtualbox, in contrast, was easy to install and as a bonus it actually works. While Microsoft's Virtual PC supports Windows guests and only Windows guests, Virtualbox lets you run just about anything as a guest. So my experiments with virtualization can start.
I had lunch with former co-worker Don today, at the local burrito place. It was a good lunch and we talked about several things. At the (old) office, things have changed little.
I attempted to use Microsoft's Virtual PC. The package is interesting: it's not a Windows Application. Instead of installing as a regular application, it merges into Windows. There is no entry in the "Installed Programs" list for Virtual PC. Shades of the old "Internet Explorer is part of Windows and cannot be removed" argument.
Despite it's merging into Windows, installing the thing is not particularly easy. You have to find the download site, then specify the version of your operating system (Home, Pro, or Enterprise) and the word size (32-bit or 64-bit), and the language. And then you have to go through a little ActiveX dance to ensure your Windows is genuine. Only then can you install it. And after installation do you learn that Virtual PC is fussy about hardware and requires hardware support for virtualization. When I ran it, it did nothing but display a little dialog that says, effectively, "I won't run, because your hardware is lame". And then you learn that you cannot un-install the beast.
Oracle's Virtualbox, in contrast, was easy to install and as a bonus it actually works. While Microsoft's Virtual PC supports Windows guests and only Windows guests, Virtualbox lets you run just about anything as a guest. So my experiments with virtualization can start.
I had lunch with former co-worker Don today, at the local burrito place. It was a good lunch and we talked about several things. At the (old) office, things have changed little.
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