have you tried virtualbox? it's GPL, and i've had some good experience with it.
On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 21:06, Eli Billauer <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello, > > > I've been playing around with my new Fedora 12 computer (Intel i7 quad > core) for a few days, mainly for the purpose of making educated > decisions about how to virtualize two old computers, which I want to get > rid of. They are running Windows 2000 and Redhat 7.3. I only tested the > Windows part (Linux should be much easier). Fedora 12 is the host, of > course. > > I've looked at QEMU/KVM vs. VMWare. I want to share my experiences and > insights with you, because I don't like the bottom line, which is the > VMWare is better for almost all home purposes (I'm not talking about > cloud servers and such). Which makes me wonder: Is VMWare a honey trap, > or is it currently the preferred choice? > > In case you wondered, both tools can run simultaneously on the same > computer, seemingly without disturbing each other. It looks like I'm > going to take advantage of this. > > I ran VMPlayer (free as in beer version) with VMTools in the Windows > guest machine. I take it that their licenses don't limit me in time nor > the number of guests I can run simultaneously. Please do correct me if > I'm wrong on this. > > The concept is to copy these machines' disks as image files, and then > seamlessly go on working as if nothing happened. The most important > issue for me is that after the transition I can go on doing everything I > did before (including using electronic development hardware through USB). > > I should mention, that both tool's documented and encouraged flow is to > install a new operating system from scratch on a blank (virtualized) > disk, and not run a previously installed one. Indeed, a preinstalled XP > image tends to give me the blue screen. The Windows 2000 image runs > beautifully. > > QEMU/KVM Pros > * Free (as in freedom) > * Allows incremental images (good for running possibly malicious software) > * Can be run from the command line, and is generally script friendly. > * Appears to be more secure (SELinux is all over) > * Display on VNC allows remote access to guest > > QEMU/KVM Cons: > * Doesn't currently have an EHCI driver (and hence guest sees only USB > 1.1, not 2.0) > * Didn't manage to attach a USB device I need for electronics > development (Xilinx programming cable). > * Has Windows paravirtualization drivers for network card only. Display > is slow. > * Using the mouse is annoying (poor tracking, clicks are sometimes missed). > > VMPlayer Pros: > * VMTools offers a nice set of paravirtual drivers > * Very good emulation of graphics card (through paravirtual driver). > Feels like a real computer, it's possible to play movies. The guest's > desktop size is dynamically adjusted to the virtual machine's window > size, which is pretty convenient. > * Very good handling of USB hotplugging. Needless to say, it handled my > special piece of hardware seemlessly. > * Easy to feel with mouse. > > VMPlayer Cons: > * Feels like it was designed for Windows host. If you can't do it > through GUI, you can't do it at all (?) > * Everything about their website says "we'll give you this for free (if > you manage to find it), but you really want our million dollar version" > > So this is my grim bottom line: I don't like the music I get from > VMWare, but VMPlayer does the job, and QEMU is almost there. But almost > is not enough when you want something to work. Remember that I'm the one > who wants his computer working, first and foremost? > > Your information, comments and insights are mostly welcome. > > Eli > -- > > Web: http://www.billauer.co.il > > _______________________________________________ > Haifux mailing list > [email protected] > http://hamakor.org.il/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/haifux > -- Ted Turner <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/ted_turner.html> - "Sports is like a war without the killing."
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