Because of the recent meeting "Desktop Shootout" I ended up playing with a lot of VM software ( KVM, VirtualBox, VMWare ) Then at the meeting someone asked me about Windows 8 and I verified that it worked on Ubuntu and VirtualBox.
While KVM is the better solution for server virtualization it's not the best for desktop virtualization. I was amazed that VirtualBox had working 3D pass-through support, which VM's of Debian-SID, Mint12-Cinnamon, and even Windows 8 were able to use. That is as Sean Dague pointed out at the shootout, "modern desktops now depend on 3D rendering to display the desktop". ( look let's not argue that they really don't NEED to, it's how they implemented it creates the dependency ) Unfortunately for me since I have an old ATI video card, the Windows version of VirtualBox works WAY better at this 3D pass through then does Ubuntu. I also installed the latest VMWare desktop software in Windows 7 that it failed to install Windows 8, where VirtualBox had no issues, and it seems 4.1.10 has actual support for. Thus I would say that https://www.virtualbox.org/ deserves a second look. It will at least allow non-linux fokes a chance to use and learn the modern Linux desktop. It also will allow the Linux use to install and use other Linux desktops and other Operating Systems as needed. I would further note that I am able to run both KVM and VirtualBox side by side. Thus I use KVM to support CentOS servers for Drupal work and VirtualBox to play with Debian-SID / Mint12 / Windows 8 as they are all desktops. Not at the same time mind you but as needed, I only have 2 cores and 4Gb of memory so limited resources to spread around. -- /** Joe Apuzzo ** Call: KD2AKU ** PGP/GPG: key ID BB5C7 **/
_______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) Vassar College Apr 4 - An Intro to Chef May 2 - Git Jun 6 - June 2012 Meeting
