You might want to check out www.qemu.org.
On Aug 24, 2004, at 1:11 PM, Richard Gaskin wrote:
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004, Sannyasin Sivakatirswami wrote:
But, I would be running VPC on OSX G4 dual-processor desktop model,
(in
another room) to upgraded to a G5 soon... so I think the speed will be
acceptable.
I have three physical PCs (Win XP, ME, and 95) and one copy of Virtual
PC running on my G4 laptop. While running VPC is a great way to
spot-check Windows design issues and to make Win installers (I use
Wise Install), the speed is at the edge of tolerable.
Under Micro$oft the new product is well optimized for running Win XP,
but even with these enhancements it's very slow compared to running on
native hardware. And using any non-Micro$oft OS under VPC (it's a
snap to set up a virtual Linux installation) runs much slower still.
Sure, a dual-G5 will help, but the nature of the task means it will
never match native hardware.
Beyond the sluggish performance inherent with emulation, a bigger
issue is that from time to time I'll come across issues in VPC that
aren't evident on a physical PC (mostly redraw issues). True, these
get fewer and fewer with each new version of VPC, but something to
keep in mind.
VPC is a great solution for ocassional Windows work while on the road
(unless you don't mind lugging two laptops <g>), but if you're working
at a desk you'll have a much more productive experience using a
physical PC, and one which will more closely mirror the experience of
your users. You can have even greater productivity if you use the
software gadget Chipp is fond of which allows you to use one mouse and
keyboard across both systems as though the monitors are physically
connected (Chipp, what's that called again?).
Best of all, with PCs being so inexpensive the cost difference is
trivial. Unless you play games the Celeron-based machines are quite
suitable, and dirt-cheap (Mac users can only dream of the sort of
competitive pricing that happens once you break out of a manufacturing
monopoly). I got one from HP for under $500 that performs enviably
well compared to my $2600 Mac (Quartz, while pretty, is a processor
hog), and cheaper bargains are available if you shop around; even used
ones can be a great value, and often $200 or less (roughly the same
price as VPC).
And if you're only using the machine for tweaking/testing, you'll have
plenty of hard drive space available if you choose to reformat to have
a dual-boot so you can run Linux on that box too.
--
Richard Gaskin
Fourth World Media Corporation
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