Intel VT and AMD Pacifica

[Link]

How do they work and what benefits can users get out of them?

 

[batmanuel]

The new PC Magazine has a bit about this in their latest issue, at the end of the article about virtual machine software. What I gleaned from it was that usually an OS runs at the highest, "Ring 0" level of privilege and currently a virtual OS has to be demoted to a lower level to run. With the virtualization tech, there is now going to be a hardware mode that is somehow able to run above the Ring 0 level and not only manage the OS at a very low level, but also allow other OS to run alongside the systems native OS without having to emulate a virtual machine for the secondary OS to live inside. That way, you can run a secondary OS on you machine at almost full native speed at the same time you run the native OS (like Virtual PC, but without the slowdown). Dual core processors might even be able to devote seperate core to each OS. Someone please correct me if I am wrong about any important points.

I haven't heard much in the Apple rumor mill about it, so I may be way off in fantasy-land, but I personally suspect that Vanderpool is one of the reasons Apple wants to switch to Intel tech. It looks like all the processors that they will use will be Vanderpool-enabled, so I wonder if at some point they might add virtualization support right into the Apple OS, so you could install Windows onto you Mac and run it at close to native speed from a window within OS X with the help of Vanderpool. Tons of Mac users already depend on VPC to run some apps that aren't ported to Mac, so there definitely is a demand for this in the Mac world. If Vanderpool allowed you to play PC games and run high end Windows apps like 3ds MAX at close to native speed, it would remove a big barrier to Mac adoption to a lot of customers like me. If it is technically feasible, they'd be crazy not to do it. All this is pure speculation on my part though.

 

[stratman]

Originally posted by: batmanuel
The new PC Magazine has a bit about this in their latest issue, at the end of the article about virtual machine software. What I gleaned from it was that usually an OS runs at the highest, "Ring 0" level of privilege and currently a virtual OS has to be demoted to a lower level to run. With the virtualization tech, there is now going to be a hardware mode that is somehow able to run above the Ring 0 level and not only manage the OS at a very low level, but also allow other OS to run alongside the systems native OS without having to emulate a virtual machine for the secondary OS to live inside. That way, you can run a secondary OS on you machine at almost full native speed at the same time you run the native OS (like Virtual PC, but without the slowdown). Dual core processors might even be able to devote seperate core to each OS. Someone please correct me if I am wrong about any important points.

I haven't heard much in the Apple rumor mill about it, so I may be way off in fantasy-land, but I personally suspect that Vanderpool is one of the reasons Apple wants to switch to Intel tech. It looks like all the processors that they will use will be Vanderpool-enabled, so I wonder if at some point they might add virtualization support right into the Apple OS, so you could install Windows onto you Mac and run it at close to native speed from a window within OS X with the help of Vanderpool. Tons of Mac users already depend on VPC to run some apps that aren't ported to Mac, so there definitely is a demand for this in the Mac world. If Vanderpool allowed you to play PC games and run high end Windows apps like 3ds MAX at close to native speed, it would remove a big barrier to Mac adoption to a lot of customers like me. If it is technically feasible, they'd be crazy not to do it. All this is pure speculation on my part though.

Good post, QFT

 

[Furen]

Originally posted by: batmanuel
The new PC Magazine has a bit about this in their latest issue, at the end of the article about virtual machine software. What I gleaned from it was that usually an OS runs at the highest, "Ring 0" level of privilege and currently a virtual OS has to be demoted to a lower level to run. With the virtualization tech, there is now going to be a hardware mode that is somehow able to run above the Ring 0 level and not only manage the OS at a very low level, but also allow other OS to run alongside the systems native OS without having to emulate a virtual machine for the secondary OS to live inside. That way, you can run a secondary OS on you machine at almost full native speed at the same time you run the native OS (like Virtual PC, but without the slowdown). Dual core processors might even be able to devote seperate core to each OS. Someone please correct me if I am wrong about any important points.

I haven't heard much in the Apple rumor mill about it, so I may be way off in fantasy-land, but I personally suspect that Vanderpool is one of the reasons Apple wants to switch to Intel tech. It looks like all the processors that they will use will be Vanderpool-enabled, so I wonder if at some point they might add virtualization support right into the Apple OS, so you could install Windows onto you Mac and run it at close to native speed from a window within OS X with the help of Vanderpool. Tons of Mac users already depend on VPC to run some apps that aren't ported to Mac, so there definitely is a demand for this in the Mac world. If Vanderpool allowed you to play PC games and run high end Windows apps like 3ds MAX at close to native speed, it would remove a big barrier to Mac adoption to a lot of customers like me. If it is technically feasible, they'd be crazy not to do it. All this is pure speculation on my part though.

You will not be able to run Windows from within OSX. Your OSX would run on ring 0 and would not be aware of ring -1, so it could not launch anything onto it (this is the whole point of the rings, after all). Instead you'd run your virtual machine manager BEFORE running any OS. From then on you'd make a "system partition" for each OS as needed. You should be able to go back to the manager and open/close sessions at will, but this would be a separate entity from any of the OSes you run.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

hm, is there a use for the average user?

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
hm, is there a use for the average user?

nope, much like every technology breakthrough as of late

Eventually dual core and 64 bit will take off for the home user though. My guess is shortly after Vista goes retail, and joe Pentium 3 finally has to upgrade again