YEAH! I will never have to reboot again!!

UnixFreak

Platinum Member
Nov 27, 2000
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Or at least for a really long time. I had a bit of a dillemma on my hands, to make a long story short, I have hardware problems with my current machine that prevent windows
from running on it. I have tried everything, as well as enlisting in the help of some trusted experts. We came to the conclusion that "windows will not run on this computer". But
linux runs fine. Not a big problem, as I spend a majority of my time in Linux, but I still "need" windows for a few things. So I considered Vmware. Its been a long time since I played
with it, but I must say, this was REALLY EASY. The setup could not have been any simpler

Win XP running in Red Hat 7.2


ha ha! Now I can go for that uptime record, the machine has been up for over a week now, without being rebooted. I think it will be a while before it is again.

If you need Windows for certian applications, this is the only way to fly.
 

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,550
1,710
126
So Unix Freak, how is the performance of Windows applications? Could one play [insert new game here] with the same level of smoothness as in Windows? I would personally like to be able to use Bryce 4 (until I can afford something better, that is) on my Debian system.
 

potz

Senior member
Feb 22, 2001
651
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0
well from my experience i kept win2k up for close to 2 months, actively playing games and running as a webserver. it's not the os that is unstable, it's just the stuff u install :)
 

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
13,086
3,851
136


<< So Unix Freak, how is the performance of Windows applications? Could one play [insert new game here] with the same level of smoothness as in Windows? I would personally like to be able to use Bryce 4 (until I can afford something better, that is) on my Debian system. >>



Roughly speaking, a VMware guest OS runs at about 2/3 the native speed of the host. For an ideal VMware host, I'd recommend at least a 600 MHz CPU + 512 MB RAM.

Win9x runs slower than Win NT/2K/XP because the latter are full 32-bit operating systems.

I'm under the impression that modern games won't work so well because they require DirectX and full hardware support (for accelerated 3D for example).

On the other hand, wine (or better yet WineX) with OpenGL does a pretty respectable job of running many Windows games these days.
 

SPB

Member
Aug 10, 2001
193
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Was XP installed using fat32 or NTFS? Does that even matter? What version of vmware did you use and is it free? If XP wouldn't install then how did you get it installed meaning is it on its own partition or installed within LINUX? Where can I find detailed instructions on accomplishing this (what you have done with xp that is)? Sorry about all the Q's its just that I hate windows but love my games most (all but one) of which won't run in Linux (which I also love). I was using Mandrake 8.1 but downloading RedHat 7.2 now due to some wierd things which mandrake does with its files causing difficulties when trying to install simple software (like LimeWire). Oh, and I hate dual booting :)
 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
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vmware is not free. Please buy it. Its great software if you need it. The OSes that install in VMWare install themselves in a file on the host OS. I had FreeBSD running inside of 2k for a little while. It installed in a file on one of my drives. It was *WAY* too slow for me, and I didnt keep 2k on there long. Anyhow, the latest version (5?) is supposed to have much better performance.
 

SPB

Member
Aug 10, 2001
193
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WHY THE HELL IS THIS PROGRAM SO EXPENSIVE! It reminds me of buying 2k pro man, this is bull! I will not buy this when there are programs like wine out there for free. I will however try the eval. ;)
 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
1
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<< WHY THE HELL IS THIS PROGRAM SO EXPENSIVE! It reminds me of buying 2k pro man, this is bull! I will not buy this when there are programs like wine out there for free. I will however try the eval. ;) >>



Some people have a need for it. That is thier price, cant blame them...
 

UnixFreak

Platinum Member
Nov 27, 2000
2,008
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<< Was XP installed using fat32 or NTFS? Does that even matter? What version of vmware did you use and is it free? If XP wouldn't install then how did you get it installed meaning is it on its own partition or installed within LINUX? Where can I find detailed instructions on accomplishing this (what you have done with xp that is)? Sorry about all the Q's its just that I hate windows but love my games most (all but one) of which won't run in Linux (which I also love). I was using Mandrake 8.1 but downloading RedHat 7.2 now due to some wierd things which mandrake does with its files causing difficulties when trying to install simple software (like LimeWire). Oh, and I hate dual booting >>




Sorry for the delay, I had lost track of this thread..... I am using Fat32.. I dont think it matters, but not sure. I used the newest version of VmWare, 3.0, I read a lot of the documentation on the site, and the stuff it comes with, it was a little tricky, but like most *nix apps, the documentation serves you well, it's pretty detailed.



<< WHY THE HELL IS THIS PROGRAM SO EXPENSIVE! It reminds me of buying 2k pro man, this is bull! I will not buy this when there are programs like wine out there for free. I will however try the eval. >>



Its so expensive because its a good product, and they've obviously worked very hard on it. Its nothing like 2kpro, the main difference being it delivers what it promises :) I honestly dont think thier price is unreasonable, as this product could be very valuable to the right people. Imagine a tech support environment, being able to run every Windows OS made, on one machine, rather than several "crash boxes" for techs to look at. Thats just one example.

I am still on the Evaluation, and havent decided whether I am going to buy it or not. I find myself hardly using XP, to be honest, and I cant really afford it, but if finances get better, and I really need it, I'll purchase it. Its a great product, IMO.



<< vmware is not free. Please buy it. Its great software if you need it. >>



I am not 100% sure on this, but I dont think you have much of a choice. I think when your license expires, its ceases functioning. I could be wrong, and of course, there are ways around that, but I agree. You want it, buy it. dont be a thief. Its a reasonable price, considering what you get.


Hey n0cmonkey, have you heard about the FreeBSD CD release on the 20th? I am getting the feeling freeBSD is on the move, and will be getting better and more popular in the future. This is great news for me, as this my fav OS, by far. Nothing better, IMO.






 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
0
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Sorry for the delay, I had lost track of this thread..... I am using Fat32.. I dont think it matters, but not sure.

Filesystem inside the VM only matters to the OS inside the VM and if you want to mount the disk. I'm not sure if it still works with 3, but with older VMWare versions you could mount the disk images with a perl script they provided. But otherwise the OS in the VM is totally isolated from the host OS.

I honestly dont think thier price is unreasonable, as this product could be very valuable to the right people

I think $300 is a little high for personal use, I got lucky and bought 2.0 for $100 when it first came out and got a 3.0 upgrade for $100 cause I owned 2.0. But I think there should be like a $150 version for non-business use.

I think when your license expires, its ceases functioning

This is true.