[NTLUG:Discuss] Seeking builder -- thanks for replies -- more on VM Ware

[Chris Cox]

Kenneth Loafman wrote:
> Yes, I have run it both ways, Windows under Linux, and Linux under 
> Windows.  By far the most stable system pair is Windows under Linux. 
> I've run Windows 2000, 2003 Server, XP Pro and others under Linux.  They 
> crash less than on native hardware.  Since this is a true virtual 
> machine, it get's its own IP address from DHCP, but shares the ethernet 
> card with the host.  Boot is via BIOS.  Install is like bringing up a 
> machine the first time, etc.  Altogether a solid solution.

All of the engineers at VMware will tell you that VMware under
Linux is the RIGHT way (well... apart from ESX Server).

I run several VMs using VMware at the same time.  At work my
WinXP SP2 is up 24x7 (hosted on SUSE 8.2 and a 2x2.4Xeon with 2.5GB)
At home I use either a dual Opteron with 2G (Suse 9.2)
or a dual Xeon 3.2 with 2G (Suse 9.1).

My laptop also uses VMware and it just has 512M.  I can run
about 4 VM's there (one Windoze, others are Linux or Solaris).. but
that's pretty tight.

VMware is probably the most useful piece of software I've
ever purchased.  While I like free software, I would gladly
pay for VMware again and again (which you do have to do btw
in order to keep current with upgrades).  One great thing
is the ability to move your VM's from platform to platform
as you upgrade hw, etc.

> John Thomas wrote:
> 
>> Thanks to all that responded to my question.  I am intrigued by the 
>> idea of running a pure Linux system and hosting Windows with VM Ware.  
>> Is it possible to efficiently run XP this way, with a network 
>> connection?  I'm willing to make the hardware investment anyway; scsi 
>> drive, 1+ GB RAM, etc.

1G is excellent, don't have to have SCSI for VMware.... IDE is fine.

Be warned, no high end DirectX support with VMware, so no 3d gaming.
2d DirectX works fairly well though.