on Fri, Jun 28, 2002, Paul Johnson (baloo@ursine.dyndns.org) wrote:
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> On Fri, Jun 28, 2002 at 06:22:35PM -0700, G. L. `Griz' Inabnit wrote:
>
> > > I am not adverse to running VMWare if that's the best way to accomplish
> > > this task (btw, since vmware is proprietary, I assume there are no debs,
> > > but just the tarball and rpms on their web site).
> > >
> > > I am a bit adverse to using Win4Lin, only because that would involve using
> > > their patched kernel, and I like using the standard kernels.
> >
> > This was EXACTLY why I purchased VMWare. Then I installed EVERY M$ o/s I had,
> > and followed that with the *nix's I wanted to play with. Last count was 14
> > o/s running in VMWare under Debian. And yes Virginia, it IS worth it!! :--)
>
> So what do folks think of plex86?
A rundown of varying virtualization / emulation / compatibility tools:
- dosemu: hooks into the 386 compatibility mode of an x86 CPU.
Requires an x86 CPU to run. Will run many DOS apps, and even,
sometimes, Win3x. Speed penalty is minimal (and for many apps, far
more than offset by the decade's worth of Moore's accumulation).
- WINE: API compatibility layer. This doesn't emulate MS, but
provides an API for applications to call into. Apps run in large
part native to GNU/Linux -- e.g.: not within a virtual OS or
system. Cygwin and UWIN are comperable products for Legacy MS
Windows. Speed penalty may be perceptable, but is typically
acceptable for common office tasks and strategy-type games.
- Win4Lin: OS emulation. This provides a virtual platform under
which a DOS-based (e.g.: Win95/98/ME, but not NT/2K/XP) will run.
No direct experience.
- User-mode-linux. As I understand the products, UML is roughly for
GNU/Linux what Win4Lin is for Legacy MS Windows. UML takes the
linux kernel and turns it into a userspace application. When run
with an appropriate root image or filesystem, it's possible to run a
GNU/Linux session within an existing session. Nesting UML is
possible. I've been experimenting with this somewhat. If ported to
other OSs, this would allow running virtual GNU/Linux systems under,
e.g.: Solaris, FreeBSD, Mac OSX, or Legacy MS Windows. Speed
penalty is roughly 50% based on bogomips stats.
- VMWare: Hardware virtualization. This is a _virtualization_ tool,
requiring underlying x86 hardware, which then provides an x86 system
with both varialbe (CPU speed, memory) and fixed (networking, sound,
video, etc) configurations. Can run many x86-capable OSs. Speed
penalty is ~50%, with additional latencies due to emulation and/or
system demand.
- Plex86 / Bochs: Hardware emulation. This is an _emulation_ tool,
which is independent of hardware. Plex86 allows running x86-capable
OSs on top of any underlying machine architecture. The additional
virtualization slows performance considerably. Speed penalty is
considerably. Last experiences were 3-4 years ago, 10-20 fold
sounds about right.
Peace.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
Keep software free. Oppose the CBDTPA. Kill S.2048 dead.
http://www.eff.org/alerts/20020322_eff_cbdtpa_alert.html
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