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Archive for the ‘workstation’ Category

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Several web sites have already reported the new releases of VMware Workstation 6.5, VMware Ace 2.5, and VMware Server 2.0, but I have not seen any mention of the new VMware Player 2.5. According to the VMware Player 2.5 Release Notes the latest version is dated 09.23.08 and is now available for download.

Some exciting new features of the latest version are the support for 3-D graphics, a GUI based Linux installer, faster performance for transferring files between guests and host as well as seamless windows on the host desktop (the popular Unity feature already in Fusion and the new Workstation version).

VMware Player is a free download from VMware that lets you run virtual machines (VM) on your desktop. Unlike Workstation, Player does not have the ability to create a new VM. However, using the online easyVMX virtual machine creator lets you work around this limitation.

The following is taken from the “What’s New” section of the previously mentioned Player Release Notes page: Read the rest of this entry »

VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation, VMware Player, Virtual PC, Virtualbox, and Parrallels all have various supported and unsupported abilities to run 3-D games and applications in guest operating systems. I’m sure there are other platforms with this ability too. Not that any of us have the time to “test enhanced graphics applications” on virtual infrastructure, but it would be convenient to have a centralized list of known working games. Although, I have not tested any of the actual games, I do use a Virtualbox XP VM to provide my sons web based gaming at family sites like Playhouse Disney and Nickolodeon. To be honest I was surprised when even these Flash and ActiveX based games worked (I’m guessing that’s what kind of games they are).

Here are some general assumptions (based on what I understand about Sun xVM Virtualbox, VMware Fusion, and VMware Workstation’s current capabilities) about using 3-D in virtual machines. Read the rest of this entry »

Hyper-V benchmark surprise is a post at thehypervisor.com that shows some interesting performance benchmarks when comparing VMware Workstation with Microsoft Hyper-V.

“In head to head benchmark tests of Microsoft Hyper-V compared to VMware Workstation, The Hypervisor test results indicate virtual machine (VM) performance using Hyper-V is below that of VMware Workstation.

We tested Hyper-V running on a desktop PC fitted with an Intel Core Quad Q6600 CPU running at 2.4GHz. We compared the results with the same PC running Microsoft Vista SP1 x86 and VMware Workstation 6. Our results show VMware Workstation 6 is a faster platform for both Windows and Linux applications, although Hyper-V is almost as fast as VMware Workstation for running Windows Vista.”

Thehypervisor.com concludes the following from their testing: Read the rest of this entry »

Jason Perlow of blogs.zdnet.com has written a great feature comparison post of the 2 best multi-platform, free virtualization products in my opinion – Sun xVM VirtualBox 1.6 and VMware Server 2.0 Beta 2.

Personally, I used to run VMware Server 1.x on my XP notebook until I was tempted to try VMware’s first beta of version 2.0. Although not an officially supported OS for any version of VMware Server, my use of Server on XP was for basic research and test purposes, and I chose the free version over VMware Workstation. Like most, after the switch to 2.0 beta 1 I experienced frustration with the web interface. Now, since I discovered Sun’s xVM VirtualBox 1.6 seamless feature and the ability to run virtual machines created in VMware’s .vmdk format, I have switched. I am extremely happy with VirtualBox, and I even consider it to be a closer open-source replacement for VMware Workstation with features that rival the still in beta version of Workstation 6.5. I also use VirtualBox 1.6 on both 64 bit and 32 bit Ubuntu at home.

Jason’s comparison focuses on using the products in a true virtualization host capacity, and he provides some interesting performance analysis. Read the rest of this entry »

Innotek VirtualBox is a free, open-source alternative to VMware workstation. Aquired by Sun Microsystems earlier this year, VirtualBox has quickly become one of the leading developer platforms for the desktop with current features that rival even VMware’s latest version 6.5 currently in beta testing. I have used VirtualBox in the past, but because I had not used it in over almost over a year I was not aware of the latest features in the most recent releases. The feature that specifically caught my attention was the seamless window integration of Microsoft Windows virtual machines. Like VMware Workstation and Fusion’s Unity feature, VirtualBox allows Windows applications in the VM to pop out of the VM session making it available from the host operating system’s desktop.

Quoting from Sun’s announcement: Read the rest of this entry »

I am certainly not the first to talk about the differences between VMware Workstation, VMware Server and VMware Player. However, this topic of conversation continues to come up. “Why should I buy VMware Workstation when I can download Server or Player for free?” There are some key differences between the products that you should understand before you decide which is right for you. Read the rest of this entry »