QEMU is ok, but VMWare is much faster (And Free?)Forum: DSL Ideas and Suggestions Topic: QEMU is ok, but VMWare is much faster (And Free?) started by: tstone2077 Posted by tstone2077 on Nov. 04 2005,05:50
I like DSL and I love using it. I've used Qemu before, but it is 2 to 5 times slower than an actual computer (due to its processor emulation technology).Since VMWare is has a better processing technology, it's much easier to work in than QEMU. Here's how you can do it free and legal: 1. Download and install VMWare's free player from < http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ > 2. Copy the dsl iso into a new directory (I put it under program files\DSL Linux). 3. Create a new file named BlahBlahBlah.vmx 4. Edit the new vmx file with the following information: # VM Machine info guestOS = "linux" displayName = "MYLINUXBOX" config.version = "7" memsize = "256" # CDROM INfo ide1:0.present = "TRUE" ide1:0.fileName = "dsl-2.0RC1.iso" ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image" # Host CD-Rom Drive #ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect" #ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw" #Ethernet Ethernet0.present = "TRUE" ethernet0.addressType = "generated" # Audio Settings sound.present = "TRUE" sound.autodetect = "TRUE" # Host USB usb.present = "TRUE" Posted by WDef on Nov. 10 2005,07:36
Thanks, this is excellent :=) QEMU was unusable on my p3 - it just locked the machine up. But dsl on VMPlayer on this machine is altogether usable. Posting from there now.I doubled the default ram allocation (256MB) in the VmPlayer settings and it seems better again. Not sure if enabling dma and booting toram makes any difference, but seems to proceed as for a normal boot - I think it enables dma on the virtual drive that load the iso. Performance is ok Not as lightning fast as a dma toram boot from livecd on the same pc, but ok. Moving files between host and guest OSs is easy since you can mount a usb stick in either OS (not at the same time) after toggling a button on vmplayer's toolbar (or can ftp/ssh between systems as for qemu). As handy as qemu is (don't have to install on the host), it's just *not* in the race compared to this. In the vmware forums I read that they hope people will distribute more virtual machines for use on vmplayer. Here is one they can use out of the box, just add that .vmx file. However, they also labor under the delusion that you have to buy their VMWare Workstation $ product to make a virtual machine .... Red Hat and Suse etc have virtual machines downloadable from the vmware site. The "Browser Appliance" virtual machine - for surfing the net - is built from ubuntu and firefox and is a 210MB download! I suppose dsl run this way would outperform these. Another way to win converts to dsl ....? Posted by krazynesphreak on Nov. 10 2005,23:03
i love the idea, i also love the facted that it can restore the ram. so, u don`t have to load the whole OS ever time just the ram, but it's TO big. qemu is less then a floppy disk but vmware is more then 25 MB. i will use this to test my live CD/DVDs, i won`t use it on the road. and 99.9% of the time when i use DSL in the inside another OS it is on the road.
Posted by WDef on Nov. 11 2005,06:51
It's not very portable - requires admin logon to install on win. But i look forward to trying it on a p4 ; on a p3 ~800Mhz it runs noticeably faster than qemu on a p4 pc 1600Mhz+.It's great. Posted by AwPhuch on Nov. 11 2005,20:26
As long as its free its okI didnt know they had a "free" player...thanks for the info!!! Brian AwPhuch Posted by roberts on Nov. 11 2005,23:01
tstone2077, Thanks for sharing!This works great on my lowly 500Mhz 256MB Thninkpad. Your approach with a simple txt file and our standard iso makes it very easy and simple to "upgrade" too. Doing a modprobe sb as root gives me sound. Loading up extensions works fine. Then exiting vmplayer saves the virtual machine. This means no backup required. I just have to remember NOT to do a shutdown or reboot in dsl and instead use the "X" exit of vmplayer, so that the virtual machine is saved. Extensions even loaded into /tmp will work across reboots. Same for the modprobe sb This makes things very simple The only drawback is that it is not portable. The vmplayer must be installed on the Windows computer. But still, another cool way to experience dsl. Posted by NettoBr on Nov. 26 2005,12:41
Hello People from DSL,This week I'm plenty happy with DSL. I've Installed for the very first time a frugal rc2 on my NB toshiba AMD K6 II 475 MHz, and it works very well. Last night, I've installed DSL on a 128Mb MMC card (from my Digital camera) using my card reader/writer. A USB-HDD install made MMC card usable both in windows and DSL. Perfect. Last night, I also discovered this topic about vmware player, just downloaded set up the litlle notepad, renamed , and I am running it. My P4 1.8 512 Ram is running quite smooth and look like DSL is the only OS runnig in my machine. Fantastic, I'm amazed. Now I have to find a way to use swap partition rinning DSL under VMW-Player. Thanks this fantastic FREE Hint. NettoBr from Brazil. Posted by khalid on Nov. 30 2005,02:33
BTW the only two required files for vmPlayer can be easily created. Configuration file *.vmx by any text editor and virtual disk file by qemu-img utility. Player creates all the rest automatically.
Posted by khalid on Nov. 30 2005,02:38
Has anyone thought about having DSL as the host for vmPlayer ? With DSL's small footprint, it can be the ideal host giving most of the resources to guest machines. I'll try to set this up but a packaged DSL + vmPlayer would be great.
Posted by mikshaw on Nov. 30 2005,04:04
it won't work until the vmplayer is available on Linux....unless you want to run DSL + Wine + VMplayer + virtual machine Posted by Fred on Nov. 30 2005,05:18
Who says it isnt?< http://www.vmware.com/download/player/ > Posted by mikshaw on Nov. 30 2005,13:05
Uh...that was some guy that, um....got my password and posted as me....yeah. that was it....
Posted by AwPhuch on Nov. 30 2005,16:54
BUUUUUUURN! doncha hate it when a noob, or even an unregistered shows you yer WRONG..heh..thank God for humility! Brian AwPhuch Posted by xlthlx on Dec. 04 2005,15:34
What makes you assume Fred is new to dsl? or linux?Anyway, not that I've given it much thought or research, but how about using coLinux to run dsl on windows? regards, xlthlx |