Harry Kuhman
01-03-2007, 09:37 PM
This post is not completely on-topic to Knoppix or even Linux, so I'm posting it here in the Lounge. I'm hoping that member ruymbeke (Gilles) will share his experience and knowledge, and that others might get involved also.
I'm interested in Virtual Machines and have used the VMware player and Gilles' Knoppix appliances. But there is a lot I'm still not clear on and I have a number of questions (and I'm sure I'll have plenty more, these just cover the stuff I think I know enough about to be able to ask questions now). While I've tried to do some reading on the web I'm not really finding the information that I had hoped for. I'm strictly using VMware Player at home as a learning tool and can't at this point justify buying the somewhat expensive Workstation package (and even if I could I would hope to know more about it before spending the money). A number of the questions will likely show that I don't have a good grasp of what Workstation is so I though I might as well say that up front.
First of all, I'm confused on why Gilles has had to make a different release for 5.1.0 than 5.0.1. After all, doesn't the ISO just show up as a virtual CD/DVD to VMware? Why would the virtual hardware care which ISO it was booting? For that matter, couldn't it be a single Virtual machine that booted any Live CD, any distro of Knoppix or anything else? It looks to me like Gilles is including some of the slick stuff he did to enable booting right from the ISO in a real machine, but since VMware can see the ISO as an optical drive I don't see why this would be needed or wanted. What am I missing?
Gilles has installed "the tools". First, I don't have a firm grasp of what this is, although I expect it gives a chance to interact with the VM when it is running. But since the Knoppix appliances don't include the Knoppix ISO at all (the user uses a stock ISO), just where have these "tools" been installed? I get the impression that they need to be installed with Workstation, but is this corrected? Could a simple text exit of a vmx file install them into anything once one had a copy (such as the copy that comes with the Knoppix appliance)?
I'm very unclear on why, when creating a Virtual Machine (such as at the site easyvmx.com (http://www.easyvmx.com/)), one needs to specify what host OS the virtual hardware will run. Why would a virtual machine care if it was running Linux or Windows? What happens if one wants to run some other OS on the Virtual Machine that is not listed? (There is a "other OS" option at easyvmx, but what does this mean when used?) Can anyone point me to a good discription of what happens here? This also seems to imply that one couldn't build a dual-boot VM. Is that correct? Yes, I'll grant that there may be better ways to deal with multiple OSs than a multi-boot machine; in most cases you would just have multiple virtual machines and choose which to run. But a multi-boot virtual machine would seem handy for testing and learning about boot loaders, as well as for seeing how compatable data and files systems are between different OSs. Maybe just asking this shows how clueless I am on this subject, but I would have hoped that the vitual machine could run any OS, or anything bootable, just as the real machine can.
I'm having a bit of trouble trying to install Win98se into a virtual machine. I made the machine at easyvmx (http://www.easyvmx.com/). When I start it, it boots my Win98se CD, but quickly informs me that the Plextor drive needs a scsi driver that isn't included in Win98, then just drops me to a A:> prompt in a DOS shell in the virtual machine. My understanding is that the booting Win98 must be seeing the virtual drive in the virtual machine (as opposed to my actual drive, which is being handled by XP), so why would a VM made specifically for Win98 not be able to actually boot and install a copy of a Win98se CD??? Am I being really dense here? Can anyone make me a VM that will boot my Win98se CD and let me install it in the VM (with the tools would be great)? I was expecting this to be extremely clean but it is not, at least with my current level of skills. Did I make an error in configuring the machine at easyvmx?
I see that VMware Server is also available free and should allow me to make virtual machines. Since Workstation is still their premum product and profit point, I'm not clear on what tradeoff I might have with Server. Is there any advantage (other than lower disk space needed) of running Player over Server? That is, do I give up any feature in Player if I switch to Server? Since sites like easyvmx should let me make virtual machines, do I gain anything over that by installing Server?
I expect I'll have plenty more questions as I progress, but answers to these would be a big help at this point.
I'm interested in Virtual Machines and have used the VMware player and Gilles' Knoppix appliances. But there is a lot I'm still not clear on and I have a number of questions (and I'm sure I'll have plenty more, these just cover the stuff I think I know enough about to be able to ask questions now). While I've tried to do some reading on the web I'm not really finding the information that I had hoped for. I'm strictly using VMware Player at home as a learning tool and can't at this point justify buying the somewhat expensive Workstation package (and even if I could I would hope to know more about it before spending the money). A number of the questions will likely show that I don't have a good grasp of what Workstation is so I though I might as well say that up front.
First of all, I'm confused on why Gilles has had to make a different release for 5.1.0 than 5.0.1. After all, doesn't the ISO just show up as a virtual CD/DVD to VMware? Why would the virtual hardware care which ISO it was booting? For that matter, couldn't it be a single Virtual machine that booted any Live CD, any distro of Knoppix or anything else? It looks to me like Gilles is including some of the slick stuff he did to enable booting right from the ISO in a real machine, but since VMware can see the ISO as an optical drive I don't see why this would be needed or wanted. What am I missing?
Gilles has installed "the tools". First, I don't have a firm grasp of what this is, although I expect it gives a chance to interact with the VM when it is running. But since the Knoppix appliances don't include the Knoppix ISO at all (the user uses a stock ISO), just where have these "tools" been installed? I get the impression that they need to be installed with Workstation, but is this corrected? Could a simple text exit of a vmx file install them into anything once one had a copy (such as the copy that comes with the Knoppix appliance)?
I'm very unclear on why, when creating a Virtual Machine (such as at the site easyvmx.com (http://www.easyvmx.com/)), one needs to specify what host OS the virtual hardware will run. Why would a virtual machine care if it was running Linux or Windows? What happens if one wants to run some other OS on the Virtual Machine that is not listed? (There is a "other OS" option at easyvmx, but what does this mean when used?) Can anyone point me to a good discription of what happens here? This also seems to imply that one couldn't build a dual-boot VM. Is that correct? Yes, I'll grant that there may be better ways to deal with multiple OSs than a multi-boot machine; in most cases you would just have multiple virtual machines and choose which to run. But a multi-boot virtual machine would seem handy for testing and learning about boot loaders, as well as for seeing how compatable data and files systems are between different OSs. Maybe just asking this shows how clueless I am on this subject, but I would have hoped that the vitual machine could run any OS, or anything bootable, just as the real machine can.
I'm having a bit of trouble trying to install Win98se into a virtual machine. I made the machine at easyvmx (http://www.easyvmx.com/). When I start it, it boots my Win98se CD, but quickly informs me that the Plextor drive needs a scsi driver that isn't included in Win98, then just drops me to a A:> prompt in a DOS shell in the virtual machine. My understanding is that the booting Win98 must be seeing the virtual drive in the virtual machine (as opposed to my actual drive, which is being handled by XP), so why would a VM made specifically for Win98 not be able to actually boot and install a copy of a Win98se CD??? Am I being really dense here? Can anyone make me a VM that will boot my Win98se CD and let me install it in the VM (with the tools would be great)? I was expecting this to be extremely clean but it is not, at least with my current level of skills. Did I make an error in configuring the machine at easyvmx?
I see that VMware Server is also available free and should allow me to make virtual machines. Since Workstation is still their premum product and profit point, I'm not clear on what tradeoff I might have with Server. Is there any advantage (other than lower disk space needed) of running Player over Server? That is, do I give up any feature in Player if I switch to Server? Since sites like easyvmx should let me make virtual machines, do I gain anything over that by installing Server?
I expect I'll have plenty more questions as I progress, but answers to these would be a big help at this point.