vmware

[Orel]

Hi,
I'm a bit confused about what can be done by VMWare.
What I have now is a dual-booting PC: Windows 2000 + Suse 10.1, and I would
like to use vmware because I really constantly need the two OS's at my work.

My questions:
- can I use the installations that are present on my hard disk, or do I need
to install a new guest OS for use by vmware?
- which version of vmware is right for me? Workstation, server or player? I
don't develop applications: 90% of my time is spent between Outlook and
shell scripting.
- which OS do you advice as the guest and which OS as the host?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[houghi]

["Followup-To:" header set to alt.os.linux.suse.]

Hi,
I'm a bit confused about what can be done by VMWare.
What I have now is a dual-booting PC: Windows 2000 + Suse 10.1, and I would
like to use vmware because I really constantly need the two OS's at my work.

My questions:
- can I use the installations that are present on my hard disk, or do I need
to install a new guest OS for use by vmware?

New installation.

- which version of vmware is right for me? Workstation, server or player? I
don't develop applications: 90% of my time is spent between Outlook and
shell scripting.

Sorry, no idea. So you only need Outlook on Windows, right? First: what
do you need Outlook for? Can't you do it with another Emailclient?
Second, does Outlook not work with wine?

- which OS do you advice as the guest and which OS as the host?

Linux as the main one and Windows in VMware.

 

[Guest]

Hi,
I'm a bit confused about what can be done by VMWare.
What I have now is a dual-booting PC: Windows 2000 + Suse 10.1, and I would
like to use vmware because I really constantly need the two OS's at my work.

My questions:
- can I use the installations that are present on my hard disk, or do I need
to install a new guest OS for use by vmware?
- which version of vmware is right for me? Workstation, server or player? I
don't develop applications: 90% of my time is spent between Outlook and
shell scripting.
- which OS do you advice as the guest and which OS as the host?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Q - can I use the installations that are present on my hard disk, or do I need
to install a new guest OS for use by vmware?
A - No, you´ll have to make a new install of a guest OS at VmWare.

Q - which version of vmware is right for me? Workstation, server or player? I
don't develop applications: 90% of my time is spent between Outlook and
shell scripting.
A - Look, according to your needs I think the Workstation version it´s
perfect for you, the server version it´s recommended for server
virtualizations like web server or something else more heavy and the player
version you install it at any computer, copy the Virtual Machine made at
another pc and you can run it with the VmWare Player at any pc

Q - which OS do you advice as the guest and which OS as the host?

A - That´s up to you, but as you said you work with shell scripting could be
better use the Suse as Host and make a Windows install for the Guest.

 

[Robert Roland]

- can I use the installations that are present on my hard disk, or do I need
to install a new guest OS for use by vmware?

The virtual machine is a completely new computer. In practice, you
need a new install.

- which version of vmware is right for me? Workstation, server or player? I
don't develop applications: 90% of my time is spent between Outlook and
shell scripting.

Player can't do what you need, and Workstation costs money. Get
Server.

- which OS do you advice as the guest and which OS as the host?

The virtual machine will be somewhat slower than the real one. Also,
graphics performance will be inferior on the virtual one. Choose the
OS which you need the best performance with as the host OS.

 

[Nohup]

Thanks for your advices.
I've thought and read a little bit, and I think I will use W2k as the host:
It's on the computer of my firm and there is a lot of configs and software
that are installed on w2k, that I could hardly reproduce on a new (guest)
install.

This leads me to another question: as I said I already have a Suse10.1 on my
computer. If I install Ubuntu as a vmware guest, will I be able to access
and mount the Suse partitions from Ubuntu?

 

[Zemran]

I'm a bit confused about what can be done by VMWare.

A lot of work and not a lot of games. I use it and am gradually switching
to VMWare instead of dual boot as there are less and less reasons for me to
use Windows. It is great for development work as you can have several OSs
at the same time and switch between them much faster than multi boot (why I
prefer it) but it will not play any DirectX type games.

My questions:
- can I use the installations that are present on my hard disk, or do I
need to install a new guest OS for use by vmware?

You need to do a fresh install because it will be a completely different
machine.

- which version of vmware is right for me? Workstation, server or player?

On a single machine you will use Workstation which comes with player.
Player is just a tool to launch specific instances of VMWare. If I click
on the Winows icon on my task bar I get my XP setup loaded using player and
can then switch between XP and SuSE using Ctrl + Alt + F7 or Ctrl + Alt +
F8.

I don't develop applications: 90% of my time is spent between Outlook and

Have you looked at Evolution? Why use Outlook and the serious risks it
places on your machine when there is such a good option. Outlook is a
virus farm with no more functionality than Evolution.

- which OS do you advice as the guest and which OS as the host?

SuSE = host, Windows = guest.

 

[Orel]

Thanks to all for the replies. Vmware workstation offers the possibility to
use a physical disk for a virtual host.