VMWare Inc. Releases Free Virtual Machine Runtime 318
rfinnvik writes "VMWare Inc. has released a new free (as in beer) virtual machine runtime called VMware Player. According to VMWare, this free VM runtime makes it possible for anyone to run virtual machines created in their Workstation, GSX or ESX products. It also runs virtual machines created in Microsoft's virtualization products. The runtime is available for both Windows and Linux."
see, now I'm gonna try linux.. (Score:3, Funny)
Just pray I'm a vocal member of a new majority...
Or you could download Ubuntu (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:see, now I'm gonna try linux.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:see, now I'm gonna try linux.. (Score:4, Informative)
Depends on your definition of "usably."
I've got a USB stick with Damn Small Linux installed, both bootable and through QEMU, and it's screamin' fast when booted direct, but barely manageable on an Athlon 2500+ under QEMU. If you do most of your work from a terminal, it's fine, but the GUI, not so much.
So, answer = not really, but it's still damn cool.
Re:see, now I'm gonna try linux.. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm impressed!
Re:see, now I'm gonna try linux.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Existing virtual machines? (Score:5, Informative)
So, does this mean that if I create those files myself, I don't need the commercial products at all?
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:2)
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:2)
M-o-n-e-y. Being able to play back a VM is really cool, but they will make thier money off selling workstation, GSX, ESX, etc. This is a great way to distribute demo software. Think about it, Knoppix and other bootable Linux's are useful, but I don't use them for the same reason I don't dual boot. I want to run both Windows AND linux at the same time. I can do that with VMWare.
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:2)
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, if you create a "pre-allocated" virtual disk (as opposed to dynamically growing), you'll end up with a text file "something.vmdk" that provides disk geometry and points at a raw bit dump "something-flat.vmdk". VMware (Workstation 5.0, anyway) can use an existing dd dump if you create a
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:2)
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.laportestyle.org/tutorials/ghostinthem
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:2)
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:5, Informative)
When it didn't work, I had to dig around the site, eventually downloading the "VMwarePlayerManual10" PDF file, where on page 3 I found:
But can I then load up the VMX in the Linux version of the player? It doesn't seem to like it very much - I guess it just doesn't work.
Crap! I guess I have to plunk down some $ and re-create thost images in VMWare if I want to do that - easier just to keep booting into windows - it takes hours to install and configure Windows on a new virtual machine...
Re:Existing virtual machines? (Score:2)
Re:So, can someone upload a blank virtual machine? (Score:3, Funny)
This could be very cool for demoing Linux apps (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:This could be very cool for demoing Linux apps (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This could be very cool for demoing Linux apps (Score:3, Funny)
Show us! (Score:3, Funny)
Can we see some samples?
Re:This could be very cool for demoing Linux apps (Score:2)
Re:This could be very cool for demoing Linux apps (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:This could be very cool for demoing Linux apps (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This could be very cool for demoing Linux apps (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This could be very cool for demoing Linux apps (Score:2, Informative)
I have sarge on a P4-3Ghz with 3GB RAM, this allows me to run several vmware machines (Suse 10, FC4, Solaris 9, Solaris 10, MS 2003, MS XP) simultaneously without any visible performance loss. Great for playing around with samba/postfix/whatever networking stuff...
cheers,
pol
Re:This could be very cool for demoing Linux apps (Score:2)
CoLinux [colinux.org]
Gee, that's nice. (Score:5, Interesting)
That said, you can run Qemu [qemu.org] with kernel acceleration on Linux, FreeBSD (a platform VMWare doesn't even support) and 2000/XP and get pretty good performance - and it's probably a better option than a mere 'runtime' given that not only does it support an additional platform (FreeBSD), but you can create a VM on one platform and run it on all the others (even ones w/out accerlation, such as NetBSD -though you really would not want to).
Speed Issues (Score:2)
If you want to compare speeds, QEMU still lags way behind VMware, and unless you have one hell of a machine, you cant use it in production as its way too slow.
QEMU also has major troubles with hosting windows installs, which is what most people in business use VMWare for. ( virtual servers )
Dont get me wrong QEMU is a great thing and its improving quickly, but i would still not trust it for production, yet.
Re:Gee, that's nice. (Score:2)
Re:Gee, that's nice. (Score:2)
>a) This free runtime would suck because it doesn't run a Plan 9 vm.
No, this no-cost (NOT 'free') runtime is less than optimal because it does not support older virtual machines which you can find out on the internet (Plan 9 was only an example; but basically VMWare 5 often has problems with running virtual OS installs created by older versions of VMWare)
>b) Since you guess VMware doesn't support freebsd, you recommend Qemu to run linux, freebsd and win*.
Re:Gee, that's nice. (Score:2)
Why do you care? If FreeBSD will run the Linux binary with no performance degradation and with all the features that it would have if it were running on Linux, what difference does it make? I've never tried running VMWare under FreeBSD, so perhaps there are problems. You didn't mention any though, and in my experience, Linux apps run excellently on FreeBSD.
Re:Gee, that's nice. (Score:2)
1)configuration: setting up the emulated kernel drivers is obscure, to be polite; personally speaking I've never managed to get them to work.
2)the port only lets you use select older versions of VMWare (versions 4 and 2, if I remember correctly); you can't simply download the latest (or even a decently recent) version of VMware, you have to use the one that is available with the ports -assuming, of course, that you have the appropriate version's license key (which, for the versions av
Re:Gee, that's nice. (Score:2)
Response to new alternatives (Score:5, Interesting)
Still, in the time between QEMU catches up to VMWare feature-wise it's nice to have a legal-but-hobbled copy.
Re:Response to new alternatives (Score:3, Interesting)
And to be honest, I generally see *no* performance improvement with KQEMU loaded vs. not loaded. A bug I'm sure, but it's been there for at least the last two versions. Anyway, sometimes I get bluescreens with KQEMU loaded, so I just don't bother. At least QEMU is faster than Bochs.
QEMU is pretty good for what it is, considering the price. Win2k runs acceptably fast, though of course XP and 2003 are do
Great move (Score:2)
VM Machine Building For Free (Score:5, Insightful)
Make as many VM's you want and when it expires you can still use the 'runtime' thing.
Re:VM Machine Building For Free (Score:2)
save it...
when it runs out, roll back that VM
Re:VM Machine Building For Free (Score:2)
Re:VM Machine Building For Free (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, if you get on their mailing list, they will invite you to one of their half-day pep rallies and give you a free copy of Workstation...
Re:VM Machine Building For Free (Score:2)
Wondering (Score:2, Interesting)
As long as you don't expect 3D accel. (Score:3, Informative)
There is also the problem where you're still sharing your CPU with the virtual machine so you may experience pauses in the game. Not really noticable with strategy and turn based games, but it may be a problem with shooters.
The good news is that you can load up different Windows versions for different games (you do still have the licenses, right?). So you can run Win95 or
Re:Wondering (Score:3, Informative)
Of course, this overgeneralizes. If you have some text-based game, or even a graphics one old enough to not strain current hardware, then maybe. But generally speaking, assume that games won't work acceptably.
I've used VMWare (though it has been a while)
Re:Wondering (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Wondering (Score:2)
applications like google earth run very smooth, essentially
with the same speed than in windows. Just make sure to
check OpenGL, when using Google earth.
In general, with virtual machines, it is important to have
enough memory. VMware is the main reason, I throw into my
main linux boxes as much memory as I can afford.
Re:Wondering (Score:2)
Re:Wondering (Score:2)
Transgaming [transgaming.com] would work better.
Excellent for "black sheep" corporate Linux users. (Score:5, Insightful)
Buy your own copy for personal use and simply install this "player" on your work PC. Need multiple users wanting to emulate an OS and don't have terribly high demands? One copy of vmware... multiple players.
I'm drooling.
And the killer hardware to go with it (Score:2)
Is a 40GB usb2 drive. I own one and haven't had a use for it in a long while.
Until now.
USB adapters... (Score:4, Informative)
I wonder what kernels their Linux player supports usb support. I assume it will be something like FC4 or RHEL ?.
Can someone who has downloaded tell me how the usb hotplugging works for you ?.
Re:USB adapters... (Score:2)
Re:USB adapters... (Score:2)
Re:USB adapters... (Score:3, Informative)
Another option (Score:2, Informative)
Disclaimer: i have no affiliation to Parallels, I have just been trying out the product.
technoid_
osx86 (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:osx86 (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually I'm hoping that VMware will port their products to the new osx86 when it ships. I'd love to have the choice to run Linux & Windows in VMware on my first x86 Apple Mac when I get one.
And in other news... (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, on a more serious note, This is cool, the "Player" is far more complicated than any viewer/player out there, and the uses for the thing are intriguing. From the Web Page of VMware, collages can work on a support case and all share the same one in a VM, or you can demo apps in the confort of the VM. The page even points to VMs made available by IBM, oracle and others. Of course, questio
Wish they'd finally support OS/2 as well... (Score:3, Interesting)
Other than the lack of OS/2 support, however, VMWare does not seem to have any other important shortcomings, now that the free player allows to "clone and ship entire virtual machines" e.g. for the hassle-free demo and deployment of FOSS solutions.
Besides, it's a blessing for many computer classrooms, helping in particular to make them less Microsoft-centric and saving much time for administration at the same time...
Browser Appliance password (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Browser Appliance password (Score:2)
passwd: vmware
pretty easy guess, no?
from the console:
vmware@VMware-Ubuntu:~$ whoami
vmware
vmware@VMware-Ubuntu:~$
Browser Appliance from USB key (Score:5, Interesting)
A posting from VMWorld (Score:5, Interesting)
Xen who? It's not even on the radar here. Nothing against Xen, but it is years behind WS5 or ESX3.
Microsoft has been here giving away Virtual Server 2005 with a free R2 update. I have 4 copies of it and I have no idea what to do with any of them. MS was presenting today how they plan to integrate Virtual Server directly into Longhorn. How long with VMWare count MS as a partner instead of as their primary threat?
ESX 3.0 looks sweet, lots of new features. AMD, IBM, HP, and Sun have also been showing off their newest and greatest hardware for running ESX farms.
Re:A posting from VMWorld (Score:2)
Convienent as Microsoft is adopting virtual licenses [slashdot.org].
Re:A posting from VMWorld (Score:2)
I guess what I'm hoping for is a more dynamic way to create virtual machines -- on a per application basis or something, where I don't have to create a wholly unique OS environment for one-off systems and some of the clunky, albeit flexible, stuff you have
Create Marketing Buzz (Score:2, Insightful)
I was at a Microsoft event last month where the presenter was really talking up Microsoft® Virtual PC 2004 as being the cats meow. He actually spent 10 minutes out of the 3hr+ technet program to hawk it.
So..... I went to look it up after seeing the story posted (No, I didn't RTFA) but they had links to download a free 45 day trial and the listed price was ($129.00 MSRP) for the software title. So then I went to VMWare Inc's site to compare products and darn it if MS is undercutting their pric
Huh? (Score:3, Funny)
Download a VM Here (Score:2)
You could also download a virtual machine here [cs.vu.nl] it looks like. I'm sure if you google you can find others.
OpenBSD VM? (Score:2)
Imagine a beowulf cluster! (Score:2)
VMWare lets you run multiple virtual machines on one computer. That's cool and all, but there is another product out there that does the inverse - it lets you join together multiple independent machines (like those in a beowulf cluster) and turn them into one big virtual machine with one system image. So, if you have 16 seperate PCs, you can boot and run linux and it will look like one big 16-cpu server.
Thi
More Free Software Ports (Score:2)
_Very_ good move by VMWare (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:this does what? (Score:3, Informative)
Well, this means that they can now use a VMWare image, and link to the VMWare Player.
Re:this does what? (Score:3, Interesting)
At least, that's what they claim. Tested the player with VPC and VServer images, but they all stop with an error in the log about importing something into the registry which is not in registry format. But then again it's still in beta.
Re:Soft bigotry of "Inc." suffix? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Soft bigotry of "Inc." suffix? (Score:2)
Re:Soft bigotry of "Inc." suffix? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Soft bigotry of "Inc." suffix? (Score:2)
Re:feeling pressure from xen (Score:2)
Xen is not a competitor to VMWare (Score:5, Interesting)
Sounds like they are feeling pressure from Xen and are trying to prevent the truely free OSS solution from gaining mindshare. They make a good product, but cost and closed source will limit them in the long run.
Xen is not a competitor to VMWare, at least, not right now, it isn't. Xen requires the guest OS to be built with explicit support for Xen. VMWare doesn't require that. Xen can't run any build of Windows or NetWare, but VMWare can.
It's clear that this product is a shot across Microsoft's bow. Ever since MS bought Connectix, they've been gunning for VMWare. Those who've tried both VirtualPC and VMWare Workstation have almost universally preferred VMWare Workstation (I haven't tried VirtualPC, but VMWare Workstation rocks), but VirtualPC is still cheaper than VMWare ($129 vs. $199). VMWare has also recently announced that it's hoping to standardize the virtual machine software industry around common VM file formats (VMWare's, of course). If, by using a free VMWare Player, they can get everybody else to adopt their VM formats, they'll have won that war before MS can even get into the battle.
This doesn't really cannibalize sales of VMWare Workstation, even if others figure out how to create VMWare-compatible VMs from other applications, because those of us who use VMWare Workstation like all of its features (and there are lots). What it really does is seed the market for VMWare's real money makers--GSX Server and ESX Server. MS has nothing close to those products right now, and VMWare's hoping to permanently establish themselves as the market leaders before MS can get a comparable product on the market.
Re:Xen is not a competitor to VMWare (Score:3, Interesting)
I'll admit, I haven't played with VMWare WS5.
VPC is also slower, from what I've seen.
However, VPC emulates more standard hardware that OSes (especially old ones) support out of the box. Important when you're playing with an old OS, and you need driver support.
Not entirely accurate (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, if you are running lots of windows, then Conenctix will be shortly the
Re:Not entirely accurate (Score:3, Interesting)
If you run X and it comes with Y, why would you use/buy Z?
In one fell swoop...
Because Z is leaps and bounds better than Y!
Why don't Windows users buy Photoshop or Paintshop Pro when MS Paint came for free?!?! Why do Windows users download FireFox when they already have IE? Why buy or use MS Word when you have notepad AND wordpad for free?!?!?!
Re:Xen is not a competitor to VMWare (Score:4, Informative)
You haven't been paying attention. Xen will soon be able to run any build of pretty much anything on new "VT-enabled" hardware from intel. http://www.xensource.com/news/pr082305.html [xensource.com]
Re:Xen is not a competitor to VMWare (Score:3, Informative)
"is" != "will soon" (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Xen is not a competitor to VMWare (Score:3, Informative)
If you're willing to use vmware on linux I doubt the kernel module will slow you down much...
Re:feeling pressure from xen (Score:3, Insightful)
I really don't want to be a smart *ss, but whenever I read these sorts of comments here on
I doubt most of the corporate types at VMware know that Xen even exists - let alone sees it as any sort of "competition".
Re:This is cool (Score:2)
I agree completely. This is absolutely *awesome*.
VMware, you guys rock. Very very generous and much appreciated.
Re:This is cool (Score:2, Informative)
I'm posting this from FireFox 1.0.7 running on Windows 95 4.00.950 (heh. it was on a bet... and the smallest image I had lying around) from within a VMware Player instance running on Suse Linux 9.3 Pro. At 1024x768 resolution with good graphics.
Had a little trouble with compiling the VMware kernel modules, but it was a quick fix.
Oh, and my mouse wheel doesn't work...
Tom
Re:Can someone please upload a blank virtual machi (Score:2)
Okay, maybe not easy, but hey, this is slashdot.
Re:Use of Virtual Machines for 16-bit OSes (Score:2, Funny)
Somebody went through a lot of effort to type that in. I'll have to save it in case I need to impress some non-technical people.
Re:First virtual post (Score:2)
Re:Small to Mid IT Folks - Is this a holy grail? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:what is the ubuntu root password (Score:3, Informative)
but still i wont leave you in the struggle
#shell$ sudo
Password:
#root@yourhost$ passwd
Enter new UNIX password: xxx
Retype new UNIX password: xxx
there you go
smack baby smack
### smth for the the topic too
vmware is being slashdotted, and being slashdotted hard
can anyone provide cached links for some web cached page and can somebody please put out a gentoo image for vmware please ?
thnx a lot in advance