Vm Ware

Virtual machine software: http://www.vmware.com

from the web site...

VMware is the first application to liberate the PC from the restriction of being able to run only one session on one operating system on one machine. The company's patent-pending virtual machine technology is a thin software layer that allows users to:

Run multiple operating systems concurrently on a single PC-without repartitioning or rebooting.
Isolate and protect each operating environment, and the applications and data that are running in it.
Interoperate among each of these operating systems, including full networking, device and file sharing, and cut-and-paste capabilities.
Undo changes made in a given session.
Suspend a virtual machine and instantly restore it at a later time.
Encapsulate and manipulate each operating environment, and have the ability to roll back and restart an application, or move an environment among differently configured machines.

This is an example implementation of a VirtualComputer.

News and Developments

Aug05 VMware Opens Up Virtualization at http://www.redmondmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsID=6855

There was a CommodoreSixtyFour kernel hack, many many winters ago, that did this; it produced 3 concurrent OS sessions, each with 21.3 KB of memory... --PCP

My favorite feature is the ability to not commit the disk log. I can load NT 4 in a VM, install software, muck about, etc., then close the app without restarting, and finally throw away the disk log. The next time I start NT 4, it's still new, as it was originally. Very nice for testing. VMWare 2.0 is out, and is supposed to be faster. - ScottMeilicke 3/27/2000

An article describing the use of this product can be found at http://www.ftponline.com/vsm/2003_04_BG/magazine/features/edchoice/default_pf.aspx

Another article, " Virtual Machines & VMware, Part I", can be seen at http://www.extremetech.com/print_article2/0,2533,a=20455,00.asp

It is a lengthy article on virtual machines and how VmWare V3 implements it for MicrosoftWindows as the hosting operating system, and goes into the pecularities of WindowsXp WPA aspects.
includes discussion of communication with external environments via virtual network cards

See MsVirtualPc for comparison

As VMware is becoming more and more popular, data centers are using automated solutions like PlateSpin (http://www.platespin.com) to perform fully automated physical to virtual conversions.

Yeah, well where can one find a virtual to physical conversion? Cause I'm not sure installing Linux on a raw partition and then installing a bootloader on the HD will do it. And why can't VMWare make use of a pre-existing OS installation anyways?

It's because VMware or VPC emulates a specific hardware platform. So if your machine has very different real hardware, the installation you make under one set of hardware won't work with the other. There's more though since VMWare translates software that's installed on it so it literally can't run outside of VMWare.

I installed Win2000 in VMware under Linux on a raw disk partition. It runs OK. But when booting in the real world, it crashed in the very beginning.

from another person... Any comments on whether patches (e.g. security updates) are expected to work "as intended" under a VmWare or VPC environment?

CategoryVirtualComputer