VMware is a very neat product if you want to run any operating system without reformatting or using a spare computer. It allows you to create a virtual machine that runs inside your native system. So, if you run Linux and need to use one or two programs under Windows this allows for just that. Another popular reason to run this software is to test out Linux before installing it onto a computer. One of the best parts is that they offer this neat product for free!
A virtual machine is a great way to improve security along with its
other benefits. It allows for an enclosed environment for any virii or
other badware. Many anti-virus companies use this type of software to
test different virus’s effect a system. If you surf the net entirely
inside a VM then you do not have to worry near as much about something
infecting your system. This is truly a way to secure your system
without all that much work.
Now that we know of a few reasons
to use VMware lets take a look at getting it up and running. The
install of VMware was fairly simple under Linux, just extracting the
tarball and running vmware-install.pl. The installer asks several basic
questions and should be very easy to figure out the settings. Under
Windows it is a very basic installer that asks the same questions. It
is just as easy to use if not easier as it has a GUI to help with the
install.
After the install you are given a screen that allows
you to mount a pre-installed virtual machine (VM) or install your own.
They offer many several Linux distros in what they call appliances.
These are operating systems that someone else has installed and usually
have the default settings. This works very well if you quickly want to
try something and not wait for it to install.
Since what I am
looking for is Windows on top of Linux I have to install it myself as
they can not legally provide it. The XP install was almost identical to
a normal desktop install. The only large difference is that is was
slower, I mean a lot slower. You are installing Windows on top of
everything that is already running on your system, meaning that it does
not have all of the system resources. One of my main problems was the
lack of a ton of RAM. My system is a laptop with 512MB of RAM which I
split in half — 256mb to VMware and 256 to Linux. The ideal setup for
VMware would be a host machine with at least a gig of RAM.
Once
XP is installed it works just like it would under a normal install. I
install firefox and get shockwave working without issues. Now I am able
to play those shockwave games that you cant normally play under Linux.
For just this reason Vmware is worth the install. I install a few other
applications that only run under windows, such as Visio with no
problems at all.
After a few days of using VMware I tried to
install a Creative Zen V I got from someone and this is when the fun
begins. First off, this mp3 player is not good if you run Linux as it
uses the Music Transfer Protocol or MTP which is not natively supported
under Linux. There are a few programs out there that support other
Creative products, but unfortunately not this one. The next logical
option is to install it under VMware. The install of the software was
flawless, but USB support is severely flawed. To get the VM to see the
USB drive it has to be plugged in and powered on prior to starting up
the machine. This is not a big problem, more of a hassle to remember to
do this each time you want to sync your mp3s. The problem comes in when
you try to sync the devices for the first time — the VM blue screens!
Thats right, you can get a blue screen under Linux!
I had to test this multiple times to figure out exactly what the problem
was, but with a little googleing I found out that VMware does not
support USB2.0. I am not sure what is more amazing, the fact that it
doesnt support this protocol which is many years old or that it blue
screens when you try to use it. After trying to find a solution the
VMware provided option is to use a USB 1.1 hub between the device and
your computer to control the speed. This is outragious, they don’t
provide a decent software workaround, instead they want you to use
another piece of hardware to provide the solution. If they told me that
the fix was in a non-free version I would probably upgrade to it, but
from everything I’ve read this is a problem with every version of
VMware.
This software does amazing stuff and should at least be
tested out. It does have its quarks, such as the whole USB 2.0 issue,
but its a free piece of software so it is very hard to complain. I
highly recommend this software to anyone who wants to play with
multiple OS’s and have a bit of RAM. It works much better than wine (Linux) or cygwin (windows) and supports much more software.
