Hello folks,
Has anyone had a chance to try this new open source virtual machine software - http://www.virtualbox.org ?
I wonder how it compares in terms of speed with VMware, VirtualPC and Bochs.
Cheers,
James
x
Full Version: New VM - VirtualBox
try asap, potentially a great free software. 
tnx jm for post this
tnx jm for post this
works well whit XP, and run the vista installation.
a GREAT free VM imho!
theSLug
a GREAT free VM imho!
theSLug
Thanks for the heads up!
jaclaz
jaclaz
Works well here, thanks 
I believe this should have been posted in the Tech News section.
Nice find, regardless.
Nice find, regardless.
More virtualization solutions (more choice) is always a good thing. But there's already tons of very good free offerings: VMWare Server, VMWare Player, MS Virtual Server 2005 R2, MS Virtual PC (not counting QEmu, KVM, Xen, Bochs and all that), and a bunch of cheap ones like Parallels.
The interesting part isn't so much that it's free (as in 0$) as there's already more than enough free solutions, but it's open source.
Either ways I'm sticking to VMWare Server (and the VMWare Converter for MS' .VHD files)
The interesting part isn't so much that it's free (as in 0$) as there's already more than enough free solutions, but it's open source.
Either ways I'm sticking to VMWare Server (and the VMWare Converter for MS' .VHD files)
Looks nice
BTW what VM's right now take advantage of AMD Virtualization Technology a.k.a AMD-V or Pacifica?
[edit] nvm I think I found the answer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualizatio...re_utilizing_VT
BTW what VM's right now take advantage of AMD Virtualization Technology a.k.a AMD-V or Pacifica?
[edit] nvm I think I found the answer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualizatio...re_utilizing_VT
Has anyone had a chance to see how well it performed ?
There's a bug with the link on the frontpage - sends you to wwwl.virtualbox.org.
QUOTE (Zxian @ Jan 17 2007, 11:20 PM) 
There's a bug with the link on the frontpage - sends you to wwwl.virtualbox.org.
fixed that
thanks
QUOTE (Camarade_Tux @ Jan 17 2007, 03:37 PM)
Has anyone had a chance to see how well it performed ?
One thing I like is it is only a 10.8MB MSI Installer (extracted/installed its about 21.3MB) so its much leaner than VMWare Workstation v5.5 (90MB MSI), which includes some large iso's.
I just tested it on my new X2 3800 (AM2) with XP Pro SP2 and the performance was excellent, definetly better than VMWare with my last cpu (Venice 3000). However I have not tested VMWare yet with my new processor so the results may be better or same.
[edit] if you install the "Guest Additions" (think VMware tools) the performance is almost native!
Still gotta test vmware with new cpu to compare, but this is awesome
Some observations: cannot drag and drop files between host and guest with the additions installed.
I just tried it out. It outperforms VMware and the snapshots are about the same size as VMware snapshots. They are stored in:
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\.VirtualBox\Machines\Virtual Machine Name\
Once I am done a current project that I use VMware for, I will be switching over.
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\.VirtualBox\Machines\Virtual Machine Name\
Once I am done a current project that I use VMware for, I will be switching over.
how much longer does it take to install than vmware? lol
I am building a new "nLited" XP with the new RyanVM update pack, I will record the time it take to install it for both VirtualBox and VMware, either tonight or tommorow.
PS Thanks Jeremy I was wondering where the snapshots were being stored, did not bother to investigate
PS Thanks Jeremy I was wondering where the snapshots were being stored, did not bother to investigate
Here are the results. I compared the time it took to install xp pro sp2 from the time the vm powered on to the time the desktop was loaded (wallpaper, taskbar, etc, appeared). I used the same iso file as the install source, both vms had the same disk span and memory allocation. Both vm's were created on a partition with about 34GB of free space and about 2% fragmentation.
VirtualBox - 9:19
VMware - 10:12
Thats about 10% faster
NOTE that Windows Setup time is probably largely determined by the read/write speed of the hard drive and not so much the vm. So I would expect a wider performance rift in benchmarks that better test the vm software itself.
VirtualBox - 9:19
VMware - 10:12
Thats about 10% faster
NOTE that Windows Setup time is probably largely determined by the read/write speed of the hard drive and not so much the vm. So I would expect a wider performance rift in benchmarks that better test the vm software itself.
Could you please try a benchmark with 7-zip ?
I dont see what that has to do with the VM though? I would like to see some more dual core benchmarks too if thats what you meant
It's just that in the file manager, in the tool menu you can run a benchmark and I think it would give a good idea of how good it performs from a CPU/memory point of view.
Does it have any support for existing VM's from VMWare or MS?
Ok - I'll definately say wow about this... so much simpler than VMware or VPC, and the performance is just stunning...
and its free, im definetly going to have fun playing with this
QUOTE (Zxian @ Jan 18 2007, 07:32 PM)
Ok - I'll definately say wow about this... so much simpler than VMware or VPC, and the performance is just stunning...
I would say it's also it's biggest downside: simpler than other virtualization solutions also means "missing advanced features" in this case. It seems like a pretty good alternative to the overpriced vmware workstation though: 200$ for what everybody else gives away (this, VPC and others) or sells quite cheap (e.g. Parallels). Maybe soon enough VMWare will have to live off its ESX sales. They're only going to manage to sell their workstation product for so long at that price.
Not much of a server virtualization product though. VMWare Server (and Virtual Server 2005 R2) is still king there for many, many reasons: VirtualBox doesn't start as service which is absolutely essential, simpler networking, no image conversion tool to use all the existing vhd & vmdk images (nor the upcoming ones being released by various vendors as virtual appliances or as MS are doing right now for evals in vhd format), no migration products like VMWare has (P2V et al), no iSCSI support, no remote admin tools/console, doesn't have any of the scripting stuff vmware has, no upgrade path to something like ESX (with clustering, failover and all that), likely not quite the same level of support available (no major vendor behind it), etc.
By the way, VMWare has a new product: VMware Lab Manager (still beta), and it looks VERY nice and useful for programmers (for doing testing including deployment). Just too bad it'll cost an arm and a leg.
@crahak - Sure... but for someone like me (and I'm sure I'm not alone here), VirtualBox does exactly what I need. I don't make use of scripts, remote administration, etc etc. I want something that I can test my latest XPlode config, or a new Linux distro, or something like that. A computer within a computer - nothing more - nothing less. Many people here like to use VMware to test out their nLite ISOs before installing them on their real PCs.
I don't think that anyone would argue that VirtualBox is a replacement for VMware, but it's a pretty good freeware alternative.
I don't think that anyone would argue that VirtualBox is a replacement for VMware, but it's a pretty good freeware alternative.
Hello
I have tested it last days. This software has a big potential in my opinion. Compare to the other solutions. Its simplicity make the software efficient instead VMWare and VPC.
Otherwise, some improvements (sure they will come soon) about usb, network and sound, will be better.
It is the only which allow me, without errors, to install solaris 10 !
Good chance Virtual Box
I have tested it last days. This software has a big potential in my opinion. Compare to the other solutions. Its simplicity make the software efficient instead VMWare and VPC.
Otherwise, some improvements (sure they will come soon) about usb, network and sound, will be better.
It is the only which allow me, without errors, to install solaris 10 !
Good chance Virtual Box
Does VirtualBox support basic networking in XP? I'm running a default vanilla XP Corp in it and can see my local workgroup but don't see my local shares listed. This is essential for what I'm doing right now and I can't seem to drag&drop to/from like in VMware. If it's currently not implemented that's fine. I can go back to VMware until it is. Just wondering, though. 
crap, i dont think it installs on xp x64, can anyone else confirm this?
edit: according to their site, "Support for Mac OS X and 64-bit operating systems is currently in the works."
edit: according to their site, "Support for Mac OS X and 64-bit operating systems is currently in the works."
not bad, but it doesnt seem to support shared networking, or am i wrong?
See the Closed-source features there : http://virtualbox.org/wiki/Editions
I've had AutoPatcher fail (CRC error) in VirtualBox, anyone else had that happen?
MD5 checksums match too, so perhaps VirtualBox doesn't like it?
MD5 checksums match too, so perhaps VirtualBox doesn't like it?
Does anyone know how to make a link to start a VM directly? I'd rather not have two windows open when I want to just run my single VM.
not a direct solution but fyi you can close the first window or what i am calling the "vm mananger" and just leave the running VM window open.
unrelated but figured it might help someone currently the only way I know of to get files into the vm is by creating an iso file and mounting it or through a shared network folder but you must connect by ip ex "\\192.168.0.4"
unrelated but figured it might help someone currently the only way I know of to get files into the vm is by creating an iso file and mounting it or through a shared network folder but you must connect by ip ex "\\192.168.0.4"
Yea Dig - I know I can do that, but I'd prefer to have a single shortcut to open just the VM.
just checking because I was afraid to close the window at first
found a solution using VBoxManage make a shortcut to it like follows:
I named my vm "XP_PRO_SP2" btw its case sensitive.
Have a look at the VirtualBox User Manual:
found a solution using VBoxManage make a shortcut to it like follows:
CODE
"\Program Files\InnoTek VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe" startvm XP_PRO_SP2
I named my vm "XP_PRO_SP2" btw its case sensitive.
Have a look at the VirtualBox User Manual:
QUOTE
Chapter 6. Alternative VirtualBox frontends
Due to VirtualBox clean, modular design, it is relatively painless to create an alternative frontend to
the complex virtualization engine that is the core of VirtualBox. If VirtualBox, the graphical user
interface described in Chapter 3, Starting out with VirtualBox,does not suit your needs, VirtualBox
comes with several alternative frontends for certain scenarios. These are:
1. VBoxManage, which allows you to control all aspects of VirtualBox from the command line --
including those that the VirtualBox graphical user interface does not expose. This is described
in the following chapter.
2. VBoxSDL, an alternative graphical front end based on SDL. This is described in Section 6.2,
“VBoxSDL, the full-screen interface”.
3. VBoxVRDP, another frontend that produces no visible output on the host at all, but merely acts
as a VRDP server; see Section 6.3, “VBoxVRDP, the headless VRDP server”.
Due to VirtualBox clean, modular design, it is relatively painless to create an alternative frontend to
the complex virtualization engine that is the core of VirtualBox. If VirtualBox, the graphical user
interface described in Chapter 3, Starting out with VirtualBox,does not suit your needs, VirtualBox
comes with several alternative frontends for certain scenarios. These are:
1. VBoxManage, which allows you to control all aspects of VirtualBox from the command line --
including those that the VirtualBox graphical user interface does not expose. This is described
in the following chapter.
2. VBoxSDL, an alternative graphical front end based on SDL. This is described in Section 6.2,
“VBoxSDL, the full-screen interface”.
3. VBoxVRDP, another frontend that produces no visible output on the host at all, but merely acts
as a VRDP server; see Section 6.3, “VBoxVRDP, the headless VRDP server”.
Isn't Virtual PC Free anyway?
@Digerati - Thanks for that info. I'll have a deeper look into their possibilities.
FrozenBlade- Yes Virtual PC is free, but it can be bloatware at times. also some people like to use more than 1 VM to test their ISO files before burning them to disk.
Also Virtual PC can be a bit complex for people who have never used a VM before (must add Additiona components to allow mouse to escape VM window withjout having to remeber the escape key)
Also Virtual PC can be a bit complex for people who have never used a VM before (must add Additiona components to allow mouse to escape VM window withjout having to remeber the escape key)
QUOTE (phkninja)
(must add Additiona components to allow mouse to escape VM window withjout having to remeber the escape key)
Yes
, though rather faint, you can sometimes hear the screams of the poor cursor, hopelessly trapped inside the VM window..... 
....the horror of it all....
...how cruel were the Connectix/Microsoft guys....
jaclaz
QUOTE (phkninja @ Jan 25 2007, 04:17 AM)
Also Virtual PC can be a bit complex for people who have never used a VM before (must add Additiona components to allow mouse to escape VM window withjout having to remeber the escape key)
Yes, or simply press right alt as they tell you to.
Tarun -
QUOTE
without having to remeber the escape key)
was stated above. It doesnt have to be the right ALT key, this can be changed
QUOTE (phkninja)
It doesnt have to be the right ALT key, this can be changed
Yes, the same thing can happen with your login password on most system.
The point I was trying to make is that there is no actual need to change the default key, and if you go on and change it and your memory is so bad that you cannot remember it, you can stick a Post-it™ near your screen with the "new" key written on it or just try the few keys that can be assigned the function.
All in all, I don't see this as a major problem or as a reason to prefer another VM to Virtual PC (size of install, speed and compatibility with different booting methods appear to me as a more accurate comparison area).
jaclaz
Bsplayer pro,ghost 8.3 (dos) not working.Bs player closing like debugger active.Kaspersky antivirus 6 freezing machine,
Virtualbox very high speed but sometimes locking keyboard.But i'm still using
Virtualbox very high speed but sometimes locking keyboard.But i'm still using
Great App thnx
I find VPC very easy to use :S VMWare looks more confusing to me.
its nice
i did an howto to get it install on linux
the one they got is nice
but i found it was a tab eeek
but its looks and feels like VMware to me
about 10 mins quicker to install than VMware workstation on windows n linux
and a heap quicker to download
running speed : i found was about the same : but im not sure on the network speed yet i haven't had time to test it due to my linux box is without an monitor at the time ..
but its an nice program
link to my howto for linux install of it on centos / fc / suse
about 4 pages about 1.2 mb of pics in total of them pages
i did an howto to get it install on linux
the one they got is nice
but i found it was a tab eeek
but its looks and feels like VMware to me
about 10 mins quicker to install than VMware workstation on windows n linux
and a heap quicker to download
running speed : i found was about the same : but im not sure on the network speed yet i haven't had time to test it due to my linux box is without an monitor at the time ..
but its an nice program
link to my howto for linux install of it on centos / fc / suse
about 4 pages
about 1.2 mb of pics in total of them pages
1.3.4 is now available.
Can you drag and drop files between host and guest yet?
"Over 800 improvements"!
Little warning: when I installed this it locked up my mouse and I had to restart.
Also drag and drop between host and guest is not supported yet, I tried.
Performance is much better than VMWare 5.5.3.34685
Little warning: when I installed this it locked up my mouse and I had to restart.
Also drag and drop between host and guest is not supported yet, I tried.
Performance is much better than VMWare 5.5.3.34685
QUOTE
VirtualBox 1.3.4 (released 2007-02-12)
* General: fixed unresolved symbol issue on Windows 2000 hosts
* General: added warnings at VirtualBox startup when there is no valid Linux kernel module
* General: fixed problem with unrecognized host CDROM/DVD drives on Linux
* General: fixed compatibility issue with SELinux
* GUI: improved USB user interface, easier filter definitions, menu to directly attach specific devices
* GUI: added VM settings options for VRDP
* GUI: fixed GDI handle leak on Windows hosts
* GUI: worked around issue in the Metacity window manager (GNOME) leading to unmovable VM windows
* GUI: show an information dialog before entering fullscreen mode about how to get back
* GUI: several fixes and improvements
* VMM: fixed occasional crashes when shutting down a Windows guest
* VMM: fixed crash while loading Xorg on openSUSE 10.2
* VMM: fixed problems with OpenBSD 3.9 and 4.0
* VMM: fixed crash while loading XFree86 in SUSE 9.1
* VMM: fixed Debian 3.1 (Sarge) installation problem (network failure)
* VMM: fixed crash during SUSE 10.2 installation
* VMM: fixed crash during Ubuntu 7.04 RC boot
* VMM: fixed crash during ThinClientOS (Linux 2.4.33) bootup
* ATA/IDE: pause VM when host disk is full and display message
* ATA/IDE: fixed incompatibility with OpenSolaris 10
* VDI containers: do not allocate blocks when guest only writes zeros to it (size optimization when zeroing freespace prior to compacting)
* CDROM/DVD: fixed media recognition by Linux guests
* Network: corrected reporting of physical interfaces (fixes Linux guest warnings)
* Network: fixed IRQ conflict causing occassional major slowdowns with XP guests
* Network: significantly improved send performance
* Audio: added mixer support to the AC'97 codec (master volume only)
* Audio: added support for ALSA on Linux (native, no OSS emulation)
* iSCSI: improved LUN handling
* iSCSI: fixed hang due to packet overflow
* iSCSI: pause VM on iSCSI connection loss
* Linux module: never fail unloading the module (blocks Ubuntu/Debian uninstall)
* Linux module: improved compatibility with NMI watchdog enabled
* Windows Additions: fixed hardware mouse pointer with Windows 2003 Server guests
* Linux Additions: compile everything from sources instead of using precompiled objects
* Linux Additions: better compatibility with older glibc versions
* Linux Additions: when uninstalling, only delete the files we put there during installation, don't remove the directory recursively to prevent unwanted data loss
* Linux Installer: added support for Slackware
* Linux Additions: added support for Linux 2.4.28 to 2.4.34
* RDP: fixed sporadic disconnects with MS RDP clients
* RDP: fixed race condition during resolution resize leading to rare crashes
* General: fixed unresolved symbol issue on Windows 2000 hosts
* General: added warnings at VirtualBox startup when there is no valid Linux kernel module
* General: fixed problem with unrecognized host CDROM/DVD drives on Linux
* General: fixed compatibility issue with SELinux
* GUI: improved USB user interface, easier filter definitions, menu to directly attach specific devices
* GUI: added VM settings options for VRDP
* GUI: fixed GDI handle leak on Windows hosts
* GUI: worked around issue in the Metacity window manager (GNOME) leading to unmovable VM windows
* GUI: show an information dialog before entering fullscreen mode about how to get back
* GUI: several fixes and improvements
* VMM: fixed occasional crashes when shutting down a Windows guest
* VMM: fixed crash while loading Xorg on openSUSE 10.2
* VMM: fixed problems with OpenBSD 3.9 and 4.0
* VMM: fixed crash while loading XFree86 in SUSE 9.1
* VMM: fixed Debian 3.1 (Sarge) installation problem (network failure)
* VMM: fixed crash during SUSE 10.2 installation
* VMM: fixed crash during Ubuntu 7.04 RC boot
* VMM: fixed crash during ThinClientOS (Linux 2.4.33) bootup
* ATA/IDE: pause VM when host disk is full and display message
* ATA/IDE: fixed incompatibility with OpenSolaris 10
* VDI containers: do not allocate blocks when guest only writes zeros to it (size optimization when zeroing freespace prior to compacting)
* CDROM/DVD: fixed media recognition by Linux guests
* Network: corrected reporting of physical interfaces (fixes Linux guest warnings)
* Network: fixed IRQ conflict causing occassional major slowdowns with XP guests
* Network: significantly improved send performance
* Audio: added mixer support to the AC'97 codec (master volume only)
* Audio: added support for ALSA on Linux (native, no OSS emulation)
* iSCSI: improved LUN handling
* iSCSI: fixed hang due to packet overflow
* iSCSI: pause VM on iSCSI connection loss
* Linux module: never fail unloading the module (blocks Ubuntu/Debian uninstall)
* Linux module: improved compatibility with NMI watchdog enabled
* Windows Additions: fixed hardware mouse pointer with Windows 2003 Server guests
* Linux Additions: compile everything from sources instead of using precompiled objects
* Linux Additions: better compatibility with older glibc versions
* Linux Additions: when uninstalling, only delete the files we put there during installation, don't remove the directory recursively to prevent unwanted data loss
* Linux Installer: added support for Slackware
* Linux Additions: added support for Linux 2.4.28 to 2.4.34
* RDP: fixed sporadic disconnects with MS RDP clients
* RDP: fixed race condition during resolution resize leading to rare crashes
I wonder if AutoPatcher will work in this yet.
The AutoPatcher team has zero interest in even attempting to resolve the issue.
The AutoPatcher team has zero interest in even attempting to resolve the issue.
QUOTE (Tarun @ Feb 17 2007, 04:26 PM)
I wonder if AutoPatcher will work in this yet.
The AutoPatcher team has zero interest in even attempting to resolve the issue.
The AutoPatcher team has zero interest in even attempting to resolve the issue.
I've had too many problems with autopatcher on real hardware before (and other annoyances I won't bother getting into), I've LONG given up on it. So problems on nearly experimental virtual hardware with a nearly non-existent user base...
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