Re: [UUG/MLUG] VMware

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Tue, 16 Mar 1999, Kris Bodenheimer wrote:

> Uh, hello, such a system is great.  It matters not what hardware it takes,
> I can now trash my P2, and just get a dual xeon, for roughly the same
> price as buying 2 seperate machines of say P3 flavor and running linux on
> one, and NT on the other.  I don't care how much hardware it needs, I
> would do it in a second, unfortunately it ain't free, bleh.  $299.99.....

While we're on the topic, here's what I now think I know about various
ways to run Win9x/NT programs under Linx.

* VMWare:  This is neither "free beer" free (as you note) nor "free
           software" free.  The FAQ says educational users will pay
           $99 for it, while commercial types will pay $299.  Posts on
           slashdot suggest that it's "eerily good"; it actually
           implements a virtual machine on top of which you run, say, NT,
           and from there run your Win-type applications.  See:
           www.vmware.com for more info.

* Bochs:   This is a cheaper virtual machine-type soluction, but it
           works by emulating a PC from the x86 processor on up, decoding
           and translating instructions one-at-a-time (although JIT
           compilation is being added right about now.)  Yes, it actually
           emulates an x86 even when running *on* an x86.  It costs only
           $25 per machine, but is missing substantial features at this
           point.  It is commercial software, but you do get the source,
           albeit with a restrictive license.  See www.bochs.com for more.

* WINE:    WINE Is Not an Emulator. :-)  WINE is a project that allows you
           to run win-type applications under Linux throught the amazing
           feat of hundreds of programmers around the world re-writing
           the entire Win32 API from scratch, aiming for bug-for-bug
           compatibility.  Recent vintages are apparently really getting
           somewhere, although there has been some difficulty in getting
           Microsoft's own programs running under WINE due to the fact
           that MS blows off their own API and/or uses many more API calls
           than software from most other vendors.  Wine has an Open Source
           type license.  More info is at www.winehq.com.

*DOSEMU:   I think this was the first attempt to get DOS/WinX software
           running under Linux.  Many DOS programs do in fact run; there
           are also occasionaly furtive reports that Win 3.1 will boot
           from such a set-up.  The project languished for quite a while,
           but now seems to be more active.  More info at www.dosemu.org

Pphew!  Am I missing anything here?  

My guess is that if VWware really performs as well as it appears to, and
moves from beta to production on time in May, that it could be hugely
useful for people (like me) who are occasionally *forced* to use MSWin
type programs, and can't cope with the incompleteness of WINE at the
moment.  Two particular problems for me are journals that insist on MS
Word '97 versions of your submissions, and email attachments.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.  It would make my life much easier,
true, but I'm afraid it could help cut off the effort to make everybody's
life easier by ridding the world of proprietary and/or non-freely
documented data formats.

jking