I just got an old computer (Dual Core, up to 8 GB of RAM) and am thinking of using it as a replacement for the family computer. Then a co-worker got me thinking. What about virtualizaing?
If I put a barebone host with virtualization software on top of it, could I have it so when the family boots up the computer it boots up the host and then immediately (hopefully without notice) boot into a specified virtual machine running the desktop system?
I was thinking of having it run a Linux distribution, but would love to be able to run Windows 7 if I so choose sometime later.
Some of the reasoning if for
- Being able to snapshot and store (backup) the image onto a networked hard drive
- Enable easily multi-booting without having to worry about GRUB
- Enable running a headless server-orientated VM such as a web server, automatically in the background
- Make upgrading safer by being able to work out the kinks in a second VM before moving everybody over (and finding out it doesn’t work!)
I don’t know if the above is very feasible.
Would it be better to run it on a barebone systems such as VMWare ESXi or a Linux distro?
Would it be better to, if on a Linux distro, run VMWare, VirtualBox or KVM?
Would any enable hardware acceleration? Games will be played on it, but not the resource-intensive ones (unless you count Super Tux Kart, Neverball and the like)
On Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:26:02 +0000, dragonbite wrote:
> Would any enable hardware acceleration? Games will be played on it, but
> not the resource-intensive ones (unless you count Super Tux Kart,
> Neverball and the like)
VirtualBox and VMware will give you graphics HW acceleration if the
proper tools are installed in the VM.
Whether it’s good enough for playing high-end games, though, might be
another question.
Jim
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
On 2012-06-04 21:26, dragonbite wrote:
>
> I just got an old computer (Dual Core, up to 8 GB of RAM) and am
> thinking of using it as a replacement for the family computer. Then a
> co-worker got me thinking. What about virtualizaing?
>
> If I put a barebone host with virtualization software on top of it,
> could I have it so when the family boots up the computer it boots up the
> host and then immediately (hopefully without notice) boot into a
> specified virtual machine running the desktop system?
IMHO, it is better a real machine. Virtualization is for somethings.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
On Mon, 04 Jun 2012 22:48:07 +0000, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2012-06-04 21:26, dragonbite wrote:
>>
>> I just got an old computer (Dual Core, up to 8 GB of RAM) and am
>> thinking of using it as a replacement for the family computer. Then a
>> co-worker got me thinking. What about virtualizaing?
>>
>> If I put a barebone host with virtualization software on top of it,
>> could I have it so when the family boots up the computer it boots up
>> the host and then immediately (hopefully without notice) boot into a
>> specified virtual machine running the desktop system?
>
> IMHO, it is better a real machine. Virtualization is for somethings.
Depends on the use case. If it’s light gaming, then I would have to
agree with dragonbite that a virtual solution would be better, for a few
reasons:
-
You can take a snapshot before applying updates, and if something
goes wrong, you can revert to a known good state.
-
Just that ability to revert to a known good state in and of itself is
useful.
-
I use a VirtualBox VM for watching Netflix on my laptop (since it
uses Silverlight and is incompatible with Linux). Audio/Video
performance is certainly good enough for that.
-
Ease of portability of the VM. If you upgrade hardware, moving the VM
is trivial and you keep the configuration on the new hardware - and since
the VM itself is hardware-independent, you don’t have to reconfigure
anything in the guest (you do have to treat the move as a move rather
than a copy - in VMware at least, a copy creates a new ID for the
machine, which can cause a Windows install to decide it needs to be
reactivated. That may also be the case with newer Windows releases and a
move of the VM, that I don’t know. XP doesn’t complain).
Virtualization doesn’t make sense if you have HPC needs and are running
multiple VMs on the same physical hardware. That’s a case where I
wouldn’t use a VM. High disk I/O scenarios also might see performance
degradation in a virtual environment.
For everyday use? Yeah, I’d be inclined to say a VM solution is a good
solution unless there’s a very specific reason not to.
Jim
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
On 2012-06-05 01:50, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Mon, 04 Jun 2012 22:48:07 +0000, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> 1. You can take a snapshot before applying updates, and if something
> goes wrong, you can revert to a known good state.
btfrs 
> For everyday use? Yeah, I’d be inclined to say a VM solution is a good
> solution unless there’s a very specific reason not to.
You need to maintain both the host and the guest: two machines in one
I do use virtualization. But the “real work” is done on the host.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
On Tue, 05 Jun 2012 00:18:06 +0000, Carlos E. R. wrote:
> On 2012-06-05 01:50, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Mon, 04 Jun 2012 22:48:07 +0000, Carlos E. R. wrote:
>
>> 1. You can take a snapshot before applying updates, and if something
>> goes wrong, you can revert to a known good state.
>
> btfrs
When it’s more mature. That’s also great for a Linux installation, not
so helpful for a Windows installation on the same machine.
Unless you know some incantation that lets Windows run on btrfs. 
>> For everyday use? Yeah, I’d be inclined to say a VM solution is a good
>> solution unless there’s a very specific reason not to.
>
> You need to maintain both the host and the guest: two machines in one
>
Yes, but if you have multiple OSes, then you’re maintaining two installs
already.
And if the host is totally stripped down, less maintenance is arguably
necessary.
> I do use virtualization. But the “real work” is done on the host.
I do real work both on hosts and in guests.
Just depends on one’s needs.
Jim
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C