virtualization in the news
glenn
Joe will speak on virtualization at our next meeting, so I figured we
might as well start a thread with links to articles, tutorials,
resources on this subject.
Here is something that just came out minutes ago in eWeek.
www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1945214,00.asp?kc=ewnws040306dtx1k0000599
Let me know if you have problems with the link.
Glenn
JustJoe
Everyone's jumping on the bandwagon.
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2006-04-03-010-26-NW-MS-SV
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2006-04-03-011-26-NW-HE-RL
http://trends.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/04/02/2038242&from=rss
glenn
Robert Johnson
Here are some websites for your topic for this month:
glenn
virtualization that allows a Mac to run Windows XP. Down at the bottom
of the story is mention of a company called Parallels that offers real
virtualization, not just the reboot option provided by Apple's Boot
Camp beta-ware.
Glenn
+++++++++++++++++
New York TImes
April 13, 2006
David Pogue
Run Windows and Mac OS Both at Once
ONLY a week ago, Apple released what seemed like an astonishing piece
of software called Boot Camp. This program radically rewrote the rules
of Macintosh-Windows warfare - by letting you run Windows XP on a
Macintosh at full speed.
Now, some in the Cult of Macintosh were baffled by the whole thing. Who
on earth, they asked, wants to pollute the magnificence of the Mac with
a headache like Windows XP?
Back in the real world, though, there was plenty of interest. Lots of
people are tempted by the Mac's sleek looks and essentially virus-free
operating system - but worry about leaving Windows behind entirely.
Others would find happiness with Apple's superb music, photo and
movie-making programs - but have jobs that rely on Microsoft Access,
Outlook or some other piece of Windows corporate-ware.
Even many current Mac fans occasionally steal covert glances over the
fence at some of the Windows-only niceties they thought they'd never
have, like QuickBooks Online, AutoCad for architects, high-end 3-D
Windows games, or the occasional bullheaded Web site that requires
Internet Explorer for Windows.
Few could have guessed that only days later, Boot Camp would be
eclipsed by something even better.
Boot Camp remains a free download from Apple.com. It's a public beta,
meaning it's not technically finished. It's available only for Mac
models containing an Intel chip. (So far that's the 2006 Mac Mini, iMac
and MacBook Pro laptop.)
The uncomplicated installation process takes about an hour, and entails
burning a CD, inserting a Windows XP installation CD (not included),
and waiting around a lot.
Then you designate either Mac OS X or Windows as your "most of the
time" operating system. You can also choose an operating system each
time you start up the computer.
If you choose Windows, then by golly, you're in Windows. You can
install and run your favorite Windows programs - speech recognition,
business software, even games - and, incredibly, they run as fast and
well as they ever did.
Correction: they run faster than they ever did. Most people comment
that an Intel Mac runs Windows faster than any PC they've ever owned.
And if the Windows side ever gets bogged down with viruses and spyware,
you can flip into Mac OS X and keep right on being productive.
Boot Camp's problem, though, is right there in its name: You have to
reboot (restart) the computer every time you switch systems. As a
result, you can't copy and paste between Mac and Windows programs. And
when you want to run a Windows program, you have to close everything
you were working on, shut down the Mac, and restart it in Windows -
and then reverse the process when you're done. You lose two or three
minutes each way.
NO wonder, then, that last week, the corridors of cyberspace echoed
with the sounds of high-fiving when a superior solution came to light.
A little company called Parallels has found a way to eliminate all of
those drawbacks - and to run Windows XP and Mac OS X simultaneously.
The software is called Parallels Workstation for Mac OS X, although a
better name might be No Reboot Camp. It, too, is a free public beta,
available for download from parallels.com. You can pre-order the final
version for $40, or pay $50 after its release (in a few weeks, says the
company).
Parallels, like Boot Camp, requires that you supply your own copy of
Windows. But here's the cool part: with Parallels, unlike Boot Camp, it
doesn't have to be XP. It can be any version, all the way back to
Windows 3.1 - or even Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2 or MS-DOS. All of
this is made possible by a feature of Intel's Core Duo chips (called
virtualization) that's expressly designed for running multiple
operating systems simultaneously.
In the finished version, the company says, you'll be able to work in
several operating systems at once. What the heck - install Windows XP
three times. If one becomes virus-ridden, you can just delete it and
smile.
But before your head explodes, consider the most popular case: running
one copy of Windows XP on your Mac.
Suppose you're finishing a brochure on your Mac, and you need a phone
number from your company's Microsoft Access database. You double-click
the Parallels icon, and 15 seconds later - yes, 15 seconds -
Windows XP is running in a window of its own, just as you left it. You
open Access, look up and copy the contact information, click back into
your Mac design program, and paste. Sweet.
Using Boot Camp, you'd restart the computer in Windows, look up the
number - but then what? Without the ability to copy and paste, what
would you do with the phone number once you found it? Write it on an
envelope?
Parallels is very fast - perhaps 95 percent as fast as Boot Camp.
(It's definitely not a software-based emulator like Microsoft's old,
dog-slow Virtual PC program.) It's even fast enough for video games,
although not the 3-D variety; for now, those are still better played in
Boot Camp.
So if Parallels' side-by-side scheme is so superior, should Apple just
fold up its little Boot Camp tent and go home? It's much too soon to
say. Turns out Apple's and Parallels' definitions of "beta" differ
wildly.
The Boot Camp beta feels finished and polished. Parallels, on the other
hand, is obviously a labor of love by techies who are still novices in
the Macintosh religion of simplicity. Its installation requires fewer
steps than Boot Camp (there's no CD burning or restarting the Mac), but
even its Quick Installation Guide is filled with jargon like "virtual
machine" and "image file." (Parallels says it's completely rewriting
its guides.)
The dialogue boxes look a little quirky, too. And to get the best
features - like copying and pasting between operating systems and
enlarging the Windows window to nearly full-screen size - you're
supposed to install something called Parallels Tools. They ought to be
installed automatically.
Even then, as of the current version (Beta 3), some features are
missing in the Windows side: your U.S.B. jacks won't work, for example,
and DVD's won't play (CD's do). Sometimes, beta really means beta.
Note, too, that while it's easy to copy text between Mac OS X and
Windows programs, copying files and folders is trickier. You don't
actually see a Windows "hard drive," as you do when using Mac OS X with
Boot Camp. To drag icons back and forth, you have to share the "Mac"
and the "PC" with each other over a "network" that you establish
between them. Things sure get weird fast when you're running two
computers in one.
Now, if you're a Mac fan, knowing that you can run Windows software so
easily in Mac OS X might make your imagination run wild with
possibilities. One of them, unfortunately, is a buzz killer of epic
proportions: If such a feat becomes effortless, will the world's
software companies lose their incentive to write Mac versions of their
programs?
No one can say. But if that fate can be avoided, then the Uni-Computer
will be a win-win-win. The Mac will be known as the computer that can
run nearly 100 percent of the world's software catalog. Microsoft will
sell more copies of Windows. Consumers will enjoy the security, silent
operation and sophisticated polish of the Mac without sacrificing
mission-critical Windows programs.
Apple, no doubt, is also gleefully contemplating the reaction of the
masses when they experience Mac OS X and Windows side by side, day in
and day out. Its Web site makes the point without much subtlety:
"Windows running on a Mac," it says, is "subject to the same attacks
that plague the Windows world. So be sure to keep it updated with the
latest Microsoft Windows security fixes." Ouch!
So in the course of seven days, the brilliant but technical
Windows-on-Mac procedure written by a couple of hackers last month -
OnMac.net - has become obsolete, and two more official ways to do the
unthinkable have been born. You can use Boot Camp (fast and
feature-complete, but requires restarting) or, in a few weeks, the
finished version of Parallels (fast and no restarting, but geekier to
install, and no 3-D games).
Can't decide? Then install both. They coexist beautifully on a single
Mac.
Either that, or just wait. At this rate of change and innovation,
something even better is surely just another week away.
E-mail: Po...@nytimes.com
JustJoe
Glenn Smith
Glenn
Donald R Laster Jr
My dad may still have his TRS-80 - no I think he got rid of it. :-) LOL
Don
JustJoe wrote:
> I just want a TRS-80 emulator so I can play Parsec again.
>
>
> >
--
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JustJoe
Donald R Laster Jr
I know my Dad nor I have a TI-99/4A. He might still have the Sinclair 1000 :-)
Don
JustJoe wrote:
> My mistake. Parsec was for the TI-99/4A, not the TRS-80.
>
>
> >
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