I would like to have Minix 3 hosting virtual machines that run window XP and Windows Vista
brunobiondo
this is my first post, as a software programmer I am accustomed with
technical issues and a bit of hacking.
I want to install and begin using Minix 3 while maintaining my
installed software base on Windows/Linux, without having to boot each
time to Windows or Linux when I wanted to use each of them, so I would
like to boot Minix3 only.
Having browsed the MinixFAQ, I could see directions on how to Running
Minix 3 inside a Virtual Machine, and you know nowadays there is a
plethora of software for virtualization/emulation, like Xen
hypervisor, VMWare, BOCHS, Microsoft Virtual PC and Hypervisor,
Virtual Box, to name the most popular ones).
But I would like to do the opposite thing, I would like to use Minix 3
to host virtual machines that can run window XP, possibly Windows
Vista (possibly I can also try WIndows 7), and Linux (let's say a
light distribution like Slackware or Vector Linux).
I would like to know if it is possible, and if so, some instructions/
guide on how to do that.
Included herein is my hardware configuration for 2 machines I own, on
both of wichh I would try:
----- Machine 1 (desktop) -----
Model: Compaq PC
Processor: x86 Family 6 Model 3
Stepping 1 AuthenticAMD ~701 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date: Compaq 786K1, 12/10/2000
SMBIOS version: 2.3
Total RAM: 1.024,00 MB
Hard disk 1 size: 80 GBytes
Hard disk 2 size: 300 GBytes
DVD-ROM
3,5 inches floppy disk
----- Machine 2 (notebook) -----
Model: Hewlett Packard -
Compaq Pressario CQ60
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual CPU
T3400 2.16 GHz
BIOS Version/Date: HP F.32, 20/11/2008
SMBIOS version: 2.4
Total RAM: 4,00 GB
Hard disk 1 size: 300 GBytes
DVD-ROM
Thank you in advance,
bruno
Erik van der Kouwe
What you want to do is possible, although I wouldn't recommend it.
You can install MINIX 3.1.5 using the install CD (note that you need a
free slot in the primary partition table or this).Once you have
installed MINIX by following the instructions and have rebooted into
MINIX, run "packman" to install QEMU and X11. Start X11 using "xdm" or
"xinit" and then you can use "qemu-img" to create a disk image and
"qemu" to run a VM. Install an operating system on the virtual disk
and you can work. Note that the CD-ROM drive is probably /dev/c0d2 on
MINIX and that MINIX does not support DVDs.
The reason I don't recommend it is the fact that it is probably too
slow for everyday use. VMWare and KVM use kernel modules to greatly
speed up emulation. This is not possible on Minix (by design, this is
the idea of a microkernel), so QEMU does pure binary translation
there. Expect a slowdown factor of 10-20x (depending on the task and
maybe on your hardware).
I would recommend that you install MINIX on a harddisk partition as
described above, but then run it from Linux using VMWare Player or
KVM. When you install it on a disk partition, you can still boot
physically if you really need it and it might be sligtly faster than
using an image file. You may have to reconfigure the network if you
switch physical/virtual, but netconf makes this easy.
With kind regards,
Erik
Erik van der Kouwe
Another remark: the network card is more important than the other
hardware you describe. If one of the machines has a card MINIX
supports, use that machine. In a virtual machine, this is not an issue
as MINIX supports the emulated cards.
With kind regards,
Erik
On 6 jan, 17:48, brunobiondo <brunobio...@gmail.com> wrote:
Antoine Leca
> But I would like to do the opposite thing, I would like to use Minix 3
> to host virtual machines that can run window XP, possibly Windows
> Vista (possibly I can also try WIndows 7), and Linux (let's say a
> light distribution like Slackware or Vector Linux).
While it certainly can be done, what is the benefit versus running a
pure (so called "type 1") hypervisor like Xen, which is dedicated
exactly to that target?
Minix ran on Xen (with a few tricks, see http://minixonxen.skynet.ie,
presently http://wiki.bleurgh.com/MinixOnXen, for the details);
it could even be interesting to actualize it to (both) -current,
actually making the Minix VM server to mix with Xen could be quite a
challenge (no real idea though).
Regarding your hardware, I have no idea how well (or how bad) the Duron
700 MHz will behave with virtual machines of any kind; but before using
Minix as host OS, give it a try using Xen (or Virtual box or perhaps
Vmware, if the setup is easier) as host and your regular OSes as guests:
if you find it to be unusable or even barely usable, since Minix
performance is certainly lower, there are not much future trying.
Of course with the laptop there are no such performance questions.
Antoine
brunobiondo
.
> I would recommend that you install MINIX on a harddisk partition as
> described above, but then run it from Linux using VMWare Player or
> KVM. When you install it on a disk partition, you can still boot
> physically if you really need it and it might be sligtly faster than
> using an image file. You may have to reconfigure the network if you
> switch physical/virtual, but netconf makes this easy.
.
Erik and Antoine, thank you for help, I will follow your advices.
Before starting to make the related experiments, Erik, one more thing:
can I run VMWare player or KVM on FreeBSD instead of Linux, as you
stated in the above citation?
bruno
Erik van der Kouwe
AFAIK neither works on FreeBSD.
Based on this list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_platform_virtual_machines
you should be able to use VirtualBox or QEMU with kqemu. I tried
neither. However, I know some people use MINIX with the former and the
two occasionally don't get along well together. Which is to blame here
is unclear, but since MINIX runs fine on the actual hardware and
several other important VMs I think it's emulation is poor. The
latter combination is probably much like KVM, which in my experience
is a good way to run MINIX.
With kind regards,
Erik
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