On Friday 16 May 2008 18:29:06 John wrote:

On Friday 16 May 2008 04:50:31 Jonathan Ervine wrote:

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On Thursday 15 May 2008 21:45:11 John wrote:

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Also if xen will not allow mixed op system icons on the desktop has anyone any idea of a vm that will? More of a virtual desktop so as to speak.

Possibly VirtualBox as mentioned earlier. Which specific applications do you have in mind though? It might well be possible/better to run the applications under wine (and this definitely allows the icons on the desktop).

Thanks for the info Jon. I will try wine but have my doubts about it's ability to run the few windows programs I use from time to time. For some reason the oss community hasn't produced any optical design programs such as Oslo or Zeemax. User wise both programs aren't exactly great but at least a some what limited but useable version of Oslo is available for free. I also have a weakness for Electronics Work Bench. I like the user interface. As far as I'm aware it's unique. All of these programs are both a bit mathematically and graphically intense. Not too bad on a celeron lap top though. That's about it really but others do crop up from time to time.

I'll have to hold my hand up and admit I know nothing about the applications you're running. They do sound as though they are graphically intensive (not necessarily 3d intensive though).

On the arrangement I described is was definitely based around VNC. Too long ago. I can't remember the details other than it was a sort of vnc network on one machine. The article pointed out that vnc emulates hardware and the demo more or less worked. It makes some sense providing for instance a remote linux PC can control a windoze pc and make use of it's hardware.

As far as I'm aware VNC (virtual network computing I think is what the acronym stands for) doesn't emulate hardware but is a remote display protocol with a server running that can then be remotely viewed from the host. As the protocol is an open specification both the client and server can be run on a variety of operating systems. You'll find that plenty of people on this list use it and are familiar with it's benefits and limitations. [no encryption and slow updates over low bandwidth are the main two]

I'm a little concerned about the Xen threads on here so I will look at virtual box. I've also noted an interest in server based VM's as a method of increasing through put which is another reason why I asked the question. Plus the fact that dual boot is a pain and vnc should be rock solid by now. I have run linux under vmware a long time ago but that doesn't make much sense as it's my most used system.

VNC is 'rock solid' but the protocol itself has limitations - if you're running a later version of a Microsoft operating system then using RDP (remote desktop protocol) can be a much better and more flexible solution. RDP is a client/server protocol also - and Linux systems can be RDP clients. What increased throughput are you hoping to achieve through using Xen that you don't get via VMware or VirtualBox? Running a graphical environment in a Xen DomU under hardware assisted virtualisation (which is required for Windows) isn't going to be a great performer as the emulated graphics card provided by Xen is pretty poor. I'd probably first look at wine or Crossover Office and then have a look at the virtualisation possibilities. By the way, if you've got a VT enabled CPU then you have the additional option of kvm. if you don't have a VT enabled CPU then kvm and Xen are non-starters for you. Jon -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org