Re: [ros-dev] Yet another VM

[Colin Finck]

I agree that QEMU also has many advanced features and is fully Open-Source
(apart from kqemu).

But in my opinion the advantage of VirtualBox is that it contains all
features under a nice GUI, which looks very easy to use. It also includes
all other components like network drivers for the network adapter emulation.
These features are also included in the Open-Source version.
This makes VirtualBox good for newbies.
If you use QEMU, you have to read through the documentation for using many
advanced features or even have to build your own version (for example if you
need TAP networking support). Then you would even have to install additional
software like OpenVPN for the network adapter emulation.

With my previous post, I just wanted to say that ReactOS should support
VirtualBox like it currently supports VMware (and VMware is not
Open-Source).
Compared to all other Open-Source emulators, the VirtualBox Open-Source
version is AFAIK the first one with a real GUI, from which you have access
to all features.

Regards,

Colin


>   -----Original Message-----
>  From: ros-dev-bounces(a)reactos.org 
>  [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Alex Ionescu
>  Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 4:41 PM
>  To: ReactOS Development List
>  Subject: Re: [ros-dev] Yet another VM
>  
>  Colin Finck wrote:
> >   Thanks for the information.
> >  
> >  This VM seems to be very good.
> >  I also did not test it, but looked at the screenshots:  
>  VirtualBox supports
> >   multiple snapshots and the closed-source version,
> > which is  
>  also available at
> >   no price for personal use, also supports USB
> > devices. You  
>  can connect to
> >   virtual machines over RDP and the virtual USB
> > ports will  
>  also be available
> >   through RDP.
> >  The closed-source version also has some unique features  
>  like mounting iSCSI
> >   targets as virtual disks. AFAIK no other
> > Workstation  
>  virtualization product
> >   supports this at the moment.
> >  
> >  In my opinion, we should support VirtualBox as a new  
>  testing platform for
> >   ReactOS, since it contains more features than
> > QEMU and is  
>  open-source unlike
> >   VMware.
> >  It would also be easier to use for new users, who did not  
>  run a PC emulator
> >   before.
> >  
> >  Regards,
> >  
> >  Colin 
>  
>  It's funny how you're all going on about how good it is without even
>  having tested it.
>  
>  QEmu supports multiple snapshots as well, as it does USB, and 
>  it's fully
>  open source. QEmu supports named pipes, mounting raw hard 
>  drives and any
>  other disk that Windows can see, audio, networking etc. So I 
>  don't think
>  it contains anywhere near as many features as QEMU, especially since
>  most of the advanced ones you mentionned are *not* Open Source.
>  
>  I'm also quite curious on how they were able to take QEMU (a GPL
>  product) and add USB support under closed source (which QEMU 
>  already has
>  as GPL). Sounds like a bunch of hacks to me.
>  
>  -- 
>  Best regards,
>  Alex Ionescu
>  Project Lead, TinyKRNL
>  Kernel-Mode Software Design Engineer, ReactOS
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