Yet another VM

[Klemens Friedl]

I read in the news that a new virtual machine software got released
under GNU GPL v.2 (dual license) today (2007-01-15). It's called
VirtualBox (VirtualBox.org) and is partly based on qemu code. On of
the advantages are that it support Intel's VT (vanderpool), run as GUI
app on Win and Unix and support WinNT 6 without glitches (as heise.de
says).

News entry and review (both in german):
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/83680
http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/83678

Heise.de said it is ready to compete with the latest versions of
VMware, Parallels and VirtualPC. If that statement is based on facts
or not and if it is a good reliable tool; I don't know as I have not
tested it myself, as I am busy right now. I just posted it here, as it
might be useful for someone.

Klemens

[Colin Finck]

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


>   -----Original Message-----
>  From: ros-dev-bounces(a)reactos.org 
>  [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Klemens Friedl
>  Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 3:30 PM
>  To: ReactOS Development List
>  Subject: [ros-dev] Yet another VM
>  
>  I read in the news that a new virtual machine software got released
>  under GNU GPL v.2 (dual license) today (2007-01-15). It's called
>  VirtualBox (VirtualBox.org) and is partly based on qemu code. On of
>  the advantages are that it support Intel's VT (vanderpool), run as GUI
>  app on Win and Unix and support WinNT 6 without glitches (as heise.de
>  says).
>  
>  News entry and review (both in german):
>  http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/83680
>  http://www.heise.de/open/artikel/83678
>  
>  Heise.de said it is ready to compete with the latest versions of
>  VMware, Parallels and VirtualPC. If that statement is based on facts
>  or not and if it is a good reliable tool; I don't know as I have not
>  tested it myself, as I am busy right now. I just posted it here, as it
>  might be useful for someone.
>  
>  Klemens
>  _______________________________________________
>  Ros-dev mailing list
>  Ros-dev(a)reactos.org
>  http://www.reactos.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-dev

[Alex Ionescu]

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

[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
>  _______________________________________________
>  Ros-dev mailing list
>  Ros-dev(a)reactos.org
>  http://www.reactos.org/mailman/listinfo/ros-dev

[Peter Dolding]

Alex Ionescu wrote:
>   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
>     
VirtualBox has two forms.  Open Source and Closed.  Open Source is GPL 
but you don't get binarys yet.

Qemu developer worked for a VM company guess what one.  Qemu Accelerator 
Module is part by them.  Developer want to take the emulator a different 
way.  Support more processors and so on and Qemu was born.  So this is 
the reason Qemu code gets to live in there.  Same developer and a very 
kinda closed source company.

But VirtualBox's Accelerator module is more advanced.  It can use the 
hardware virtualisation as required.  As well as allowing itself to be 
run inside its self while exploiting hardware.

USB support is different from QEMU's.   The Qemu usb area could be used 
to replace it.

Virtualbox also has open sourced almost all of its drivers if not all 
for its host OS's.

One of the handy ones is the way its window is constructed.    I don't 
mean to be mean.  Virtualbox is simple to use than Qemu in a lots of 
ways due to minor interface options..

Edge of window interface on qemu would help new users with it a lot.

Its better at somethings.  At a min take the VirtualBox's Accelerator 
module and put it in qemu.  This is perfectly permit able under there 
license and patent arrangements.

So yes its different. It has some good.  And some bad due to what parts 
have not been opened.

So the Qemu Accelerator Module could come open source as well.   Making 
Qemu full opensource.   So this is not a bad thing.  Bekind while 
developers dig over the code.

Peter Dolding

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