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Sun offers Free alternative to VMWare Fusion and Parallels
macworld.com — Virtualization continues to be a big topic among Mac users with Intel-powered Macs. Products from Parallels and VMware allow you to easily run many different operating systems on your Mac, each within its own protected virtual environment. Recently, a third player entered the market—Sun, with its VirtualBox product.
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- prattmic, on 07/19/2008, -2/+114Virtualbox has been around for several years and was acquired by Sun in February.
- banmaster, on 07/19/2008, -14/+4I'd been using it for ages, I had no idea they sold out to Sun.
- InorganicMatter, on 07/19/2008, -2/+14"Sold out?" Enough derogatory terms towards corporations making money on FOSS. They aren't breaking any rules.
- AdmiralAcbar, on 07/19/2008, -1/+4I don't think he intended it to be derogatory, just literal truth. They sold their company. I had no idea either.
- angrykeyboarder, on 07/19/2008, -2/+20Indeed.
When I saw this I'm thinking. "In other news, Intel Introduced the Pentium" - LennyX, on 07/21/2008, -0/+5VirtualBox may have been around for ages on Windows & Linux, but the Mac version has only been out for a couple of months. This is the first that I've heard of it though & I think it stands up pretty well against the other Mac virtualization alternatives.
- banmaster, on 07/19/2008, -14/+4I'd been using it for ages, I had no idea they sold out to Sun.
- str8lazy, on 07/19/2008, -14/+3I suppose that it is nice that someone is talking about it though so that more people can hear about it. To bad it blows ass if you have Windows as your hosting OS. It works great on Linux and Mac...
The sad part is that this is a walk-through for dummies...- stereosaurus, on 07/19/2008, -0/+4I use VirtualBox at home - Windows guest on a Linux host - and at work - Linux guest on a Windows host - and have no problem with either. The only issue I ever encounter is with running out of memory on my work computer, but that has nothing to do with VirtualBox and everything to do with the computer sucking.
- PoopOnPaul, on 07/19/2008, -9/+1Once it a) has 3d support or whatever the correct term is, and b) can run a VM off a Boot Camp partition, then I'd actually consider using it. Those are two HUGE features it's missing.
- willynilly, on 07/19/2008, -1/+7Running a VM off a Boot Camp partition is flaky even with Fusion. One huge problem is that the ***** licensing scheme for most of your software craps out and will revert back to trial mode when switching between running native and running in a VM.
- PoopOnPaul, on 07/19/2008, -3/+2Well I've never done it cuz as of right now, I only use one OS, so I can't vouch for how well VMWare and Parallels do it, but I know if I did have a second OS, I'd like to be able to boot into it on its own or use it within OS X, without having a separate partition as well as a disk image, and it's supposed to work in those two products. Hopefully they'll figure out a way to make it work better.
And I know they're working on the 3D for VirtualBox - starf, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2I do that all the time with Fusion. Never had a problem.
Haven't run any 3d games, but everything else works great. - SPECOPS, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1I've had no problems either, using Fusion - go back and forth using bootcamp and the virtual machine - one word of caution, always SHUT DOWN, don't sleep/hybernate when you're about to switch between the two (this is a warning from VMWare themselves, not me).
- PoopOnPaul, on 07/19/2008, -3/+2Well I've never done it cuz as of right now, I only use one OS, so I can't vouch for how well VMWare and Parallels do it, but I know if I did have a second OS, I'd like to be able to boot into it on its own or use it within OS X, without having a separate partition as well as a disk image, and it's supposed to work in those two products. Hopefully they'll figure out a way to make it work better.
- willynilly, on 07/19/2008, -1/+7Running a VM off a Boot Camp partition is flaky even with Fusion. One huge problem is that the ***** licensing scheme for most of your software craps out and will revert back to trial mode when switching between running native and running in a VM.
- wontstoptalking, on 07/19/2008, -19/+40Ummm....everyone's already heard of this.
- calmanny, on 07/19/2008, -4/+22I hadn't heard of it, therefore you are wrong.
- plr4ever, on 07/19/2008, -8/+7No, therefore you are a hermit.
- corporalclegg24, on 07/20/2008, -1/+3im not a hermit. wrong again.
- Kelmon, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2OK, I'd heard of it but since it's almost never discussed when talking about virtualisation on the Mac, I'm not in the slightest bit surprised people haven't heard about it.
- calmanny, on 07/19/2008, -4/+22I hadn't heard of it, therefore you are wrong.
- sahaskatta, on 07/19/2008, -5/+22It's a great application and I have been using it to run Ubuntu in Vista for a long time now.
Why are they randomly discussing this now?
Here's a direct link to the product: http://www.virtualbox.org- moduc, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2It's a great VM. However, there's not much talk about it. I stumbled on it some how not long ago. I am using currently, and love it.
It's commercial quality app for free. It's very well documented. I hope a lot more people know this product. I highly recommend it.
- moduc, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2It's a great VM. However, there's not much talk about it. I stumbled on it some how not long ago. I am using currently, and love it.
- eekfuh, on 07/19/2008, -10/+20Old news. Been using this for quite awhile on Ubuntu.
- Papajohn56, on 07/19/2008, -20/+6yeah but who cares about ubuntu except virgin digg nerds
- plr4ever, on 07/19/2008, -3/+7And what are you?
- Papajohn56, on 07/19/2008, -20/+6yeah but who cares about ubuntu except virgin digg nerds
- scottphphq, on 07/19/2008, -6/+16I've been using vbox for a year now...
- Ledd, on 07/19/2008, -12/+4I've been using vbox for 0 days now....
- ZephyrNinety, on 07/19/2008, -10/+1Not for nothing, but I really don't know any Mac users that have Windows or any other OS running on their Mac.
- Pucciarelli, on 07/19/2008, -2/+3Nice to meet you.
Unfortunately I need to run Winblows through parallels to sync my zune on my mac.
Virtualbox doesn't support USB 2.0...I think.- fmorel90, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1It does now.
- BrainInAJar, on 07/19/2008, -1/+2I have a couple Fusion VM's for various things ( none of them are Windows just because I simply don't need it, but there have you )
- OpCzar, on 07/19/2008, -0/+6You don't know any developers - just soccer moms.
- tacojohn48, on 07/19/2008, -0/+2I am about to buy a Mac and I plan on using bootcamp to run windows. I need Windows for school, somethings are just hard enough to do when you can follow along on the same OS. I also want to be able to play Portal so I can't just do a VM.
- Pucciarelli, on 07/19/2008, -2/+3Nice to meet you.
- spankr, on 07/19/2008, -8/+37... and in other news, Amelia Earhart missing over South Pacific and egghead scientists think they might be able to split the atom - more after the talkie...
Hmmmmmm... let's see:
http://digg.com/search?s=virtualbox - SneezyRobot, on 07/19/2008, -4/+36Umm... I've relatively new to macs only had mine for about a year, but I haven't heard of this and I think it's safe to say a good number of people haven't either. I would have loved to know about it before trying parallels and fusion.
Looks like a good solution... Dugg and downloading, thanks!- schneb, on 07/21/2008, -0/+1It is a very good start, however, VB needs to recognize a BootCamp partition rather than have multiple installs of Windows. I heard that both this and DirectX are high on their Roadmap list.
- cam0man, on 07/19/2008, -2/+19"Recently, a third player entered the market"
right. - pavelmah, on 07/19/2008, -1/+14Man, Virtualbox has been around for a long time. And the first to support seamless for windows platform without any major bugs:
Its works awesome (if your hardware can handle it): and I have been using it for some time for windows application I can't use with wine or has no substitution. Here is a better howto on virtualbox with seamless: http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2008/05/05/creating-seam ...- redxii, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1I used to use Virtual PC; I frequently do test installs w/ Windows XP. In VPC, it takes about an hour and a half to install, most of the time spent in the first part of setup. ONE file alone can take up to 5 minutes to copy, and it isn't a big file. Don't ask how long Vista takes to install..
VirtualBox finishes the first part before I know it, finishing the entire install to the desktop in about 15 minutes. And my machine is just a lowly Athlon XP 3200+ (Barton) and 2GB of RAM.
I think VPC is translating every single instruction into x86 when my processor is already x86, or something like that.
- redxii, on 07/19/2008, -0/+1I used to use Virtual PC; I frequently do test installs w/ Windows XP. In VPC, it takes about an hour and a half to install, most of the time spent in the first part of setup. ONE file alone can take up to 5 minutes to copy, and it isn't a big file. Don't ask how long Vista takes to install..
- bryceman111, on 07/19/2008, -6/+8A lot of people checking this out are probably trying wanting to try out Linux. If you want a damn sweet and safe way to try Ubuntu, check this out: http://wubi-installer.org/ ...it allows you to install/uninstall Ubuntu as you would any Windows app.
- raydeen, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2I used this from an Ubuntu 8.04 cd on a friend's machine. Worked like a charm. If he ever has any problems in Windows, he's got Ubuntu to get him around until the problem can be sorted out.
- RadiatedAnt, on 07/19/2008, -6/+2If you are serious about something and you strive to be the best at that something, you will know not to dilly dally all day eating mashed potatoes, so don't give me the but i didnt here about it speech
- spacebuddy, on 07/19/2008, -2/+9The product is free and works really good.
- wesdenton, on 07/19/2008, -1/+7It's a nice application with many useful features but it's still dependent upon other operating systems. I like the direction vmware is going into because of their esx server product.
- joebaloney, on 07/19/2008, -0/+5Yeah, have you taken a gander at the price of ESX server? Makes it seem a lot less useful.
- wesdenton, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1Yes I know how much it costs but this is the direction I'd like to see virtual applications go. While ESX still runs on Linux it doesn't have all of the overhead of say Windows or even a Solaris system running zones.
For every commercial application there is generally an open source application that is better. Perhaps in the future we'll see something like FreeNAS, the BSD NAS server but we can call it FreeVM. Oh nevermind, they are already using that name.
http://ostatic.com/21512-software-opensource/freev ... - deviantsteve, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2Is ESX server really as picky about hardware as I've been told it is?
- wesdenton, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1Yes I know how much it costs but this is the direction I'd like to see virtual applications go. While ESX still runs on Linux it doesn't have all of the overhead of say Windows or even a Solaris system running zones.
- joebaloney, on 07/19/2008, -0/+5Yeah, have you taken a gander at the price of ESX server? Makes it seem a lot less useful.
- TomOwens, on 07/19/2008, -0/+10Although this is old, I've dugg it. I use VirtualBox on Windows and love it better than anything else I've used.
- moduc, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2The older, the better. It means it's mature. However, it needs publicity because I don't see it often when reading articles about VM products. You hear VMWare, Microsoft's VirtualPC, Parallels, Xen, etc., but rarely VirtualBox.
This is a production quality product that will satisfy most of your need for VM.
- moduc, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2The older, the better. It means it's mature. However, it needs publicity because I don't see it often when reading articles about VM products. You hear VMWare, Microsoft's VirtualPC, Parallels, Xen, etc., but rarely VirtualBox.
- joebaloney, on 07/19/2008, -2/+10I have VMWare Workstation 6 and VirtualBox running under Ubuntu and VirtualBox works a LOT better. Its faster and smoother, VMWare runs like absolute ***** on Ubuntu. BTW if you want USB support in Ubuntu you can't apt-get install it, you have to download the Sun version.
- moduc, on 07/20/2008, -1/+1It runs great on OpenSuse 11. It comes with OpenSuse 11 DVD iso image. USB support works for me. I am not sure why. I use the VirtualBox OSE (open source edition). In fact, I run OpenSuse on USB external drive, and the VirtualBox on top of that. Crazy eh?
- MattBD, on 07/19/2008, -0/+9VirtualBox is an incredibly useful tool for switching to Linux. You can use it to try out distros without even having to burn them to a CD, you don't have to worry about whether your wireless card works with it, and if you have any problems you can still get online using the host system. IMHO it's one of the best ways to try Linux - only problem is it doesn't give you any idea as to whether there will be any hardware problems.
It's also handy for messing around and doing all the things you wouldn't dare to do with a permanent Linux (or, for that matter, another OS) install. I've used it to try compiling my own kernel, something I wouldn't want to do on my Kubuntu install, but if anything went wrong in VirtualBox I could just revert to a previous snapshot.- spankr, on 07/20/2008, -4/+1Uh, welcome to the 90's...
- MattBD, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2I didn't NEED to compile a kernel. I just wanted to do it to see how easy it was.
- spankr, on 07/20/2008, -4/+1Uh, welcome to the 90's...
- AlienMushroom, on 07/19/2008, -1/+7Sun is still alive?
- ajocksch, on 07/19/2008, -1/+7VirtualBox is nice, but be careful. If you read the license agreement (the horror!) it says that you can only use VirtualBox free of charge if its for person or academic use. Want to use it for business/profit? No dice.
- porl, on 07/20/2008, -1/+2there are two versions. the one you are referring to is the personal edition (can't remember the exact name), but there is also the OSE (open source edition) which, while missing a couple of features, is completely open and free, for anyone including business users.
- moduc, on 07/20/2008, -1/+1It's GPL software.
- BobTheTaco, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5But can I run directX 9 on it?
- dood, on 07/20/2008, -1/+4That's the main thing I want in a virtual server product. VMWare Fusion supports DX9, but the textures for some games simply refuse to work. (Rollercoaster Tycoon, I'm looking at you)
- BobTheTaco, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2Yeah, well I meant DirectX 9.0c It's not supported on VMware 2.0 beta.
Waaa, I want to play Halo CE on my mac :( - kjubik, on 07/20/2008, -0/+5http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/475
Priority: major
So... someday....Appearently some very limited/basic OpenGL stuff work, kinda. (Haven't tested.)
http://digg.com/linux_unix/3D_on_VirtualBox - Dugg2Death, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1End of the video he says no DirectX. Which really turned me off to it. Otherwise it would have been a great program for me.
- specialK16, on 07/20/2008, -2/+2Speaking about virtualization, any guide or course I can get to learn something about ESX 3.5? I've seen some of it at work, and it makes my wanna hug the server.
- johndavidjack, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3Just use google to learn it.
For the most part, ESX 3.5i isn't too complicated, especially when you use the VirtualCenter 2.5 management console.
The only time you are actually working on the server running ESX itself is for storage means, and other critical changes, adjustments, etc. You just need to learn VMware's esxcfg command syntax. ESX server is based of Red Hat, just with a special kernel from VMware, I believe. Correct me if I'm wrong...
I mean, if you have an extra computer laying around (provided it's got good processor, and 2Gbs of RAM, and a large hard drive you can play with it yourself, since ESX3.5i added a lot of hardware compatibility .
You can evaluate ESX 3.5i for 60 days for free:
https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/login.php?eval=vi ... - specialK16, on 07/20/2008, -2/+1Thanks,
System requirements?
- johndavidjack, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3Just use google to learn it.
- naszaklasa, on 07/20/2008, -1/+1I like VMware. It works for me fine.
Nice to see more tech stories on front page lately by the way. - psylence, on 07/20/2008, -2/+2Jibba jabba
- jreinstedler, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3awesome sauce! i'm sick of parallels and their non-stop patches that just screw up my vms on my macbook pro... vmware is just not an option either... can't wait for a real (established) competitor!
- moduc, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2I have a license copy of Parallels. It doesn't work on 64 bit. Feel bad after paid for it. But VirtualBox works well for me.
- raydeen, on 07/20/2008, -1/+5I used VBox as a solution at the school where I work. The engineering teacher needed PC software and his students were given MacBooks. There were problems ponying up the monies for Parallels + Windows. I installed VBox, then made an Ubuntu image and then ran the engineering software through Wine. The kids got what they needed and got to experience Linux. Win-win.
- johndavidjack, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2I'm waiting to try out Sun's Virtualization Server product due out this summer, xVM server. The combo of xVM and X Ops Center will be pretty sweet.
http://www.sun.com/software/products/xvm/index.jsp - insomniac8400, on 07/20/2008, -0/+3What exactly does sun do? Java is free and this is free. Do they exist purely because colleges will buy whole labs of sun machines that no one uses?
- Kelmon, on 07/20/2008, -0/+1I can't speak for others, but Sun is a preferred supplier of enterprise servers at work (very big corporation), so they still get business from us.
- HubbertWins, on 07/20/2008, -1/+3Sun is still around? Learn something new every day.
- Kelmon, on 07/20/2008, -0/+2Shame. The product looks "good enough" but I already bought VMWare Fusion last year and I don't see a good reason to switch.
- kibbledbits, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2I don't have a need for using virtualization on my home mac, however I have used this VirtualBox at work to run Linux within WindowsXP. It does the job quite nicely, however I had to change the settings to enable some instructions on mobile CPUs first. It also apparently resizes your HDD automatically which is a nice features.
I've also used VMWare both workstaiton & server and both are great products. Microsoft's offering is probably the weakest of the bunch with the fewest features and the least updates. - amenic, on 07/21/2008, -0/+2Apparently many people believe that Digg is only for articles that are fresh and new. I think many do not understand that it's easy to miss the boat on the first ferry across to new hot tech app land and that with each passing, it's new again to other people (just not you). This time, it was obviously new enough to make the front page! Now I think I understand why people line up to buy a phone. It's only cool when it's new and you have something others do not? I think it's pretty transparent, no?
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