first binary release of GPL Windows PV drivers

first binary release of GPL Windows PV drivers

[James Harper]

I've just uploaded the first binary "it works for me" release of the GPL
Windows PV drivers I've been developing. The binary was compiled for
windows 2003 32-bit, so it will probably only work on that. It also
definitely doesn't work under Xen 3.0.4, so you'll probably need 3.1.0
or 3.1.1.

Compiling for XP 32-bit will probably 'just work'. Compiling for 2000
might work. Anything 64-bit just hasn't been tested.

You can download it at http://www.meadowcourt.org/WindowsXenPV-0.1.0.zip

Please read the README and INSTALL documents in the zip file and please
don't try it on any production environment (I'd even be wary of trying
it on a physical machine that has production DomU's on it)... it just
hasn't had that much testing yet, although it hasn't wrecked any of my
filesystems in a very long time (weeks) or crashed any DomU's in a while
(days). I've only just convinced Windows to put a swap file on there
too...

I'd be very interested to hear about any performance testing anyone does
(real numbers or just "it feels faster/slower with PV than without").
>From the testing I've done, large-block-size benchmarks appear a bit
faster and with heaps less CPU load. My test machine isn't particularly
fast though.

Don't be afraid to ask questions if you have any trouble installing...
I'm not known for writing good documentation :) Please keep
install-related questions to the -users list though.

Someone is working on PV network drivers too.

Enjoy!

James

RE: [Xen-users] first binary release of GPL Windows PV drivers

[James Harper]

Just realised I forgot a redistributable WDF file. If Windows complains
about a missing file when you try and install it then grab
http://www.meadowcourt.org/WindowsXenPV-0.1.0a.zip instead.

(wait a couple of minutes though, it's uploading now)

James

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-
> bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of James Harper
> Sent: Monday, 19 November 2007 17:58
> To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com; xen-devel@lists.xensource.com
> Subject: [Xen-users] first binary release of GPL Windows PV drivers
> 
> I've just uploaded the first binary "it works for me" release of the
GPL
> Windows PV drivers I've been developing. The binary was compiled for
> windows 2003 32-bit, so it will probably only work on that. It also
> definitely doesn't work under Xen 3.0.4, so you'll probably need 3.1.0
> or 3.1.1.
> 
> Compiling for XP 32-bit will probably 'just work'. Compiling for 2000
> might work. Anything 64-bit just hasn't been tested.
> 
> You can download it at
http://www.meadowcourt.org/WindowsXenPV-0.1.0.zip
> 
> Please read the README and INSTALL documents in the zip file and
please
> don't try it on any production environment (I'd even be wary of trying
> it on a physical machine that has production DomU's on it)... it just
> hasn't had that much testing yet, although it hasn't wrecked any of my
> filesystems in a very long time (weeks) or crashed any DomU's in a
while
> (days). I've only just convinced Windows to put a swap file on there
> too...
> 
> I'd be very interested to hear about any performance testing anyone
does
> (real numbers or just "it feels faster/slower with PV than without").
> >From the testing I've done, large-block-size benchmarks appear a bit
> faster and with heaps less CPU load. My test machine isn't
particularly
> fast though.
> 
> Don't be afraid to ask questions if you have any trouble installing...
> I'm not known for writing good documentation :) Please keep
> install-related questions to the -users list though.
> 
> Someone is working on PV network drivers too.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> James
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Re: first binary release of GPL Windows PV drivers

[Tomasz Chmielewski]

James Harper schrieb:
> Just realised I forgot a redistributable WDF file. If Windows complains
> about a missing file when you try and install it then grab
> http://www.meadowcourt.org/WindowsXenPV-0.1.0a.zip instead.

This is certainly great news.

Is there any project page where one could read some more about it 
without downloading the .zip package?


-- 
Tomasz Chmielewski
http://wpkg.org

Re: first binary release of GPL Windows PV drivers

[Patrick Scharrenberg]

Hi!
> The binary was compiled for
> windows 2003 32-bit, so it will probably only work on that. It also
> definitely doesn't work under Xen 3.0.4, so you'll probably need 3.1.0
> or 3.1.1.
>
>   
I just tried the drivers with Windows XP and it doesn't work for me.
Windows just freezes while showing the windows logo with the (then no
more) moving bar.
This happens regardless of using the "/gplpv" option or not.

Is there anything I can do?

Patrick

Re: [Xen-devel] first binary release of GPL Windows PV drivers

[Patrick Scharrenberg]

Hi!
> I just tried the drivers with Windows XP and it doesn't work for me

So, I just also tested with a Windows 2003 Server, but unfortunately
this works neither.
win2003 boots just beyond the windows logo and then I get a blank screen.

I tried on xen-3.1.2 and xen-unstable.

If I can do anything to help, please let me know!

regards
Patrick

Re: first binary release of GPL Windows PV drivers

[Patrick Scharrenberg]

Hi!
> Hmmm... I've only tested it on Xen 3.1.0 and Xen 3.1.1 with Windows 2003
> 32bit.
>
> Are you able to try it on 3.1.0 or 3.1.1?
>   

I also tried 3.1.1 but I think the problem might be that I'm using an
64-bit hypervisor?
What do you think?

I'll see if I can manage to setup a 32-bit-hypervisor/dom0 environment
and test again.


Patrick

RE: first binary release of GPL Windows PV drivers

[James Harper]

> Hi!
> > Hmmm... I've only tested it on Xen 3.1.0 and Xen 3.1.1 with Windows
2003
> > 32bit.
> >
> > Are you able to try it on 3.1.0 or 3.1.1?
> >
> 
> I also tried 3.1.1 but I think the problem might be that I'm using an
> 64-bit hypervisor?
> What do you think?
> 
> I'll see if I can manage to setup a 32-bit-hypervisor/dom0 environment
> and test again.

I've since got 3.1.2 working and it works under that. I'm also using a
64-bit hypervisor, so I don't expect that that's the problem.

Are you on Intel or AMD? Robert pointed out that there might be
differences between the two and I've only got access to AMD test
environments...

Thanks

James

Re: first binary release of GPL Windows PV drivers

[Patrick Scharrenberg]

James Harper schrieb:
> I've since got 3.1.2 working and it works under that. I'm also using a
> 64-bit hypervisor, so I don't expect that that's the problem.
>
> Are you on Intel or AMD? Robert pointed out that there might be
> differences between the two and I've only got access to AMD test
> environments...
>
>   
Okay, I found what was messing up things.

I used older installations of XP/2003 where APIC was disabled.

I tried with a fresh installation of XP with APIC enabled and with a
fresh installation of XP with APIC disabled.
ACPI was always enabled.

With APIC it works, without it doesn't.
Unfortunately it also doesn't work on a non-apic machine after enabling
APIC, but that might be because windows doesn't recognise that an APIC
was added.

The other way round, after disabling apic on an apic-machine leads into
the freezes I mentioned earlier.

If I can do anything to help, please let me know.

Patrick