From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Avi Kivity Subject: Re: A bit of advice please. Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2006 09:39:58 +0200 Message-ID: <4583A2CE.3050900@qumranet.com> References: <458294C4.1090908@stu.org.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: kvm-devel-5NWGOfrQmneRv+LV9MX5uipxlwaOVQ5f@public.gmane.org Return-path: To: Stuart Johnson In-Reply-To: <458294C4.1090908-XR1jLJCp6uC1Qrn1Bg8BZw@public.gmane.org> List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: kvm-devel-bounces-5NWGOfrQmneRv+LV9MX5uipxlwaOVQ5f@public.gmane.org Errors-To: kvm-devel-bounces-5NWGOfrQmneRv+LV9MX5uipxlwaOVQ5f@public.gmane.org List-Id: kvm.vger.kernel.org Stuart Johnson wrote: > I have two Windows boxes for my day job (Win2K and WinXP). I will be > working from home soon, and I don't want more computers in my house. I > really want to run everything on Linux if possible. > I plan to get a Core 2 Duo, with Gentoo Linux 64, and at least 2Gb of RAM. > > Question: > > Can I copy the two Windows hard disk images to a KVM file, and boot into > them? > I'm not sure, having little Windows experience. I think that if you boot in safe mode and install the graphics and network drivers (possibly disk as well) you should be okay. You also need to boot with the 'Standard PC' HAL (I'm told you reach it by pressing F5 during boot, and you can change it permanently by following a procedure documented in the FAQ). > Are the serial ports accessible, just the same as if I was running > windows natively? > Yes. See qemu's '-serial' option. You can redirect the guest serial port to just about anywhere, including the host serial port. > Will I be happy with the performance if I have to spend all day in one > of the Windows environments? > That depends on what you do. Currently kvm imposes much overhead, but then again the Core 2 processors are really fast. The only way to tell is to test. If kvm is too slow for you at the moment, you can always use an alternative like VMware or Xen, and switch back to kvm when we bring performance up to par. And, if you do test, please report your experience to the list. -- Do not meddle in the internals of kernels, for they are subtle and quick to panic. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys - and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV