[Novalug] Aaarrggghhhh (was Re: Uurrrkk! Xen ...)

[Beartooth]

On Fri, 7 Mar 2008, Chris Rogers wrote:

> Dom0 under CentOS and Fedora are mostly as you would expect a 
> stock install of either to be.  Full graphics, USB, everything. 
> Save some memory and disk for VMs, and you're running with 
> other OSs.  XP included.
>
> HOWEVER.
>
> Your mileage may vary.  XenServer, which is technically what 
> you're getting with variations of RedHat, is designed to be a 
> server solution.  Desktop virtualization is a whole other 
> direction (shameless plug, download the beta):
>
> http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=163057
>
> Anyway, cutting it down to the basics of what you're trying to 
> do with CentOS:
>
> Have a full featured desktop environment running under Linux - 
> check.
>
> Have the ability to virtualize other OSs - check.
>
> Have the ability to virtualize Windows XP - maybe.
>
> Have the ability to present USB devices into said XP VM - 
> maybe.
>
> OK, so filling in the blanks.  Here's a good howto:
>
> http://mediakey.dk/~cc/howto-install-windows-xp-vista-on-xen/
>
> It's written for Debian, but CentOS will translate fine.

 	Actually, the machine I *most* want it to run on is a 
reconditioned T30 Thinkpad (which currently runs Debian, btw); if 
I had XP on that, I could put the GPS in a dashboard bracket, the 
T30 on my passenger's lap, and a Y-cable between to run both off 
the cigarette lighter instead of batteries, as well as connect 
them. Presto! Full topo (or road) maps with location in real 
time. But I'd have no other use for the whole laptop -- kind of 
expensive ...

> Packages and commands are the same.  Here's the secret sauce, 
> though:
>
> You MUST have a machine with an Intel-VT or AMD-V chip. 
> Windows virtualization (pre win2k8) requires hardware 
> virtualization assist.

 	Hmmmm .... Which hardware browser do I want to use, and 
what am I looking for? What I know of hardware might not quite go 
in a gnat's eye any more, but it still would in a large 
mosquito's. I haven't the faintest notion what chips are in any 
of my machines ...

> Note that you can roll your own and get lots of command line 
> time and experience filling the steps above, or you could just 
> grab XenServer Express (yes, they still want your email):

 	Being obviously expert, you must know them -- and what 
they'll do with it??

 	Recent experience has made me doubt severely that there 
is any business anywhere (other than ISPs, obviously) which can 
be trusted *never* to contend that being legal makes spam 
excusable; I note that citrix admits sharing my address with its 
sales agents ...

> http://www.citrixxenserver.com/Pages/XenExpress.aspx
>
> This does all the hard work for you, allows you to run on a 
> two-socket machine with 4G of ram and run 4 VMs.

 	The big question is going to be how much of this is over 
my head or my pocketbook or both.

 	I have no idea what a two-socket machine is, or why I 
would want to run more than one VM. As for 4G of ram, I can 
check, but I doubt all my machines put together have that.

 	I'm just an oldfart on a small pension, wanting to map 
the squirreling grounds near the place I've retired to, because I 
don't have time to learn the territory the traditional way.

 	If I weren't so violently allergic to M$, I could have 
done that several different ways five years ago.

> The caveat once again is that this is a server OS.  Local 
> graphical interfaces are non-existent. Preferred access methods 
> into your VMs are remote X, VNC, or MSRDP. Forget anything that 
> needs heavy graphics.  Run this as a server, and display to 
> your non-virtualized desktop.

 	The only servers I've ever run are ones like X and pirut, 
internal to a distro and a machine. Again, I think you're over my 
head. I run things CLI as much as I can, by choice; but with 
what's left of my memory, that's probably 2 - 5% of the time.

> Lastly, USB.  Citrix recommends the following:
>
> http://www.digi.com/products/usb/anywhereusb.jsp
>
> USB native support for DomUs is likely to be included in the 
> future, but it's low on the priority list.

 	Google is my friend only when I know what it's talking 
about; this isn't one of those whens.

 	Afaict, domus is a web forum server, and the anywhereusb 
is a piece of hardware; I don't see the relevance of either.

> I know it's not a very elegant solution, but that's pretty much 
> what's supported.  At least for right now.

 	<sigh> There were people who told me in '98 that my 
freedom from M$ despite the GPSs was almost at hand. The bottom 
line seems to be that they're still wrong -- to say nothing of 
the passenger laptop project ... <sigh>

 	I wonder how big (and expensive!) a reconditioned 
Thinkpad it'd take to have a single-purpose machine, running XP 
only, just to handle the passenger laptop project in the car with 
a few DVDs-full of map data and personal data, and make 
occasional printouts at home. I'd keep it shut down cold the rest 
of the time ...

-- 
Beartooth Staffwright, Not Quite Clueless Power User
Fedora 8; Alpine 1.0, Pan 0.132; Privoxy 3.0.6;
Dillo 0.8, Epiphany 2, Firefox 2, Galeon 2, Opera 9
Remember I know precious little of where up is.