I''ve done some reading around the net, but I still have a few questions that I just need simple straight answers for. I have a Dual-core dual-proc Intel Xeon system at my desk with 8G of ram in it. Sadly, it runs windows XP64. I''ld like it to run Linux, but I do still need windows for occasionally running Adobe Products or Modelling apps (Maya, Max). not to mention the horrors of Microsoft outlook... Most of the work I do is programming, so I live with gcc & such... So my questions are: 1) What does Xen give me over VMWare? (This is a government site, so $$ is not a problem) 2) With Xen, as I understand it, it essentially operates as an OS.. booting first, then loading Linux and/or windows. Is this right? 3) Will it work with Redhat Enterprise 9.0? What versions of Redhat will it work with ? (Redhat seems to be the favored distro around here) 4) How will system resources be allocated, and how flexible are they? Ideally i''ld like an almost alt-tab switch between Windows & Linux, having the bulk of the CPU & Memory available to the currently selected OS. Can I do that with Xen? I don''t really want to dedicate 4G of ram to Windows that I can''t use in Linux. 5) Will Xen work with XP64 ? I''ve seen conditional yes''s referring to VT-processors and such, so can someone answer that? Thanks for any help ... -- Randall Hand Visualization Scientist, ERDC-MSRC Vicksburg, MS Homepage: http://www.yeraze.com _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Thu, Apr 06, 2006 at 11:46:38AM -0500, Randall Hand <randall.hand@gmail.com> wrote a message of 92 lines which said:> 1) What does Xen give me over VMWare? (This is a government site, so > $$ is not a problem)It is free software (free as in free speech, not free as in free beer). There are also probably performance differences but I did not measure it myself, see the Xen Web site, I believe there are benchmark results.> 2) With Xen, as I understand it, it essentially operates as an > OS.. booting first, then loading Linux and/or windows. Is this > right?Not really. The Xen hypervisor runs side-by-side with the "dom0", the first OS (the only one with hardware access). So, you run a "dom0" OS (today, with Xen 3, I believe it can only be Linux). Then you start "domU", each domU running a different OS (I run FreeBSD, NetBSD and various Linux).> 3) Will it work with Redhat Enterprise 9.0? What versions of Redhat > will it work with ? (Redhat seems to be the favored distro around > here)I see no reason why not. Check http://www.xen-get.org/ or http://jailtime.org/ for ready-made OS images. They have Fedora images, for instance.> I don''t really want to dedicate 4G of ram to Windows that I can''t > use in Linux.I''m afraid that you have no choice with Xen 3 : memory allocation is static and defined at boot-time _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Randall Hand wrote:> 5) Will Xen work with XP64 ? I''ve seen conditional yes''s referring > to VT-processors and such, so can someone answer that?Xen will support XP64 if your Xeon processor supports VT. Take a look at: http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/IntelVT I encourage people who understand the Xen proposition to buy processors with the VT support and use it to help flush out bugs. I believe that Xen is a great technology and the more people that use it, the better it will become. -- Randy _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users