Just a couple of questions on the graphics/vga pass-through topic: - I''m currently also passing through the USB controllers, which gives me keyboard and mouse access to my domU. However, this only works after the O/S has booted and loaded drivers - it does not work during BIOS boot or the Windows boot sequence, which makes debugging Windows boot issues challenging. Can anyone offer any advice for making keyboard/mouse functional during boot time? - One thing that would be a nice-to-have is the possibility of doing the graphics pass-through AND having the VNC-based VFB mirror what''s on the graphics card. First, is this something that can be done today? If not, I''m sure that there''s a good reason for it, and that it''s probably quite challenging to implement, but I figured I''d ask. This would be great for combining the ability to have the native graphics card work locally with the ability to log in remotely for things like remote assistance. Thanks! -Nick -------- This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient. If this email is not intended for you, or you are not responsible for the delivery of this message to the intended recipient, please note that this message may contain SEAKR Engineering (SEAKR) Privileged/Proprietary Information. In such a case, you are strictly prohibited from downloading, photocopying, distributing or otherwise using this message, its contents or attachments in any way. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail and delete the message from your mailbox. Information contained in this message that does not relate to the business of SEAKR is neither endorsed by nor attributable to SEAKR. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Nick, Regarding passing through USB controllers, I''d say the reason they don''t work during boot is the same reason you can''t boot to a virtual SCSI disk, the virtual BIOS doesn''t support it. I''m also guessing that making the virtual BIOS boot to virtual SCSI disks would be FAR easier than making it support real physical USB cards (because there are so many, and each may be unique, when USB first came out, it wasn''t an option to use a USB keyboard until Windows booted because the BIOS wouldn''t emulate the legacy device from the USB HID device, and I''m guessing this is still true of add-on USB cards vs BIOSes that do). That said, you might be able to get by with buying a PCI-PS/2 card and passing it through with a PS/2 keyboard and mouse, but I don''t know, it would be an experiment, and you might even be just as likely to end up with a PCI USB card that converts its PS/2 ports to HID, in which case it would still be a no-go (I''m assuming the native Windows drivers would support the PS/2 chip if you got the right card). Regarding graphics pass-through and VFB, I assume a driver might be written to support this, UltraVNC uses a driver to pick up what is on the video card quicker than VNC otherwise would, and there is no visible dual-monitor setup in Windows for that. nVidia drivers have a setting to clone video to two monitors as well, but that is on the same video card, so perhaps simpler. Regardless, someone would have to be willing to work on setting it up. However, if you are just shooting for remote assistance, installing a VNC server on the domU would probably make more sense. Dustin -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Nick Couchman Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 11:06 To: XEN Mailing List Subject: [Xen-users] Graphics Pass-Through Questions Just a couple of questions on the graphics/vga pass-through topic: - I''m currently also passing through the USB controllers, which gives me keyboard and mouse access to my domU. However, this only works after the O/S has booted and loaded drivers - it does not work during BIOS boot or the Windows boot sequence, which makes debugging Windows boot issues challenging. Can anyone offer any advice for making keyboard/mouse functional during boot time? - One thing that would be a nice-to-have is the possibility of doing the graphics pass-through AND having the VNC-based VFB mirror what''s on the graphics card. First, is this something that can be done today? If not, I''m sure that there''s a good reason for it, and that it''s probably quite challenging to implement, but I figured I''d ask. This would be great for combining the ability to have the native graphics card work locally with the ability to log in remotely for things like remote assistance. Thanks! -Nick -------- This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient. If this email is not intended for you, or you are not responsible for the delivery of this message to the intended recipient, please note that this message may contain SEAKR Engineering (SEAKR) Privileged/Proprietary Information. In such a case, you are strictly prohibited from downloading, photocopying, distributing or otherwise using this message, its contents or attachments in any way. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail and delete the message from your mailbox. Information contained in this message that does not relate to the business of SEAKR is neither endorsed by nor attributable to SEAKR. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>>> On 2010/04/23 at 10:20, "Dustin Henning" <Dustin.Henning@prd-inc.com> wrote: > Nick, > Regarding passing through USB controllers, I''d say the reason they > don''t work during boot is the same reason you can''t boot to a virtual SCSI > disk, the virtual BIOS doesn''t support it. I''m also guessing that making > the virtual BIOS boot to virtual SCSI disks would be FAR easier than making > it support real physical USB cards (because there are so many, and each may > be unique, when USB first came out, it wasn''t an option to use a USB > keyboard until Windows booted because the BIOS wouldn''t emulate the legacy > device from the USB HID device, and I''m guessing this is still true of > add-on USB cards vs BIOSes that do). That said, you might be able to get by > with buying a PCI-PS/2 card and passing it through with a PS/2 keyboard and > mouse, but I don''t know, it would be an experiment, and you might even be > just as likely to end up with a PCI USB card that converts its PS/2 ports to > HID, in which case it would still be a no-go (I''m assuming the native > Windows drivers would support the PS/2 chip if you got the right card).I''m guessing you''re right - I just didn''t know if there was some other way to get keyboard and mouse support working at boot time with VGA pass-through. I find it hard to believe that other folks didn''t his this same roadblock in the development and testing of the VGA pass-through technology, along with those out there using VGA pass-through. The machines I''m testing have a fairly small number of available slots, and I''d rather not have to go purchase a PCI PS/2 card for each machine that I run this way. Maybe once the USB pass-through is a little easier to accomplish this can be done in a simpler fashion without the need to pass through the entire USB controller. For now, I''ll just deal with it and try to work around it as best I can.> Regarding graphics pass-through and VFB, I assume a driver might be > written to support this, UltraVNC uses a driver to pick up what is on the > video card quicker than VNC otherwise would, and there is no visible > dual-monitor setup in Windows for that. nVidia drivers have a setting to > clone video to two monitors as well, but that is on the same video card, so > perhaps simpler. Regardless, someone would have to be willing to work on > setting it up. However, if you are just shooting for remote assistance, > installing a VNC server on the domU would probably make more sense.Yeah, I''d much rather do the VFB mirroring below the guest O/S level. This would allow for debugging boot-time options, it would provide a work-around for the above problem, and it would make it easy to manage remotely via SSH to the dom0 machine. However, I understand what you''re saying, and I know that several of the VNC variants already have this feature when you install into the domU O/S. My hope was that it''s something that can be accomplished for Xen below that level, especially since the support already exists on Linux (Gnome uses this to provide VNC access to your running Gnome desktop remotely). Thanks for the feedback! -Nick -------- This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient. If this email is not intended for you, or you are not responsible for the delivery of this message to the intended recipient, please note that this message may contain SEAKR Engineering (SEAKR) Privileged/Proprietary Information. In such a case, you are strictly prohibited from downloading, photocopying, distributing or otherwise using this message, its contents or attachments in any way. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail and delete the message from your mailbox. Information contained in this message that does not relate to the business of SEAKR is neither endorsed by nor attributable to SEAKR. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users