VMware

VMware Workstation running Windows XP and The Sims.

VMware refers to several commercial programs for creating and running virtual machines. The most popular of these is VMware Workstation, but they also make a wide range of server-oriented products. “VMware” is also the name of the company that produces these programs.

1 Description
2 Installation on Ultima Linux
3 Known issues on Ultima
4 External links

Description

Quick introduction ripped off from Wikipedia:

VMware Workstation is a virtual machine software suite for x86 and x86-64 computers from VMware, a division of EMC Corporation. This software suite allows users to set up multiple x86 and x86-64 virtual computers and to use one or more of these virtual machines simultaneously with the hosting operating system. Each virtual machine instance can execute its own guest operating system, such as Windows, Linux, BSD variants, or others. In simple terms, VMware Workstation allows one physical machine to run two or more operating systems simultaneously. Other VMware products help manage or migrate VMware virtual machines across multiple host-machines.

VMware is not included in Ultima Linux – it must be installed separately. Ultima Linux does include QEMU, which can be used for similar purposes; however, QEMU is intended to emulate non-x86 architectures as well. Also, QEMU is slightly slower, and does not ship with a graphical front-end (although several are available).

Probably the most common two uses of VMware on Ultima Linux are testing new releases, and playing Windows-based games such as The Sims. VMware is also used in Ultima Linux development, since it can run several operating systems simultaneously without risking damage to the host system.

Installation on Ultima Linux

To install any VMware product on Ultima Linux (including VMware Workstation, VMware Server, and VMware Player), download the .tar.gz package – NOT the rpm! – for your appropriate edition (x86 or AMD64). Then, after extracting the package, run the following command as root to install:

root@darkstar:~/vmware-distrib# mkdir -p /etc/{init,pam,rc{0,1,2,3,4,5,6}}.d ; ./vmware-install.pl

VMware needs to build several kernel modules during the installation process, so make sure you have binutils, GCC, glibc, make, kernel headers, and the other development packages installed. (These are included in the CD sets and the LiveDVD release.) After installation has completed, you can start VMware by running the command vmware, or selecting the appropriate shortcut from K Menu → System.

You must register a license key at VMware.com in order to use any VMware product on Ultima Linux. For VMware Player and Server, registration is free; VMware Workstation is about $189.

Known issues on Ultima

These primarily affect VMware on Ultima Linux, and (generally) are not bugs in VMware’s code.

Function/arrow keys, etc. not working

This is an upstream bug in VMware’s code. If your keyboard is not functioning correctly in VMware, add this line to ~/.vmware/config (create file if necessary):

xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = true

Virtual sound

Add your user account to the audio group if you need/want sound without running VMware as root or through sudo. You may need to run killall artsd or a similar command, and close media players such as MPlayer or Amarok.

`vmware-config.pl`

If you reboot your VMware host machine, you must run vmware-config.pl after rebooting, or guest operating systems will not function correctly. The cause of this bug is currently unknown.

Solution: This is a kludge, but it works. Add the below line to /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

printf "\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n" | /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl >/dev/null 2>/dev/null

It takes about thirty seconds on an Athlon 64 3200+ for VMware to re-configure...

VMware Server 2.0

The web interface in VMware Server 2.0 (currently Beta) may not function correctly on Ultima Linux. It’s also reportedly slow, and not completely developed. The Ultima developers recommend against installing VMware Server 2.0, and WILL NOT provide technical support for problems with the Web interface.