Virtualization

[powerarmour]

VirtualBox Gets OpenGL Acceleration Support :-

Sun Microsystems has announced the release this morning of VirtualBox 2.1 with several enticing additions. VirtualBox 2.1 introduces support for hardware virtualization (through Intel VT and AMD's AMD-V) on Mac OS X host systems, support for 64-bit guest operating systems on 32-bit host systems, support for Intel Nehalem (Core i7) virtualization enhancements, full VMDK/VHD support, a new NAT engine, and new Host Interface Networking implementations on Linux and Windows. Perhaps though one of the most exciting changes in VirtualBox 2.1 is initial support for OpenGL acceleration on the guest operating systems.

The hardware-accelerated OpenGL support is deemed experimental in VirtualBox 2.1. OpenGL support is only exposed to Windows XP and Windows Vista 32-bit guests at this time, but support for other platforms is expected in the future. Additionally, Sun Microsystems also has plans for supporting DirectX acceleration of guest operating systems in a future release. All the guest OS needs to do is install an OpenGL driver for what is recognized as a virtual hardware device that in turn communicates with the host's GPU.

The new Intel Core i7 features supported in VirtualBox 2.1 are for Extended Page Tables (EPT) and Virtual Processor Identifiers (VPI) functions.

Several other changes have also been made in VirtualBox 2.1 including support for up to eight network devices per virtual machine, a few API changes, improved performance in different areas, GUI fixes, and enhanced ATAPI pass-through support.

The complete change-log for VirtualBox 2.1 (along with download links) can be found at VirtualBox.org. With Sun now focusing upon hardware 3D acceleration in guest VMs through VirtualBox and VMware recently acquiring Tungsten Graphics, times are certainly interesting in the world of virtualization.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n ... &px=NjkzOA

[powerarmour]

VirtualBox Gets Accelerated Direct3D Support :-

Last month VirtualBox 2.1 was released with several interesting changes and among them was support for OpenGL. With this latest open-source virtualization software from Sun Microsystems, it became possible to run some OpenGL programs within a guest virtual machine while allowing the host system's graphics card to accelerate the drawing. All the modifications that are needed by the guest operating systems is to just install a VirtualBox OpenGL driver. What was missing, however, was support for the Direct3D API, but that is now emerging within the VirtualBox camp.

With a patched version of VirtualBox, it's now possible to have accelerated Direct3D support within the guest virtual machine. This newly-introduced capability isn't limited to running atop a Windows host either. In other words, you can now run Direct3D-powered games within a virtualized Windows installation when on a Linux host operating system with VirtualBox.

This VirtualBox Direct3D support is dependent upon WineD3D for translating the Direct3D calls into OpenGL, which is then executed on the hardware. Converting all of the Direct3D functions to OpenGL, however, comes at the cost of some CPU overhead, but nothing more than what WINE consumes. A screenshot showing the first signs of success for this Direct3D support can be found on the VirtualBox web-site.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n ... &px=NzAyNA

[powerarmour]

VirtualBox 3.0 Beta Brings SMP, OpenGL 2.0 :-

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=n ... &px=NzMzMQ

[jpr]

Version 3.0.0 final was released a few days ago (30-07-2009, more precisely).

I'm curious about the Direct3D compatibility, but I'm more excited with the SMP support..!

[Seawolf]

I'll probably try it once I finally get my eSATA drive for my laptop.

[jpr]

VirtualBox 3.0.2 was released recently.

Judging by the forums, ver. 3.0.x seems to be completely broken: SMP slower than single CPU, 3D support is very unstable, upgrading breaks existing VMs, and other horrors.

It seems that this last update doesn't solves much. Better wait a couple of months for version 3.0.4.

[Seawolf]

Apparently I'd have problems installing XP x64 with anything past 2.1.4 on my laptop. Seems other peeps have the same problem, and noone has any solutions.

So I either find a copy of XP or just give up (which is more likely. The CD I had for XP doesn't work with my remaining license...)

[jpr]

Virtual 3.0.4 was released on 2009-08-04.

Not much going on on the corresponding forum thread, but there are already several reports of broken upgrades of existing VMs...

Seawolf, check this closed bug, it has something to do with Windows XP x64 guests, maybe that'll solve your problem (bug reported under Vista x64 + AMD Turion X2 CPU, you have a similar setup, right?).

I guess I'll wait for another release before upgrading... if it ain't broke, don't fix it

[Seawolf]

No. It doesn't BSOD. It won't finish setup. (Technically, it won't even start it, as once it finishes loading the initial drivers it just hangs.)

[jpr]

VirtualBox 3.0.6 was released a few days ago, the corresponding forum thread seems relatively quiet.