RSSConnectix Offers Virtual PC Preview
By Justin Jenkins | Published May 1, 2001, 6:14 PM
Long known for its Macintosh products, the Connectix Corporation is now offering a PC version of their key product, Virtual PC. Virtual PC works similar to the well-known VMWare, creating a "virtual machine" that runs an additional operating system inside the one currently running. This Technology Preview is aimed at weeding out last-minute bugs and issues that may arise before the final release. Set to hit the streets at $200 USD, you can download a copy for free right now.
Virtual PC is designed to make it easy to utilize multiple operating systems without the hassle of rebooting or setting up multiple computers. All system information is stored in a single file on the host, while the guest OS handles all network, sound and video features available. Be it Linux, Windows 2000, 98, NT, or Me, Connectix hopes that its technology and experience in the Macintosh emulator PC market will produce a superior product.
BetaNews decided to see how Virtual PC stacked up against the competition and installed the Technology Preview one of our systems (PIII-1Ghz, 256MB-RAM, 40GB-HD PC), with Windows Me and FreeBSD 4.2 as the guest operating systems.
Window Me installed slowly but effortlessly. The floppy boot disk was detected, and booted into DOS; from there we installed Windows Me as if on any other system. As mentioned, the install process was extremely slow, (taking longer then we cared to time) yet it was all worth the wait.
When fully installed, the Virtual OS worked flawlessly; most every piece of hardware was automatically detected. The network, sound, and video aspects functioned as expected from the get go.
Installing FreeBSD was slightly more complicated. Partitioning the disk before install can be quite scary for novice users, as the dialog makes it seem the only partition you can edit is the one Windows is already installed on. On an actual computer, this would destroy all you Windows data and overwrite it. But since this is "virtual" you can only write to the Windows partition because the file that contains the Operating System is on the Windows partition. Would-be UNIX users, do not be afraid to do what you would never do in a non-virtual world.
When FreeBSD booted up, everything worked well, but sadly not X-Windows. It seems the video support for this kind of application is not well supported. As for everything else, network and the like once again worked flawlessly.
The speed of Virtual PC was better in our tests then that of VMWare, and the "Save State" function worked wonderfully. The feature allows you to stop the OS in its tracks so to speak, keeping all programs open so they are immediately available when you turn on that Virtual system again. VMWare also offers a similar feature.
The biggest disappointment by far is that Virtual PC only works on the Windows platform. While this may explain the increased speed, it is really too bad that Linux and users of other flavors of UNIX cannot take advantage of this product.
What are you waiting for? Go ahead and get a copy to try it out yourself and tell us what you think below!
I installed this and it prevented my machine from booting back into Windows. Uninstalling corrected the problem.
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|I don't mean to be ... well mean ... but how did you get back into windows? to uninstall it?
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|It's called SAFE MODE buddy.
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|After testing it some more, I've concluded it's not quite ready for prime time...
1) Networking is very flaky when it works at all. (VMware works fine)
2) It's not quite as fast as VMware, at least with some things. Windows 2000 boots about 50% slower in VPC than in VMware.
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|Anyone have any experience with WIn98SE as a host, i didnt see it on the list of supported hosts, i decided to give it a try but it crashes whenever i try to boot the virtual system.
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|Just downloaded and installed. Within 2 minutes I was installing Red Hat Linux. No problems at all so far.
This is definitely going to give VMware a run for its money. It's definitely simpler to set up and the virtual machines seem to run a lot smoother (at least the mouse & graphics aren't as jerky).
I can hardly wait to see what the final release will bring.
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|How long did it take you for them to reply with the serial number? I've tried e-mailing customer support too and get a 'Database not open message'. I'm dying to try this :(
If anyone can help out then please e-mail privateline81@hotmail.com. Using another s/n isn't infriging copyright is it, because the hardware preview is free. I've downloaded twice now, using two e-mail addresses and still no luck. HELP ME PLEASE, I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON :-(
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|Well, by the time it got around to asking for the serial number, I checked my mail and it was there. Don't know exactly how long it took to arrive.
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|And do you think any valid serial number would work with the download... I really need to try this software tonight, before I go into work tomorrow. Can't see why I haven't got mine yet.
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|Registered for the 3rd time, this time stating I lived in the US. Serial number arrived straight away. Hmmm...
Anyway, looks very promising. Currently installing Linux as I'm typing this, doesn't seem to be that slow on my system (Windows ME, PIII o/c @ 840MHz, 192Mb RAM). I'm impressed....
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|Glad to see it worked out finally!
-Justin
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|I downloaded it from their site and haven't recieved a serial number yet. How long does it take?
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|It arrived in my mailbox immediately.
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|Maybe they just dont like me! Is this avaliable to US customers only (erm... I'm in the UK in case you wondered!)?
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|They just don't like Tony Blare. And why do I keep talking about him? Because he's a commie. And what do we do with commies? We give them foot and mouth disease. Oh wait Tony already has mouth disease every time he opens up his pinko flytrap of a mouth. Glad you got your virtual computer to work "lad" (had you been in the US I’d call you 'boy' or 'son' but when in Rome...) Yes as I was saying maybe in the mean time you could find yourself a virtual girlfriend and boot her up. Oh I digress. I found that this software works far better then VMWare, but I too would love to see a Linux version.
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|Can we really take seriously anything that "doicare" writes. Firstly its Blair not blare! Secondly, to state that Tony Blair is a commie only demonstrates that he has lost his marbles. s***head Blair is a capitalist with a capital C! I only wish he was a commie or at least a socialist then I would have not resigned from the Labour Party.
All said and done though, look at the idiot that the USA elected as President recently. I'd rather be brain dead than be a Bush! Mind you, I think he is brain dead already.
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|Indeed, I second all you just said. It's mind-boggling that America, the most powerful country in the world, could elect someone as slow-witted, thick and simple-minded as George Bush Jr. If it's not proof enough for you that we're entering a modern Dark Age, then maybe you need to remove your head from your ass, and wipe away the s*** covering your eyes.....
x, Canada
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|Because Mac's are about as fun and useful as pissing out of your ass!
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|It's all well and good that Connectix has an emulator to run windows and linux on a PC -- but what the hell??? Where is the emulator to run Macintosh OS 9.1 or even OS X? Why can't they provide a Virtual MAC to us instead of this other krap? VMware has been doing this for years. It's be nice to actually see something cool like a MAC Emulator that actually works.
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|Try the following
http://www.vmac.org/ (Free)
http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bauec002/B2Main.html (Free)
http://www.microcode-soltions.com/ (Comercial)
They are all only 68K emulations so they will only run up to MacOS 8.1. Microcode Solutions claim to have PPC emulationa almost working, but they have been saying that for a couple of years now.
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|VMware does NOT emulate Mac and never has.
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|Just downloaded it and installed. The thing works like a charm. Running a freshly installed copy of FreeBSD 4 on a Win98/se host. The install went without a hitch, and nothing has crashed or even given a single error. I was able to configure the BSD Kernel with full networking support, and all the vpc devices were found and are working. It's very fast and extremely nice.
Some people are wondering what the big deal is since VMWare has a similar product. First, there is the price. VPC will be selling for as little as $199, which is a full $100 less than VMWare workstation. Second, there is compatibility... VMWare won't do Win98, only NT and 2000. Third, there is ease of use... VMWare can be a nightmare with installation of guest machines and initial setup. Fourth, VMWare STILL can not do USB. The one thing that Connectix does need, though, is a Linux/Unix port so you can use it in a Linux/Unix host environment.
Overall, I give it 2 thumbs up!
Anyone tried installing BEos in it yet? Insterested to see if it'd work.
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|how did you get it to work? I have win98se and i can't get it going and i tried it four times!!! please help me out.
Cap737
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|Well, what does it do, cap? Just crash, or?
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|Not sure if this is 100% right but if you go to the site it only mentions that Windows NT, 2000 and Me are supported. i.e. Win95/98/98SE are not.
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|this is nothing new... whats the big deal? vmware has been doing this for ages, and there is a version for linux as well as Win32.
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|I didn't know there was one for win32, I thought it was a linux only app :) anyway this is betanews, they're supposed to report on prereleases like this.
As for the "big deal" I don't see anyone making this story a big deal, there is accually very little conversation going on here.
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|Well, to me, the "big deal" is that is supports full video color and resolution, networking, sound, right after win98SE install, unlike VMWare. Also, it works faster than VMWare did on the same system. I also hope Virtual PC comes out for use in other platforms, as I would like to test it on a linux based system, running win98SE as the guest OS, just for speed compare.
James
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|Well said!
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|I don't see supporting full color video out of the box as a "big deal". It only takes 1 minute to install the right video drivers on VMware.
What really matters is how well it works once fully installed, and so far the performance *seems* to be better than VMware. But I haven't played with it enough to really say for sure...
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|Hm. At the time, I was trying an ATI video card- I think it was a Rage128 chipset. Never could get the thing to work. Ah, well. I like this one better though! The VPC, that is!
James
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|Kinda off topic, but since there are alot of emulation enthusiasts (w/ emulated enthusiasm?) reading this article... Is there any other Win emulator other than Wine that works well? Trying to plot out a way to free my company from the tyrany of MS. Thanx...
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|I test it with a DOS boot disk, and that 486 compaq sitting behind me is about 10x faster. and Im using win2k pro on a 950mhz athlon with 256mb SDRAM.
Perhaps it was made to work better in Windows/Linux then DOS? Windows 9x is based on DOS so that wouldn't make much sence...
Anyways its late here, I'll come back with more comments in the morning :)
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|Well, I downloaded it, set it up on my system running Win2K Pro. Only problem- had to install it in safe mode to get the ikernel installed, but after that, nice! I installed win98SE on VirtualPC drive, and am posting now. My video, sound, and nic all set up on install, with cable modem access ready on first boot! MUCH better and smoother so far than VMWare was. Gonna try Mandrake 7.2 next! (Let's see, I now have Win2K Pro, Win98SE, BeOS, QNX running..hehe..)
James
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|I would like to see a good cheap emulator to run OS X on x86 arch. I know there is a project on sourge force aiming at developing OSX on x86.. But maybe an emulator is out there to do this, but I can't find one!
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|An iMac itself would probably be cheaper not to mention more stable. lol
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|OSX on x86, hope will be better than OSX on a Mac... because so far OSX plain su|
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|Yes, you could go buy an iMac, buy wouldn't that be a bit embarrassing?
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|Have a look at http://www.microcode-solutions.com/
They have been promising a power PC emulator for a couple of years, but they may finally now be getting close.
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|Hehe...I just downloaded the software and am looking forward to using it, but what's with the v4.0? Anyone got v1 or 2...oh wait, uh...version 3 here??
LOL...not criticizing, just a funny observation.
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|Yes it would.
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|I dont know about the versioning system they are using, but I remember runing a version of Fusion over 2 years ago. It worked, it was kind of slow. Back then it would restart your computer in DOS mode to start the emulator, so you couldn't switch between MAC and Windows. Maybe they changed that.
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|"OSX Plain sux"
Obviously you don't know anything about FreeBSD or Unix-based operating systems if you think OSX "sux". I have been running it since its release, and quite frankly I think its the best OS that Apple has released to date. The OS is sleek, powerful, and has multitudes of improvements for the apple hardware platform. Who would have ever thought it was possible to mount and copy files from/to a FAT32 formatted HD in a mac? Or that you would be able to control your mac via a terminal and CLI? Or set up Samba so you can instantly have PC network support and printer sharing without any third-party products??
I would suggest you learn about what you are flaming before you do so. Then again, you seem to be like so many others on here that open their mouths about things they haven't a clue about.
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|See the current issue of Maximum Linux magazine for a comparison of some emulators. Win4Lin should be out soon
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|"the best OS that Apple has released to date."
Gee, what an honor. :)
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|I think it is because it is the same code base as their Mac product which is currently at 4.02. There are some differences though...the Mac supports USB, but not Virtual Networking....
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