Category Archive

Updated: a more complete list containing both the Call of Duty 4 levels and ranks in an easy-to-read table.

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From the VMware blog:
“Workstation 6.0.1, ACE 2.0.1, and Player 2.0.1 have all been released. These updates address security issues, introduce new functionality, and broaden guest OS support, including experimental support for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Server 2008 (code name Longhorn).In addition, Workstation 5.5.5, ACE 1.0.4, Player 1.0.5, and Server 1.0.4 have also been released. These updates address security and functionality issues.”

This is interesting because there are new versions of products to talk about, along with new features.

What really made US happy, was seeing that security is still a concern on older releases - specifically VMware Workstation 5.5 (now 5.5.5), which many developpers use to this day for many reasons.

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Recent stock market darling VMware has just released a Perl toolkit for it’s Virtual Infrastructure virtualisation product, as well as a Perl toolkit virtual machine that you can download for free to play around with.

VMware describes the toolkit as “an easy-to-use Perl scripting interface to the VMware Infrastructure API (VI API). Administrators and developers who may be more familiar with Perl (rather than with Java, C#, or other programming languages) can readily leverage the VI API. For developers who have previously worked with the Scripting API (VmPerl API), the VI Perl Toolkit is the tool of choice.”

An example VI3 Perl script, perf.pl, can be downloaded at the VMware forums site. Perf allows you to measure the performance of your virtual machines running on ESX 2.x or 3.x servers during a specified period of time.

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Oh boy, big news!

A new beta of Parallels has been released today, and is a free download for Parallels users. Coherence and BootCamp compatibility have been improved, along with a slew of other features.

Here’s the release notes for the Parallels Desktop for Mac (Beta2) page:

• NEW! USB 2.0 support - “Plug and play” popular USB devices like external hard drives, printers, and scanners, and use them at full native speed.
  
  • NOTE! Current Build 3094 doesn’t support isochronous devices such as web cameras, microphones, etc.
• NEW! Full-feature virtual CD/DVD drive - Burn CDs and DVDs directly in virtual machines, and play any copy-protected CD or DVD just like you would on a real PC
• NEW! Improved Coherence mode - The groundbreaking feature that lets you run Windows applications without seeing Windows just got better! Now you can:
  
  • Place Windows applications on your Mac desktop or in your application dock. Just click to launch them directly from OS X!
  • Use Command+tab to cycle through Windows and Mac applications simultaneously, and “hide and show” Windows applications just like you would with Mac applications
  • View the Windows Command Console in Coherence mode
  • Use Coherence in Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP and Windows Vista!
• NEW! Better Boot Camp support - Using your Boot Camp partition in Parallels Desktop is now easier than ever. Beta2’s Boot Camp support includes:
  
  • Full support for FAT32 and NTFS partitions
  • Easy offline configuration. Simply tell Parallels Desktop that you want to create a virtual machine from a Boot Camp Partition and click start. No complicated set up required!
  • No need to re-activate Windows each time you switch between Boot Camp and Parallels. Activate Windows only once inside Parallels and work in both environments
  • IMPORTANT! It is not possible to suspend a Virtual Machine that is connected to Boot Camp as it could result in an unstable system.
  • VERY IMPORTANT! Beta1 (build 3036) users must boot natively into Boot Camp and uninstall Parallels Tools for Boot Camp prior to running it in Beta2 (build 3094).
• NEW! Parallels Transporter Beta2 bundled - migrate your real Windows PC, or existing VMware or Virtual PC VMs to Parallels virtual machines! Learn more about Parallels Transporter Beta2 >>
  
  • IMPORTANT! Beta1 users MUST upgrade their Transporter package on their Windows source machine before using Parallels Transporter in Beta2. Failing to do so may result in a system crash and loss of data
• New Look and Feel - completely redesigned windows and easier to follow dialogues to make Desktop for Mac more user-friendly than ever
• True “Drag and Drop” functionality - a long awaited feature that lets you seamlessly drag and drop files and folders from Windows to Mac OS X and vice versa
• Read/Write Boot Camp partition - use your Apple Boot Camp Partition as a virtual HDD for Parallels Desktop for Mac
• Virtual Machine Catalogue - now all of your virtual machines are available through a centralized VM catalogue which appears on each Parallels Desktop for Mac instance
• One-click Virtual Machine Aliases - automatically create a desktop shortcut for your virtual machine with the OS Installation Assistant, by dragging-and-dropping from title bar, or by pressing Command-Option keys combination. Clicking on Alias automatically starts the Virtual Machine
• Resizable Main Window - resize the Parallels Desktop for Mac main window as you do with any other Mac application
• Auto-Adjusting Screen Resolution - Windows auto-adjusts its screen resolution to the actual main window size
• Improved graphic performance - up to 50% faster!
• Connect/disconnect USB devices schema improved - no more annoying “wait 5-10 seconds” message on USB device connecting to Parallels Desktop for Mac!
• Up to 5 Virtual NICs - now each Virtual Machine can have up to five virtual network interfaces
• Enhanced Shared Networking Mode - run Cisco VPN and many other complex networking applications in conjunction with Connection Sharing Mode

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I can now confirm that the Windows Vista MSDN x86 ISO is fully installable using Virtual PC 2007 Beta on Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit.

Even though these are both MSDN images, neither of them was activated, nor did I enter a serial number during the install. Just click next when they ask you for a serial, and make sure to confirm that you do not wish to enter a serial number by pressing the “no” button.
(click on thumbnails for 1600×1200 images - the virtual machine is running at 1280×1024)

The installation took some time, even with 1GB of RAM allocated to the Virtual PC 2007 virtual machine, but after about 30 90 minutes or so, Vista Ultimate x86 virtualized on Vista Ultimate x64 using Virtual PC 2007 is a definite go-ahead-and-try-it install.

Follow normal VPC installation procedure, select Vista as the guest operating system, and chug along as the install proceeds.

Coming up next: full installation instructions.

Note: Unfortunately Virtual PC 2007 is beta, and I don’t see any plans for adding 64bit virtualization any time soon. If you have info that states otherwise, please let me know is this appears to be the only viable option for Vista VMs at the moment.

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Since installing bbPress on the forum.blandname.com subdomain, I’ve become addicted to the rapid posting workflow: add topic, title, description and post! It’s 4 steps and is over so quick I’ve been thinking about making a bookmarklet that will automate the task for me. Here’s the latest smaller posts I sent there, but should some day expand upon here (I’ll use blandname for longer posts from now on):

• vTiger CRM Virtual Machine
• RDP Manager for your Windows System Tray
• HOWTO TrixBox - VoIP Virtual Machine
• Online Virtual Machine Builder
• Microsoft Distributes Demo Software via VHD
• FREE Terminal Server Monitoring Tool
• VMware Workstation 6 Feature List
• Multi monitor support for RDP 6
• Add Reflections to bbPress Images
• Google PageRank and Alexa in Your Firefox 2
• Display Digg in WordPress - Digg Dugg Plugin
• Google Analytics Plugn for bbPress

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Currently the only way to get Vista on Vista virtualization running is to either use Virtual Server 2005 with some tweaks, or if you are part of the Virtual PC 2007 beta you can install Virtual PC 2007 (VPC 2K7) on Vista with no tweaks or hacks needed whatsoever. Unfortunately neither of these solutions can virtualize a 64bit operating system, but VMware Server should be Vista compliant soon - so I’m holding me breath until then.

Following my friend’s guide to setting up Virtual PC 2007 on Windows Vista found over at WebandRaptors, I was able to get VPC 2k7 set up quickly and without pain.

Next came the Windows Vista install, which was pretty straightforward. Something to note: you don’t actually need to use a CD key during installation, you can simply click the “next” button and the installer will inform you that a CD key will be needed later, I think it’s about 30days before it becomes necessary.

Once Vista is installed and configured for remote access from within VPC, all you need to do to get Aero Glass running is to connect to the virtual machine using the Remote Desktop Connection (RDP 6) client. If your host, or physical, machine supports Aero Glass, the virtual machine will allow you to take advantage of it, giving you transparent blurred windows, mouse-over taskbar previews, and cool windows+tab animation!

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Up until a few years ago I was getting fed up trying to show Japanese friends that linux was a viable option to Windows XP SP2, because the input method that Linux used at the time quite truthfully stank. The conclusion was that with an English keyboard, Windows was the way to go because of the (then) fancy Japanese input method applet.

Later on, I found out about Berry Linux, a Japanese LiveCD distro based on RedHat/Fedora that can easily show off Linux and allow users to do things like compose email that Japanese people can actually read (common problem on Windows), and surf the web in Japanese by default, instead of having to manually choose codepages and the like, which frustrates must computer users (if they haven’t already given up).

Berry Linux got an update today (to version 0.75), and now supports fancy-pants XGL - which I’m sure you’ll agree kicks Aero’s behind quite handily (footily?). If you’re trying to run Berry Linux Mini as a virtual machine you’ll get a console instead of X and you’ll lose the XGL capabilities, so I’d recommend testing it on a physical machine instead of a virtual machine - it’s a LiveCD so it’s quite safe to do so.

Here’s a feature rundown taken from the Berry Linux site’s English page (corrected a few typos):

Common Features:
• Support for Kernel-2.6. ALSA, ACPI, selinux.
• Overlay Filesystem Support.
• XGL, 3D Desktop, support.
• Berry Linux is not necessary to install. (Root partition is in the RAMdisk using initrd, all commands are operated by being transfered from CD-ROM)
• It can install on Windows without parting partitions to use Setup.exe or install.bat. (Using squashfs/cloop/loopback device)
• It can install to your hard disk on Linux. (Use Berry Linux Installer or Copy under /BERRY/, and set up LILO or grub)
• Berry Linux can boot from USB-HDD/memory.
• Berry Linux uses WHIZ, a very sharp Kana-Kanji conversion system. (WHIZ Project)
• If you push the windows key, and show the K-Menu.
• Automatically recognizes USB storage, and show icons.
• Berry Linux uses free Japanese True Type Fonts.
• Berry Linux uses bootsplash when booting.
• Berry Linux uses DHCP to connect the Network. (If you’d like to use PPPoE, you should setting up it on the Terminal)
• It’s possible to save personal setting.
• Red Hat Fedora compatible.
• Using new technologies.

Berry Linux’s Features:
• You can listen to mp3 using BMP/XMMS, and play DVD/DivX using MPlayer, XINE and Kaffeine.
• You can edit files of Microsoft Word, Excel by OpenOffice^(TM).

Berry Linux Mini’s Features:
• Minimum Linux environment is available by using Berry Linux Mini.
• Its file size is very small. (148.0MB)
• It’s light. Because of the Window Manager is Fluxbox.
• You can enjoy comfortable Linux environment.

Berry Linux Server’s Features: (Published Berry Linux Mini as alpha version)
• Build the Linux Server easily.
• Minimum Server Linux enviroment is available by using Berry Linux Server.
• Its file size is very small. (161.3MB)
• It’s light. Because of the Window Manager is WindowMaker.
• You can enjoy comfortable Linux enviroment.

To do:
• Support Software Suspend.
• Support Captive NTFS.

Known Bugs: (Please help me!)
• Kernel panic on boot after realtek RTL-8139 ethernet intialization. (Kernel Bugs)
• Using cloop with kernel-2.4.22-pre7 to 2.4.23-pre2 sometimes stops in boot. (pre5 is OK)
• Sometimes gcc 3.3 is not good ! (Berry Linux 0.19 only)
• krb5.h isn’t in krb5-devel-1.2.8-4. (Berry Linux 0.19, 0.20 only)

You can grab Berry Linux from the SourceForge page or the Berry Linux main page - but I’d recomend using SourceForge if you are in North America as it is much faster.

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In the coming weeks I will be working more on Microsoft’s Windows Vista as it ramps up to release to manufacture (RTM) status.

Although you can currently run Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 in 32 bit mode on a Windows Vista physical machine, I’ve learned that I was recently accepted into the Virtual PC 2007 beta tester program, and that Virtual PC 2007 can run on 64bit Vista.

If you are interested in joining the Virtual PC 2007 beta program, I highly suggest you sign up, then play some fantastic Rod Stewart albums until you are accepted.

By the way, this does in fact mean you can run Vista on Vista reliably now. VMWare Workstation and Server still don’t work at this point, but it’s on the way, just stay tuned.

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From the VMWare Converter 3 beta refresh release notes (found at virtualization.info):

VMware Converter provides an easy-to-use, scalable solution for migrations of machines, both physical to virtual and virtual to virtual. Optimized for mass migration, VMware Converter is equally effective for single-machine conversions. With its comprehensive and comprehensible wizards and task manager, VMware Converter imports virtual machines faster, with fewer manual steps required, and fewer source hardware limitations than other methods. Converter can, with its ability to hot clone, import with no downtime on the source physical machine.

VMware Converter combines and expands the functionality available in P2V Assistant and Virtual Machine Importer. It eases interoperability among VMware hosted products (Workstation, VMware Server, and VMware Player), VirtualCenter-managed ESX Server 3.x and 2.5.x, and unmanaged ESX Server 3.x.

Import from Physical Machines (Source)
VMware Converter can hot clone and reconfigure any local or remote physical machine running an operating system noted in Platforms VMware Converter Boot CD can be started from, and clone, local machines outfitted with storage controllers and network adapters that Microsoft lists as supported in Windows 2003

Import from Various Third-Party Formats and VMware Products (Source)

Microsoft Virtual PC (version 7 and higher) Microsoft Virtual Server (any version) Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery images1 VMware Workstation 4.x virtual machine (compatible with VMware GSX Server 3.x) VMware Workstation 5.x virtual machine (compatible with VMware Player and VMware Server 1.x) VMware ESX Server 3.x VMware ESX Server 3.x (when managed by VirtualCenter 2.x) VMware ESX Server 2.5.x (when managed by VirtualCenter 2.x)

Export to a Virtual Machine for VMware Workstation and Datacenter Products (Destination)

VMware Workstation 4.x virtual machine (compatible with VMware GSX Server 3.x, ESX Server 2.5.x)2 VMware Workstation 5.x virtual machine (compatible with VMware Player and VMware Server 1.x)3 VMware ESX Server 2.5.x (when managed by VirtualCenter 2.x) VMware ESX Server 3.x (when managed by VirtualCenter 2.x) VMware ESX Server 3.x Not Supported: VMware ESX Server 2.5.x when managed by VirtualCenter 1.x VMware ESX Server 2.5.x unmanaged

1. The Symantec family of products includes the Backup Exec System Recovery (formerly LiveState Recovery) products and the Norton Ghost 9 (and higher) products. Only images from the Backup Exec System Recovery products are fully supported, but images from Norton Ghost 9 (and higher) are likely to work.

2. For ESX Server 2.5.x the .vmdk files must be imported using the vmkfstools utility.

3. Only Workstation 5.5 can power on linked imports of .sv2i images.

For more info please visit VMWare’s Converter 3 Beta Refresh page.

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