VMware + Linux

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I've just installed ver 1.05 of VMware which was released about a week ago.
I'm still using Feisty Fawn. Should I upgrade or wait for the next release, Hardy Heron 8.04? I presume it will released next month sometime.
Any advice gratefully accepted, ta!
 
I would wait for HH next month. You won't gain anything from going to Gutsy for a few weeks.
 
Does anyone use a distro other than Ubuntu? I'm gonna try some others to see if I can get the memory and HD usage of my VMs down a bit. All of the really small distros don't seem to have 64-bit versions... gonna try a minimal install of Debian, I think.
 
Yeah, might try a server version, though I'll probably be back here before long when I can't get the damn thing working - I'm hopeless at Linux!
 
Thanks guys - I'd almost forgotten about the superb SMP guide!

Cob, I seem to remember it being you who runs 3 SMP clients on your quad? Is there a big advantage over just running 2? Just got my quad this week, and with it running at 3.2 I'm getting 4000-4100ppd with two clients.. insane PPD for a CPU I got for £110, but I wouldn't mind squeezing a few more out!
 
4000ppd on the Quad? Sweet! I was guesstimating 3000ppd. Mine can't arrive quick enough. Is there much difference with the server version of Ubuntu in terms of functionality as I'd still like to use to box for other things besides folding?
 
A stock Q6600 gives over 3000PPD with 2 WinSMP clients. Mine are at a mere 2.7GHz and I get 3500PPD, using the affinity changer. Using a couple of VMWare/Linux clients gives a bit more but, of course, takes over the PC as VMWare can't back off the way native clients do when you run other applications.
 
Just checked up on the sever version and its literally the same without the GUI. Desktop version it is for me. :D

I think I'm going to go for two native SMP clients and run the Quad at 3Ghz hopefully. I'm not the best overclocker in the world but I think I can manage that. :)
 
Thanks guys - I'd almost forgotten about the superb SMP guide!

Cob, I seem to remember it being you who runs 3 SMP clients on your quad? Is there a big advantage over just running 2? Just got my quad this week, and with it running at 3.2 I'm getting 4000-4100ppd with two clients.. insane PPD for a CPU I got for £110, but I wouldn't mind squeezing a few more out!

I ran four clients, two on each VM. A few others are doing the same.

Gave me 4500-5000 ppd at 3.5ghz.
 
A stock Q6600 gives over 3000PPD with 2 WinSMP clients. Mine are at a mere 2.7GHz and I get 3500PPD, using the affinity changer. Using a couple of VMWare/Linux clients gives a bit more but, of course, takes over the PC as VMWare can't back off the way native clients do when you run other applications.

I change the priority of the vmware-vmx.exe process manually to low using Task Manager. Seems to keep the PC responsive enough. Maybe a script could be written to do it automatically, similar to the affinity changer one? Running two Linux clients on a quad, I found it also helps to set affinity to CPUS 0/1 and 2/3 - I guess it keeps each instance running on the same CPU die and in the same cache.

Managed to get a very basic install of Debian to fold last night.. it seems much lighter than Ubuntu, but the clock goes out of sync which screws up my PPD readings on FahMon :confused:
 
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As a folding distro it's pretty much perfect. The install is very minimal, and whilst it may not have the same volume of help and assistance that's available for Ubuntu, you shouldn't really run into any problems if you're only folding on it. It's wiki and forums are still pretty good. Plus it's a rolling release, so no worries about having to reinstall every 6 months. And its FTP install is pretty ace.
 
no surprises I didn't even get the Arch disto to format the drives (on auto with defaults) - officially NOT SS approved

What went wrong? The first time I installed it I was mindlessly clicking through, and it failed to format because it recommended 7500MB for one of the partitions and my virtual drive was only 2GB :o
 
bingo, thought i said 750 when flicking through - will try again

nope - still says Device 'boot:32:ext2:+ swap:256:swap /:750:ext3 /home:*ext3' is not valid

Edit2 - didn't like ext3 - ext2 (default) looks like it's works - as is IDE and 2GB (aka not following guide :D )
 
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Arhhhh pesty Linux, pesky tired fingers, pesky early morning meeting tomorrow and lack of sleep as son's got yet another cold - failed install (about 12 files) and I killed my ubuntu by mistake - with an 80% complete wu in :o

Stupid, stupid, stupid - why do i try and 'fix' working solutions (remembers month it took to get ubuntu working :o)

off to sulk and actually get 20 dwg finished by 7.30am tomorrow :(
 
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