Parallels Desktop for Mac Beta 2...

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Ian Robinson - 30 Aug 2007 19:39 GMT

. is pretty nifty. Build 5120 from 24th August. The shared desktop
between the Mac and a guest Windows VM, plus the auto access to the Mac
User filesystem from within the Guest OS is excellent. The default
application settings are also class.

I like it.

Ian

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Ian Robinson, Belfast, UK
<http://www.canicula.com/wp/>

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Chris Ridd - 30 Aug 2007 19:43 GMT

> . is pretty nifty. Build 5120 from 24th August. The shared desktop
> between the Mac and a guest Windows VM, plus the auto access to the Mac
> User filesystem from within the Guest OS is excellent. The default
> application settings are also class.
>
> I like it.

There are persistent reports that Parallels uses more host CPU (about
15%) when the guest is running but idle, than VMware (about 5%). Has
that been fixed?

Parallels is also supposed to have poorer support for non-Windows
guests than VMware. That is, there's no equivalent to vmware-tools for
Linux or Solaris. Is that fixed too?

Cheers,

Chris

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Ian Robinson - 30 Aug 2007 20:20 GMT

> There are persistent reports that Parallels uses more host CPU (about
> 15%) when the guest is running but idle, than VMware (about 5%). Has
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> guests than VMware. That is, there's no equivalent to vmware-tools for
> Linux or Solaris. Is that fixed too?

Don't know. Sorry. I only use it for Windows. The speed is okay for me.
I just like the "feel" of it over the VMware offering. Subjective I
know but I get a more pleasant user experience with the Parallels
product. It also doesn't do anything strange when the VMs are moved
between machines (Mac Book and Mac Pro). VMware Fusion quite often asks
if I've moved or copied the VM after a sync or an external drive hosted
VM is used on a different machine. Who cares if it's been moved or
copied? I don't and neither should Fusion!

Cheers,

Ian

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Ian Robinson, Belfast, UK
<http://www.canicula.com/wp/>

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Chris Ridd - 30 Aug 2007 20:47 GMT

> product. It also doesn't do anything strange when the VMs are moved
> between machines (Mac Book and Mac Pro). VMware Fusion quite often asks
> if I've moved or copied the VM after a sync or an external drive hosted
> VM is used on a different machine. Who cares if it's been moved or
> copied? I don't and neither should Fusion!

Windows cares though - it has something called a SID which apparently
must be unique on a network or weird stuff starts to happen.

I don't know if VMware gets that right either. We've got a Windows VM
at work that we think is cursed, though is more likely to have a funky
SID.

Cheers,

Chris

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Ian Robinson - 30 Aug 2007 20:56 GMT

> Windows cares though - it has something called a SID which apparently
> must be unique on a network or weird stuff starts to happen.

I know. Put in my case I'm using a single VM for Windows Apps like
Outlook. I'm only ever running a single Vista Instance either on the
portable or the desktop. I don't want my virtualisation software asking
lots of times if I've moved or copied the VM. Hence one of the reasons
why i like parallels better for this task.

For multiple VMs and server based virtualisation I use VI3 on a HP
Proliant.

Ian

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Ian Robinson, Belfast, UK
<http://www.canicula.com/wp/>

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Ian McCall - 30 Aug 2007 20:57 GMT

> VMware Fusion quite often asks
> if I've moved or copied the VM after a sync or an external drive hosted
> VM is used on a different machine. Who cares if it's been moved or
> copied? I don't and neither should Fusion!

VMware Server cares - it's about generating a unique id for the vm so
that the management interfaces work with it. There's a preference
somewhere in Fusion to say 'always create new'.

Cheers,
Ian

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Ian McCall - 30 Aug 2007 20:27 GMT

> Parallels is also supposed to have poorer support for non-Windows
> guests than VMware. That is, there's no equivalent to vmware-tools for
> Linux or Solaris. Is that fixed too?

There are now Linux guest tools, don't know about Solaris. I've moved
entirely over to VMware now since the machine images themselves are
more portable.

Cheers,
Ian

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Woody - 30 Aug 2007 20:46 GMT

>> . is pretty nifty. Build 5120 from 24th August. The shared desktop
>> between the Mac and a guest Windows VM, plus the auto access to the Mac
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> guests than VMware. That is, there's no equivalent to vmware-tools for
> Linux or Solaris. Is that fixed too?

I don't know what tools vmware has, but I have recently had reason to use a
linux machine for doing software for a nokia 770, which is why I was pretty
impressed with ubuntu linux.

It works ok in parallels, no desktop sharing and only network shares to the
local machine, but it works. The parallels tools let you resize the ubuntu
machines desktop and the mouse is pretty transparent as well (ie, it is one
mouse, when it is over the mac it does mac things, when it is over linux
stuff it does linux things).

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Woody

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Chris Ridd - 30 Aug 2007 20:58 GMT

>>> . is pretty nifty. Build 5120 from 24th August. The shared desktop
>>> between the Mac and a guest Windows VM, plus the auto access to the Mac
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> I don't know what tools vmware has, but I have recently had reason to use a

It keeps the clocks in sync, and makes the mouse behave smoothly. Copy
and paste work between the guest and host. You can resize the guest
screen. I don't know if Coherence/Unity need it.

> linux machine for doing software for a nokia 770, which is why I was pretty
> impressed with ubuntu linux.
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> mouse, when it is over the mac it does mac things, when it is over linux
> stuff it does linux things).

It sounds similar then. Any Solaris support?

Cheers,

Chris

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Woody - 30 Aug 2007 21:17 GMT

>> It works ok in parallels, no desktop sharing and only network shares to the
>> local machine, but it works. The parallels tools let you resize the ubuntu
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> It sounds similar then. Any Solaris support?

Haven't tried. Its been a few years since I have done any solaris stuff

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Woody

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Marco Bakker - 30 Aug 2007 22:19 GMT

> >>> . is pretty nifty. Build 5120 from 24th August. The shared desktop
> >>> between the Mac and a guest Windows VM, plus the auto access to the Mac
[quoted text clipped - 27 lines]
>
> It sounds similar then. Any Solaris support?

There are VMWare tools for Solaris included. Use the command in the menu
bar to copy them to the VM, you have to install them manually.

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marco

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Chris Ridd - 31 Aug 2007 06:44 GMT

> There are VMWare tools for Solaris included. Use the command in the menu
> bar to copy them to the VM, you have to install them manually.

Yep. I really meant does Parallels now have the equivalent to all that
for Linux and Solaris now?

Cheers,

Chris

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Mac Forum / Country Specific / UK Mac Group / August 2007

Parallels Desktop for Mac Beta 2...