[wplug] Alternatives to vmware

[Patrick Wagstrom]

On Thu, 2005-04-21 at 01:47 -0400, Michael P. O'Connor wrote:
> I was wondering if there are any good free alternatives to vmware?  it
> would have to just be able to run a copy of linux under linux.

I'm really shocked that no one has mentioned QEMU yet.  It's a full
processor emulator and open source.   Works on most any architecture and
lets you boot lots of systems (prelim support for emulation of Sparc and
PowerPC included).  Normally apps run about 5-10 times as slow, but if
you're on x86 or x86-64 you can get the QEMU accelerator.  That makes it
run about as fast as VMWare.  However, the accelerator is proprietary
and closed source right now.  He's trying to get donations to cover some
of the cost.

I've been pretty impressed with QEMU so far.  The only thing that's
really holding me back is that I've got tons of stuff on VMWare virtual
machines and I don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling
Windows and the associated tools I use in it.  Maybe after the semester.

At some point, I might be able to do a talk on QEMU.

--Patrick