[clug] VMware Workstation for Linux

[Bryan Kilgallin]

Right, George:

> I am on a journey to use Linux for my primary desktop.

My first thought was "Just do it!". But later on, I see that by 
"desktop", you did not mean "desktop PC"!

> Below I describe a summary of my experiences in searching for a personal Hypervisor that runs under Linux.

You hint at a personal requirement. Or you have in mind a specific 
system-software constraint.

> For some time I have used VMware Workstation in Microsoft Windows to virtualise various Desktops, Servers, and Hypervisors for testing, learning and demonstration purposes.

This seems complicated. Whereas my approach was based on one or two 
hardware machines.

> With my change over to using Linux, I have been using KVM with Virt-Manager for this purpose, however I have been unable to host VMware ESXi or Microsoft Hyper-V as Guest VM, or to create a Linux Guest VM supporting the Cinnamon Desktop Environment with 3D Video graphics support (so that the Guest does not fall back to software rendering).

List your user-experience requirements, independent of hardware or 
software customs.

> Workstation 12 Pro now supports DirectX 10 and OpenGL 3.3 delivering a more fluid and responsive experience when running 3D applications.

You want a gaming machine!

> On a test Debian Xfce Nvidia GF 610 Desktop I have been able to all of the above using VMware Workstation 12 for Linux, but I had issues supporting 3D graphics on my Laptop as it has an Nvidia Optumis video card (a hybrid of both Intel and Nvidia GPUs) .

What do you see as your expected hardware constraints? Might you be 
flexible about any of them?

> I have searched for solutions to get Nvidia 3D graphics working on my laptop but all I find is that this cannot be achieved (e.g. due to being muxless?).

You require deployment on a legacy laptop.

>   While I may be wrong about this, I still was not able to find a way to get the Nvidia 3D GPU to be used.

Either:
     * get hardware to support your required software; or
     * work around your given hardware requirement.

> My installation was missing this setting and after adding it, my Laptop can now host Cinnamon Guests good enough to run Minecraft (not good enough to effectively play Minecraft, but enough to prove that 3D graphics required to support Minecraft is working, and certainly just as effective as in a Windows based host).

You want to run Minecraft on your existing laptop.

> The below indicates the features that I like with VMware Workstation; Workstation 12 Pro now supports DirectX 10 and OpenGL 3.3 delivering a more fluid and responsive experience when running 3D applications.

You require specific gaming quality.

> If you find any of the above of interest, or have information that you believe could be of use to me, please do reply.

I wish to see a succinct user-experience requirement.

-- 
www.netspeed.com.au/bryan/
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