VMware Server still running even though the GUI crashed

Some reasons why VMware Server is much more reliable compared to VMware Player (or VirtualBox.....) :

1. VMware Server supports Command Line. You could do anything (i.e. start, suspend, etc.) with your VM from console only (without GUI) using vmware-cmd command. If you need VM when playing around with some new GUI application, it's good to start the VMware server using CLI only (from control-alt-F1 for example....)
   
2. If your GUI crashed (i.e. because you press control-alt-backspace by accident, or by a bug in software), as long as your Linux still running, you will not loose your VM session. When you login again to your GUI, and try to start the rdesktop session you will see this pop up :

Just select your last session, and you're done.

VMware Server for Seamless Desktop switching between Linux and Windows XP

Why VMware Server ?
I tried seamless desktop switching using VMware Player, but the player need "hostonly" connection, which prevent connection to the Internet via the guest OS (required when we need to browse using Internet Explorer, for example).

VMware is FREE and could be downloaded here

VMware Server is heavier than VMware Player, but on a T60 laptop, the Windows XP Professional guest OS performance is more than enough for me (I am using FAT file system instead of NTFS).

Install VMware Server on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
Ubuntu Feisty Fawn is not supported by VMware Server, but you could follow a good tutorial how to patch VMware server here.

Patch Windows XP to Support Many User Login
Follow this link to get the patch to enable many terminal server users.

Note : install rar first to extract the files :
sudo apt-get install rar

Follow the instruction inside the rar files.

Screen Capture
Below is a screen capture showing Microsoft Outlook 2003, Powerpoint, and Visio applications running on separate screen on Beryl :

The applications also integrates very well with Beryl Cube :



Create Application Launcher
You could create GNOME application launcher using the following command :

rdesktop -D -K -g 1024x768 -a 16 -u -p

mine is (just for example) :
rdesktop -D -K -g 1024x768 -a 16 192.168.207.129 -u thartono -p mypassword

Up until this step, I am already satisfied with the result, but if you want to go further, you could follow this link.

VMWare Player 2.0 vs VirtualBox 1.4 on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn

I am using Ubuntu Feisty Fawn as the only OS in my PC. However, I need to run Microsoft Outlook, Visio, and PowerPoint. These applications runs best on Windows XP, that's why I need to run Windows XP on a virtual machine.

There are some virtualization software that runs on Ubuntu, but I tried only two of them (based on popularity) : VMware vs VirtualBox.

Today the latest version of VMware Player is version 2.0, and VirtualBox is version 1.4.

Area where VMware Player Win
VMware Player is slower compared to VirtualBox, but in my laptop (Lenovo T60) the VMware always runs smoothly and never crashed, not even once. Using the same testing, VirtualBox always crashed within several hours.

My testing is running Microsoft Powerpoint Show with random transition effect, clicked automatically (every second), and repeated non-stop. Beryl is active with full effect (cube rotation, 'expose' effect, transparency, etc.).

I did that testing, simply to simulate my presentation in front of public, and I don't want my XP guest OS is crashed in the middle of presentation.

Area where VirtualBox Wins
VirtualBox is much faster, perfect integration with Beryl (every Beryl effect could be triggered regardless of mouse position), perfect full-screen mode (no workaround such as hiding window frame), and much easier to install new guest os (VMware player need some tricks to do this).

Conclusion
VirtualBox is good and practical for playing, while VMware is perfect for my job. Even though VMware slower and have some annoying limitation.

Ubuntu Feisty on IBM/Lenovo T60

I replace my old laptop (IBM T42) with Lenovo T60. Lenove T60 fixes the following T42 problem :

• T60 can display running video in Beryl cube with correct perspective
• T60 support dual screen (one builtin LCD screen plus one external projector)
• T60 support all sophisticated Beryl effect (i.e. rain, zoom, etc.) without CPU problem

Standard Ubuntu Feisty Fawn installation gives most functionality. I will post every single changes I made on my PC to this blog.