Tag: VMWare Server 2.0

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*pfui* VMWare Needs a Swift Kick Upside the Head

I really appreciate being able to use VMWare Server 2.0 for free. Really. My “office” (scare quotes because–confession time–here at twc central my office is known as my junk room *heh*) is crowded enough as it is without four more computers and either more monitors or a cumbersome KVM switch, etc. Being able to run several (fully licensed) versions of Windows, BSD and even a couple more Linux distros all inside one machine without multi-booting is more than just handy; it’s a sanity saver.

But. Every time there’s a Firefox update (yeh, I use Firefox for it, because 1.it now uses a web interface plugin for console management and 2.the #$*&%# plugin refuses to work with Opera, even though ALL OTHER MOZILLA PLUGINS DO just fine and dandy) the web management console stops workng and the ONLY way I’ve found to get the thing to load again is to… completely recompile, reinstall and reconfigure VMWare Server. NONE of the other so-called fixes (hacks, kludges) that’ve been around since the VMWare Server FUBAR at Firefox 3.0.1 have worked. ONLY a complete recompile, reinstall and reconfigure works.

Dumb, VMWare, really dumb. It’s the same plugin–no change there. And another thing: EVERY time I have to completely recompile, reinstall and reconfigure the thing, the scripting informs me I have a wrong version of this that or the other OS component, always asking for a down version and warning the reconfiguration will crash. It never does and VMWare Server always comes back up after the reconfiguration, finally working again after getting the willies over a X.X.1 point change in a FIrefox version.

*feh*

VMWare is squandering major kudo points for its better-than-most-others’ VM implementation with this kind of mickey mouse issue, caused by its insistence on depending on a browser plugin it apparently cannot bother to maintain properly.

Still, for 64-bit VMs across a wide spectrum of OSes, once the thing actually LOADS, it’s just fine. Minor issues getting VMWare Tools (for VMs sharing USB, sound, etc., with the host machine) working in some OSes, but no real problems and LOADS of pluses… once the assinine console plugin actually loads.

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“I ain’t talkin’ to you!”

That’s apparently what Ubuntu and VMWare Server 2.0 decided to say to each other after a recent Linux kernel update. Weird. Everything was just hunky-dory between Ubuntu and VMWare Server 2.0 before the kernel update. After? VMWare would NOT load any more. Period. Solution? Recompile VMWare Server 2.0. *sheesh!* That’s dumb.

Ah, well. At least it was a trivial task. All it involved was typing a command at the command line and hitting the “Enter” key… A LOT. When it asked for my regnum, I was even able to just keep hitting “Enter” and select “no” because my regnum was already entered in the config script. Stupid silly, an annoyance. But a trivial thing overall. Oh, and sure, I don’t like the new web management “feature”. It simply does not work as well as the console management did with version 1.X. Still, the ability VMWare Server has to load 64-bit clients on a 64-bit host brings it a notch above other options out there, so I guess I’ll stick with it as my primary virtualization tool in a Linux host.

So, for future reference, I’ll know: put another potta coffee on, invoke the config script and start wearing out the “Enter key” again. By the time the coffee finishes brewing, I should be halfway through having VMWare Server recompiled/reconfigured…

Petty annoyances. At least I have fewer of them than in a typical Windows setup.

Bonus gripe: Windows machines are sometimes simply too dumb for words. Take finding and using the printer attached to this Linux box. Never had troubles configuring a Linux box to use a printer attached to a Windows machine. Find it on the network, bang! I’m on. (Heck, I’ve never–well, in the last five years of using Linux boxes off and on–had to install printer drivers in Linux for the printers I have–admittedly, all pretty current models. Every Linux box I’ve built has just “automagically” configured printers. Nice.) Other way around? Hit or miss. Sooo… downloaded and installed Safari browser on the problematic Windows machines. *Huh?!?* Installed an Apple browser to fix network printing on a Windows machine? Yep. That’s because Safari comes with the neatest lil applet to solve Windows network printing that I’ve found: Bonjour.

Bonjour just finds and configures networked printers. Period. And does it well. Heck, I’ve even installed and used it with a Windows VM running inside a Linux host to see if it would work there. It did.

Easy-peasy network printer configs.

BTW, Safari browser isn’t bad. Limited deature set (not even as configurable as Firefox from what I’ve been able to tell) and minimalist controls. For folks who like that sort of straightjacket, very nice indeed. Rendering engine is fast and reasonably accurate. Better overall than Internet Exploder, a step down from both Firefox and Opera, IMO, but still a pretty decent little browser. About on a par with using Konqueror (which is fine as a file browser) as a web browser.