Bootcamp vs. Virtual Machine
Archives Forums/MacOS X Discussion/Bootcamp vs. Virtual Machine
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| On my new Mac (which I hope to receive this week) I'm planning to use MacOS X as my main system of course, but in order to be able to build my BMax Stuff for Windows and Linux as well, I'm planning to install Windows Vista and Ubuntu as well. Basically I will only use those systems for those things impossible to do on MacOS X, which will in 99% of the time be building my stuff for Windows in Linux, and on rare ocasions run apps for which I couldn't find a MacOS X version or equivalent. Now I'm wondering what I can do best. Make a triple boot using Bootcamp, or install a virtual machine like VMWare, Parallels or VirtualBox and install Linux and Vista there. Of course, I realize that Bootcamp may most likely produce the best results (as there's no emulator/virtualizer or whatchamacallit involved), but as I plan to use it as little as possible and hating to have to restart the Mac and wanting to be able to do things in MacOS while running a Windows App at the same time (as I did often with two computers now until my Windows Machine got broken) it may make a Virtualizer better. Does a virtualizer make too much difference or is it as reliable as a clean boot? (Or at least reliable enough if it's most of all to compile stuff and a quick test, that is possibly a little slower). (Oh, specs for my new Mac: http://store.apple.com/nl/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac Second Mac from the left. I hope you can understand it even though the page is in Dutch. Apple refused to give me the English version of the page). And when it comes to a Virtual Machine. VirtualBox is free, the others are quite expensive. Is VirtualBox good enough for the job I intend for it or should I really put my money on VMWare or Parallels (of course, since VirtualBox is free I can try it first, but since installing Windows and Linux is a pretty time consuming job, I'd like to do it right in once). |
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| Uk link :-p http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac I'm running XP under Parallels on my Dual Core Mini with 3+ gig RAM. Non graphics stuff works very well. Compiling is quick (compared to my P4 work PC, it's easily 3x as fast). Obviously, OGL/DX graphics stuff could be better. However, since my graphics card is Intel... it's not surprising. On an ATI/NVidia, I'd expect it to work much better. I've also been running win98 on VMWare recently, and it boots in about 7 seconds :-p Same issues with the slower graphics. I don't have bootcamp, but as you'd expect, Windows will run at native speeds, since there's no VM to get in the way. I suppose it depends what you need, at the end of the day. Since I'm only doing minimal dev work on Windows - and none of that involves much in the way of graphics - I'm happy enough with both Parallels and VMWare. They certainly "feel" almost native, when working in non-graphics stuff. Just make sure you have plenty of RAM to give everything. The other advantage of running in VM, is of course the fact that you can be working on Mac at the same time. Copy/Paste code between Mac and Windows IDE is pretty handy sometimes. (I was doing this yesterday). Parallels even has a mode in which the Windows desktop disappears and applications appear as normals windows on the Mac desktop. I don't have any experience of Virtual Box on Mac... tried it out on Windows once. It worked - which is all I can say of it. As for Linux, I've used it on Parallels and VMWare, and it works fine. However, at the moment, I actually run it on its own PC (a Quad-core with 4gig RAM), but... I use it on the Mac via an NXClient (NOMACHINE), which in essence is just like sitting at the other PC. The advantage of course, is I don't have to lift my arse off the chair, or move to a different keyboard/mouse - I'm a lazy sod, I suppose :-) The main thing... get lots of RAM... if you want to use a VM.... |
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| Thanks a lot for this information. The graphics stuff may still be important to me (so that I can test my Windows Builds in their intended speeds). I will need to think things over, before I make a decision, but your info was very useful for me. Thank you. |
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| Parallels and VMWare Fusion both sport an option to load your boot-camp partition within their VM, so I'd just go that route to get the best of both worlds. (although you may encounter issues with regards to Windows thinking you're running the thing on a new computer, requiring you to re-enter your serial key) |
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| Yeah, I had to call Msoft for another key when I installed XP in my bootcamp partition under Parallels. |
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| I just tried a Win32 BlitzMax graphics app with Darwine, and it worked - better than Parallels, in fact. Whether everything works though, is another thing. Since it's not an emulater or virtual environment, you have to rely on all the "fake" windows libraries to do what they are meant to. (like, for instance, keyboard/mouse/joystick/audio support). Graphics rendering seems to be at (as far as I can see) almost native speed. Thumbs up from here :-) |
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| Darwine? I'll try that out... ;) I'll look into parallels and VMWare, though I must watch my wallet, so that may take time before I can purchase those.... |
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| Well, they usually have like a 30-day trial you can try first before deciding anything - which is always handy for helping you make those wallet-emptying decisions ;-) |
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| Yeah, that will really help me... ;) Since I don't have much to spend in the first place, and I am also planning to marry next year, so you can understand why I gotta watch my wallet :) |
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