14 DAY TRIAL // The people at Sun Microsystems have updated their virtualization software, VirtualBox, to version 2.1.2. At the moment, VirtualBox runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux hosts. It supports a large number of guest operating systems including, but not limited to, Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), and OpenBSD.
Sun Microsystems' xVM VirtualBox software lets users create virtual machines in which they can install their operating system of choice. The solution is similar to those advertised and sold by VMWare (VMware Fusion), or Parallels (Parallels Desktop). VirtualBox is a feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers which (as surprising as it may sound) is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
The latest version of the software fixes guru meditation on Mac OS X hosts when using VT-x, fixes VERR_ADDRESS_TOO_BIG error on some Mac OS X systems when starting a VM, and adds significant performance improvements when using VT-x/AMD-V on Mac OS X hosts. As far as X11 additions are concerned, Sun has thought up a workaround in the mouse driver for a server crash when the driver is loaded manually.
Exclusive to Mac OS X hosts are the following changes:
- save the state of running or paused VMs when the host machine’s battery reaches critical level - improved window resizing of the VM window - added GUI option to disable the dock icon realtime preview in the GUI to decrease the host CPU load when the guest is doing 3D - polished realtime preview dock icon.
"Virtual desktops, such as those provided by the xVM VirtualBox software, are the future of business desktops because they are more flexible, manageable and secure than traditional PC architectures," said Steve Wilson, vice president, xVM, Sun Microsystems. "Enterprises will be thrilled with the xVM VirtualBox platform because it provides them an easier way to deliver a standard operating environment across their enterprises."