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CommentAuthorSpode
- CommentTimeJun 25th 2008 edited
I've been waiting to see what would change after Sun Microsystems took over the VirtualBox project. I've noticed for a while that my Synaptic updates have been complaining of the VirtualBox repos not working, and I felt that perhaps it hadn't been updated yet to support Hardy. However, it seems that Sun has chosen to stop supporting updating of the Personal Use Edition via aptitude. This VirtualBox ticket explains it all.
Sun Microsystems
Unfortunately we will probably not be able to offer Debian repositories for future versions of VirtualBox, as we now have to comply with US export restrictions, which involve people downloading VirtualBox "clicking to accept" conditions.
The only way to support automated updates now, is to use the Open Source Edition of VirtualBox - but this is not as stable and doesn't have all the features that the Personal Use Edition has. I can only hope that Sun integrates an update manager directly into VirtualBox, as I don't want to have to periodically check the website.
On the plus side, VirtualBox 1.6.2 is now released and once again, improves on an already super piece of software. I'm not using Virtualization anywhere near as much as I used to, since I stopped using Dreamweaver for coding, but it's still nice to use occasionally. Apart from graphical changes, the superficial changes I've noticed moving to 1.6, are the option of a SATA controller for the hard drives, and an updated graphics card driver and finally the ability to send CTRL + ALT + Backspace, for restarting X! It would be nice to be able to send CTRL + ALT + F1 too, but a great move in the right direction.
However, taking a look through the changelog, It seems there are quite a few changes. In the VirtualBox forums, quite a few people are talking about the "massive performance enhancements for AMD-V". Also of interest was "Seamless windowing for Linux and Solaris guests" and "experimental support for RandR". Neither of these features worked in Linux before, and now they do! So you can resize a window and the resolution will dynamically change, and seamless windows, if you haven't seen it, means you can have guest applications running as if they are on your host.
One thing I have definitely noticed while booting up a few VMs is "reduced host CPU load of idle guests", which has meant my computers fan is not kicking in anywhere near as often. This was causing a large problem for me when I was running VirtualBox on my notebook.
So as annoying as it is to lose the automatic updates, it seems Sun has improved VirtualBox considerably!
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CommentAuthorClubBarf
- CommentTimeJun 25th 2008 edited
Hmmm...
I always did find Sun to be a bit... Mixed. I never really liked Solaris, I think Java is (for most things) an evil that should die and go away forever (especially server side where PHP should be the order of the day).
On the flipside, Solaris is fairly quick and stable, and Java does seem to work on *everything* (I think there's probably a wheelbarrow somewhere that has a JDK). Funny how Sun could make me feel mixed feelings about this too.
What's wrong with the GPL??? Why pull support for it like that - it just makes things harder (which seems to be a motif with Sun - I mean, who ships a version of Unux without a compilier? I don't know if they still do, but Solaris never came with a C++ compiler in the past, which made installing new software a pain in the proverbial...)
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CommentAuthorSpode
- CommentTimeJun 25th 2008
I don't think it's the license in which the software is distributed that's the problem, but the way. The software is considered an "export"
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CommentAuthorClubBarf
- CommentTimeJun 25th 2008
So is a lot of GPL software, surely?
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CommentAuthorSpode
- CommentTimeJun 26th 2008
I'm not really in a position to answer
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