Group Build at the Mason Dixon Hamfest

[Robert Stratton]

I have to second this. I have used both VMware Fusion and Parallels 6 for purposes of running a DVB-S2 receiver under MS Windows and right now I think the Parallels people have the fastest hypervisor out there for the Mac. There's also a free upgrade from 5 to 6 if you bought v5 in the latter part of this year. 

The bitrates for DVB-S2 HD video are non-trivial and it pretty much just works. 

I'm not entirely enthralled with their MacFUSE-based file system access layer, but for running USB devices it's surprisingly fast. 

--Bob S.

----- Original Message -----
> Parallels on MacOS X also does a great job of forwarding USB devices
> to VMs. My sister-in-law runs her computer-controlled embroidery
> machine
> from inside Windoze-in-a-VM-baggie just fine.
> 
> USB these days is pretty-much completely encapsulated by software
> APIs.
> even USB Class Drivers don't really see hardware except
> what's at the end of the "pipes" (a real USB construct).
> and since the USB transfers are highly-structured, only
> the payload, either async or isochronous, is what matters.
> yes, there are commands and responses, but the nature of
> USB constrains real-time events to isochronous transfers.
> 
> from the standpoint of virtualizability, this is a huge
> improvement over the days when pins on a parallel port
> were used as GPIOs stroked in real-time by spin-loops
> in x86 ASM code. (see "bit-banging serial port")
> 
> -mo
> 
> 
> On 10/25/10 7:44 PM, Louis Mamakos wrote:
> >
> > On Oct 25, 2010, at 6:23 PM, wb4jfi wrote:
> >
> >> On 10/25/2010 5:44 PM, Louis Mamakos wrote:
> >>> On Oct 25, 2010, at 3:23 PM, Frank Gentges wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> In addition to assembling the boards, we had the Quisk HF radio
> >>>> software up and running as a demonstration that also caught
> >>>> peoples attention. We are now getting a version of Ubuntu that
> >>>> can be run that includes the files for Quisk and the Charleston
> >>>> receiver. We should be able to distribute DVD disks that will
> >>>> bring up Charleston/Quisk/Ubuntu on a computer either as a live
> >>>> load or as a hard drive install. AMRAD member Rob Bowers has been
> >>>> working on this and a big tip of the AMRAD hat to Rob. Stay
> >>>> tuned.
> >>> What would be slick is if this could be also available as a VMware
> >>> virtual machine image of an installation of Quisk on an Ubuntu
> >>> operating system. For those that don't run Linux on their desktop,
> >>> it would be an easy way to use the software. There's a free VMware
> >>> Player<http://www.vmware.com/products/player/> that could be used
> >>> on Linux and Windows to run VMware appliance images.
> >>>
> >>> louie
> >>> WA3YMH
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Tacos mailing list
> >>> Tacos at amrad.org
> >>> http://www.amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos
> >>>
> >>>
> >> I'm not sure that this would work, since the Charleston board uses
> >> a high-speed USB connection to Quisk. The software will probably
> >> function, but the USB drivers may not play right. I've heard of
> >> other USB-based devices having trouble in virtual machines. But, I
> >> do not have any first-hand knowledge.
> >> Terry
> >> WB4JFI
> >>
> >
> > Good point, I don't know if the VMware Player exposes the USB
> > peripherals. I do know that VMware Fusion on the Mac does a great
> > job of exposing USB peripherals. I routinely run Windows XP inside a
> > VM, and use USB serial devices as well as specialized CCD cameras
> > for astrophotography, also connected via USB to the host (and into
> > the VM). At least in the environment, I'd expect it ought to work..
> >
> > louie
> > wa3ymh
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Tacos mailing list
> > Tacos at amrad.org
> > http://www.amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos
> _______________________________________________
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> Tacos at amrad.org
> http://www.amrad.org/mailman/listinfo/tacos