[syslinux] vesamenu causing screen lock-up

[Dyks, Axel (XL)]

Ram Yalamanchili wrote:

> But, there are a bunch of cool things in Workstation which don't exist in
> server/VMPlayer.. Its targeted towards companies who use it in QA testing or
> in need of support.
> 
> You can do VM snapshots, cloning, teaming, shared folders with guest, etc.
> which you can't with VMPlayer or Server. Also server only runs on windows.

Most of your statements are wrong at least with respect to the "Server"
and linux as the host.

* Snapshots are supported in VMserver, but only one per machine
  at a given time.

* You can always "clone" a machine by simply copying it,
  changing the VMware "uuid" and -- if the guest is Windows * --
  run "sysprep" to create a new SID

* "Sharing folders with the guest" is possible by running
  a samba server on your linux host. You really don't need to use
  a/the samba server that is bundled with the workstation product.
  // Note that you should use NAT (or host-only) networking, when
  // you want to connect to the host's samba server, for 
  // accessing the host via bridged networking tends to be
  // _very_ slow! (maybe because of internal routing problems?)

* And of course, VMware server runs on linux. This is what
  I'm doing all the time.

I think the only feature that is _really_ missing in "VMware Server"
(compared to VMware Workstation) is "incremental snapshots".
But imagine a scenario in which a number of Windows Machines
has been derived (as a chain/tree) from a single "master machine"
and you need to keep _all_ machines or rather _all_ (intermediate) snapshots
up-to-date with respect to Windows Updates and/or Virus Scan Patterns ...

Last but not least, I found the Server superior to any Workstation
product (or the Player), because you can run the machines on a linux host
without X11 required to be installed and running. This saves a _lot_ of
resources on the host.
// The linux machine I'm using as Vmware host for various Windows guests
// does not need more than 64MB for itself leaving all the rest to the guests.
// I'm running the Server Console on my linux/X11/Gnome notebook to 
// launch guests on the (remote) host which gives me the option to
// _keep_ them running when I disconnect the console or even shutting down
// my notebook. 

I do not know what VMware had in mind when the decided to give the VMware
Server product away for free (ok, you need to register ...) but I'm
really thankfull!

Cheers,
Axel