> I think this is a really bad idea. It will severely limit the number of
> people who can use plex86 due to hardware requirements.
Umm, I don't think you got my point. I was not suggesting that this approach
be the only approach, or indeed the default approach, or that it was for
everyone. For me, it would be useful. It is also simple, so I'm going to do
it regardless of what anyone thinks. I'll offer my efforst to the whole
community, and if they want it fine. If not, also fine. I do think that this
could get us to working windows faster than any other approach and so could
be a good first step. Not only step, just first step.
> The great thing about VMware is that the virtual PC is always the same -
> i.e. it's a tightly controlled environment and always 'just works'. In
> many ways it's advantageous that the real hardware is hidden from the
> guest OS. E.g. the guest OS is protected from outside influences such as
> hardware upgrades, and you can swap hard drive images between machines
> and they still work perfectly.
There's no reason why there can't be a default configuration that works just
like this. There's also no good reason why there can't be options that add
to the usefulness of the project to people for whom this is not an issue.
Maybe I won't be able to share my disc image with you, but what the hey, I
didn't want to and wasn't going to anyway (:-)
Still, for Windows, there's a lot of Plug 'n Pray (err... play) that really
let you pick up an installation in one environement and carry it to another.
I have done with a number of hard disks without major hassles, so this may
be less of an issue than you think.
> Just think of all the hassle you'd have if Plex86 had to support all
> sorts of graphics cards. It would be such a pain to test on all
> combinations of hardware.
I absolutely agree. I just don't understand where you got this notion from.
Pick one target and emulate that, if you want to emulate. There's not likely
to be many good reasons to want another. Where there is, you'd probably want
to switch over completely to the new target and bury the old one. Certainly,
there no reason to support a wide range.
> I think a plain VGA-only emulation is all that's required, and then
> provide a special driver for the guest OS to enable the use of higher
> resolutions and provide greater speed. (Just like VMware in fact).
Yuck!!! If I have to run in VGA modes (800 x 600 max!) I just wouldn't use
Plex86. I rather bite the bullet, pay the bucks and have two systems. I
can't conceive of running windows in less than 1024 x 768. I also rather
like 24+ bit colour. If VMware only supports VGA, it sucks. Glad I didn't
buy it.
> I think all this talk of 2D/3D acceleration is a bit silly also. Does
> anyone really want to play graphically intensive games in a virtual
> machine? Gamers are usually concerned with every last FPS.
Not all games are first person shooters. Even where they are, frame rates of
75-80 per sec. are quite acheivable on a 200 MHz PentiumII with a good
graphics card. As the monitor refresh rate is rarely higher than this, it
doesn't matter if the game renders at a "higher frame rate", this is all you
will see, period. Gamers may be concerned with every last FPS, but they can
only use the first 80 or so, and I think Plex86 could probably acheive this
on a 500+ MHz machine. For me, I'd like to be able to run Starcraft, AOE II
and TA, all of which could probably run quite acceptably on my home system
under Plex86.
So to sum up, I disagree with you. I see uses (for me) both at home and at
work, so I'm going to do it. Naturally, I'll offer the results to this
project and if Kevin wants then, he'll incorporate them. Anyone else who is
interested is welcome to collaborate.
