VirtualBox 2.1.0 released [LWN.net]

VirtualBox 2.1.0 - a major release - is out. VirtualBox is a virtualizer for x86 hardware. Changes include improved 64-bit support, experimental 3D acceleration support, full support for various virtual hard disk formats, better networking, and more. See the changelog for details.

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VirtualBox 2.1.0 released

Posted Dec 17, 2008 20:28 UTC (Wed) by Wummel (guest, #7591) [Link] (5 responses)

The 3D acceleration gives a very good option for running Windows games under Linux (or Linux games under Windows :-).
And it is available in the OpenSource edition. I give my compliments to the VirtualBox community!

VirtualBox 2.1.0 released

Posted Dec 17, 2008 20:43 UTC (Wed) by tialaramex (subscriber, #21167) [Link] (4 responses)

I think you can't yet use this to run Linux 3D software on top of a Windows VM [ though I'd be happy to be proved wrong about that ] and the performance will be significantly worse than a native port in most cases, because the only practical way to do this stuff (and it's the same way VMware and others have done it) is...

Software -> DirectX or OpenGL API -> VirtualHardwareDriver -> VM -> OpenGL API -> RealHardwareDriver -> Hardware

That's significantly /more/ extra work than when running Direct3D games in WINE, and like WINE this virtual 3D hardware will have to be constantly updated to keep up with real hardware and API changes.

VirtualBox 2.1.0 released

Posted Dec 17, 2008 21:05 UTC (Wed) by mjthayer (guest, #39183) [Link]

It isn't *quite* as bad as that - you can replace the VirtualHardwareDriver in your diagram with a software opengl proxy. And the passage through the VM can be optimised quite well, as data can be fed straight from the guest memory into the opengl API on the host.

VirtualBox 2.1.0 released

Posted Dec 18, 2008 0:04 UTC (Thu) by einstein (subscriber, #2052) [Link] (2 responses)

> I think you can't yet use this to run Linux 3D software on top of a Windows VM

That's fine - nobody who's serious about linux performance would be running it on top of a windows pc OS anyway.

VirtualBox 2.1.0 released

Posted Dec 18, 2008 2:19 UTC (Thu) by Sutoka (guest, #43890) [Link] (1 responses)

>> I think you can't yet use this to run Linux 3D software on top of a Windows VM

>That's fine - nobody who's serious about linux performance would be running it on top of a windows pc OS anyway.

Except most people who are serious about 3D performance won't be using Linux in the first place (even ignoring application portability). If you're lucky, they'll be using Linux with proprietary (nvidia) drivers. There's hope that in the future the Linux graphics stack won't suck horribly, but at this point it's mostly equivalent to an early Windows 95 stack (not from an implementation PoV, but from a how-hard-it-sucks PoV).

There is a *lot* wrong with the current graphics stack on Linux, probably the *only* thing right with it is the current direction and the people now in charge.

VirtualBox 2.1.0 released

Posted Dec 18, 2008 22:29 UTC (Thu) by einstein (subscriber, #2052) [Link]

> Except most people who are serious about 3D performance won't be using linux in the first place (even ignoring application portability). If you're lucky, they'll be using Linux with proprietary (nvidia) drivers. There's hope that in the future the Linux graphics stack won't suck horribly, but at this point it's mostly equivalent to an early Windows 95 stack (not from an implementation PoV, but from a how-hard-it-sucks PoV).

LOL, no idea what planet you're from. I run linux full time, microsoft windows just doesn't cut it for me - and I do care very much about graphics performance. Yes, I use nvidia, I also use ati, and intel graphics, each with their good points.

On the gaming front, I get better FPS than my poor vista using friends - and they also envy my compiz effects.

Is there room for improvement? always!