Virtual machines

[steve7233]

I wasn't sure where to put this so if a mod/adm thinks it should be moved then I have no problem.

Is there a vm hosting program that works well enough to do everything games, word processing, spreadsheets, streaming ect... or is vm technology still being developed. I have a quad core I7 microprocessor. Maybe its hyper visor can help?

I am using 16.04.

[Snowhog]

The limitations of virtual machines is in the virtualized hardware, specifically the GPU capabilities (of the Host). High-speed 3-D rendering that a host GPU might have will not be fully represented in the virtualized GPU of the virtual machine. Other than that (as I understand it), todays virtual machine software -- VirtualBox et al -- are quite good; I use Oracle VirtualBox for the VMs of Linux I run on my iMac PC.

[steve7233]

I wonder if anyone like NVIDIA is researching 3d in VMs.

edit: It looks like they are: http://www.nvidia.com/object/dedicated-gpus.html

[dibl]

I wasn't sure where to put this so if a mod/adm thinks it should be moved then I have no problem.

Is there a vm hosting program that works well enough to do everything ....

games ...

that is a high-stress tasking of your GPU, and a fairly heavy load on the CPU as well.

... word processing, spreadsheets, streaming ect...

those are low stressors of the GPU and the CPU, and easily handled in a VM.

or is vm technology still being developed.

Of course it is, but a VM will always be a step-child of the real hardware, and less powerful than the native hardware.

I have a quad core I7 microprocessor. Maybe its hyper visor can help?

I use a core I7-4770, and both VMware Player and Qemu/KVM. Very good for running a set of proprietary Windows applications that I need. Not so great for games. If games are important, you'll never do better than a native Windows setup on powerful gaming hardware.