[CentOS] virtualization on the desktop a myth, or a reality?

Wed Mar 2 17:56:14 UTC 2011
compdoc <compdoc at hotrodpc.com>

>Yes, I know that I could have used KVM, VMWare
>or VirtualBox, but I wanted to use what's included already.

KVM is included, you just have to select it. There is a loyal following of
Xen in the community, but I use KVM for my servers. I'm often called 'dumb'
for even talking about KVM, but I like it. (and I'm not saying, nor have I
ever said, that KVM is better than Xen)


> But, using the interface is painfully slow. I opened up Firefox
>and browsed the web a bit. The mouse cursor lagged a bit and
>whenever I loaded a slow /large website, it seemed asif the whole
>VM lagged behind...
>.. BUT, I want(ed) to see if this is a reality for the average desktop
>user, or not really (yet?) seeing as most modern PC's have far more
>CPU & RAM resources than what is actually needed by most.

I assume you're using VNC to connect? It can be painfully slow with some vnc
clients, and workable for basic stuff with others.

Using MS remote desktop to connect to a VM running Windows works pretty
well, but not when you're trying to view anything with graphics. (like
watching videos)

There's the SPICE protocol which supposedly handles these problems, although
I haven't tried it yet.

It would be nice if you could run your OS in a VM, then use some tablet with
a huge screen to connect to the VM and not be able to notice a difference in
speed. I think that's a ways off in the future, however.