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The Windows Seat - Day 0: Virtualization and Bitness
On the first full day with Windows Server 2008, I began installing software to take care of the day to day needs and time-killers I'm familiar with from Linux.
On Linux, I make heavy use of KVM virtualization. Since KVM isn't a part of Windows, I decided to try out the port of VirtualBox. It ran pretty well, except that on the first run of the software caused my USB mouse to be unresponsive. I promptly unplugged the mouse and reported the bug to VirtualBox.
Later on, I was running a virtual machine with about 1.5 GB of RAM when I began having a bout of BSODs. It was pretty consistent. Any time I ran the VM and started the World of Warcraft downloader, I'd get the BSOD. The error was akin to "LIRQ_GREATER_OR_LESS_THAN", I don't recall the specifics. When I Googled this error, I found several forums and complaints about this, mainly dealing with Vista.
The long and short of it is that this error frequently happens when attempting to address memory greater than the bitness handled by the OS. In this case, I was running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x86 yet giving a decent amount of space to the VMs and then making the OS crap itself.
To correct this, I installed the x64 version of Windows. Now, I'm well aware that my current PC is an AMD64. All new PCs sold in the past three years or so have been AMD64. There is, however, still a ton of doubt and speculation about using x64. Will there be compatibility issues? Will the programs I want run on my system? My last experiences with Windows were in 32-bit land, and 64-bit applications had issues. I wanted to avoid this for my trek into RedmondOS so I used the x86 version.
There aren't any problems for me. In fact, in this regard, Windows is showing a strength. 64-bit applications run right alongside 32-bit apps. Windows solves this problem by isolating 32-bit apps into it's own emulation/compatibility layer, similar to the way the 32-bit Flash plugin is handled in Linux. I have to say honestly, I've not run into problems installing software on Windows because of bitness, but I have seen packages in the Debian repo that are "referred to but missing" because they exist on one arch but not another.
For this aspect, Windows actually win. I'd recommend that anybody else running Windows on a fresh install pick the version that suits their HARDWARE which almost always means "x64" today.
My wife's computer arrived today from Dell. This device has 4GB of RAM which means either she'll be running a 64-bit OS or be running into bitness issues. But know I'm prepared. :)
On Linux, I make heavy use of KVM virtualization. Since KVM isn't a part of Windows, I decided to try out the port of VirtualBox. It ran pretty well, except that on the first run of the software caused my USB mouse to be unresponsive. I promptly unplugged the mouse and reported the bug to VirtualBox.
Later on, I was running a virtual machine with about 1.5 GB of RAM when I began having a bout of BSODs. It was pretty consistent. Any time I ran the VM and started the World of Warcraft downloader, I'd get the BSOD. The error was akin to "LIRQ_GREATER_OR_LESS_THAN", I don't recall the specifics. When I Googled this error, I found several forums and complaints about this, mainly dealing with Vista.
The long and short of it is that this error frequently happens when attempting to address memory greater than the bitness handled by the OS. In this case, I was running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x86 yet giving a decent amount of space to the VMs and then making the OS crap itself.
To correct this, I installed the x64 version of Windows. Now, I'm well aware that my current PC is an AMD64. All new PCs sold in the past three years or so have been AMD64. There is, however, still a ton of doubt and speculation about using x64. Will there be compatibility issues? Will the programs I want run on my system? My last experiences with Windows were in 32-bit land, and 64-bit applications had issues. I wanted to avoid this for my trek into RedmondOS so I used the x86 version.
There aren't any problems for me. In fact, in this regard, Windows is showing a strength. 64-bit applications run right alongside 32-bit apps. Windows solves this problem by isolating 32-bit apps into it's own emulation/compatibility layer, similar to the way the 32-bit Flash plugin is handled in Linux. I have to say honestly, I've not run into problems installing software on Windows because of bitness, but I have seen packages in the Debian repo that are "referred to but missing" because they exist on one arch but not another.
For this aspect, Windows actually win. I'd recommend that anybody else running Windows on a fresh install pick the version that suits their HARDWARE which almost always means "x64" today.
My wife's computer arrived today from Dell. This device has 4GB of RAM which means either she'll be running a 64-bit OS or be running into bitness issues. But know I'm prepared. :)
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