Chris Pirillo » vm

Parallels Review

Chris — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:37:22 +0000

Parallels Review is a post from Chris Pirillo

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There have been numerous screencasts submitted over the past couple of weeks. Several of them are very, VERY good! I always knew that our community was full of talented individuals. It’s not too late for you to get involved, and have your screencast featured on this channel! Bwana has been hanging out with us for years, and is even a moderator in my chat room – when he has time! He’s gained quite a following of his own, and rightfully so. He does excellent work, and I’m always more than happy to have him do reviews for us. Today, he sent a screencast to me to give you all an overview of Parallels on the Mac.

When you first launch the software, you’ll only see the first two options: you’ll have to choose between a new Windows installation or to import a virtual machine. Since Bwana had already created a Windows image, he had a third option to use an existing VM.

The New Windows Installation option allows you to set up a virtual machine within Parallels to run inside of Mac OS X. There are several video tutorials online that show you how to set up and use a virtual machine. For the purposes of this video, Bwana chose to set up a new virtual machine in order to show you how it’s done.

Parallels is so easy to use that you can literally install Windows with just three clicks of your mouse. Run Windows programs like native Mac applications side-by-side using Coherence technologies. Gain instant access to your files, folders and data across both operating systems with SmartX technologies. And… you can remotely control your virtual machine using the iPhone application when you’re away from home!

Thanks to Bwana for sending a screencast in to us… and to all of you who are working hard and continuing to send in excellent material. I promise you – we’ll get them all up on our channels!

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Virtual Machines Love Windows 7

Chris — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:11:08 +0000

Virtual Machines Love Windows 7 is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Josh called in last week during live calls to talk with me about Windows 7. His general opinion at first was just that Windows 7 is a “great operating system”. I had to chuckle at that, because I of course agree. As we talked more, we got into a bit of a discussion about how much better Windows 7 runs on our Macs inside of Boot Camp. In my opinion, anyway, Vista never did run well on any type of virtual machine. It just plain stunk.

In a virtual machine environment, such as with VMWare Fusion, Windows 7 just – works. It runs clean, and it runs fast. When I used to try and run Vista in the same environment, with the same hardware and same configuration… it never worked. It was buggy. It would crash. It was slow. Things wouldn’t – work!

Don’t forget that I have an awesome Windows 7 eBook available for only $7.00! It’s filled with 70 excellent tips and tricks, to help you make the transition to Windows 7 even easier.

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Virtual Machine Speed Tips

Chris — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:45:41 +0000

Virtual Machine Speed Tips is a post from Chris Pirillo

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The last time you used a Virtual Machine for anything, how frustrated did you get over how slow everything is? Did it make you curse, or want to give up? Well, here are some tips from a reader to help you speed up the state of your VM, and make you a much happier Geek.

Store Virtual machines on separate drive. One of the biggest performance bottlenecks in VMs is the Disk I/O rate. You can greatly improve vm performance by storing your virtual machines on a separate hard drive other than your boot drive. Sorry storing your VMs on the same drive on a different partition wont do it.
Don’t pay for anything you can get for free. Alot of VM software costs a good bit of money. Microsoft offers their Virtual PC 2007 as a free download, as does innotek who offers virtual box as a free download. VMware is the leader in VM technology, they offer VMware Server for free, it is kind of a half way between VMware workstation and VMware ESX. VMware server is available for windows and Linux Operating Systems.
Test new software on a Virtual Machine. Instead of trying new software on your primary computer, create a virtual machine and test it on that. VMware server offers a snapshot feature that lets you create rollback points that you can use to restore your Test VM in case something goes wrong or you don’t like the software. if you have a lot of extra hard drive space you can also convert your operating environment to virtual and use that to test with. if not next time you reformat you can always use vmware converter to create a clean version of your system in VMware. Symantec ghost also allows you to convert a ghost image to a virtual machine.
Always install Virtual Tools. The Virtual Tools make working with vm machines a lot easier. They provide special drivers for input, video, network , and other system devices that improve performance. it also allows you to move your cursor back and forth between your host and virtual machine with out having to manually change focus.
Run resource heavy development servers in Vmware. If you are a developer who likes having a test environment (LAMP, Oracle DB, Tomcat JSP,etc) on there primary machine, but don’t want to have it drag down your system when your not using it. try setting it up in a vm, with networking and only turn it on when needed. And then FTP, SSH,or HTTP into it to do what you need to. and then shut it down when you don’t need it.

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Unlimited Potential

Chris — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 04:09:13 +0000

Unlimited Potential is a post from Chris Pirillo

Will Poole (Corporate Vice President) and James Utzschneider (General Manager, Marketing and Communications) work with Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Group, the company’s effort to bring the benefits of computing to the estimated five billion people around the globe who currently don’t have access to technology. Fresh off the road from recent travels including stops in Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Finland, they’ve been working closely with governments, non-governmental organizations, educators, and industry partners to help meet this goal, focusing on programs and products that will transform education for young people everywhere. James explains their mission in some more detail at his blog, Inside UP.

I realize this video is a bit dark in spots – and I apologize for not running it through Stomp before uploading it to YouTube. I suggested doing the interview at the Redmond Peet’s for a few reasons, not thinking that it might be bright outside in the early morning hours. No matter, I’m working with WaggEd to recut the interview and splice in a few photos, clean it up, etc.

Virtual CPU

Chris — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:53:01 +0000

Virtual CPU is a post from Chris Pirillo

Albert asks:

So my question is: Is there a way to basically run two instances of your operating system, or basically running two computers on your own one system and monitor? I don’t know how to describe it really. What I want to do is basically have two instances of my computer running on a split-screen type thing on my one monitor. This is because I have a program that won’t let me run two instances of it at once. I have two computers setup to the internet, and I have to run across my room every time I want to do something on the other computer. I even got one of those “switch” things that makes my two computers connect to my one monitor. But that is still really troublesome, and I’d rather see if I can do everything from one computer and monitor.

Dude. It’s all about Virtual Machines. VMware saved my bacon with Vista, and it’s saving my bacon on OS X. They’ve recently come aboard as a sponsor so, in the interest of balance: I’ve also written about Parallels and other VM programs before.

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.