Aug

7

2007

vmwarefusion21.jpg

Roughly one year ago VMware announced that they would release a version of their popular virtualization software for the OS X platform. Since that time they have steadily released beta’s versions of Vmware Fusion and with each release seen continual improvements. Now after a year of heavy development the company has pulled back the curtains and unveiled VMware Fusion 1.0.

Although VMware are the leaders in virtualization software for Windows/Linux/BSD computing platforms, they are playing a game of catchup with Parallels for the OS X platform. I have personally used Parallels since the their early beta period and found it to be an indispensable tool for my MacBook. I did briefly try an early beta version of Vmware Fusion, but found it too unstable for daily use. With that stated I have had the opportunity to use the final product and yes it was impressive.

expose.jpg

For people who have no idea what VMware Fusion is or Parallels or Virtualization technology then you are in for a treat. Programs like VMware Fusion allows multiple operating systems to be installed onto a single host computer. With virtualization software, you don’t have to reboot your computer or worry about the guest operating system (Windows) crashing your entire computer system. Virtualization software on the Mac side has progressed remarkably since the introduction of Parallels for Mac. With Parallels for Mac and Vmware Fusion you can easily run multiple operating systems and have advance features like “Coherency” / “Unity” view modes and even 3D acceleration.

Minimum Requirements for VMware Fusion
* An Intel-based Mac (to run 64-bit operating systems, an Intel Mac with a Core 2 Duo or Xeon processor is required)
* 512MB of RAM (1 GB or more recommended)1
* 275MB free disk space for VMware Fusion
* 1GB free disk space for each virtual machine (10 GB or more recommended)
* Mac OS X version 10.4.9 or later

Features of VMware Fusion 1.0:
* VMware Fusion virtual machines can use 32-bit and 64-bit guest operating systems.
* VMware Fusion supports Windows, Linux, and Solaris operating systems in virtual machines.
* Virtual machines can have multiple virtual processors, taking advantage of the Intel Core Duo chips in Intel Macs.
* VMware Fusion supports high-speed USB 2.0 for a huge range of devices. Even devices that do not have drivers for Mac OS X will work in a virtual machine.
* cut and paste text between your Mac and your virtual machines, drag and drop files, and create shared folders on your computer so you can easily share files and folders.
* Unity view displays your Windows virtual machine applications directly on your Mac desktop.

*****Installation*****

Installing guest operating systems, whether it was Windows or Linux, worked flawlessly with Vmware Fusion. Especially with Windows I was amazed at how light weight Vmware Fusion ran. During the Windows installation, a disk intensive activity that slows my MacBook down with Parallels, I didn’t notice hardly any type of performance hit. Vmware has also streamlined the Windows install process if you select the wizard to do so.

vmwarefusion04.jpgvmwarefusion05.jpgvmwarefusion06.jpgvmwarefusion07.jpgvmwarefusion08.jpgvmwarefusion09.jpgvmwarefusion10.jpgvmwarefusion11.jpgvmwarefusion12.jpg

Installing a Linux guest operating system was as trivial as for Windows. Again with the latest Linux distros and Parallels 3.0 I did have to extraneous steps (install the os as Solaris and then switch it back to Linux after install). With Vmware Fusion the installation went as straightforward as installing Linux on an actual computer. If you don’t want to install Linux but still want to check it out in Vmware, you can easily download a prebuilt vmware image from vmware’s website and run it with Fusion.

Once you actually have the guest operating system installed or loaded up a virtual image file then using Fusion for Mac is a breeze. Similar to Parallels, Fusion offers three different view modes : Wndow, Fullscreen, and Unity.

*****Window View*****

Window view would be the most reliable and familiar method of viewing guest operating systems . Fusion offered a nice uncluttered layout with easy to identify buttons on the top row and non intrusive smaller buttons on the bottom row. While I did find the layout to be good, I did have a few minor quibbles.

I found myself often looking for the quick and easy “Power Off” button somewhere on the top row but surprisingly Fusion offers just a “Suspend” button. Most likely shutting down the guest operating system with its own native shut down method is the safer method, but I have become accustomed to the quick power off button found on Parallels and would have to seen a similar button for Fusion. Another minor quibble would be the manner the horizontal alignment of buttons on Fusion. If you have a 24″ iMac or 30″ Cinema Display this probably wouldn’t be an issue but if you own a smaller widescreen notebook, it makes more sense to align those buttons vertically like in Parallels. With the narrow height of my Macbook screen, I prefer to have less borders on the top and bottom of an application if possible

*Tip* To send the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keystroke combination to a virtual machine:
* From the Virtual Machine menu, select Send Ctrl-Alt-Delete.
* If you are using an external PC keyboard, press Ctrl-Alt-Delete.
* On a full-sized Mac keyboard, press Control-Option Forward Delete . The (Forward Delete) key is below the Help key.
* On a MacBook or MacBook Pro keyboard, press Fn-Ctrl-Option-Delete.

vmwarefusion13.jpgvmwarefusion14.jpgvmwarefusion15.jpgvmwarefusion16.jpgvmwarefusion17.jpgwindowmode-explorer.jpg

*****Fullscreen View*****

Fullscreen view worked with no problems whatsover. One feature that I loved would have been Fusion’s ability to switch to fullscreen and automatically change the resolution from the smaller window mode to the computers native fullscreen resolution. With Parallels, I would rarely use full screen mode because the program would keep the Window’s smaller window view resolution and stretch it for fullscreen view. Of course it was possible to change the resolution manually but I would rather have the program do it automatically if possible.

fullscreen01.jpgfullscreen02.jpgvmwarefusion-fullscreen.jpg

*****Unity View*****

The third viewing mode with Fusion would be the nifty “Unity” view. Similar to Parallels’ Coherence you can hide Windows itself and use Windows application from the OS X desktop. While I thought Coherence had better integration (start menu can sit on the OS X dock), Fusion had a useful pop window to launch the Windows programs of your choice. With Fusion’s Unity view mode OS X’s expose function worked perfectly with the Windows application – something not available in Parallels 3.0.

vmwarefusion-unity.jpgvmwarefusion-unity01.jpgvmwarefusion-unity02.jpgvmwarefusion-unity04.jpgunity-withwindowstartbar1.jpgunity-freecellsafari.jpgunity-windowsexplorerandfinder.jpgunity-windowsmediaplayer.jpgunity-expose.jpg

*Tip* VMware Fusion provides a hidden option that displays the Windows task bar in Unity view. To enable this option:
1. Make sure that Windows Explorer is set to display hidden files and folders.
2. In the Windows guest, go to: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Tools.
3. Open the file tools.conf in a text editor such as Notepad.
4. Add the following line to tools.conf: unity.showTaskbar = “true”
5. Save and close tools.conf.
6. Restart your Windows guest.
The next time you enter Unity mode, VMware Fusion will show the Windows task bar.

*****Linux*****

Using Linux on Vmware worked great. The only trouble I had was getting Vmware tools to install correctly with Ubuntu’s Feisty. After some time fiddling around with Fusion I figured out the problem was from having not specified the physical CD/DVD drive in “Settings.” Prior to using Feisty I had installed the o.s. from an .iso image and had the .iso image still selected as the default CD/DVD drive. Once I changed that back to the physical cdrom0 drive then Vmware Tools installed fine.

Some of the more advanced features like “Unity” view and 3d acceleration worked only for Windows. So no love from Beryl or Compiz.

ubuntu-01.jpgubuntu-02.jpgubuntu-03.jpgubuntu-03.jpgubuntu-05.jpgubuntu-07.jpgubuntu-08.jpgubuntu-09.jpgubuntu-091.jpgubuntu-10.jpgubuntu-synaptic.jpgubuntu-terminal.jpg

*****3D Acceleration*****

3D graphics and games can be run with Fusion with mixed results. If the application requires DirectX 8 or lower than Fusion will most likely run the program without problems. Unlike Parallels 3.0, Fusion does not have support for OpenGL.

I did try my hand at Hitman 2 and Tony Hawk 3 to see how well 3D games ran with Fusion. No problems with either game as they are Fusion’s recommend games list. I did notice prior to installation a pop-up window advising me that the Intel GMA 950 video chip used on my MacBook was not directly supported with Fusion’s 3d acceleration. There was an option to use 3d acceleration anyways which I did so. The games I played exhibited no erratic behavior or crashes.

Games Compatible with VMware Fusion Experimental 3-D Acceleration

hitman2.jpghitman3.jpghitman4.jpgtonyhawk.jpgtonyhawk-02.jpgtonyhawk-03.jpg

* Aliens vs. Predator Demo
* Breath of Fire IV
* Grand Theft Auto III (Tip: Set the Display Setup option Trails to OFF.)
* Hitman 2
* Lord of the Realms III
* Max Payne 1
* Max Payne 2
* Need for Speed Porsche Demo
* RalliSport Challenge
* Tony Hawk 3
* X-2 Rolling Demo

*****Shared Folders*****

An essential feature for Virtualization programs would be an easy method of sharing files between the host and guest operating systems. With VMware Fusion I had no problems setting up shared folders for Windows and Linux guest operating system. To enable shared folders I simply had to click the “Settings” button, enabled Shared Folder, click the Add button to add my Mac folder then hit “Apply” (You do need VMware Tools installed to use Shared Folders). From there the shared drive was accessible via My Computers by typing “\\.host\Shared Folders\” into the address box. With Linux after setting up the shared folder in the same manner as I did for Windows, I then opened up nautilus and navigated to /mnt/hgfs and the Mac folder was there to share.

sharedfolders-windows01.jpgsharedfolders-windows-02.jpgsharedfolders-windows-03.jpgsharedfolders-linux-01.jpgsharedfolders-linux-02.jpgsharedfolders-linux-03.jpg

*****Final Thoughts*****

Conclusion : Vmware Fusion was simply a pleasure to use and ran extremely stable. The most impressive feature I found with Fusion would be how lightweight the program felt when running Windows. Even running disk intensive operations did not slow down my MacBook which I loved. Fusion also comes with a nifty “Unity” view which is comparable to Parallels Coherence mode. As an added bonus Fusion’s “Unity” view works with OS X’s expose.

To my surprise I found Vmware Fusion to compare very favorably with the more established Parallels 3.0 for Mac. Although Parallels 3.0 comes with more features like “Transporter,” I found Vmware to run more efficiently on my MacBook. For Linux users, Vmware Fusion worked better when installing new Linux distro’s and offers “Shared Folders” feature which is not available for Linux users using Parallels 3.0. While both programs are very good, I would give the nod to Vmware Fusion simply because it used less resources on my MacBook.

Pro’s :
Program runs remarkably lightweight.
Snapshot mode works great.
Automatically changed resolution when switching from window mode to fullscreen mode (only in Windows).
Runs older DirectX 8 games reasonably well.
Shared Folders works with Linux.

Con’s :
* Gui could have been better designed for smaller widescreen notebooks.
* Unity was not as stable as Window or Fullscreen view.

9.gif

Users Rating: 8.59 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars6 Stars7 Stars8 Stars9 Stars10 Stars (49 votes)

Loading ... Loading …

Related Articles Of Interest :
OS X 10.5 - Review
Parallel Desktop for Mac
Speed up your video encodings with Elgato Turbo.264
Turn your Mac into a HD PVR with EyeTV Hybrid
3 Different Ways To Run Windows Apps on your Mac
Mira 1.2.8 personal control for your Apple Remote

[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]

Technology |

Comments

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Leave a response

27 Comments so far

  1. 27 Alfredo Fernandez Says: October 27, 2008

    Hey can ome one tell me how can I set the windows folders sared with the host? That means how can I open files stores in windows with mac apps without fusion telling me that I haven’t add such folder to “shared folders”??? please any body? I really need help!

  2. 26 DJ Blastyfone Says: February 11, 2008

    Need For Speed: Porsche doesn’t work for me… I have the demo AND a legit copy on CD an neither work. The legit copy brings up an error saying “you have directX0 installed. Please install DirectX7.” the demo, which is “officialy supported”, launches, gets to the 2nd screen and then stops working (doesn’t even reach the main menu!).
    I’m using WMware Fusion 1.1.1 on OSX 10.5.1 Leopard on an intel iMac. NFS: Most Wanted works, I can’t see why an older version would’nt… Help?

  3. 25 luispedro Says: January 14, 2008

    can i run in a mac the program Solidworks? its essential to me..because i want to buy an computer but i don’t know if i should buy and mac, because i’m in product design, and my problem is using certain 3D programs that only works with pc..like solidworks or rhino. thanks

  4. 24 luna6 Says: September 19, 2007

    Manny : Although I haven’t used AutoCad, it’s reported to run in VMware Fusion. Also, Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 lists AutoCAd as one of the compatible applications able to run with 3D support.

  5. 23 manny Says: September 19, 2007

    so that means is enought to run autoCad? or revit?

  6. 22 March Says: September 11, 2007

    that cool man i love it it very fast

  7. 21 hal sandick Says: August 25, 2007

    Thanks the thoughtful and clearly written review.

    Hal

  8. 20 Parallels User Says: August 15, 2007

    In Parallels I can have a Windows XP Virtual Machine to start automatically in Coherency mode but I can not find how to start a Fusion XP Virtual Machine in Unity mode automatically.

  9. 19 Joe Says: August 13, 2007

    Has anyone tried Fusion with Dragon Dictate?

    If so, are there any fish-hooks to getting it going?

    Mac user who has to use Dragon…

  10. 18 bruckwine Says: August 12, 2007

    Been using Parallels exclusively for XP at work but the install of Linux OS on it is tiresome tbh…but what really disappoints is neither it or VMWare Fusion can handle beryl or compiz..what gives if you’re advertising 3-D??? My Dell 2200 with integrated video handles it easily but I can’t with my Mac Pro via virtualization? Word i Parallels don’t plan to find a solution any time soon, so hopefully VMWare will!

  11. 17 luna6 Says: August 9, 2007

    Janet : Open up finder and click on down to Documents/Virtual Machines, you’ll see all the virtual machines you have installed and you can delete the ones you want from there.

    It would have been nice for a delete option somewhere in Fusion’s menu.

    Brian : USB. Bluetooth, even the Apple IR remote will work within the Windows virtual machine.

  12. 16 Brian Says: August 9, 2007

    Can anyone tell me if USB devices, ie my all in one printer, will work in Fusion? The scanner driver for the Mac is aweful, so I still keep my P3 around as a scanner/printer server. It’s a pain.

  13. 15 Rod Says: August 9, 2007

    VMWare and Parallels both installed hasn’t given me any problems (haven’t had the courage to run them both at the same time though :)

    Due to parallels putting up its own network interfaces (VMware doesn’t), some VPN software will not work without some tinkering.

    Haven’t stressed the latest reselases yet, but USB support on parallels was a bit iffy previously, and combined with the performance of VMWare, and needing Ubuntu, I’m clearly in the VMWare camp for now. Hopefully the big and established VMWare won’t get lazy if it starts taking over Parallels customers. Let’s see how Leopard goes…

    -> Nice review BTW - seems that you can’t review Parallels or Fusion without a comparison - and the updates are making reviews age very fast

  14. 14 Janet Says: August 8, 2007

    How do you delete a virtual machine? I don’t see an option for it anywhere.

  15. 13 Serbinn Says: August 8, 2007

    VMWare is the king.

  16. 12 Ken Zhao Says: August 8, 2007

    Nice review, thanks a lot!

  17. 11 SteelWheel Says: August 8, 2007

    I want to get a MacBookPro some time soon–money as such is not the issue. I’m waiting for a logical time to do it. At the rate at which I manage to beat the heck out of my laptops (currently a Lenovo T60p), I figure I’ll be on schedule for the end of the year. At that time, I expect the following other good things to have happened: Leopard release, Vista SP-1 and/or XP SP-3.

    I notice that some of the online sellers (MacMAll for example) will do some pre-cofigured custom jobs–i.e., they’ll give you a Mac with Parallels and Boot Camp already installed, and an XP or Vista partition to your specifications. No need to “get your hands dirty”–the machine is ready for dual booting when necessary and virtualization otherwise.

    Would anything go awry if Fusion was also installed on the same machine? As long as you didn’t try to use both virtualization programs at once, obviously. IOW, have a Windows (of whatever flavor) partition, which could be accessed via either Parallels or Fusion depending on need?

    I kind of foresee a bit of a battle between these two over the next year over a growing market (people who want to switch to Mac but believe they need backward compatibility, at least for now). The winners are us, the potential consumers. I anticipate there are times that one or the other program will be the better tool, as they both attempt to upgrade and serve the customers better.

  18. 10 Sabon Says: August 8, 2007

    Thanks nalenb. I’ll look for it.

  19. 9 nalenb Says: August 7, 2007

    Sabon: yes, VMWare has a program called Converter for Windows that’s free. I used it to convert my XP system to a Fusion vm. Works perfectly and easily.

  20. 8 headrow Says: August 7, 2007

    What about video drivers and network connectivity? Parallels failed in recent tests we did that were application specific. Does VM allow you to load specific video drivers? What about setting packet sizes and such on the network connection? Is the speed throttled down at all (need at least 1Gbs and Jumbo frames 9200)

  21. 7 luna6 Says: August 7, 2007

    Gorapa : Although I haven’t used 3D Studio Max most likely it wouldn’t run that well unless you could find an older version that uses DirectX 8 (Fusion 1.0 doesnt have opengl support as of yet).

    Sabon : Fusion doesn’t have the “Transporter” feature you mention so you can import a system from another hard drive computer. Fusion is compatible with VMware images from their other VMware products. Also can download preinstalled Linux / BSD from vmware’s website.

    Hope that helps..cheers

  22. 6 Sabon Says: August 7, 2007

    Is there a way with Fusion to import the hard drive from another computer? I can do that with Parallels but I can’t figure it out with Fusion.

    PS: I’d rather not spend my time burning to CDs or DVDs and doing it that way when I could hook up a network cable between the two and do it that (green) way.

  23. 5 gorapa Says: August 7, 2007

    Thanks for the review. I think Parallels have too much crap built into it, it’s a little bit too heavy for my taste.
    Does anyone know if 3ds Max works in other than software mode in Fusion?

  24. 4 venu Says: August 7, 2007

    Nice review. I also found Parallels is better than VMWare Fusion when Fusion is in beta stage; but they did really good when it comes to RC and the final release. I still have few major stability issues with Parallels which can’t be seen when using with Fusion.

  25. 3 iMac Says: August 7, 2007

    Parallels is so much better than Fusion. Coherency is way better integrated with OS X and I love their Transporter feature. No thank you VMware.

  26. 2 Alpay Says: August 7, 2007

    I have been using VMWare Fusion for a few weeks now and it proved to be a really good software. The one thing that is missing from the feature list is the multiple snapshot manager I am used to from VMWare Workstation.

  27. 1 TimothyP Says: August 7, 2007

    I used Parallels in the past and simply hated the fact that the windows task bar was sitting on my desktop. I had some serious switching problems as well with it. I’ve been using VMWare products for ages so I bought Fusion when the Beta was released and am now using the final version. I do believe I’ll need a bit more of RAM (1GB at the moment) because I need to run applications such as Visual Studio 2008 and other development tools.

    One thing I will try is see if I can use a normal windows keyboard as the input device for windows while using the mac keyboard for all the mac applications. (The apple azerty keyboard just isn’t suited for serious development).

    While fullscreen works perfectly with two screens, unity does not. If a window was created on the main screen you can’t drag it to the secondary screen, it hits an invisible wall somewhere.

    I tried using the 2cpu’s but that resulted in a fatal error and I was forced to use a single cpu again… I’m wondering what that does to the performance.

    All in all it’s a very nice release.