[vbox-dev] GPU virtualization now possible

[Alexey Eromenko]

Intel did a great breakthrough recently with GPU virtualization with Intel
Iris Pro 5200 series.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTY4MTc

I would love to see this in VirtualBox, as it would allow me to play
Windows games from Linux, without rebooting. (And without instability of
Wine)

In addition, Haswell CPUs ( Core i7 4770 ) support nested virtualization,
VT-in-VT.

-Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"
sent from Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet
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[Klaus Espenlaub]

Post by Alexey Eromenko
Intel did a great breakthrough recently with GPU virtualization with
Intel Iris Pro 5200 series.

Breakthrough? VT-d and API forwarding are old hats, the former doesn't
allow any kind of sharing which means it's out for most of the users,
and API forwarding is already available.

The GVT-g approach is so far not known to be feasible in a type 2
hypervisor, so only a thorough analysis of the truth behind the press
digestable message will tell if this is more than hot air for VirtualBox.

Post by Alexey Eromenko
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTY4MTc
I would love to see this in VirtualBox, as it would allow me to play
Windows games from Linux, without rebooting. (And without instability of
Wine)
In addition, Haswell CPUs ( Core i7 4770 ) support nested
virtualization, VT-in-VT.

It's still a giant amount of work, as when Intel says "support nested
virtualization" it always implies that a lot still needs to be done in
software.

Klaus

Post by Alexey Eromenko
-Alexey Eromenko "Technologov"

[Mgr. Janusz Chmiel]

Dear developers,
Do You think, that somebody of us would try to develop little
application, which would be able to convert .vdi virtual harddisk image
to Theraw image format?
.img My next Question is.
Why it is not possible to change The size of virtual harddisk if it is
created by using Oracle vmvirtual box GUI?
Thank You very much for Yours answer.
If You know about free procedure for Windows or Linux, which would
enable me to convert .vdi harddisk to .img raw image format please let
me know.
With kindness regards.
Janusz Chmiel

[François Revol]

Post by Mgr. Janusz Chmiel
Dear developers,
Do You think, that somebody of us would try to develop little
application, which would be able to convert .vdi virtual harddisk image
to Theraw image format?
.img My next Question is.
Why it is not possible to change The size of virtual harddisk if it is
created by using Oracle vmvirtual box GUI?
Thank You very much for Yours answer.
If You know about free procedure for Windows or Linux, which would
enable me to convert .vdi harddisk to .img raw image format please let
me know.

While the VBoxManage "convertfromraw" subcommand is documented in the
manual, there is also the opposite but it is stuffed in a
developper-related subcommand:

vboxmanage internalcommands converttoraw

Typing this on the command line should give you the usage info.

Also, qemu-img should be able to do this as well.

Fran?ois.

[Klaus Espenlaub]

Fran?ois,

Post by François Revol

Post by Mgr. Janusz Chmiel
Dear developers,
Do You think, that somebody of us would try to develop little
application, which would be able to convert .vdi virtual harddisk image
to Theraw image format?
.img My next Question is.
Why it is not possible to change The size of virtual harddisk if it is
created by using Oracle vmvirtual box GUI?
Thank You very much for Yours answer.
If You know about free procedure for Windows or Linux, which would
enable me to convert .vdi harddisk to .img raw image format please let
me know.

While the VBoxManage "convertfromraw" subcommand is documented in the
manual, there is also the opposite but it is stuffed in a
vboxmanage internalcommands converttoraw

nooo... don't point people at very limited and deliberately
hidden/undocumented commands. This command can't handle image chains
(which means it will produce complete garbage if you point it at some
file corresponding to a snapshot).

I can't undo this well meant (but unfortunately not ideal) advice, but
please don't go this way.

VBoxManage clonehd <src> <dst> --format RAW

is the proper way, and documented.

Klaus

Post by François Revol
Typing this on the command line should give you the usage info.
Also, qemu-img should be able to do this as well.
Fran?ois.

[François Revol]

Post by Klaus Espenlaub
Fran?ois,

Post by François Revol

Post by Mgr. Janusz Chmiel
Dear developers,
Do You think, that somebody of us would try to develop little
application, which would be able to convert .vdi virtual harddisk image
to Theraw image format?
.img My next Question is.
Why it is not possible to change The size of virtual harddisk if it is
created by using Oracle vmvirtual box GUI?
Thank You very much for Yours answer.
If You know about free procedure for Windows or Linux, which would
enable me to convert .vdi harddisk to .img raw image format please let
me know.

While the VBoxManage "convertfromraw" subcommand is documented in the
manual, there is also the opposite but it is stuffed in a
vboxmanage internalcommands converttoraw

nooo... don't point people at very limited and deliberately
hidden/undocumented commands. This command can't handle image chains
(which means it will produce complete garbage if you point it at some
file corresponding to a snapshot).
I can't undo this well meant (but unfortunately not ideal) advice, but
please don't go this way.
VBoxManage clonehd <src> <dst> --format RAW
is the proper way, and documented.

Thanks for correcting, I didn't notice clonehd could do this.

Fran?ois.

[Mgr. Janusz Chmiel]

Dear sir,
Thank You for Yours proffesional answer.
I AM very glad, that You are so generously participating on this mailing
list.

[Mgr. Janusz Chmiel]

Dear developers,
I Am using latest available stable version of VIrtual box and
unfortunately, i can not solve severe issues related to Virtual box
manager crashes with NVDA screen reaer.
No matter, if i run XP or newer OS. The reality is, that When i press
Enter on The last Virtual machine creation wizard screen, system will
stop responding and if i want to denie this behaviour, i must press CTRL
key very quickly when i press enter first to confirm Machine creation.
And This is not all, same issue persists, when i recall settings dialog
box and i must also press CTRL key to stop speech in other case i will
get Oracle VM virtual box manager crasch.
I know, that it is The bug of QT accessibility, so i will need to use
Windows Explorer and .lnk files to call my virtual machines, but setting
dialog box can not be solved so simply.
Do You know, if i can help You debug this complex issue by sending You
some .log? If yes, tell me how to do this please.
Or would i had to use Microsoft Windows debugging tools, would i had to
download kernel map files for my OS and would i had to send You The data
of crasch?
If You would have some time, You can simulate my problem Yourself.
Download latest stable copy of NVDA, install Oracle VM virtual box
stable version and try to use keyboard TAB Enter ETC to go throught The
setup wizard.
In some cases, Oracle VM virtual box manager will crash when i press
CTRL+R to remove virtual machine and i do not have enough time to press
CTRL to fastlystop speech.
I will try to stop Speech by using NVDA shortcut if issue will persist
so i would had to turn speech on and off in right time.
BUt if You would help me to track The cause of The crasches, plese let
me know about it.
Thank You very much for Yours support.
I love Yours product and i can not imagine that it would stop to work
for me reliably like several months before.
It is not easy to find out, which older release did not cause those issues.

[Klaus Espenlaub]

Janusz,

Post by Mgr. Janusz Chmiel
Dear developers,
Do You think, that somebody of us would try to develop little
application, which would be able to convert .vdi virtual harddisk image
to Theraw image format?

Wonder why anyone would waste time on implementing functionality which
is already easily available in VirtualBox...

VBoxManage clonehd /path/to/src.vdi /path/to/dst.img --format RAW

Post by Mgr. Janusz Chmiel
.img My next Question is.
Why it is not possible to change The size of virtual harddisk if it is
created by using Oracle vmvirtual box GUI?

I don't understand the question. VirtualBox can resize a subset images
of VDI and VHD format, as long as they are not created as "fixed size",
see the VBoxManage modifyhd documentation.

Post by Mgr. Janusz Chmiel
Thank You very much for Yours answer.
If You know about free procedure for Windows or Linux, which would
enable me to convert .vdi harddisk to .img raw image format please let
me know.

Let me know what's the use case for raw images... Image formats without
metadata are annoying to handle, cannot ever represent snapshots
efficiently, and from my perspective are only relevant for compatibility
purposes.

Oh, and I wonder if its extra effort to create mails which are SO hard
to understand because there are typos and editing leftovers everywhere :)

Klaus

Post by Mgr. Janusz Chmiel
With kindness regards.
Janusz Chmiel