Parallels Workstation 2.1 Beta 2 Released

Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 22nd Feb 2006 19:08 UTC, submitted by harochai

"Parallels today announced the availability of Parallels Workstation 2.1 Beta2. In addition to the numerous enhancements and new features included in Parallels Workstation 2.1 Beta1, this upgraded version of Parallels' desktop virtualization solution includes a completely new user interface, faster virtual machine performance, better stability and stronger isolation, more advanced USB support that enables users to access a broader range of popular USB devices like cameras, flash drives and PDAs directly in virtual machines."

0 12 Comment(s)

http://osne.ws/am9

Post a Comment

qemu

by collinm on Wed 22nd Feb 2006 19:28 UTC

Member since:
2005-07-15

i think parallels use qemu code....
somebody can confirm?

Reply Permalink Score: 1

RE: qemu

by fretinator on Wed 22nd Feb 2006 20:45 UTC in reply to "qemu"

Member since:
2005-07-06

There's no way. Parallels is very fast, even with KQemu (proprietary acceleration module for qemu), qemu is way slow. Just look at Win4lin Pro (which uses qemu). I use Parallels and it _appears_ to me to be very fast. I will test the USB support. The interesting thing is I am running my images off of an external USB hard drive. I wonder what will happen when USB support is added to the OS. Will it "know" that it is running from a USB drive?

Reply Permalink Score: 1

RE[2]: qemu

by Obram on Thu 23rd Feb 2006 13:13 UTC in reply to "RE: qemu"

Member since:
2005-11-10

If you connect your USB hard drive to VM it will dissapear from your host OS. And the first following interaction between VM and its HDD image will fail probably...

Reply Permalink Score: 1

How does this compare to VMWare?

by archiesteel on Wed 22nd Feb 2006 19:42 UTC

Member since:
2005-07-02

Performance-wise, that is...

Reply Permalink Score: 1

I downloaded parallels 2.1 beta1

by bedo on Wed 22nd Feb 2006 22:37 UTC

Member since:
2006-01-03

it's very fast, the installation is very easy (easier than vmware) but I had problems running my canon lide f500 usb scanner with win2k as guest os.

win2k recognizes the scanner, but the driver crashes when I try to scan a document. other usb devices like usb flash stick seems to work fine.

-B

Reply Permalink Score: 1

RE: I downloaded parallels 2.1 beta1

by bedo on Wed 22nd Feb 2006 22:38 UTC in reply to "I downloaded parallels 2.1 beta1"

Member since:
2006-01-03

hopefully beta2 will fix this issue

Reply Permalink Score: 1

:o(

by flywheel on Thu 23rd Feb 2006 11:10 UTC

Member since:
2005-12-28

It is very-very sad that the SSI connection was terminated and the eCS project terminated. Now eCS is only listed as guest OS.

Who cares about the ability to run MS-Windows as primary/host OS anyway. We only need WM's to run MS-Windows as guest OS.

Reply Permalink Score: 1

eComStation

by Obram on Thu 23rd Feb 2006 13:04 UTC

Member since:
2005-11-10

Unfortunately eComStation is not very popular OS and it is not likely VM vendors like VMware, MS or Parallels will ever support it as host.

But as I know there was very good Connectix VPC 5 port for OS/2 and eComStation?

Reply Permalink Score: 1

RE: eComStation

by flywheel on Thu 23rd Feb 2006 16:29 UTC in reply to "eComStation"

Member since:
2005-12-28

AFAIK the Virtual Station that got cancelled by Parallels (In the beta phase of version 2) was the last developed and actually available solution.

(And none of these has USB support, which is one of the largest reasons for using the thing).

Edited 2006-02-23 16:32

Reply Permalink Score: 1

Not there...

by scarecrow on Thu 23rd Feb 2006 16:39 UTC

Member since:
2005-07-19

Fast, and responsive... factly, way faster than VMware.
But good things stop here: Most USB devices cannot grab focus from the host OS, and CD/DVD burners can only work as readers.
Surely enough promising, but just not mature yet...

Reply Permalink Score: 1

RE: Not there...

by flywheel on Thu 23rd Feb 2006 18:09 UTC in reply to "Not there..."

Member since:
2005-12-28

Sounds like they've done some serious optimizing

Reply Permalink Score: 1

Cool interface

by harochai on Fri 24th Feb 2006 15:43 UTC

Member since:
2005-12-08

I personally dig the new interface. Its nice to see something that's easy on the eyes and really helps usability, rahter than just dealing with the boring blue/white/grey color scheme of most programs. I saw that the Parallels' guys just launched a blog at
http://parallelsvirtualization.blogspot.com/ ...there's a shot of the interface on yesterday's post.

Edited 2006-02-24 15:43

Reply Permalink Score: 1

OSNews