At Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:24:10 -0700, Phil Pennock
<netbsd-users+phil%spodhuis.org@localhost> wrote:
Subject: Supported VM environments under MacOS dom0
>
> I very rarely touch NetBSD, but need to be able to test that some
> software changes build and work fine on it. My recollection that "of
> course it runs NetBSD" led me to be a little too optimistic about my
> chances of running it under a VM.
>
> Currently: MacOSX 10.6.x, Intel 64-bit architecture, with Parallels 5 as
> a VM system.
>
> Tried: amd64 5.0.2 install; first time, the VM booted from the "CD"
> (mapped the .iso); everything installed fine. Since then, the VM has
> been unable to boot from the disk and won't boot from the CD either. It
> hangs during kernel hardware probes, whether ACPI support is enabled or
> disabled (ACPI just moves where it hangs).
FYI, netbsd-4 boots and runs fine in single-CPU Parallels-5 VMs (setting
the operating system type to "Other"). A non-MP kernel also boots and
runs fine in a 2-CPU Parallels-5 VM.
I haven't tried any newer NetBSD yet, but I have tested netbsd-4 quite
extensively in Parallels-4 as well.
An MP kernel however crashes soon after /sbin/init starts, as shown in
the attached screen capture.
I wonder if a non-MP netbsd-5 kernel will work better than the default.
I'll post again once I get my customised netbsd-5 build finished and
have a chance to test it in Parallels.
I personally find Parallels to be the best VM environment on Mac OS X,
though my experience with VMware is limited to the evaluation copy and I
have yet to try VirtualBox.
The one thing I find Parallels lacks is virtual serial console support
-- i.e. some way to connect a Terminal (and/or xterm) to the serial
port, ideally through "telnet", for example. There is a way to direct
COM port output to a file, but that's not very useful unless you just
want a one-way log of serial port output. Apparently you can connect
the virtual COM port to any real serial port, even to a USB serial
adapter, but that doesn't do anything useful for my needs.
--
Greg A. Woods
Planix, Inc.
<woods%planix.com@localhost> +1 416 218 0099 http://www.planix.com/
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