VMware Workstation functions very much like the company’s GSX Server virtual machine partitioning software for servers. A workstation is equipped with a host operating system, and then virtual machines are created inside this host OS into which can be loaded guest operating systems that believe they have full control of a much smaller workstation. GSX Server takes the same approach, but it is designed to host many more VMs in server environments.
VMware Workstation 4 requires the PC or workstation to be using an Intel or AMD 32-bit processor; 64-bit processors are not supported on this virtual machine partitioning tool. VMware recommends that 266MHz processors are the bare minimum in speed for using Workstation 4, and 400MHz processors are recommended. Intel Celeron, Pentium II, Pentium III, and Pentium 4 processors and AMD K6-2, K6-III, Duron, and Athlon processors are all supported. It can span up to 1 GB of main memory for/ all virtual machines. Up to four IDE devices and up to seven SCSI devices can be addressed in these partitions.
With Workstation 3.2, Windows XP Professional and Home Edition; Windows 2000 Professional, Server, and Advanced Server; Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and Server; and Windows Server 2003 are all supporting this workstation edition of the VMware software as host environments. Mandrake Linux 8.0, 8.1, and 8.2; Red Hat Linux 6.2, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3; SuSE Linux 6.0, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 8.0 and Enterprise Server 7; Turbolinux 6.0 and 7.0, SCO OpenLinux 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4 can also support VMware Workstation 4 as a host environment.
Hosted environments include all of these, plus Microsoft Windows Me, 98, 95, 3.1, and Windows for Workgroups, as well as Microsoft DOS 6.0 and FreeBSD 3.X and 4.X. With Workstation 4, VMware is supporting Windows Server 2003; Red Hat 8.0, the beta of Red Hat 8.1, and Enterprise Linux AS; SuSE 8.1 and Linux Enterprise Server 8; Mandrake Linux 9.0 as host or guest VM environments, and NetWare 5 and 6 can be set up within VMs as a guest environment.
VMware Workstation 4 is in beta now, and will be available some time during April. The electronic distribution version of the software will cost $299, while the boxed version (with manuals and CDs) will cost $329. Customers who bought Workstation 3.2 on or after February 19 will be able to get a discounted upgrade to the new version for $99 for electronic distribution and $129 for the boxed set.
Source: Computerwire
