Author Topic: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing  (Read 61435 times)

Valery Sedletski

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #45 on: April 24, 2018, 02:30:43 am »
So, increase THREADS to say, 612, or 712. This depends on how much threads Netquestion needs. Usually I don't need so much threads.

> PIIX3 cannot attach to the primary slave (verr_io_not_ready)

Is this a physical CD? Probably, you extracted the CD from the drive, then that error is normal.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2018, 02:35:41 am by Valery Sedletski »

Doug Clark

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #46 on: April 24, 2018, 05:58:50 am »
Valery: yes it was a physical CD drive. I don't remember if there was a disk in the drive at the time, and will note that the next time I see the error so that I can report one way or the other.

As for the memory. How much does vBox need? What figure am I looking for, in either Theseus or shmemmon?  That might be easier than to shoot for specific numbers on config.sys parameters. (Although listing the config.sys parameters and the related discussion was very helpful for me in adjusting memory. ) For example I have an SSD drive and a spinning drive with a large built in cache, so specifying a JFS cache of 64 MB doesn't seem to degrade performance at all. I could probably go even lower without noticing a slow down.

I know you posted before about Theseus: to use Kernel Memory Usage and scroll to the bottom. But I didn't understand which figure (Allocated, committed, present, resident) I should look at and what the number should be.

Finally - I hope all the discussion about issues and problems with vBox doesn't drown out the fact that this version is pretty amazing. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well vbox works and how much is there.

roberto

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #47 on: April 24, 2018, 08:21:04 am »
When updating the new anpm packages, the vbox no longer works and I can not install the previous versions.

Fallo al crear el objeto COM de VirtualBox.
La aplicación se cerrará ahora.
Receptor RC: NS_ERROR_ABORT (0x80004004)

hannos

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #48 on: April 24, 2018, 09:20:05 am »
The problem is libcx 0.6.2-1: Go back to version 0.6.0-1 and vbox will work again.

Valery Sedletski

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #49 on: April 24, 2018, 10:32:54 am »
2Doug Clark: You don't understand the word "allocated"? So, it your VAL=3072, then you have 1 GB of kernel virtual memory. Then 800 MB allocated means that 800 MB of kernel virtual memory is occupied, so 200 MB is free. So, you should orient on this number. I don't know how much memory VBox needs -- it depends on VM sizes. If you'll allocate 512 MB for a VM, then about 600 MB will be occupied. But for itself, VBox occupies not so much memory.

2roberto: Did you read the whole thread? If so, you should notice that such an error can occur in case you have newer libcx version installed. In this case, you need to try SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2.

Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #50 on: April 24, 2018, 09:25:06 pm »
Valery: yes it was a physical CD drive. I don't remember if there was a disk in the drive at the time, and will note that the next time I see the error so that I can report one way or the other.

As for the memory. How much does vBox need? What figure am I looking for, in either Theseus or shmemmon?  That might be easier than to shoot for specific numbers on config.sys parameters. (Although listing the config.sys parameters and the related discussion was very helpful for me in adjusting memory. ) For example I have an SSD drive and a spinning drive with a large built in cache, so specifying a JFS cache of 64 MB doesn't seem to degrade performance at all. I could probably go even lower without noticing a slow down.

I know you posted before about Theseus: to use Kernel Memory Usage and scroll to the bottom. But I didn't understand which figure (Allocated, committed, present, resident) I should look at and what the number should be.

Finally - I hope all the discussion about issues and problems with vBox doesn't drown out the fact that this version is pretty amazing. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well vbox works and how much is there.

2DougClark:

Hi Doug!

I think you got the solution from Valery already, but I got that CD error when I attached a physical drive inside the VM using DEVICES | OPTICAL DRIVES | HOST DRIVE (in my case either S: or T:) and did not after using it click "Remove Drive from Virtual Disk", at the bottom of that same menu.

If you shut down the VM before doing that, and remove the disc, you will get the PIIX3 error. Putting any disk back in the physical CD will make the error disappear.

I did try once to attempt to attach or detach an Optical drive from the VirtualBox main window, that comes up first, through choosing a VM, then clicking SETTINGS | STORAGE , then in the Storage tree window choosing an empty slot and going over to attributes. Clicking on the Optical Drive Icon there, I was also able to attach a host drive or an image.

Also I would like to echo your comments about this version of VBox. I've used it now for approximately a week doing word processing, graphics design and using a QuickBooks accounting program (actually a Windows 3.1 program but works perfectly in Windows XP) and things have worked flawlessly, at speeds which are indistinguishable from the base operating system (in this case ArcaOS, but plan to test on eCS 2.1 and 2.2 as well.

It is one of the reasons I started this tread in the first place, as "Testing" is really what we're all doing, and I hope others will also post what they found has went well, as well as the problems, as we learn together. Having taken a crack at reading the VirtualBox manual, it is a tremendously feature rich, complex program in comparison to VirtualPC. I want to encourage the developers in their efforts, as this, as it develops, will be an extremely useful tool for the community.

Best!

M
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Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #51 on: April 24, 2018, 09:34:27 pm »
The installer for FrameMaker also starts but then hangs. That is also InstallShield. I suspect that part of it is 16 bit. This is all with the OS2 kernel.

When the install hangs, and I reboot, Windows XP complains about WOWEXEC - saying it can't stop WOWEXEC, which is why I believe it is related to the 16 bit part of the installer.

But it appears that if I run a 16-bit program first (I am using NOTEPAD.EXE (from C:\OS2\MDOS\WINOS2), the installer is successful more often. Not all the time, but enough to install FrameMaker, Distiller, and ATM, all of which had problems. I also seen to have better success if I copy the files to a drive local to the VM before starting the install.

Now that all that is installed, vBox is very impressive. The mouse pointer is strange, sometimes laging slightly behind the mouse movement, but the speed and performance are impressive - without hardware virtualization.

2DougClark

Hi Doug!

I was curious whether you finally activated your copy of the WindowsXP VM, and then upgraded the base XP operating system with service pack 3 and all the Windows updates which were released up to 2014?

I have all the updates installed, but don't use FrameMaker so can't  test install myself. But I do know that some programs need various of the Windows XP Updates installed from their site, to function properly with InstallShield.

It might be your problem, or it may not be, but, as always it never hurts to ask the stupid questions.

Best!

Mark
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Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #52 on: April 24, 2018, 10:01:45 pm »
Hi All!

I had a couple of minutes this afternoon to post.

I've been using VirtualBox, 5.0.51, this development version, now for about a week continuously, and have found, for something in development, it has been extremely stable. I have found no reason, for the moment, to switch back to the Virtual PC v5.1 version I also have installed.

From an additional testing standpoint, I have been able to create a snapshot of the running Windows XP VM.

According to the VBOX manual:

"Snapshots" is a feature of "Oracle VM VirtualBox" that allows you to save and then revert back to the exact state of a virtual machine. At any point in time for any virtual machine, you can take a "snapshot".

It took approximately 40 minutes on my machine and pegged the CPU usage (I have four AMD cores on this machine but did not check to see what was happening at the time with the various CPU's). Usage of other programs was extremely slow as a result, while creating the snapshot. If I have a few moments, I will attempt to try that again, examining whats happening with both memory and CPU usage.

I also was able to "save machine state", on shutdown. Similar to VirtualPC, doing that allows you to resume usage of the VM in the exact state you left it. Closing using FILE | CLOSE then choosing "Save Machine State" took approximately 40 seconds to save the VM.

When I started up again, later, I ran into the same memory related problems as with a VM that was in total shutdown, getting the "-1018 error", unless I waited about 15 seconds before opening the VM. But the saved machine state opened up, again taking about 40 seconds to load, and I was able to resume using the VM session where I left off.

One thing I haven't tried as of yet, is to see whether I can mount a USB stick to transfer data into the VM. Valery, if you're around, is that ability enabled, or  or is there still code to write, for that to work?

Its been a very pleasant testing experience so far, and Best!

Mark
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Valery Sedletski

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #53 on: April 24, 2018, 10:33:00 pm »
2Mark Szkolnicki:

> One thing I haven't tried as of yet, is to see whether I can mount a USB stick to transfer data into the VM. Valery, if you're around, is that ability enabled, or  or is there still code to write, for that to work?

It requires the USB passthrough feature, which is not yet finished. But can mount the stick under host OS/2 and when the drive letter appears, try to start the VM with a .vmdk file added for that drive letter.

vmdk files can be created with VboxManage.exe like this:

Quote
VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename 1.vmdk" -rawdisk 1:

Where 1: is a 1st harddisk, and if you'll add the 1.vmdk file to your Media menu, VBox will access all physical 1st hard disk. If you'll create the x.vmdk file like this:

Quote
VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename x.vmdk" -rawdisk \\.\x:

And then add the resulted x.vmdk to Media menu, then only host drive letter x: will be attached to the VM. This way, you can theoretically add any drive, including the flash stick. But this disk should be ready when VM starts, otherwise VM will fail to start.

Doug Clark

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #54 on: April 25, 2018, 05:35:07 am »
Valery: thanks for the explanation on Theseus. I am still confused on how a virutalAddressLimit=3072 = 1 GB kernel memory, but I will take your word for it.

Mark: I never could get WindowsXP to activate through the internet - it kept failing saying it couldn't reach the server or something like that. But I did get the copy activated through Microsoft's dial up number - which is completely automated. You enter a cell phone number, it sends a text link to that number, on that link/web page you input the product id, and if Microsoft is happy they send you the activation code.  Their system would not send an activation number for an install off of a Dell CD, but did send an activatation for an install off of a different CD.

I then installed Service pack 3. I have not installed any other Windows updates. The version of FrameMaker I installed (V 5.5) was released before XP was available, so the problems could be related to some update I should have installed for XP.  Or it could be that InstallShield sucks. The Adobe Postscript Driver was also an InstallShield and it also  was flakey. However the 16 bit programs I have run (Notepad and Acrobat Distiller 3)  run fine.

So what I have installed and running are: FrameMaker 5.5, Acrobat Reader v 7, Larsen Commander which are all 32 bit, and  Arcobat Distiller v 3, which is 16 bit.  When the USB passthrough gets working I will be able to sync my Palm TX to the desktop running in XP (I am probably the last person on the planet still using a palm pilot.)

All these run very well, although the mouse pointer is a little funky: it seems to lag slightly behind the movement of the mouse.

I could not get Virtual PC 5.1 to run on my machine so Vbox is the only alternative - well the only one I have tried. And it is a very good alternative

OS4User

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #55 on: April 25, 2018, 01:40:14 pm »
I am still confused on how a virutalAddressLimit=3072 = 1 GB kernel memory, but I will take your word for it.

Address space (4Gb) is divided into several parts:
Conventional Memory                  :  0 - 512Mb
High Memory Arena                     :  512Mb - VAL
System Arena (kernel memory)   :  VAL - 4Gb

(VAL stands for Virtual Address Limit)

Note that this division does not have anything in common with availability of phys mem.

Valery Sedletski

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #56 on: April 25, 2018, 03:25:17 pm »
2 Doug Clark: OS/2 has a 4 GB address space. If VAL=3 GB, then 4-3=1 GB remains in the kernel arena, which is above 3 GB.

Doug Clark

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #57 on: April 25, 2018, 03:58:03 pm »
Thanks OS4 for the mem-map. That explains a lot. And thanks Valery for the explanation.

It appears that VAL is the dividing line between kernel memory at the top, and high memory below that. The higher the VAL the less kernel memory and more high memory; the lower the VAL the more kernel memory and the less high memory.

So it looks like you are really trying to maximize the amount of high memory (by setting VAL to a higher number), while making sure the stuff that has to be allocated (or reside in) kernel memory can still fit. Stuff like the JFS cache and the structures for threads and processes.

If I am understanding this correctly when Vbox and Firefox will not run at the same time, the issue is not enough high memory and the solution is to set VAL higher.

If my system is unstable (without Firefox or Vbox running) the issue is not enough kernel memory, and the solution is to lower VAL or reduce the demand for kernel memory by adjusting JFS cache and processes/threads lower.

Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #58 on: April 25, 2018, 04:33:49 pm »

Mark: I never could get WindowsXP to activate through the internet - it kept failing saying it couldn't reach the server or something like that. But I did get the copy activated through Microsoft's dial up number - which is completely automated. You enter a cell phone number, it sends a text link to that number, on that link/web page you input the product id, and if Microsoft is happy they send you the activation code.  Their system would not send an activation number for an install off of a Dell CD, but did send an activatation for an install off of a different CD.

I then installed Service pack 3. I have not installed any other Windows updates. The version of FrameMaker I installed (V 5.5) was released before XP was available, so the problems could be related to some update I should have installed for XP.  Or it could be that InstallShield sucks. The Adobe Postscript Driver was also an InstallShield and it also  was flakey. However the 16 bit programs I have run (Notepad and Acrobat Distiller 3)  run fine.

So what I have installed and running are: FrameMaker 5.5, Acrobat Reader v 7, Larsen Commander which are all 32 bit, and  Arcobat Distiller v 3, which is 16 bit.  When the USB passthrough gets working I will be able to sync my Palm TX to the desktop running in XP (I am probably the last person on the planet still using a palm pilot.)

All these run very well, although the mouse pointer is a little funky: it seems to lag slightly behind the movement of the mouse.

I could not get Virtual PC 5.1 to run on my machine so Vbox is the only alternative - well the only one I have tried. And it is a very good alternative

Heh Doug!

Yes, Dial-up activation still works. One other thing I forgot to mention is that the Windows websites now do not seem to like the IE6 that comes with Windows, probably due to changes in the website components that have occurred over the years. It seems to need IE8 or higher to connect to the Windows Update site, so perhaps the same applies to the Windows XP activation site, if it still exists.

If your interested in updating XP components and getting security updates from Windows Update in future, I found this procedure to work, for Windows XP at least:

1) Install the base Windows XP OS into the VM.

2) Install Windows XP Service Pack 3 (if not already installed with the base system)

3) Install Internet Explorer 8 - the Windows Update site will not work with IE6, which comes with Windows XP originally.

4) Connect to Windows Update

5) Download the latest installation Pack that works for Windows XP (v4.5 - WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86). It will choose this automatically and after a reboot ActiveX will work.

6) It will also ask to install two update files (Geniune Advantage validation (KB898461) and Update for Windows KB898461))

7) After the necessary reboots for the various steps above you should have access to all Windows XP updates prior to discontinuing support in March 2014 (including .NET v4, if you need it).

8) A final key security update was issued (KB4012598) was issued for all Windows platforms (including Windows XP), to address security flaws related to the wannacry virus scare. This should be installed as a separate download and runtime)

Its has indeed been many years since I heard the name "Palm Pilot" used anywhere in polite company - but if it ain't broke and works perfectly, don't fix it, Sir  :)

I have also noticed that the mouse pointer is a little bit flakey as well - I hadn't put it down to a delay problem, but I suspect you are right, on sober second thought - a VBOX VM pointer occasionally chooses a menu item above the one I was pointing to.

And regarding Virtual PC v5.1 - since the advent and widespread use of multicores, its been difficult to run on newer machines, and many times attempting to start the program could cause lock-ups (probably both memory and CPU compatibility problems). Putting in the activation key could also lock up the system, so installation was starting to become a little thaumaturgical (Where is Merlin when you need him? <sic>).

It could also sometimes be painfully slow in execution as well with newer machines. I bought 4 licenses, just as Microsoft bought the product, to ensure the product would still be available to me for business use, and it has performed faithful service for many years. But the VBOX alternative has proved fantastic so far.

Best!

M

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Pete

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #59 on: April 26, 2018, 12:56:30 am »
Hi All

Probably 1 area that vpc works much better for me than vbox is networking as in vpc it is possible to use a static ip address for the guest using the same ip address range as my local network. This is not possible in vbox it seems.

I am currently trying to work out how to connect to my printer from a vbox guest. The vbox guest has a dhcp allocated ip address in the 10.0 range; the printer is at 192.168.1.252. What magic incantation is required to get the vbox guest to be able to print?


Regards

Pete