Author Topic: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing  (Read 61427 times)

Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #60 on: April 26, 2018, 05:01:57 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


Heh Pete!

Since you want some thaumaturgy tonight. I'll give you my incantation, which has worked on the Windows XP VM.
(Was that why Warp 4 was dubbed "Merlin" BTW?)

What OS VM are you using? And can the VM be seen by your network?
(Setting up the new Windows XP VM I had to make sure it was part of the workgroup, something I hadn't done in a while)

I print out to static address 192.168.1.55 on my network (print server) and am currently printing out to an HP3500 that I've set up there successfully from the VM.

To do that I created a standard TCPIP Port and print out to that (see picture attached).

I actually haven't looked to see what IP VBOX is reporting, but using the default NAT adapter setting, and not setting any particular dynamic or static IP for the VM, I'm connected to PALNET, my peer network, and can access all my computers and the HP3500 from at least the Windows XP VM.

Looking at the moment I see HYPERGHOST, my Windows XP VM is visible to the network through ArcaMapper (Netdrive) (picture attached) - I haven't tried to mount and connect to it, using that method, as of yet.

Hope that little bit of magic helps a bit and Best!

Mark

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Valery Sedletski

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #61 on: April 26, 2018, 03:15:28 pm »
2Pete: VBox currently works via NAT (TAP.OS2 driver functionality is currently broken). So VBox guest is seen under host IP (from 192.168.x.x range). No special magic words are needed, I suppose.

Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #62 on: April 26, 2018, 03:47:04 pm »
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


Good Morning, Pete! (and everyone else)

Being the heretic I am, I (Horror of Horrors) actually READ THE VBOX MANUAL today related to networking, and what I found was most interesting.

What you described, Pete, related to range addressing is actually a designed feature of Network Address Translating (NAT) in VBOX, and a rather elegant one.

According to Section 6.3 of the Manual (quoted):

Network Address Translation (NAT) is the simplest way of accessing an external network from
a virtual machine. Usually, it does not require any configuration on the host network and guest
system. For this reason, it is the default networking mode in VirtualBox.

A virtual machine with NAT enabled acts much like a real computer that connects to the
Internet through a router. The “router”, in this case, is the VirtualBox networking engine, which
maps traffic from and to the virtual machine transparently. In VirtualBox this router is placed
between each virtual machine and the host. This separation maximizes security since by default
virtual machines cannot talk to each other.

The disadvantage of NAT mode is that, much like a private network behind a router, the virtual
machine is invisible and unreachable from the outside internet; you cannot run a server this way
unless you set up port forwarding (described below).

The network frames sent out by the guest operating system are received by VirtualBox’s NAT
engine, which extracts the TCP/IP data and resends it using the host operating system. To an
application on the host, or to another computer on the same network as the host, it looks like
the data was sent by the VirtualBox application on the host, using an IP address belonging to the
host. VirtualBox listens for replies to the packages sent, and repacks and resends them to the
guest machine on its private network.

The virtual machine receives its network address and configuration on the private network
from a DHCP server integrated into VirtualBox. The IP address thus assigned to the virtual
machine is usually on a completely different network than the host. As more than one card of
a virtual machine can be set up to use NAT, the first card is connected to the private network
10.0.2.0, the second card to the network 10.0.3.0 and so on.

In Virtual PC, we had to install the Innotek Virtual Switch between VPC and the host to access the network. It seems NAT does this automatically, with VBOX acting like a VPN, and NAT translating between the Host network and VBOX's internal network.

Reading Section 9.11 of the manual, it indicates that NATs address range can be placed in a different range using VBOXMANAGE, but, given the way it operates, I can't see a reason for us to do that, unless under much more complex circumstances than I think any of us would encounter.

If anyone wanted to use a VBOX VM as a server or for other reasons, directly accessing the internet, there is also a port forwarding function that can be configured, as outlined in Section 6.3.1 of the manual.

The developers of VBOX have put a tremendous amount of work into this puppy, which is not immediately evident unless you delve into its workings. As a technical writer myself (and an author) I'm also impressed by their manual, which is very well and clearly written.

Best to All today!

Mark
Vincit Que Se Vincit - "He Who Conquers Self Succeeds"

Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #63 on: April 26, 2018, 04:10:34 pm »
Hi All!

BTW, I haven't mentioned this before, but during testing, I found the way to enable VBOX Help.

I attempted to access HELP | CONTENTS a few weeks ago, and found nothing there. But it did ask if I would like to download the manual from the VBOX website.

It places the latest User manual available ((UserManual.PDF, in this case v5.2.8) in the Default Machine Folder specified under FILE | PREFERENCES in the main window. The next time you click on HELP | CONTENTS, it will open the PDF in Lucide, at least on ArcaOS 5.0.1.

The current manual, despite being 378 pages long, is very well organized but not meant to be read cover to cover at one sitting. The parts I have consulted are very easy to both read and understand, even for a non programmer like myself.

Best!

Mark
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Valery Sedletski

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #64 on: April 26, 2018, 04:51:21 pm »
2Mark Szkolnicki:

> In Virtual PC, we had to install the Innotek Virtual Switch between VPC and the host to access the network. It seems NAT does this automatically, with VBOX acting like a VPN, and NAT translating between the Host network and VBOX's internal network.

In VPC, there is NAT too (aka "Shared networking"), and Virtual Switch appeared not immediately. there were old times, when Virtual switch did not yet existed. There is Virtual switch analogue in VBox too, called TAP.OS2. It acts as a node of a virtual network too. (But it is non-functional, currently). NAT isn't a VPN analogue, it just translates IP addresses to a number of ports on NAT side. Each connection from vietual network is assigned a port on NAT side.

Pete

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #65 on: April 26, 2018, 06:52:43 pm »
Hi All

Printer now working in my Win7 guest - not sure what went wrong on the previous 2 attempts...

My other VBox guest is lubuntu 17.10 which helpfully informs me "cups-client-error-not-possible" when I try to setup a printer. I suspect that lubuntu needs some cups updates as I do not see the necessary bjnp cups backend anywhere in the installation. Will report back if/when I resolve this.

@Mark
Setting up a standard tcpip port will not work with Canon printers that use bjnp but thanks for the thought.


Probably Win7 and lubuntu are not the best guests as I find both guests painfully slow to boot and run any application. Hopefully as VBox development continues this will improve.


Regards

Pete

Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #66 on: April 26, 2018, 07:05:42 pm »
Hi All

Printer now working in my Win7 guest - not sure what went wrong on the previous 2 attempts...

My other VBox guest is lubuntu 17.10 which helpfully informs me "cups-client-error-not-possible" when I try to setup a printer. I suspect that lubuntu needs some cups updates as I do not see the necessary bjnp cups backend anywhere in the installation. Will report back if/when I resolve this.

@Mark
Setting up a standard tcpip port will not work with Canon printers that use bjnp but thanks for the thought.


Probably Win7 and lubuntu are not the best guests as I find both guests painfully slow to boot and run any application. Hopefully as VBox development continues this will improve.


Regards

Pete


Heh Pete!

Glad to see you solved it. How are you connecting out from your guests, port wise, as it sounds like your using network printing as well?

I've found Windows 7 setups for networking to be wonky, as it wants to do everything for you, its way, and assumes you have the IQ of a carrot. Never tried Iumbutu (which I assume is a version of Umbutu, being more exotic OS challenged), so know nothing about how your interacting there.

Almost all my network printing tricks I learned during my war with getting CUPS to work in the past, when I switched from local printers to a Print Server.

Best!

M
Vincit Que Se Vincit - "He Who Conquers Self Succeeds"

Pete

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #67 on: April 26, 2018, 08:21:32 pm »
Hi Mark

There is no interaction between VBox guest and rest of network apart from printer access as it is not required. Also, come to think of it, I am using IBM Peer in preference to samba for my local network so it would not work.

As far as lubuntu goes: it is a ubuntu variant and like all "nixes" is a PITA. The final straw is that lubuntu decided to boot to a totally mangled display for no obvious reason and after several reboots with the same result is no longer a VBox guest.

Your comment "I've found Windows 7 setups for networking to be wonky, as it wants to do everything for you, its way, and assumes you have the IQ of a carrot." seems to apply to most nixes as well.


Regards

Pete

Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #68 on: April 26, 2018, 09:55:06 pm »
Hi Mark

There is no interaction between VBox guest and rest of network apart from printer access as it is not required. Also, come to think of it, I am using IBM Peer in preference to samba for my local network so it would not work.

As far as lubuntu goes: it is a ubuntu variant and like all "nixes" is a PITA. The final straw is that lubuntu decided to boot to a totally mangled display for no obvious reason and after several reboots with the same result is no longer a VBox guest.

Your comment "I've found Windows 7 setups for networking to be wonky, as it wants to do everything for you, its way, and assumes you have the IQ of a carrot." seems to apply to most nixes as well.


Regards

Pete


Heh Pete!

I use IBM File and Print Client as well for Peer, in addition to Samba (after I found out you could actually install it still as one of the ArcaOS options the second or third time around as I needed Virtual PC). I haven't tried setting up either, for my PALNET network, to attempt to read from a VBOX VM, but should see if I can set aside some time to do that,  at some point., as a test.

I suspect it would actually require the Virtual Switch that Valery referred to (TAP.OS2) at least for PEER.

The last time I dappled in "nixes" was setting up XFree86 (various versions) about a decade (or was it more?) ago, which was an arcane exercise in itself. But at least it introduced me to the wonderful world of Unix file hierarchies and frameworks, so installing numerous DLL's to various folders manually, prior to YUM/RPM and ANPM didn't seem so strange. I found the display drivers there under XFree86 to be a pain as well, but it worked.  There was a project "EVERBLUE" after that, but I don't think that went anywhere.

I nixed the "nixes" emulation environment at the time, as I didn't find anything I couldn't do natively OS/2 or eCS wise, or through VirtualPC. As mentioned, I'm not a programmer, just an expert user, and a businessman.

And regarding Windows 7, my last experience was trying to get a ThinkPad T510 with Windows 7 to be recognized on my network by my OS/2 derived machines, as it constantly wanted to steer me towards "Windows Homegroup". After much reading (and a few curses in various exotic languages), I was able to do a lot of manual network set-up. so that everything is seen and accessible now, through NetDrive - but it wasn't easy.

If there's anything to be said for staying in this community after all these years, its that its made us all very versatile, creative ........... and most of all adaptable.

Best!

M
Vincit Que Se Vincit - "He Who Conquers Self Succeeds"

Doug Clark

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #69 on: May 14, 2018, 05:57:28 pm »
Vbox appears to require

SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2

In order to start. If  SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=3, or the line is REM out in config.sys, then I get the error below

-----------------------------------------
Failed to create the VirtualBoxClient COM
The application will now terminate
Callee RC: NS_ERROR_ABORT (0x80004004)
-----------------------------

I am using libc 0.6.6-36, libc-devel 0.6.6.36

Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #70 on: May 14, 2018, 06:15:54 pm »
Good Morning Doug!

Vbox appears to require

SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2

In order to start. If  SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=3, or the line is REM out in config.sys, then I get the error below

-----------------------------------------
Failed to create the VirtualBoxClient COM
The application will now terminate
Callee RC: NS_ERROR_ABORT (0x80004004)
-----------------------------

I am using libc 0.6.6-36, libc-devel 0.6.6.36

Actually the SET LIBCX HIGHMEM statement is required for LIBCX, not LIBC, Doug, and only for versions 0.6.1-1 and above (I don't know if that version is still experimental or not now - originally I got it by installing the netlabs-exp repository access from ANPM, which is available through ACCESSORIES on ANPM - don't know if your just using RPM-YUM or ANPM (free from Arca Noae).

The previous version of LIBCX is 0.6.0-1 and didn't require that statement.

Also, I'm not sure what SET LIBCX HIGHMEM=3 would do, as SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2 is the correct statement, so you might want to examine and change that as well.

Best !

Mark
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Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #71 on: May 14, 2018, 06:30:43 pm »
BTW the most current version of LIBCX is 0.6.2-1 which does work with the SET LIBCX HIGHMEM=2 statement.

Even with that and the other VirtualAddress Limit, Files and other statements suggested for inclusion in CONFIG.SYS, I still have to use the 15 second delay to open VirtualBox. But after nearly three weeks of constant use, it still is remarkably stable, The only thing I've found that is an on-going issue is the cursor in any of the VM windows being located about 1/16 inch below what I think I'm pointing at (ie. the cursor symbol seen actually when clicked can activate something below where I'm wanting to click).

This seems to be an offset problem and not a delay problem, so it may be present in all versions of VBOX (possible a Guest Additions problem?).

Otherwise I don't really have much more to say generally - I did finally get and install Windows 7, and will provide some observations with that later in the week.

Best!

Mark

Vincit Que Se Vincit - "He Who Conquers Self Succeeds"

Doug Clark

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #72 on: May 14, 2018, 08:52:44 pm »
Mark,

I had the previous version of LIBCX. Vbox started with that version as long as, and only when,
SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2 was in my config.sys.

I have been having an OS2KRNL trap E every morning when I boot up my machine, and sometimes during the day when rebooting: ticket 1888 on ArcaNoae tracker.  My current method around the trap is to reset to VGA (blob -> F3), boot up,  and then reinstall SNAP. Then I am good most of the time until the next morning.  I have tried a number of other methods of booting past the trap: changing VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT, rearranging the order of the LIBPATH, commenting out various devices, etc. But the reset to VGA is the only thing that has worked consistently.

This morning I tried REMing the line SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2, and it turns out that allowed me to boot past the trap. I am going to leave it REMed for a day or two to see if that stops the trap, but that means I can't use vBox for that period of time.

The reason I reported the "issue" is there seemed to be some debate on whether
SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2 was actually required or not to run vBox. On my machine vBox will NOT run unless SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2.

As for the =3 setting, I found this on Github
---------------------------------------
It can also be controlled by the LIBCX_HIGHMEM environment variable as follows:

    LIBCX_HIGHMEM=0 forces the low memory area to be used for the regular C heap (for testing purposes).

    LIBCX_HIGHMEM=1 forces the high memory area to be used for the regular C heap (the default mode, the same as when this variable is absent).

    LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2 restores the original kLIBC voting process and disables any LIBCx intervention (for compatibility with old applications).

    LIBCX_HIGHMEM=3 is the same as LIBCX_HIGHMEM=1 but a check is made using the kLIBC voting process if there is any DLL that votes against high memory usage (i.e. it's built without -Zhigh-mem). If there is such a DLL, or if the EXE itself is built without -Zhigh-mem, then LIBC will terminate the process using abort() before entering main() with a respective message written to the standard output. This mode is intended for safety checking purposes.
------------

Mark Szkolnicki

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #73 on: May 14, 2018, 10:40:05 pm »
Hi Doug!

Mark,

I had the previous version of LIBCX. Vbox started with that version as long as, and only when,
SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2 was in my config.sys.

I have been having an OS2KRNL trap E every morning when I boot up my machine, and sometimes during the day when rebooting: ticket 1888 on ArcaNoae tracker.  My current method around the trap is to reset to VGA (blob -> F3), boot up,  and then reinstall SNAP. Then I am good most of the time until the next morning.  I have tried a number of other methods of booting past the trap: changing VIRTUALADDRESSLIMIT, rearranging the order of the LIBPATH, commenting out various devices, etc. But the reset to VGA is the only thing that has worked consistently.

This morning I tried REMing the line SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2, and it turns out that allowed me to boot past the trap. I am going to leave it REMed for a day or two to see if that stops the trap, but that means I can't use vBox for that period of time.

The reason I reported the "issue" is there seemed to be some debate on whether
SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2 was actually required or not to run vBox. On my machine vBox will NOT run unless SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2.

-----------------------------------------
Failed to create the VirtualBoxClient COM
The application will now terminate
Callee RC: NS_ERROR_ABORT (0x80004004)
-----------------------------


Which video card are you using with SNAP, out of curiousity? Sounds like cold reboots TRAP but an initial reset, reinstall and warm reboot works. Perhaps memory clash issues?

As you know I've been using this operating system in its various incarnations for years, but am not technically versed enough in all the memory, programming or kernel intricacies. However it does sound, as a layman, like LIBCX through SET LIBCX HIGHMEM=2 and probably SNAP are fighting for the same high memory or shared memory addresses at boot-up.

I'm using an ASUS licenced ATI 7850 card in this machine, but the version of SNAP provided by ArcaOS trapped the machine when I booted using this card. I use Panorama, latest version (v1.09), as substitute, as all I really do with the card on ArcaOS / eCS / OS/2 is use apps that really have no high performance video requirements (I do have a Windows gaming partition also on this machine, which really uses the high resolution and GPU speed capacities of the card with card specific drivers installed.

Panorama works well enough, but there are times when I have some wonky issues with different programs and Panorama (artifacts / video corruption), most notably Seamonkey, but good enough for what I need.

The error message you get as per the end of your quote above (Failed to create the VirtualBoxClient COM) sounded familiar so I looked back on the VirtualBox Problem thread. if you read from Petes reply #13 on, that problem was solved using the updated LIBCX (at that time v0.6.1-1) and SET LIBCX HIGHMEM=2 used together.

You might want to try upgrading to the newer LIBCX (0.6.2-1) and try the SET LIBCX HIGHMEM=2 or 3 again, to see what happens, or whether anything related to the TRAP is solved. Otherwise I can't think of any other bright ideas myself at the moment, other than potentially using Panorama with your card instead of SNAP, if your willing to live with that (and it doesn't cause other problems with the OS).

Best!

M
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Doug Clark

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Re: VirtualBox v5.0.51 Testing
« Reply #74 on: May 15, 2018, 02:23:49 am »
I am using a ATI Radeon PCIe x600 card. Fantastic card, very cheap, quick.

I thought it was related to SNAP because the trap happens after the SNAP splash screen and before the screens turn blue and then the desktop appears. Which is what lead me to revert to VGA and reinstall SNAP.

ArcaNoae thinks it is a timing issue and not a SNAP issue, and my reverting to VGA is effecting the timing of something on startup. There are a number of other people who have gotten the same Trap at the same location.

The trap happens every morning when I first boot up, but sometimes also happens on reboot during the day. I will keep the SET LIBCX_HIGHMEM=2  REMed out for a day or two if I get no traps so I can report back to ArcaNoae.

I now don't THINK there is a conflict between SNAP and Vbox that cause the trap. But there are some memory considerations when using SNAP and vbox, which were talked about on this thread or the other VirtualBox thread. Basically: SNAP will consume lots of memory it apparently doesn't need, which can affect vbox starting and running. The solution is to limit the memory consumed by SNAP with the GAOPTION VIDMEM xx command. I am using 32 for the xx, which limits SNAP to 32MBs. This works ok with my SNAP dual monitor setup when using 64k colors.

If you decide to try the Radeon x600 PCIe there are two considerations to keep in mind. The card is a half height card and you probably want to make sure it comes with full height bracket. Otherwise you have to replace the bracket - which is easy if you have the full height bracket. The other consideration is the card has a weird connector on the back, a DMS59 connector, and you need the cable set to go with it: male DMS59 to 2 female VGA connectors, or male DMS59 to 2 female DVI, or male DMS59 to 1 VGA and 1 DVI. It appears any card will work with any cable set. The part number seems to indicate the bracket height, the memory on the card, and the cable set included with the card, but you can switch the cable sets around and they still work.

The card runs between $5 to $10 on ebay. If it doesn't include the cable you can get the cable for about $5 to $10 on Amazon or ebay.