[Xen-users] VT hardware and gaming / 3d Accelerated graphics

[Art Arica3D <nikicart@xxxxxxxxx>]

Let's assume that you really wanted to run Xen but still allow "one
primary desktop OS" to run games.

How close is Xen to supporting something where you have:
  1.  A simple PCI VGA video card installed as a "console card" that
the sytem uses and virtualizes.  (On system sytsems like Intel 815
chipset motherboard, the onboard would be the VGA).
  2.  A PCI Express / AGP video card with full 3D capabiity that you
could allow to appear only to the one domU.  You would install native
OS drivers for this card...

In other words... could Xen work off a second video card and provide
direct hardware access to the 3D card s that you used standard
drivers, etc.

Is this far fetched + very complicated?

  Stephen Gutknecht




reply to:
====================
Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2005 11:34:48 -0600
From: Anthony Liguori <aliguori@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Intel shipping hardware VM CPU's       already...
       morecomingDecember 27 2005 65nm
To: Daniel Goertzen <daniel.goertzen@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID: <43B029B8.8010708@xxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Daniel Goertzen wrote:

>Yes, servers are the primary focus for xen, but it is very interesting for
>the home enthusiast too.  For example, you could build an ultra quiet
>diskless Windows system using a linux dom0 that provides a network block
>device to a Windows domU.  BTW, I don't see anything extra that a
>desktop/gaming machine would need out of xen that isn't needed for server
>use.  All the things I listed were already in roadmaps and xen
>presentations.
>
>
3d acceleration virtualization.

The emulated VGA device provides no acceleration virtualization at all
so games are going to run terribly slowly.  Jacob Hansen has been doing
some cool gl 3d paravirtualization but that wouldn't help for running
games in Windows.

FWIW, the latest versions of VMware provide 3d acceleration
virtualization for Windows guests (even under a Linux host).

Regards,

Anthony Liguori

>Cheers,
>Dan.

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