Re: [Xen-devel] graphic card on domU

[Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Hi Abe,
>
> I'm not a developer. Nevertheless, as far as I know, using a graphic
> hardware with 3d functionalities etc. is not possible at the moment. PCI
> device hiding functionality of Xen 2.0 does not yet work for Xen 3.0,
> therefore you cannot reach the graphics hardware directly from a Xen DomU.

Actually the PCI device hiding does now work on Xen 3.0 so you could assign a 
graphics card to a domU.  I think people may have done this successfully 
although I'm not sure how functional they managed to make the resulting 
system; X.org used to get a little unhappy and confused when run in a domU 
even with access to the graphics card.  Maybe this is better now.

Giving PCI devices to HVM isn't possible (at least not until suitable IOMMU 
support is available - both a hardware and software problem).

> 1) HVM Guests: They already have a graphics card emulation. Low resolution,
> slow.
> 2) PV Guests: You can configure a FrameBuffer for the DomUs and use SDL or
> VNC to view it from Dom0.
> 3) For any type of guest, you can run another X server in your Dom0, and
> use this one over TCP/IP for your DomUs (i use XDMCP). It is not that slow.
> You can even watch movies. I didn't yet try running Compiz Beryl etc.

I wouldn't expect compiz / beryl to work well if forwarded from another 
machine (or even from a domU), although I'd be interested to discover if you 
*can*.

Or SSH to the guest and use X protocol forwarding - works very well and 
integrates well with your dom0 desktop.  Or use NX (NoMachine X) to forward a 
desktop with sound, storage and print services (if you can get it to work!).

Cheers,
Mark

-- 
Dave: Just a question. What use is a unicyle with no seat?  And no pedals!
Mark: To answer a question with a question: What use is a skateboard?
Dave: Skateboards have wheels.
Mark: My wheel has a wheel!

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