January 18, 2016 at 20:40Experience installing SolidWorks on a Windows 7 virtual machine in an Ubuntu host OS
Under Linux, it is probably not possible to find a full-fledged professional CAD system. Somehow it happened, not because of the GPL license, or because of some other circumstances that Dassault Systemes writes SolidWorks and CATIA for Windows, so revered in Russia. As a result, all, or almost all design bureaus (design bureaus) working in these CADs are attached to it.
Not only I have a zoo of any software on my computer. For some, I had to enable Windows debugging mode. Something was not cleared from the registry with all efforts. Something dragged the services that were launched when the OS started. In general, the idea has long been revived to restore order in this through virtualization. Install a hypervisor, run themed virtual machines from it, in which you can already run all of these capricious, but so necessary for the fullness of life algorithmic creatures that can no longer bite their way to the host OS and other virtual machines, ruining everything at once. In addition, there are such free and, judging by the reviews, good hypervisors like VirtualBox. And since everything works on virtual machines, the host OS may be Linux, which will not be easy to break through a virus attack, for which there is a sea of free software and which for other reasons is more attractive than Windows. Everything seems to be harmonious, beautiful, logical.
And then there was a reason to do this. For some time now I am a laptop lover. You can work on them in any conditions - and sitting in the office, and sitting on the couch, but at least in the forest. Combine entertainment with hobbies. Somehow, another adware virus crawled through Firefox, Casper (purchased and regularly updated, by the way), and settled somewhere in the vast expanses of Windows system directories. The first time in all time I decided to rearrange it on my already elderly Sony VAIO.
But it was bad luck, the Sonevsky drivers turned out to be so moody that they should be installed in a strictly defined order. Otherwise, there were many chances that some would simply not work. But I found out about this after I rearranged Windows, installed the native drivers, and began to google on the topic of why everything worked, but the ethernet adapter didn’t. I did not want to rearrange Windows and please the drivers, putting them in a certain order.
So hello Linux! Which one? After some thought, having experience with CentOS and Solaris (which, of course, is not Linux, but UNIX), I settled on Ubuntu. They promised a lot of goodies, although this is a bit of an unusual Linux branch of Debian.
Ubuntu is so easy to install that it’s not worth mentioning. All software in the repositories is full. But, as already mentioned, there is no Solidworks, and even remotely something like it.
Installed Virtualbox, Windows on it, Solidworks on it. I tried. The installation of Solid-A under guest Windows worked, by the way, not quickly, frankly slowly. Be that as it may, Solidworks refused to work. I read the comments, and it turned out that under Virtualbox Solid does not work for anyone. It is necessary, for example, VMWare.
Okay, the first additional paid proprietary product. We master it. Fortunately, it is installed and updated without problems. A virtual machine was created, Solid stood under it ... and even worked! But somehow not fast. It turned out there are a bunch of nuances. Tuning is everything.
The first one. Configuring virtual machine resources is a pretty delicate matter. I gave exactly half of the physical memory to the virtual machine - 3 out of 6 gig. No more, no less.
The second one. With a 4x-core processor, Intel Core i3 put 4 processors on the virtual machine. Half the cores multiplied by 2 turns. Having given half of the computing resources to the virtual machine, it seems like he achieved a balance of computing power - neither the host nor the guest OS are slowing down.
In general, for several months of life in Ubuntu I have never encountered a shortage of physical RAM (which I have on my laptop 6 Gig), but often I encounter 100% processor utilization. Periodically, something tries to take up the entire processor time. So, when updating Ubunta to version 15.10, he recklessly agreed to include real-time support. Comp earned slowly. It turned out that due to some kind of bug in the kernel, kworker processes can absorb 80% of the processor time, it’s not clear what. Fortunately, it is treated simply:
sudo rmmod intel_powerclamp
I must say that in the Russian-speaking Internet, Ubunta is supported very well. It is quite easy and quick to find a solution to problems that arise both when your own queries increase, and when updating key software. For example, in the course of its research, VMWare was updated from version 11 to version 12. After the update, it did not want to start. But a quick Google search provided a solution to this problem.
Of the incomprehensible nezhdanchikov should note the behavior of Windows as a guest OS. Specifically, Windows 7, with which I work, since I have it official and purchased. Something is wrong with the update. Everyone knows that Windows wants to upgrade often and a lot. But in order to be updated for so long when the computer is turned off ... Particularly large updates took up to several hours. However, if you forcefully launch an update from the control panel, then it passes regularly and quite quickly.
There is another nuance associated with the Windows update. We start guest Windows. Barely moving. We look at the process manager, the processes of all users. The load is 100%, the TrustedInstaller process seeks to load the processor to the eyeballs. Google, and it turns out that this is the process of updating Windows, well, and even there on the little things ... it does not allow anyone to write to the system directories. When you try to stop, it starts again. Permanently stops by prohibiting automatic updating of Windows. Well, ok, we’ll forbid it.
I also had to install the native NVIDIA driver for the graphics adapter from the Ubunta repository, since there was a suspicion that the driver that got up during the OS installation was not quite correct. Suspicion was justified, when the virtual machines started, the messages “No 3D support is available from the host” and “Hardware graphics acceleration is not avalable” disappeared.
A virtual machine typically requires 20 gigabytes of hard disk space. Therefore, on a small laptop HDD, clogged with a bunch of everything, a lot of virtual machines, as I expected before the start of all these experiments, in fact, you can’t put.
I described the main problems that I encountered when installing what was absolutely necessary for me to work Solidworks on the VMWare virtual machine while working in the Ubuntu host OS. In general, after digging a couple of months with this and thoroughly tucking, I think that the solution is quite workable. And convenient. True, I have not yet opened the assembly of 3D models of large machines into hundreds of parts. I do not know how such a software hierarchy will digest them. But with them and the Core i5 with 8 Gigabytes of memory is not to say that it quickly copes.
Now, while working in a virtual machine, I see no difference with working on a normal physical normally rebuilt computer. With running (just running) Solid, Word and Firefox, the “System Inaction” process takes 95% of the processor time. The top utility from the Ubunta console says that vmware-vmx takes up 70% of the processor time and 54% of the memory. That is, quite comfortable.
In parallel, I created a second virtual machine for software and controller development. CocoxIDE on another virtual machine saw the STM32 debug board, but I really didn’t program it yet. Ahead of the experiments are the ArtCAM program, which is rather capricious, but very popular among CNC drivers, as well as practical work with STM32 through CocoxIDE.
Not only I have a zoo of any software on my computer. For some, I had to enable Windows debugging mode. Something was not cleared from the registry with all efforts. Something dragged the services that were launched when the OS started. In general, the idea has long been revived to restore order in this through virtualization. Install a hypervisor, run themed virtual machines from it, in which you can already run all of these capricious, but so necessary for the fullness of life algorithmic creatures that can no longer bite their way to the host OS and other virtual machines, ruining everything at once. In addition, there are such free and, judging by the reviews, good hypervisors like VirtualBox. And since everything works on virtual machines, the host OS may be Linux, which will not be easy to break through a virus attack, for which there is a sea of free software and which for other reasons is more attractive than Windows. Everything seems to be harmonious, beautiful, logical.
And then there was a reason to do this. For some time now I am a laptop lover. You can work on them in any conditions - and sitting in the office, and sitting on the couch, but at least in the forest. Combine entertainment with hobbies. Somehow, another adware virus crawled through Firefox, Casper (purchased and regularly updated, by the way), and settled somewhere in the vast expanses of Windows system directories. The first time in all time I decided to rearrange it on my already elderly Sony VAIO.
But it was bad luck, the Sonevsky drivers turned out to be so moody that they should be installed in a strictly defined order. Otherwise, there were many chances that some would simply not work. But I found out about this after I rearranged Windows, installed the native drivers, and began to google on the topic of why everything worked, but the ethernet adapter didn’t. I did not want to rearrange Windows and please the drivers, putting them in a certain order.
So hello Linux! Which one? After some thought, having experience with CentOS and Solaris (which, of course, is not Linux, but UNIX), I settled on Ubuntu. They promised a lot of goodies, although this is a bit of an unusual Linux branch of Debian.
Ubuntu is so easy to install that it’s not worth mentioning. All software in the repositories is full. But, as already mentioned, there is no Solidworks, and even remotely something like it.
Installed Virtualbox, Windows on it, Solidworks on it. I tried. The installation of Solid-A under guest Windows worked, by the way, not quickly, frankly slowly. Be that as it may, Solidworks refused to work. I read the comments, and it turned out that under Virtualbox Solid does not work for anyone. It is necessary, for example, VMWare.
Okay, the first additional paid proprietary product. We master it. Fortunately, it is installed and updated without problems. A virtual machine was created, Solid stood under it ... and even worked! But somehow not fast. It turned out there are a bunch of nuances. Tuning is everything.
The first one. Configuring virtual machine resources is a pretty delicate matter. I gave exactly half of the physical memory to the virtual machine - 3 out of 6 gig. No more, no less.
The second one. With a 4x-core processor, Intel Core i3 put 4 processors on the virtual machine. Half the cores multiplied by 2 turns. Having given half of the computing resources to the virtual machine, it seems like he achieved a balance of computing power - neither the host nor the guest OS are slowing down.
In general, for several months of life in Ubuntu I have never encountered a shortage of physical RAM (which I have on my laptop 6 Gig), but often I encounter 100% processor utilization. Periodically, something tries to take up the entire processor time. So, when updating Ubunta to version 15.10, he recklessly agreed to include real-time support. Comp earned slowly. It turned out that due to some kind of bug in the kernel, kworker processes can absorb 80% of the processor time, it’s not clear what. Fortunately, it is treated simply:
sudo rmmod intel_powerclamp
I must say that in the Russian-speaking Internet, Ubunta is supported very well. It is quite easy and quick to find a solution to problems that arise both when your own queries increase, and when updating key software. For example, in the course of its research, VMWare was updated from version 11 to version 12. After the update, it did not want to start. But a quick Google search provided a solution to this problem.
Of the incomprehensible nezhdanchikov should note the behavior of Windows as a guest OS. Specifically, Windows 7, with which I work, since I have it official and purchased. Something is wrong with the update. Everyone knows that Windows wants to upgrade often and a lot. But in order to be updated for so long when the computer is turned off ... Particularly large updates took up to several hours. However, if you forcefully launch an update from the control panel, then it passes regularly and quite quickly.
There is another nuance associated with the Windows update. We start guest Windows. Barely moving. We look at the process manager, the processes of all users. The load is 100%, the TrustedInstaller process seeks to load the processor to the eyeballs. Google, and it turns out that this is the process of updating Windows, well, and even there on the little things ... it does not allow anyone to write to the system directories. When you try to stop, it starts again. Permanently stops by prohibiting automatic updating of Windows. Well, ok, we’ll forbid it.
I also had to install the native NVIDIA driver for the graphics adapter from the Ubunta repository, since there was a suspicion that the driver that got up during the OS installation was not quite correct. Suspicion was justified, when the virtual machines started, the messages “No 3D support is available from the host” and “Hardware graphics acceleration is not avalable” disappeared.
A virtual machine typically requires 20 gigabytes of hard disk space. Therefore, on a small laptop HDD, clogged with a bunch of everything, a lot of virtual machines, as I expected before the start of all these experiments, in fact, you can’t put.
I described the main problems that I encountered when installing what was absolutely necessary for me to work Solidworks on the VMWare virtual machine while working in the Ubuntu host OS. In general, after digging a couple of months with this and thoroughly tucking, I think that the solution is quite workable. And convenient. True, I have not yet opened the assembly of 3D models of large machines into hundreds of parts. I do not know how such a software hierarchy will digest them. But with them and the Core i5 with 8 Gigabytes of memory is not to say that it quickly copes.
Now, while working in a virtual machine, I see no difference with working on a normal physical normally rebuilt computer. With running (just running) Solid, Word and Firefox, the “System Inaction” process takes 95% of the processor time. The top utility from the Ubunta console says that vmware-vmx takes up 70% of the processor time and 54% of the memory. That is, quite comfortable.
In parallel, I created a second virtual machine for software and controller development. CocoxIDE on another virtual machine saw the STM32 debug board, but I really didn’t program it yet. Ahead of the experiments are the ArtCAM program, which is rather capricious, but very popular among CNC drivers, as well as practical work with STM32 through CocoxIDE.