Computer Graphics with Photoshop - CS2 under VMWare ? (don't laugh)

Author

CS2 under VMWare ? (don't laugh)

Al Dykes

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

Has anyone tried to run CS2 under VMware on a high-end machine?

I'm part of an organization that runs lots of training sessions. We
have a nice room with a good PC and a video projector and screen. We
teach Photoshop [1] at a fairly high level. Everything else is
lightweight in comparison.

We're due for an upgrade to our training machine, and we have an
on-going problem with different groups stepping on each other on a
shared machine.

I've been pushing the idea for using a VM for each class. This would
be on a dual-core machine with as much memory as needed, etc. We
don't have an unlimited budget but I argure that one big machine is
cheaper than a couple mid-level machines.

Don't laugh at VM unless you've worked with it. For pure CPU
operations it's about 99% efficient because the VM code doen't get in
the way unless there are calls to the OS.

We intentionally use modest-sized images for training purposes. Be
need speed to make good use of class time, not for impressive results.

[1] http://www.hookbuilt.com/nypc/photoshop_sig.html

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

ah2

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> wrote in message
news:dr89l2$t6s$1@panix5.panix.com...
> Has anyone tried to run CS2 under VMware on a high-end machine?

> Don't laugh at VM unless you've worked with it. For pure CPU
> operations it's about 99% efficient because the VM code doen't get in
> the way unless there are calls to the OS.

Do the math. Wouldn't a lot of PCs be more cost effective?

Anywho, you have to try it out. We found that using a central system
(OpenVMS in this case) was terrible; the way windows were handled required a
new process spawned for every window, then some. U*x wasn't much better.
Wintel machines were the ticket. We have 8000 laptops. :)

Al Dykes

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

In article <11tfbuefgthvhe6@news.supernews.com>, ah2 <twoie@ah.com.net> wrote:
>"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> wrote in message
>news:dr89l2$t6s$1@panix5.panix.com...
>
>
>Do the math. Wouldn't a lot of PCs be more cost effective?
>

Huh? We're not talking about timesharing a computer. We want multiple
OS images so that each teacher doesn't screw up the machine for the
next teacher.

Has anyone run CS2 under VMware. Experience with Microsoft VM would
probably be useful, too.

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

Derek Fountain

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

Al Dykes wrote:
> Has anyone tried to run CS2 under VMware on a high-end machine?

CS2, no, but I did use PS7 on Vmware for quite a while. I had a Linux
machine running a Win2K guest. The underlying Linux is much more
efficient than Windows XP, but given enough memory WinXP on WinXP will
do the job.

It worked very well for me. I was running a 650mhz PIII laptop to do
12-20MB images, which shows you don't really need a high end machine.
You loose very little performance with Vmware (a few percent) so
anything that natively runs Photoshop the way you need it will almost
certainly do the job through Vmware.

The only problem I found was that Vmware doesn't drive the underlying
video hardware, which means Adobe Gamma won't work, which makes colour
management difficult. You might also have problems with activation. I
suspect each VM would be seen as a separate machine from a licencing
perspective. Ask Adobe or your lawyer, or find a way of working with
snapshots.

I'd say go for it. It's an obvious solution. If money is tight get a
mid-range box, put Linux on it, and install a Win2K guest. If you have a
bit more money to spare use WinXP or OSX on a host of your choice.

Harry Limey

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> wrote in message
news:dr89l2$t6s$1@panix5.panix.com...
> Has anyone tried to run CS2 under VMware on a high-end machine?

> a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m
>

May be of interest! I noticed an article in the weekly (free) newsletter I
get from Fred Langa on this subject, I just glanced at it I'm afraid as it
has no relevance for me, but I noticed a lot of follow up in later
subscriptions, so if you go to Information week and do a search, you may
find the subject extensively covered (As an aside for anyone teaching IT, I
would imagine subscribing to the paid version of Langa's list would be worth
while at $10 per year!)
Heres the link to the first search I did.
http://www.informationweek.com/show...cleID=165600064
And here's a link to the Langa site.
http://www.langa.com/

Harry

Andrew Morton

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

Al Dykes wrote:
> Huh? We're not talking about timesharing a computer. We want multiple
> OS images so that each teacher doesn't screw up the machine for the
> next teacher.

How about a cloned removable hard drive?

Andrew

Al Dykes

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

In article <43rl1gF1pcepsU1@individual.net>,
Andrew Morton <akm@in-press.co.uk.invalid> wrote:
>Al Dykes wrote:
>
>How about a cloned removable hard drive?

We've tried. The nature of the organization doesn't work, for a couple
reasons.

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

Al Dykes

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

In article <43d8997e$0$1469$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net>,
Harry Limey <harrylimey(at)Lycos.co.uk> wrote:
>"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> wrote in message
>news:dr89l2$t6s$1@panix5.panix.com...
>
>
>May be of interest! I noticed an article in the weekly (free) newsletter I
>get from Fred Langa on this subject, I just glanced at it I'm afraid as it
>has no relevance for me, but I noticed a lot of follow up in later
>subscriptions, so if you go to Information week and do a search, you may
>find the subject extensively covered (As an aside for anyone teaching IT, I
>would imagine subscribing to the paid version of Langa's list would be worth
>while at $10 per year!)
>Heres the link to the first search I did.
>http://www.informationweek.com/show...cleID=165600064
>And here's a link to the Langa site.
>http://www.langa.com/
>

Thanks, you don't have to sell me on virtyal machines. I've been
working with them on and off since about 1975. They are perfect for a
complex teaching environment.

I want to see if anyone's got experience with Photshop, which as we
all know, is a complex beast.

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

Al Dykes

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

In article <43d88bbe$0$60256$892e7fe2@authen.yellow.readfreenews.net>,
Derek Fountain <nomail@hursley.ibm.com> wrote:
>Al Dykes wrote:
>
>CS2, no, but I did use PS7 on Vmware for quite a while. I had a Linux
>machine running a Win2K guest. The underlying Linux is much more
>efficient than Windows XP, but given enough memory WinXP on WinXP will
>do the job.
>
>It worked very well for me. I was running a 650mhz PIII laptop to do
>12-20MB images, which shows you don't really need a high end machine.
>You loose very little performance with Vmware (a few percent) so
>anything that natively runs Photoshop the way you need it will almost
>certainly do the job through Vmware.
>
>The only problem I found was that Vmware doesn't drive the underlying
>video hardware, which means Adobe Gamma won't work, which makes colour
>management difficult. You might also have problems with activation. I
>suspect each VM would be seen as a separate machine from a licencing
>perspective. Ask Adobe or your lawyer, or find a way of working with
>snapshots.
>

Good point. These days VMWare comes with a native video driver that
can be installed after you've installed the client OS. This *might*
solve this problem.

It's not a problem for us, anyway, since (a) we project to the class
on a cheapo video projector which shouldn't be used in the same
sentence with "calibration" or "gamma" and (b) We don't teach color
calibration becuase of (a) .

Thanks.

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

news.uta.at

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

Hi,
I tried CS2 on a Linux->VMWare->WinXP System. Photoshop CS2 worked well, I
had no problems. The only Application I couldn't use was Lightwave
(OpenGL-Application).

greetings
Martin

"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:dr89l2$t6s$1@panix5.panix.com...
> Has anyone tried to run CS2 under VMware on a high-end machine?
>
> I'm part of an organization that runs lots of training sessions. We
> have a nice room with a good PC and a video projector and screen. We
> teach Photoshop [1] at a fairly high level. Everything else is
> lightweight in comparison.
>
> We're due for an upgrade to our training machine, and we have an
> on-going problem with different groups stepping on each other on a
> shared machine.
>
> I've been pushing the idea for using a VM for each class. This would
> be on a dual-core machine with as much memory as needed, etc. We
> don't have an unlimited budget but I argure that one big machine is
> cheaper than a couple mid-level machines.
>
> Don't laugh at VM unless you've worked with it. For pure CPU
> operations it's about 99% efficient because the VM code doen't get in
> the way unless there are calls to the OS.
>
> We intentionally use modest-sized images for training purposes. Be
> need speed to make good use of class time, not for impressive results.
>
> [1] http://www.hookbuilt.com/nypc/photoshop_sig.html
>
>
> --
> a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m
>
> Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

Al Dykes

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

In article <drakso$op3$1@newsreader1.utanet.at>,
news.uta.at <no@name.com> wrote:
>Hi,
>I tried CS2 on a Linux->VMWare->WinXP System. Photoshop CS2 worked well, I
>had no problems. The only Application I couldn't use was Lightwave
>(OpenGL-Application).
>
>greetings
>Martin

What hardware ?

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

news.uta.at

2006-01-30, 10:24 pm

P4, 2,6 GHz, 1,5GB RAM, 250GB Harddisk, NVidia FX5600 (Keyboard and
Trackball 8-)).

"Al Dykes" <adykes@panix.com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:dral38$5gf$1@panix5.panix.com...
> In article <drakso$op3$1@newsreader1.utanet.at>,
> news.uta.at <no@name.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> What hardware ?
>
>
>
> --
> a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m
>
> Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.