source: pkg/kev/main/virtualbox-ose/trunk/debian/virtualbox-ose.files/README.Debian.xml @ 5122

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<article>
  <title>Virtualbox OSE for Debian</title>
  <section>
    <title>Guest utilities</title>
    <para>
      The guest utilities are provided as separate Debian packages. These
      packages contain all features virtualbox-ose offers for Debian guests.
      Guest utilities for operating systems not offering virtualbox-ose
      packages have to be downloaded from the internet. The upstream provided
      ISO images cannot be distributed with this package for licensing reasons.
      The same holds for the externally provided WineD3D extensions.
    </para>
  </section>
  <section>
    <title>Different versions</title>
    <para>
      The Open Source Edition of VirtualBox contains most but not all
      features of the closed-source VirtualBox product that is
      distributed under different terms and available from the
      <ulink url="http://virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads"> Virtualbox
      homepage</ulink>. Missing are:
    </para>
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Remote Display Protocol (RDP) Server
        </para>
        <para>
          This component implements a complete RDP server on top of
          the virtual hardware and allows users to connect to a
          virtual machine remotely using any RDP compatible client.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>USB support</para>
        <para>
          VirtualBox implements a virtual USB controller and supports
          passing through USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 devices to virtual
          machines.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>USB over RDP</para>
        <para>
          This is a combination of the RDP server and USB support
          allowing users to make USB devices available to virtual
          machines running remotely.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>iSCSI initiator</para>
        <para>
          VirtualBox contains a builtin iSCSI initiator making it
          possible to use iSCSI targets as virtual disks without the
          guest requiring support for iSCSI.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </section>
  <section>
    <title>64-bit guests</title>
      Starting with version 2.0.0 VirtualBox also supports 64-bit guest operating systems,
      under the following conditions:
        <itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            You need a 64-bit processor with hardware virtualization support
            and a 64-bit host operating system.
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            You must run a 64-bit version of VirtualBox on that OS. This can
            then run both 32-bit and 64-bit VMs; a 32-bit VirtualBox can only run 32-bit
            VMs, regardless of the hardware.
          </listitem>
          <listitem>
            You must enable hardware virtualization; software virtualization is not supported
            for 64-bit VMs.
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>
        There is no specific setting to enable 64-bit support for a guest.
        However, you should enable the I/O APIC for virtual machines that you intend to
        use in 64-bit mode.
  </section>
  <section>
    <title>How to provide networking to virtual machines</title>
    <section>
      <title>Mechanism</title>
      <para>
        VirtualBox can use three alternative mechanisms to provide
        Ethernet networking to its virtual machines:b
      </para>
      <section>
        <title>NAT</title>
        <para>
          This is the easiest to use type of setup: The virtual
          ethernet interface is connected to a virtual NAT router
          including a DHCP server that is implemented within
          the VirtualBox host software.
        </para>
        <para>
          This is the default mode. It usually does not require
          any extra configuration on the host.
        </para>
      </section>
      <section>
        <title>Internal network</title>
        <para>
          In this mode, there is only connectivity within an
          emulated network shared between two or more virtual
          machines running in the same VirtualBox instance.
        </para>
      </section>
      <section>
        <title>Host interface</title>
        <para>
          The virtual ethernet interface is connected to a
          real device on the host filtering out its traffic.
        </para>
      </section>
    </section>
  </section>
  <section>
    <title>Incompatibilities</title>
    <para>
      Unfortunately, the configuration files between version version
      1.4.0-svn4130 and 1.5.0 the configuration files are
      incompatible. In order to fix this issue please delete the
      complete <command><![CDATA[<Uart>]]></command> section in any
      <filename>~/.VirtualBox/Machines/NAME/NAME.xml</filename> files.
    </para>
    <para>
      When upgrading from a pre 2.0.0 version to virtualbox might complaing
      about a missing format attribute in the HardDisk tag of
      <filename>~/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml</filename>. Manually adding
      'format="vdi"' solves this.
    </para>
    <para>
      A bug appeared in in kernel 2.6.29 RC5 that broke virtualbox-ose. The fix
      was added in 2.6.29.1. If you happen to use 2.6.29 and epxerience
      problems starting your VMs please upgrade. In Debian all
      linux-image-2.6.29 versions starting with Debian version 2.6.29-2 are
      fine.
    </para>
  </section>
  <section>
    <title>See also</title>
    <para>
      Additional and updated information may be found on
      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            the
            <ulink url="http://virtualbox.org/wiki/End-user_documentation">
              End-user documentation</ulink> section of the official
            VirtualBox site.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            the
            <ulink url="http://wiki.debian.org/VirtualBox">VirtualBox</ulink>
            page in the Debian Wiki.
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </para>
  </section>
</article>