Question: VirtualBox on Ubuntu Linux

[raZor]

I've seen many guides before about running the GPU Client on a Windows-based host OS and the CPU Client on a virtual machine using a Linux-based guest OS due to the availability of the A2 core on Linux clients which is alot better than the A1 core available on Windows.
So, my idea is doing exactly the opposite, using Ubuntu Linux for example as a host OS and running a Windows-based OS as a guest OS using VirtualBox or any similar software, and that removes the limitations of VMware and actually gives us the possibility of using the -bigadv bonus plan on the host OS + the GPU Client on the guest OS at the same time.
My question is: is this possible? and will the VirtualBox limit the efficiency of the GPU Clients on the guest OS?

This idea occured to me after seeing this article here:

Code: Select all

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/xp-mode-ubuntu,2434.html

Another question: how hard is it to run a GPU Client under Linux-based OS?

Thanks in advance.

[P5-133XL]

I don't know if it is possible. Since VirtualBox theoretically exposes the GPU then It should be possible but not having tried it, I can't say. There have been people GPU folding from inside Linux directly. The new part is doing so from inside a virtual machine. You might try looking at the Wine threads for help.

[raZor]

I don't know if it is possible. Since VirtualBox theoretically exposes the GPU then It should be possible but not having tried it, I can't say. There have been people GPU folding from inside Linux directly. The new part is doing so from inside a virtual machine. You might try looking at the Wine threads for help.

Actually the whole idea here is running the GPU Client on the guest OS since it's WAY easier than under WINE from what I've heard, thanks for trying to help though

[P5-133XL]

I don't know if it is possible. Since VirtualBox theoretically exposes the GPU then It should be possible but not having tried it, I can't say. There have been people GPU folding from inside Linux directly. The new part is doing so from inside a virtual machine. You might try looking at the Wine threads for help.

Actually the whole idea here is running the GPU Client on the guest OS since it's WAY easier than under WINE from what I've heard, thanks for trying to help though

But they need to use the wine because there is no Linux GPU client. I think Wine is easier than developing a brand new client ...

[raZor]

But they need to use the wine because there is no Linux GPU client. I think Wine is easier than developing a brand new client ...

Not really, remember that the guest OS is Windows-based, so the good old GPU2 client should work without any problems (theoretically, unless there's limitations from VirtualBox that I do not know about)

[chrisretusn]

At the moment I don't have a supported GPU; however, I have plans on getting one so I can use the GPU client. I don't run Windows natively. I run Slackware, Slackware64, OS X and OS/2 (unsupported) on all of my boxes. I have planned on going with Wine (already installed anyway). I did initially consider using VirtualBox, but didn't think that it would work, decided on Wine. If you have a supported GPU installed you could DL a this utility: GPU Caps Viewer 1.7.0 Available With CUDA Support | The Geeks Of 3D - 3D Tech News install it and run it in the VM to determine what capabilities are exposed in VirtualBox. It does show a lot of information, but in my case the CUDA tab is blank since my nVidia GPU does not support it.

Another useful utility for determining video card capabilities is GPU-Z Video card GPU Information Utility. This is a standalone utility that needs no installation. When I run this GPU-Z in a Windows XP SP3 VM it tells me "Unknown architecture".

The only other thing I can add is, if you have a GPU that is supported by the GPU client, then just try it. If it does not work, no harm no foul. When I do buy my GPU (probably nVidia) I may test this out first.