Is anyone using this release and can you comment on performance compared to version 4.x? Found 4.x not acceptable, mainly in Audio and Video performance (no hardware acceleration, sound was "broken up" etc.). Many thanks in advance Sherlock
I have used the 5 version and it is definitely better as far as performance, but everything is relative. I did not check audio and Video is not nearly as good as native, but overall the performance is better than the previous versions
Thanks j_medved, I downloaded the evaluation version and had a play with it. Early tests show indeed improved performance with Win2000 but Windows ME is giving grief: upgrading VMtools from 4.5.2 to 5.0 is unsuccesful. Time to retire the ME installation.....More work to do with the Win2000 installation.... (I am using a VMware installation for "emergency backup" in case my laptop is stolen and I need to get a new PC and get up and running quickly when travelling). Sherlock
Just reporting back to those who are interested. Finally I have been able to get an acceptable video / audio / network performance under VMware. I can now say " yes I can use this to trade under when the needs arises " (like when my PC has broken down / stolen and I need to get up and running quickly on another platform) The largest restriction is that VMware does not support multiple monitors. And you need plenty of memory - 768Mb for the previous version 4.5.2 gave OK performance but it is not enough for 5.0. I swapped out the 256Mb memory chip and put in an addition 1Gb bringing it to a total 1536Mb of RAM. Now I need to get a good, clean, "ready to run" installation of my trading environment going under VMware and then I'll be putting that on DVD. Yeah, way to go! PS the best thing is that one can run the same VMware "guest" (in my case my "trading environment") under different host OS's eg Linux , XP! Sherlock
Nothing of VMware is really acceptable: (1) Crappy screen management - can't support xinerama (multiscreen); (2) They still haven't fixed the usb2 driver. This is kind of hidden, unless you look for it. Only support for usb1; (3) Erratic lp behavior. Unloading the linux driver to get the lp going works in an unpredictable manner; (4) Bad sound, indeed. I have the impression that VMware is rather neglecting its workstation versions in trying to get the heavy stuff out of the door. Due to the fact that Wine is making steady progress, I am using VMware only if I can't do it any other way. (Very little in fact - I have no trading related soft left based on M$ crap).
In version 5 they have supposedly "improved" USB support and "fixed" network issues (whatever that may mean) . I have definitely observed far better video and audio performance. Memory usage has shot up. I agree on MicroShit: it is the proverbial brown matter (and it does not even have any solid substance to it). Sherlock