VMWare Fusion RC1 released

[bigandy]

It came out yesterday, and it's got some nice improvements, including proper Santa Rosa MBP support, and GMA950 support for DirectX

Just posting because I don't see a thread already.

Here's a snippet of the release notes:

WHAT'S NEW IN RELEASE CANDIDATE 1
VMware Fusion is now feature complete and driving for general availability prior to the end of August. This release of VMware Fusion for Mac includes the following new features and feature improvements:

Unity Improvements: the seamless way to run Windows applications on your Mac:
• Drag and Drop: Drag and drop files from Finder windows onto Windows applications or Windows Explorer windows.
• Launch Windows applications from the VMware Fusion dock icon: Control-click or right-click the VMware Fusion dock icon, select your virtual machine and get access to the Launch Application window and the complete Programs menu for that virtual machine.
• Unity support extended to more versions of Windows: This release provides experimental support for Unity on Windows 2000, Windows XP 64-bit, Windows Server 2003 (32-bit and 64-bit), and Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit).
• Windows program icons now appear in the Launch Applications window and the Applications menu. Note: Beta 4 and Beta 4.1 users need to manually delete the hidden Unity Windows Applications folder for each Unity Virtual Machine. See Using Unity View.
• Numerous bugs involving keyboard issues, display redrawing, minimizing to the dock, and window ordering have also been fixed in this release.
New hidden option to always show the Windows task bar in Unity. To enable this option, see Using Unity View.
• Improved Boot Camp performance — This release improves disk performance in Boot Camp virtual machines, which shortens boot time and makes applications launch more quickly. Note: VMware recommends that you let VMware Fusion create a new Boot Camp virtual machine for your existing partition to obtain the best settings and performance.

• Experimental 3D support restored for Intel GMA 950 graphics cards — Back by popular demand: users with Intel GMA 950 graphics can re-enable experimental 3D support. However, you are now warned that Intel GMA 950 does not fully support OpenGL 1.4 and that you may encounter issues.
• Improved experimental support for running on Mac OS X Leopard — Addressed in Beta 4.1, but VMware Fusion now installs and runs on the WWDC Mac OS X Leopard release.
• Fixed USB problems when running on Mac OS X 10.4.10 and later — Addressed in Beta 4.1, VMware Fusion has been updated to support the latest USB stack introduced with the Santa Rosa MacBook Pros and with Mac OS X 10.4.10.
• Improved resume from suspended state — Virtual machines now resume completely in the foreground to get you up and running as quickly as possible with complete speed in your virtual machines.

http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/releasenotes_fusion.html#newrc1

http://www.vmware.com/beta/fusion/

 

[72930]

I deleted Fusion and Parallels a couple of weeks ago, as I no longer needed XP, but this is cool...

 

[Fleetwood Mac]

Sounds good. Parallels has been causing me grief lately.

 

[dooyou]

I just installed it yesterday and it works great. But i doesn't notice any difference between beta 4 and the rc1. but it doesn't matter

im looking forward to the final version.

 

[GlynJones]

Anyone know if "Eve" works ok on it?

 

[IscariotJ]

Anyone know if "Eve" works ok on it?

Wouldn't have thought so. EVE is DX9, isn't it? At the minute Fusion only supports DX8.1 ( as does Parallels, despite claiming otherwise ).

 

[xUKHCx]

ANything worthwhile the upgrade from RC4 or a switch from parallels 3

 

[IscariotJ]

ANything worthwhile the upgrade from RC4 or a switch from parallels 3

For me, RC1 re-enabled DirectX ( I'm on a MacBook ). It does appear to be a little faster. Unity appears to be a bit more slicker, too, though I don't tend to run XP very often.

Worth a switch from Parallels? IMHO, yes, and that's mainly from a support POV. I mainly run Solaris; Parallels' Solaris support is abysmal ( one of the reasons I removed PD ).

 

[georgeoommen]

VMware makes Windows Partition disappear

Under normal circumstances i can see my windows partitions on my desktop just under my Mac HD and also in finder. But the moment I start VMware, this partition disappears and the only way I have to get access to this partition is by restarting the computer. Has anyone else seen this issue? And if so does the RC1 take care of it?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[tyr2]

This release provides experimental support for Unity on Windows 2000,

Great news. I still generally run Win2K on my virtual machines, since I find it's less resource intensive and runs more happily when RAM restricted. I'd been looking somewhat enviously at Unity and wondering about moving to XP, now it seems I won't have to.

 

[katorga]

And if so does the RC1 take care of it?

Not for me. It kind of bugs me too.

On a good note, the directX support seems faster, but I get some incorrect rendering in games like Fate.

 

[apfhex]

the moment I start VMware, this partition disappears and the only way I have to get access to this partition is by restarting the computer..

Are you using VMWare to run Windows from your Boot Camp partition? It's probably un-mounting the partition so that it can have access to it. All you need to do is go to Disk Utility and re-mount it.

 

[opticalserenity]

Excellent I prefer VMWare to Parallels anyway.

Parallels installs a lot of stuff all over OS X and it took me a while to clean up my machine.

Any ideas on when it'll go Gold?

 

[georgeoommen]

Are you using VMWare to run Windows from your Boot Camp partition? It's probably un-mounting the partition so that it can have access to it. All you need to do is go to Disk Utility and re-mount it.

Yes I am... Never thought of doing that. I switched to the mac just couple weeks ago, so still learning how to do everything!!

Thanks for that suggestion. Will try it and report back..

On another note, does anyone find that VMWare is a lot more processor hungry than parallels? Whenever I run my bootcamp partition through VMWare my processor is almost always at 100% and the temperatures shoot up to the high 80's. In Parallels, the processor usage seems to be around 60% with temps in the mid to high 60's. Any thoughts?

 

[iBunny]

I have used Parallels Before and understand how virtuilization works, however...Please excuse the noobness of this question but

This VMWare Fusion allows me to run Windows XP within OSX from my Boot camp partition? Meaning All my programs and what not I have installed in XP from Boot Camp are accessable now?

I guess what Im asking is, I dont have to have (2) seperate Windows XP's? (1) Being Native With Boot Camp, and (1) being Virtual with this software?

 

[barr08]

I have used Parallels Before and understand how virtuilization works, however...Please excuse the noobness of this question but

This VMWare Fusion allows me to run Windows XP within OSX from my Boot camp partition? Meaning All my programs and what not I have installed in XP from Boot Camp are accessable now?

I guess what Im asking is, I dont have to have (2) seperate Windows XP's? (1) Being Native With Boot Camp, and (1) being Virtual with this software?

From the first post:

Improved Boot Camp performance — This release improves disk performance in Boot Camp virtual machines, which shortens boot time and makes applications launch more quickly.

So I think you can use your existing boot camp partition, though I am not 100% sure, as I have never used the software.

Parallels has very nice integration with your boot camp partition.

 

[sxl95]

My question is if Parallels is worth the extra $40 over pre-ordering VMWare. Before I reinstalled OS X on my new 2.2 MBP, I played around with both, and it seems as though VMWare worked better. I think I've heard that it isn't as fast though. Unfortunately, neither seemed to do a great job with Rollercoaster Tycoon 2.

Any advice? I'd be using Windows XP Pro, with SP2 added after install.

-Sam

 

[barr08]

My question is if Parallels is worth the extra $40 over pre-ordering VMWare. Before I reinstalled OS X on my new 2.2 MBP, I played around with both, and it seems as though VMWare worked better. I think I've heard that it isn't as fast though. Unfortunately, neither seemed to do a great job with Rollercoaster Tycoon 2.

Any advice? I'd be using Windows XP Pro, with SP2 added after install.

-Sam

In your situation, I would install boot camp. However, if you don't like that option, maybe you could preorder VMWare, get the preorder discount, and if you decide you do not like it as much as parallels when it comes out next month, you can sell it on here, ebay, whatever, for like $60-$70, and put that towards parallels.

 

[bohrsatom]

On another note, does anyone find that VMWare is a lot more processor hungry than parallels? Whenever I run my bootcamp partition through VMWare my processor is almost always at 100% and the temperatures shoot up to the high 80's. In Parallels, the processor usage seems to be around 60% with temps in the mid to high 60's. Any thoughts?

I don't suffer from this on my Rev C MB. Does your VM have two virtual processors? I found that when I had two virtual processors the CPU usage for the vmware application nearly doubled and I had higher temps to match. Switching back to a single processor remedied the problem and I get the mid-to-high 60s when using my XP VM.

HTH

 

[Bern]

I bought Vista Home Premium not realising you can't use it with virtualisation software otherwise VMWare would be very convenient.