VMware 2.0 for Linux on FreeBSD.

Introduction

This piece of software provides some basic support for running
the VMware 2.0 for Linux on FreeBSD 4.0 and better ;) systems.

News
 
 28 Jan 01 Version 0.99-1-0.22
	Support for multiple vmware sessions
            Thnx to  Luigi Rizzo
       Support for bridged and host-only networking
 30 Jul 00 version 0.98-0.21

	Integrated vmnet and if_tap code
 29 Jun 00 version 0.97-b1-0.20-b2

	Upgrade to latest VMware release 2.0.1-570
 28 Jun 00 version 0.97-b0-0.20-b1

	Improved LBA magic in vmmon module for huge IDE drives
 16 Jun 00 version 0.96-0.20-b0

	I'm back ;-)
	Merged changes from the FreeBSD -current port
	Added preliminary support for the _FreeBSD_ bridging
 23 Jan 00 version 0.95-0.11

	Upgrade to VMware 2.0 Beta
	Support for SMP kernel
 16 Dec 99 version 0.94-0.10

	Compatibility with new -current
	Fixed bug with multiple instances of vmmon driver
 7 Dec 99 version 0.93-0.01

	Networking support. 
	Now had support for host only networking for one VMware session
	Support for Pierre Beyssac linproc filesystem
	Removed limitation to run VMware only on 'remote' X server
                  Thnx to Darren Wiebe 
	VMware-wizard support
                  Thnx to Dave Costello
 4 Dec 99 version 0.93

	Now vmware port doesn't require patching a -CURRENT source tree. 
                  Thnx to Marcel!
 1 Dec 99 version 0.92

	Added support for CD-ROM driver. Tested on the FreeBSD and Linux guests
 27 Nov 99 version 0.91

	Upgrade to VMware 1.1.2
 26 Nov 99 version 0.9

	Initial release.


What's done

At this time I was able to successfully run the following operation systems
under VMware on FreeBSD:

  - FreeBSD 4.2-Stable
  - Linux (Debian 2.1, Debian 2.2)
  - Windows NT
  - Windows 95 OSR2 (in safe mode :)
  - MS DOS 7.0 (Part of Win'95)

I think that all platforms supported by VMware should work under FreeBSD.
	

Installation procedure

The easiest solution is to obtain the FreeBSD port tree and try to build 
vmware (vmware port are usualy located at /usr/ports/emulation/vmware2
subdirectory)

At build time, you will get further instructions on how to proceed.

After a successful port installation you will need to obtain a license key 
to run VMware (you can use an old one for Linux). If you want to obtain 
a new key from http://www.vmware.com , you will have to select Linux as the 
'server' platform.

Features currently unsupported
 
   - Fullscreen text mode 
       [Fullscreen graphic mode with activated VMware tools on 
        a guest system works fine]
	
   - Mounting vmware virtual drive
       [Just use plain disks and use vnconfig/mount to mount it]
   
   - Parallel ports were never tested. However, to support bidirectional 
     transfers, we will need a FreeBSD version of the vmppuser driver.

Caveats

    - Floppy disk detection doesn't work. It is assumed that
      a disk is always present in the floppy drive. Because of that, 
      you have connect/disconnect floppy drive manualy from menu
      'Devices'
      
      
Copyright issue

	Unclear. My own code has a BSD-style copyright license,
	but in order to write it, I used VMware-copyrighted sources.
	In any case, I'm distributing only my own patch set, and all
	modified files retain the original copyright information.

Author

	Vladimir N. Silyaev. 
	E-Mail: vsilyaev@mindspring.com