VM Applications

Guy's

I run most of my automation software of various brands in virtual machines.

I have office 07 ultimate on my host machine and nothing inside the guest.

My question is is there any benefit or value to having office inside the vm also with the automation software. I like to use excel to work with tags sometimes and many times i will do program comments in word and paste them in but i can do that in the host export the file and drag it into the vm.

Are there any other reason to which i may want a office application in the vm in addition to the entire suite being installed on the host.

Hi Kid,

I can not think of any. Do you miss something in the situation as it is now ?

We have been using VM only with old DOS programming system that needed access to a serial PORT which is a problem in XP or higher.

I am curious : can you tell me why you are using like always VM ? What are the benefits ?

Thanks for the info.

br
bb

You can't copy/paste between VM and host? I don't have an XP VM at work I can test, but I was sure I could copy/paste into the VM from the host on my setup at home.

Brian

Yes you can copy and paste between VM and Host. I will run excel on the host and copy and past as required. I also share drives with VM to allow importing and exporting of csv files between the VM and the Host. I keep each PLC manufacturer in it's own machine as I have had too many conflicts over the years for ports and drivers. It takes a while to get use to it.

Bits'bytes i use vm for the same reasons as giz99 isolation and portability. We have many setups here but i have a xp vm on a 32 GB iron key usb stick running ceedo which has vmware installed and i can plug it into any pc or laptop i want and roll. Now i can program at work or home.

I created a WindowsXP virtual machine several years ago. It has Excel 2003, WinZip, WinRar, and a screenshot utility called SnagIt. I cloned this VM for all of us in my company to use and this is the basis for all programming VM's. To me it has been a godsend to have Excel 2003 (not the dreaded 2007 version) native within the VM. All of my program documentation is done in Excel and I don't want to leave full -screen view to visit the guest.

Also in a VM you can go to multiple monitors quite easily so with two full screen monitors inside the VM, visiting the host to work in Excel is a waste of time.

I've never needed any other Office application inside the VM, Excel is the only one I install.

The Plc Kid said:

Bits'bytes i use vm for the same reasons as giz99 isolation and portability. We have many setups here but i have a xp vm on a 32 GB iron key usb stick running ceedo which has vmware installed and i can plug it into any pc or laptop i want and roll. Now i can program at work or home.

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That is an interesting idea. But are you not afraid of loosing data (usb keys get lost so easily )

Are you using version control from VM or you dont use at all ?

Is ceedo like vmware or like an operating system ?

Thanks for more information....

The Plc Kid said:

Bits'bytes i use vm for the same reasons as giz99 isolation and portability. We have many setups here but i have a xp vm on a 32 GB iron key usb stick running ceedo which has vmware installed and i can plug it into any pc or laptop i want and roll. Now i can program at work or home.

Click to expand...

Please excuse my VM rookie-ness, but are you telling me that you can load your VM image on any PC (within reason I'm sure) and run it, regardless of the hardware (again within reason I'm sure)?

You need to be careful of license infringement when using virtual machines. For that reason I tend to use open office instead of ms office.

dmroeder said:

Please excuse my VM rookie-ness, but are you telling me that you can load your VM image on any PC (within reason I'm sure) and run it, regardless of the hardware (again within reason I'm sure)?

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Short answer...Pretty Much...

My desktop (what I am using right now) is a VM. I actually use 5 currently. I use a high speed external hard drive so I can take it home plug it into my home PC and it is just like I am at the office. I have the same image loaded directly to my laptop.

As far as excel, word and the rest of it...The only thing my host does is turn on my PC and run my speakers (I like to listen to the radio while I work).

One thing I do going from VM to VM and to Host is use a thumb drive to transfer files around.

Example: If I am working in my Siemens VM and I want to transfer to my desktop VM then I just store the file on the thumb drive switch views and pick up the drive on the view I am using. I find this for me is the easiest and fastest.

I will say that this really saved my butt at a customer site. My Laptop died and I was able to borrow my customer's laptop, plug in my external drive and was able to complete the job. Since I was several time zones away from the office this was a real real conveient.

Yea!! A VM discussion!!! My favorite topic.

Reading through this thread I kept saying to myself "licensing... licensing... licensing". Thank you Hydro Power Guy!!

I am fortunate to have site licensed copy of MS Office (I vastly prefer 2007 to 2003!) so I include Office on all of my VMs plus I install it on my host machine.

I typically do little to nothing in my host. I have Office and my browsers and that's about it.

I teach classes and I build my training image in a VM which I use on my own machine during class. My students never know I am using a VM unless I decide to tell them. This allows me to completely isolate the software I need for my corporate environment (separate vm) from my training environment. And I can run them simultaneously but completely independently.

But here's the cool part. I convert my VM to a physical image that I run on the student computers. The students don't run virtualized but the "image" on their machines was developed in VMware and rolled out to physical machines. I have it setup to work seamlessly on various brands and models of laptops. This also allows my instructor VM to appear exactly the same as the student machines. So what I show them is exactly what they see on their machines. Then at the end of class I can revert to a previously created snapshot literally rolling back my computer to "pre-class".

VMs recognize my Ethernet port and every USB adapter I have thrown at it.

As long as the host machine meets the specs for VMware then the image is portable to any other computer.

I also use VMs on my home computer. I typically keep my VMs on one monitor and my host on another. I can go back and forth easily. I often have three running at a time.

OG

The only problem I have run into with a VM is when I want to use a Siemens CP 1613 to communicate to a redundant S7-400H PLC.

No other problems so far. The best part is total freedom when it comes to configuring the VM and not effecting your root installation. You can change domains, workgroups, IP address, user config, etc... all with no interference from IT.

Also, as OG mentioned it is great to "freeze" a configuration for re-use.

I am new to VM's, but I am starting to really appreciate what they have to offer.

The only problem I have seen so far is that I cannot get a VM to recognize my pcmcia slot, which means i cannot use my pcmk card.

Correct. VMware and others decided they would not support PCMCIA products. I have the Rockwell 1784-U2DHP which is a USB to DH+ device. Works like a charm in my VMs.

Others have commented on USB to PCMCIA devices but they appear to be very hit and miss with different PCMCIA cards.

OG

Operaghost said:

Correct. VMware and others decided they would not support PCMCIA products. I have the Rockwell 1784-U2DHP which is a USB to DH+ device. Works like a charm in my VMs.

Others have commented on USB to PCMCIA devices but they appear to be very hit and miss with different PCMCIA cards.

OG

Click to expand...

Im waiting for GIT to make a version of the u2-dhp cable.