You can play ‘Doom’ inside ‘Minecraft’ using a virtual PC

The quest to make devices play Doom has extended to gadgets inside other games. Reddit user uDrunkMate has succeeded (via The Verge) in playing Doom inside Minecraft thanks to a recently developed mod, VM Computers, that can run Windows 95 inside Moj...

Custom PC Handles 7 Virtual Gaming Systems at Once: Hydra of Linus

Last October, gadget reviewer and PC enthusiast LinusTechTips made a single PC that was powerful enough to run two high-end virtual gaming machines at the same time. Unsatisfied – or perhaps too satisfied – with the result, he then decided to put together a gaming rig that can handle seven high-end virtual machines simultaneously.

7_gamers_1_cpu_pc_by_linustechtips_1zoom in

You can find the resulting computer’s full specs on LinusTechTips’ forums, but its main components are a pair of 8-core 3Ghz Intel Xeon CPUs, seven (!) AMD R9 Nano GPUs, 8 1TB SSDs and 256GB of RAM. Linus also used a custom cooling solution for the GPUs. The total cost? About $30,000 (USD), though in Linus’ case he got most of the parts for free.

As with the 2-in-1 build, Linus used a server operating system called unRAID to create and run the seven virtual gaming machines. Check Linus’ video for the 2-in-1 machine for the complex software setup process. You can skip to 9:40 in the video below to see the seven-headed monster awaken.

And here I am with a laptop that barely runs Hearthstone.

The Trend To "Open Source" Software And What It Means For Businesses And Consumers


Wikipedia defines “open-source” software as computer software with its source code made available and licensed with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change...

Microsoft delivers Windows Server 2012, puts the enterprise on cloud 8

Microsoft delivers Windows Server 2012, puts the enterprise on cloud 8

Forget Windows 8, Windows Server 2012 is where it's at... if you're a corporate IT manager, that is. Microsoft has just posted the finished version of its suit-and-tie OS for immediate sale in download form. Not surprisingly given Microsoft's big cloud push, the emphasis with the upgrade is on improving how well the software scales for internet hosting -- the company wants one common backbone that can handle as little as a small e-mail server to large-scale Azure deployments and virtualization. Server 2012 is also defined by what you won't find: while the Metro-style interface from the platform's Windows 8 cousin shows its face in the Essentials version, it's noticeably stripped down and goes away in the more advanced tiers. The real shakeup for some might just be the new price points, which drop the cost by a large amount for offices that don't need more than a slice of what the all-out Datacenter edition has to offer. We'll admit that most of our attention as end users will be focused on what happens several weeks from now, but if you're one of those rare server operators that can't wait to start testing a new OS release almost immediately, you've got a head start on most of us.

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Microsoft delivers Windows Server 2012, puts the enterprise on cloud 8 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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VMware intros Fusion 5 virtualization software with support for Win 8, integration with Mountain Lion

VMware announces Fusion 5 virtualization software with support for Windows 8, integration with Mountain Lion

With Mountain Lion newly available and Windows 8 on the verge of shipping, now was a pretty good time for VMware to update its Fusion virtualization software, dont'cha think? The company just announced Fusion 5 with 70-plus new features, including support for Win 8 and tight integration with OS X 10.8. For instance, you can now view Windows programs in Mountain Lion's Launchpad, while VMware software updates pop up in the Notification Center. Fusion also supports AirPlay for the first time, and you can also run either Mountain Lion or Mountain Lion Server as a virtual machine. The company also added support for Retina Display MacBook Pros, so that everything looks crisp on that 2,880 x 1,800 screen. Also of note: Fusion now supports USB 3.0, and Linux users get some love in the form of Open GL 2.1 graphics support.

The standard version of Fusion 5 is available now for $49.99, but people who bought Fusion 4 since the release of Mountain Lion can upgrade for free. There's also a professional version ($100 for one license), which includes all the above features, and also lets IT departments lock down settings for employees' virtual machines.

Continue reading VMware intros Fusion 5 virtualization software with support for Win 8, integration with Mountain Lion

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VMware intros Fusion 5 virtualization software with support for Win 8, integration with Mountain Lion originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows Server 2012 pares back to four versions, looks to give small businesses more bang for the buck

Windows Server 2012 pares back to four versions, looks to give small businesses more bang for the buck

Microsoft has been devoting most of its OS update attention this year to Windows 8, not its suit-wearing Windows Server 2012 counterpart. Some of the mystery has been cleared up through word of a greatly simplified server OS lineup. Just four versions of Windows Server will sit in IT backrooms versus the whopping 12 from Server 2008 R2, with an emphasis on making the feature slope a little gentler. The biggest improvement is the near-identical feature set of Windows Server 2012 Standard compared to its Datacenter equivalent: the only advantage of Datacenter is the jump to unlimited virtual machines, giving smaller businesses a way to save some cash. Foundation and Essentials will cover the basics for these outfits if just 15 or 25 very real machines need to hop onboard. The base prices of $425 to $4,809 per copy for all but the OEM-only Foundation still make it doubtful that we'll be loading Server 2012 on a PC tucked into a closet at home, but it's evident between this and the streamlined Windows 8 selection that Microsoft wants to avoid the flood of versions that confused buyers during the Windows Vista and 7 days.

Windows Server 2012 pares back to four versions, looks to give small businesses more bang for the buck originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Compute Engine brings Linux virtual machines ‘at Google scale’

As anticipated, Google has just launched its cloud service for businesses at Google I/O 2012, called Google Compute Engine. Starting today Urs Holzle announced "anyone with large-scale computing needs" can access the infrastructure and efficiency of Google's datacenters. The company is promising both performance and stability -- Amazon EC2 they're coming for you -- claiming "this is how infrastructure as a service is supposed to work". It's also promising "50 percent more computes per dollar" than competitors. Beta testers will be on hand at later meetings to give impressions of the service, if you want to know how running your apps on 700,000 (and counting) cores feels. During the presentation we got a demo of a genome app and we're sure if we understood what was going on, it would have been impressive. Hit the source links below for more details on "computing without limits" or to sign up for a test yourself.

Check the live blog for more details as they're revealed.

Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's developer conference at our event hub!

Google Compute Engine brings Linux virtual machines 'at Google scale' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 13:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon Appstore’s Test Drive try before you buy feature now available on Android phones

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When Amazon's Appstore initially appeared on the Android scene last year, one of its most innovative features was a Test Drive virtual machine that let users try out apps for free from their desktop, and now that technology has come back to the handset. In the newest update pushed today and pictured above, release-2.6.53 adds beta support for the cloud-based Test Drive feature to let users try out new software within the Appstore app itself. According to the description the feature is enabled on "select" Android phones and apps, although we didn't find any to try it out with on our Galaxy S II. Check for an update within the app to try it out for yourself or click the Appstore link below from your phone to snag the latest version.

Amazon Appstore's Test Drive try before you buy feature now available on Android phones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 May 2012 22:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Precision R5500 lets four graphics pros work on one PC, we wish it did gaming

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Workstations aren't normally our focus, but when Dell shows off a new Precision system that lets four media pros share its graphics hardware at once, you can be sure the company has our attention. If your IT chief springs for a Precision R5500 with four Quadro 2000 cards, each of those cards can take advantage of a graphics pass-through in Citrix's virtualization to render 3D models at speeds much more like what you'd get if the Quadro were sitting in your own PC. Before you have visions of four-player Modern Warfare parties after-hours at work, the inherent barriers of distance and the virtual machine itself will likely rule out any game sessions. We'd add that the Quadro, Xeon processor and the $2,742 minimum price make it an expensive proposition. That engineering simulation will finish a lot faster, though, giving you a bit more time to play back home.

Continue reading Dell Precision R5500 lets four graphics pros work on one PC, we wish it did gaming

Dell Precision R5500 lets four graphics pros work on one PC, we wish it did gaming originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 22:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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