ide emulation based on network block device for arbitrary OSes?

[Adam Megacz]

Justin Cormack <justin at street-vision.com> writes:
> I think you will find that Win2k server doesnt use BIOS disk requests,
> accesses the hardware directly.

Bleh.

> Why not run it on VMware on a diskless Linux box?

Their kernel modules have caused me no end of pain... main gripes being:

  a) System instability resulting from said modules.

  b) Their sinister "you must pay us more money every time Linus
     releases a new kernel" policy (when a new kernel comes out they
     only update the kernel modules for the newest vmware).  I don't
     object to buying a new vmware when I want to run a new *guest*
     OS, but I figure that if I've paid them for the software, I
     should be able to continue using it for the same task forever
     even when I upgrade my host OS.

If they ever release a version that doesn't require kernel modules,
I'll be the first in line with a fistfull of cash... their product is
otherwise fantastic.

  - a