Any VMWare Workstation users here? I don't see a lot of related discussion in this forum.

Pros? Cons? Slackware quirks?

Con: Non free, neither "free" as in freedom, nor beer.

Also, they are pretty whiny about supported kernels and distributions. I quit using it several years ago when I got told I I wasn't using a supported system after an upgrade I just bought wouldn't install. They switched to a GUI installer and I was SOL on Slackware. It was the first time I ran into something I couldn't work around with unofficial patches etc. They got their last dime from me. I switched to VirtualBox, which started improving soon after, and I haven't used anything since.

Maybe some of this isn't applicable anymore (haven't looked at them in a long time) but once bitten, always shy.

I can confirm TheRealGrogan's report for the VMware Workstation and the Player -- be it that the Workstation was provided by my employer and the Player was/is free for personal use -- so no "dimes" here. I switched to Qemu/KVM and then to VirtualBox and never looked back.

I tried the free VMware-Player-15.1.0 on my Slackware 14,2 install a few months back. It installed, but I had usability issues with screen resizing and other annoying issues. Switched to VirtualBox, then to QEMU. I use VirtualBox now as it just works and is easy to use and configure.

I used vmware for years - there's a well known workaround for installing without the GUI for slackware:
./vmware install --console --ignore-errors

However, it didn't like something about networking or whatever in 14.2, and since I can now use windows for work at home via citrix, I've needed it much less, so I haven't really looked into it lately. Worked quite well for ~5-7 years for me..

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Discovered VMware while using macos a few years. Just did it job fine.
Back on serious OS switched to free (x2) solution, qemu and happy with that.

Thanks.

I'm interested only in being familiar with the interface (somewhat padding the resume). I have no intention of moving my VMs from a free/libre solution to proprietary. If I moved my VMs I would use KVM/virt-manager.

I'm not sure there was at the time, I got crickets chirping in their forum and support told me I was using an unsupported system. Before that, I was always able to make it work. There was a guy named Petr that did a lot of unofficial kernel patches and stuff to make it work with "unsupported" (e.g. new) kernels but even that stopped as he was assigned elsewhere and couldn't do it anymore.

So they got my last $90 for that upgrade. VirtualBox obviated them for me anyway and they support kernels and distros reasonably.

Does VMWare phone home in any way?

I suggest using qemu with KVM and optionally aqemu instead.

nano how-to (install Slacklware in Qemu VM):

First, create a 20G virtual hard disk:

Then setup and start the VM to install then run Slackware in it with this script:
After installation, just replace
-boot-order=c
by:
-boot-order=d

To know more:
qemu --help
man qemu

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Thanks. I'm not interested in what to use. I am only interested in comments from Slackers about VMWare because the topic is seldom discussed in this forum. In my previous post I wrote, "I'm interested only in being familiar with the interface (somewhat padding the resume)."

Only for checking for updates and guests support, but this is configurable from its configuration dialog.

You can make easily VMWare Workstation and Player to phone home only when you told it so.

In other note, those VMWare products are fairly highly superior to any other alternative, both as performances and simplicity to use.

And for a single (no simultaneous) VM, there's no need more than the free Player. If you need to run concurrently your own virtual network or just several machines, then this is when you need Workstation.

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Thanks. Mostly I am interested in learning the interface and terminology. Not to look like a guru, but rather not look like a clown during an interview.

Try Old School -- RTFM

You can find manuals here:

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Wo...Pro/index.html

On the left-hand side you can see the most recent versions of Workstation Pro

The founders of the company were Linux & BSD UNIX types using a real time kernel for the ESX/ESXi -- unfortunately the last decade or so the company has been flooded with Microsoft types so they are losing their way. Most of management is now ex-Microsoft types who have hostility to the Linux/Unix world. pretty sad.

I am posting this from slackware current running on VMWare Fusion on my iMac. You have to keep vmware upgraded as you upgrade slackware, otherwise you will reach points where you won't be able to use it. And they arent always free upgrades.