[vbox-dev] Use of Host system graphics card

[Klaus Espenlaub]

Steve Gaul wrote:
> I'm new to this list and apologize if this has been discussed already as 
> I have not had the time to read thru all the archives.

There's been a lot of talking about 3D - some mails constructive, some 
people couldn't imagine how difficult the problem is.

> I have had conversations in the past with the product manager for vbox 
> and we discussed the possibility for future versions of vbox to be able 
> to use the graphics card of the host system.

Remember, this is a public mailing list, so I can't go into extreme detail.

> Our target setup is a Sun U45 with Dual Nvidia Quadro cards, target app 
> is google earth in OpenGL mode.
> Host: Solaris 10 U5 with Trusted Extensions, Guest: Windows XP Pro

Your environment is quite unusual - extremely high performance hardware, 
and presumably the target app desperately needs each and every bit of 
it. Hard to tell if this can be fulfilled in a VM context, and what 
other prerequisites will have to be met.

> Was wondering if this capability is/will be in future builds?  If so, 
> any limitations to graphics cards? 

3D support is in the works, but as this is a quite complex problem it's 
hard to say when it's ready. Talk to the managers here if you want to be 
kept up to date.

> Lastly, if the host is Solaris and the guest is Windows XP, will we need 
> to install additional OpenGL libs?

You won't be able to use the Nvidia drivers in the guest, that's pretty 
clear. Many other aspects need to be determined.

> Any answers or comments are much appreciated.

Hope this helps.

Klaus