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Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance

looking-glass.io

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Re: Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance

#21

Post by glglwty »

COGlory wrote: post #18

If anyone is interested, the main developer, who goes by 'gnif' spends a decent amount of time on the dedicated Looking Glass sub-forum on the Level1Techs forum, here: https://forum.level1techs.com/c/software/lookingglass/142 Level1Techs also has a ton of information and help both on the forum, and their YouTube channel, about setting up Looking Glass and VFIO. The main host of the YouTube channel, Wendell, has forgo…

I looked into this project (and related GPU pass through projects) a few years ago. Putting the discussion and even some issue tracking into a "support thread" in this forum makes getting information really difficult. It's the same experience when you want to install LinageOS and realize you have to go through a long thread on XDA and sometimes reddit to solve any issue you may have.

Re: Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance

#22

Post by xaduha »

Xenograph wrote: post #19
xaduha wrote: post #17

I used it for a bit a while back and would only use it again if I absolutely had to. Cases like that are very limited though, using an external GPU enclosure without a monitor attached to it is one. Being dumb enough to try to use a gimped mining GPU that doesn't have any video outputs is another.

I think you forgot to mention why you didn't like it.

It's too limiting, if you're doing the whole VFIO thing in the first place you don't really want to limit yourself to just Windows in a specific configuration. You want to have an ability to run any OS you can and pass your hardware to it.

I wouldn't recommend VFIO just for gaming, there are better options.

Re: Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance

#24

Post by oefrha »

eat_veggies wrote: post #10
ddalex wrote: post #8

The problem is that you have to have a monitor plugged in the windows card otherwise it goes all wonky. At that point you could just use a KVM....

The blurb at the top says "allows the use of a KVM [...] without an attached physical monitor, keyboard or mouse." Is that not correct?

The abbreviation KVM can mean two things: Kernel-based Virtual Machine, and keyboard/video/mouse (switch). Gp was talking about the latter.

Re: Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance

#25

Post by quantum5 »

ddalex wrote: post #8

The problem is that you have to have a monitor plugged in the windows card otherwise it goes all wonky. At that point you could just use a KVM....

You can always use a dummy plug to fool windows into believing there is a monitor attached. Then it's much more convenient than using a KVM switch.

Re: Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance

#26

Post by JustStoppinIn89 »

mongol wrote: post #23

What does this do that regular KVM + Qemu does not?

It provides bare metal access to the entire hardware stack. So for instance you could run Linux via your integrated GPU (the one on many consumer CPUs) while passing through your dedicated GPU to the Windows VM.

This is how I "gamed on Linux" from 2018~2020 when I ran Ubuntu as my primary OS. It's incredibly finicky to set up (shocker, I know!) but if you're able to get it working it's truly amazing. Talking like 1% performance loss in AAA games in that virtual machine on the GPU.

As for me, I abandoned Ubuntu (and Linux, I did try other distros!) in early 2020. I was tired of juggling my home setup just to relax. In a move unpopular with the Slashdot crowd from 1996, I went back to Windows as my host OS.

Re: Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance

#27

Post by JustStoppinIn89 »

Xenograph wrote: post #19
xaduha wrote: post #17

I used it for a bit a while back and would only use it again if I absolutely had to. Cases like that are very limited though, using an external GPU enclosure without a monitor attached to it is one. Being dumb enough to try to use a gimped mining GPU that doesn't have any video outputs is another.

I think you forgot to mention why you didn't like it.

Not him but I'll echo the same thing. Unless I absolutely have no other choice, I'm not going back to this setup.

It's how I "gamed on Linux" for a couple years. Support is basically you and you alone. The dev for Looking Glass is active but the man isn't your personal tech assistant so often you're just doing A/B testing to make something work.

For me, I just didn't want to fiddle with my home desktop that much. I went back to Windows.

Re: Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance

#28

Post by Xenograph »

xaduha wrote: post #22
Xenograph wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you forgot to mention why you didn't like it.

It's too limiting, if you're doing the whole VFIO thing in the first place you don't really want to limit yourself to just Windows in a specific configuration. You want to have an ability to run any OS you can and pass your hardware to it. I wouldn't recommend VFIO just for gaming, there are better options.

What exactly is limiting about it? I use it on a daily basis in order to flip between high performance Linux and high performance Windows instantly with the flick of a hotkey.

I use it for gaming, software dev, and just in general it's nice to be able to switch OSs for any reason instantly. What better options are there?

Re: Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance

#29

Post by JustStoppinIn89 »

chayleaf wrote: post #11

Guess this is the "Linux Subsystem for Windows" some people have been missing... Too bad it requires 2 GPUs

No, it's nothing like that at all.

It's only that if you wear a fedora unironically and have a Slashdot account with a four digit user ID.

Re: Looking Glass: Run a Windows VM on Linux in a window with native performance

#30

Post by Xenograph »

mongol wrote: post #23

What does this do that regular KVM + Qemu does not?

It's in the title of the post. You can run your VM in a regular window but at high performance (think gaming and professional stuff that's GPU heavy). You otherwise can't do this without a hardware KVM switch (or tossing the VM and just dual booting). Hardware KVM switches are expensive and often don't work very well. And still, with a KVM switch it wouldn't be running inside a window. It would consume your whole screen.
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