VirtualBox VM Provider

To interact with VirtualBox, Veewee executes shell-commands through the ‘VboxManage’ command. The virtualbox gem library proved to be less stable.

Interacting with Guest Machine

To simulate the typing, Veewee uses the VBoxManage command:

$ VBoxManage controlvm 'myubuntu' keyboardputscancode <keycode>

Scancodes are injected directly from the keyboard buffer with this command. Because this buffer is small, Veewee can’t type fast(er). This is why you’ll notice a delay before Veewee types the commands. Speeding it up would make the keyboard buffer lose keystrokes.

VirtualBox OS_Types

VirtualBox supports a wide variety of Guest Operating Systems. The table below is a partial list of a few of the popular os_types. For a complete list run the virtualbox command: VBoxManage list ostypes

Guest Machine Settings

Virtualbox creates default VM settings for a new Guest Machine based on the internal os_type. For example, 64bit machines are setup with IO_APIC on so that guest machines can utilize multiple CPU’s. 32bit Machines have IO_APIC off by default, even though modern 32-bit systems have good support for SMP. Therefore this, and other settings can be overridden within the definion.rb file, by using an array similar to:

:virtualbox => {
  :vm_options => [
    # Some example settings
    'audio' => 'null',              # Enable Audio by setting host to null driver
    'audiocontroller' => 'hda',     # Use simulated Intel HD audio
    'ioapic' => 'on',               # APIC is necessary for symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) support
    'rtcuseutc' => 'on',            # UTC internal time
    'usb' => 'on',
    'mouse' => 'usbtablet',         # Enable absolute pointing device
    'usbwebcam' => 'on',
    'accelerate3d' => 'on',         # Necessary for X to start the Unity desktop in Ubuntu 12.10+ -- Useful for 12.04, although can slow the VM if host hardware lacks good 3D support
    'clipboard' => 'bidirectional'  # Useful for clipboard sharing between host & guest
    'nonrotational' => 'on'         # Useful for guest OS's like Windows, so disk utilities aren't run

    # A Full list of settings can be found here: http://virtualbox.org/manual/ch08.html#idp51057568
    # Or generated based on the current settings of a virtualbox guest, such a machine named: myubuntu
    # VBoxManage showvminfo --machinereadable 'myubuntu'
    ]
  }