Using VM to run two OS on diff monitors?

[SeeThruHead]

I have a Maximus IV Extreme + 2500k + 8gb RAM - 1TB HD (Blue in the diagram)

It's currently running win 7. I'd like to add Ubuntu to the system. Have each VM be able to run it's own monitors. There won't be a mouse or kb connected, would be controlled by synergy software KVM. (Running on a seperate win7 only machine - in red on digram)

I wouldn't mind installing two cheap video cards, if it's possible to dedicate one card to each VM, same goes for NIC's i could get a dual NIC card if it would allow me to assign each VM it's own ip on the LAN.
Is this kind of thing possible? And if so how would you suggest i go about it.

 

[Angry_Birds]

I saw 91 views and 0 responses, so I will go ahead and give you something to work with:

1. VMWare Workstation runs on top of Windows. Create a VM for W7 and Ubuntu (fairly straightforward) and just run/interact with them in the console window or remotely. There will be some performance overhead from the host OS.

2. Set up ESXi (you'd have to check the compatibility list to see if it will work on your box, it's generally designed for server-class hardware), then remote into those or run vSphere on another machine

Is there a specific reason you need it with two VM's? You could do a baremetal install of Windows 7, create an Ubuntu VM, and then just run it fullscreen on the second monitor. I would also recommend VirtualBox on Ubuntu hosting the Windows VM, but Linux's dual-monitor support is very sketchy.

 

[SeeThruHead]

running two vms, where the system dynamically allocates cpu power to each vm in a setup that is virtually transparent to the end user just seems like a nice elegant setup while retaining the benefits of virtualization. It doesn't really look viable from what I can tell from googling and reading up. Ill just buy another machine for the ubuntu box i suppose.

 

[Dangman]

Why not just do what Angry_Birds recommended and just run Ubuntu inside a VM installed/running under Windows 7 and just full screen it on the other monitor? Basically accomplishes what you've described so far.

 

[Keljian]

I don't usually weigh in here.. but I will this time.

Xen hypervisor on your choice of linux (in dom0) + 1-2 gig of ram
Ubuntu DomU 4 vcpus + 2 gig of ram
Windows DomU 4 vcpus + 4 gig of ram

Your limitation will be ram.. upgrade to 16 gig ..

Passthrough of applicable cards/usb ports/sound etc.

Dynamic allocation of resources

 

[levk]

Why are you recommending ESXi and Xen to the guy when he clearly wants a desktop solution with Windows as host? To the OP: VirtualBox can do everything you've specified so far, is very intuitive, and is very free. All you need is a video card that supports 4 monitors.