Typical Problems with Linux-Desktops (KVM)

Hello out there - and thanks for this wonderful product and this supportive community !

As I am surely not the only one who wants to work sometimes with a full featured Linux Desktop I like to list a few of the problems around this issue.
Maybe this could be useful as a reference list to other newbies to proxxmox.
And hopefully there are solutions ...

1) opening a vnc session to a linux desktop via the proxmox VE surface leads to two cursors on your desktop.

I just learned from Dietmar and Tom (both two supportive Proxmox staff members) that the mouse cursor in the virtual session is positioned by using a usb tablet device. Thus, one needs to load a driver for that - to get only one cursor (which is automatically loaded on windows). The driver working with suse and debian-sidux was vmmouse. In Suses Yast utility it can be chosen from a list of drivers - look for vmware - vmmouse. In Sidux-Debian I just inserted vmmouse as my mouse driver at the appropriate place in my xorg.conf (and then reboot ..)

2) the display resolution issue:
My monitor works with 1280x1024, and so does a windows Server KVM session, even if proxmox is on 1024x768,
but the linux-desktops won't do it.
I changed my resolution within proxmox itsself via the typical bootparameter vga=794. As proxmox works with lilo and not grub to boot up, You have
(1) to put YOUR parameter into /etc/lilo.conf (replacing vga=normal),
(2) save the file and then
(3) type lilo on Your boot promt to initialise the new configuration.
(4) the next reboot will bring up your correct resolution.
Depth 800×600 1024×768 1152×864 1280×1024 1600×1200 8 bit vga=771 vga=773 vga=353 vga=775 vga=796 16 bit vga=788 vga=791 vga=355 vga=794 vga=798 24 bit vga=789 vga=792 vga=795 vga=799
But what about my Linux-desktops ? What to do here?
As most of us linux users I have some ideas around this issue - but up to now I can't explain and solve it correctly - could somebody please help me with this.

3) I like to have a KVM container just for trying out some distros.
I just like to push a 64-bit install-media in my SATA-DVD, hoping to see what is offered within a few minutes, BUT:
many times the proxmox-VNC-Session doesn't show the content,
or the graphics are so blurred that it is hard to read, sometimes the boot process hangs, sometimes the contents of a former CD or DVD are shown.
And in /var/log/messages of proxmox itsself are entries of I/O-errors or device not ready concerning my SATA-DVD-device as well as entries on a network bridge ( vmbr0) entering a forwaring state and then a disabled state. These frequent entries show up on the proxmox console itsself (disturbing my running htop). Whats wrong with that ? Is it become of a problem with my installation media ?
 
Could somebody please tell me about his experience with ..

I like to ask once again:
Has anybody here a machine running with proxmox on a 1280x1024 display and the VNC console sessions of their VMs as well on 1280x1024.
This is/was one of my main problems -
especially as a KVM machine running under Ubuntu hardy 8.04 Server Ed. on the same hardware CAN make use of my 3D-NVIDIA-Card (I could use the compiz 3D-Cube, but I'm not interested in gaming - just some more desktop effects like shades, transparency, simple animations within my VMs.)
So, once again:

  1. What about 1280x1024 or higher resolution?
  2. What about some desktop effects under this virtual Cirrus graphic 5446 card ??
Any tips? Any experience?:rolleyes: