Maybe this will help someone deciding on trying to use Delphi in VM:
I used Delphi 10.2.3 in VMware for a month and I just reinstalled it back on my local machine, it just didn't really work for me in VM.
So, specification:
Desktop: Intel I7 4790K (4c/8t), 32 GB Ram and all SSDs; Windows 10.
VMWare Workstation Pro 15.1 installed on local PC - I researched quite a lot on how to improve experience with VM
Settings:
Memory: 12GB
Processors: 4 (processors: 2, cores per processor: 2)
VM file is on separate SSD.
Fresh Windows 10 installed in VM (+all updates + all latest drivers)
To make it run a fast as possible (or to limit resources used) I disabled all non-essential services, cleaned up startup programs, no antivirus or antimalware installed.
Very few other tools, just 7z, WinRar...
Delphi 10.2.3 + IDEFixPack + MMX + GExperts + CNPack
Disabled Start page + disabled Live binding.
One of the reasons why I tried Delphi in VM is to have simple backup and grab-and-go Delphi environment.
So, at first it seemed to work well, full build time was a bit slower, but not too annoying - 50% longer than compile time on local. A bit slower IDE, slower switching between Form and code.
For the testing of concept it was acceptable and luckily at that time I didn't have any real development time scheduled, just some minor bug fixes.
But as soon as I started really working with it, all these little things became very annoying, in a matter of few hours:
- delays in mouse right-click in code to use Toggle Breakpoints or Refactor (rename variable)
- delay on selecting Form controls and Object inspector to populate properties and Structure view
- opening menus
- even ctrl+home/end on large unit (40K loc ) was delayed
- and other little delays here and there
The delay I'm talking about is very minor, probably less or close to 1s, but when you use IDE a lot these delays become very apparent and annoying. For me this was too much after a few hours of real work.
To summarize, I think I optimized VM as much as I could to run as fast as possible; the computer is still powerful enough even though is not brand new high-end computer; I don't have huge projects, but they do have some 100Ks loc each.
If I would install all the rest of the tools I use in my daily development environment and run them as I do on local computer (memory regularly gets used 20GB+) it would slow down the whole VM experience even more.
I doubt that VirtualBox or any server virtualization (Hyper-V?) would improve the experience.
Maybe it's my patience (or the lack of it) that got tested really fast, but VM just isn't working for me.
If anybody has different experience, please let me know if you have any advice on how to make the whole experience better - smoother IDE, like on local installation where runs really fast (very acceptable).