# xen, gentoo as domU and Nvidia drivers [solved]

## ChrisJumper

Hello,

i will merge my dualboot System into a system where i have one Xen Installation as dom0, another gentoo Installation as domU and for some games or programs with simple rendering another Windows domU.

But there are some things that i not really understand:

1. Can a DomU use a Device like my nvidia card if the Dom0 had no driver for it installed?

(This is because i can not install the binary nvidia Drivers with the xen-sources-2.6.34. Here a user called jbreland has post a "hack" to got the drivers installed)

2. I'm not sure if i need (today) a xen-source Kernel for my domU. Wasn't there some investigations in the "normal" Linux-Sources to be compatible to such Paravirtualizations?

3. The last Security issues in the Linux Kernel made me unsure if they are fixed in the (old?) xen-sources. Or is it secure to run a 2.6.35 Kernel into a domU even if its not recommended to run a higher Version in the domU than the dom0 (here 2.6.34).

That's all, thank you for your time!Last edited by ChrisJumper on Wed Dec 08, 2010 3:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## chithanh

You can dedicate graphics cards to a domU like any other PCI/PCIe device (using pciback.hide). Some drivers need to read the video BIOS from address ranges which are by default not supported in Xen. But reportedly the Nvidia driver works.

Be aware that you can break out of a domU if you can initiate DMA transfers via a PCI device and your system has no IOMMU.

----------

## ChrisJumper

Thank you chithanh for your reply,

for beginning i start with a fresh disk and a fresh gentoo, to play with xen.

 *Quote:*   

> Be aware that you can break out of a domU if you can initiate DMA transfers via a PCI device and your system has no IOMMU.

 

Oh. Thank you, now i will be prepare of it.

Now i found an answer about my Question No 2: I can boot other Kernels too, cause they are shipped with an option to build them with xen-support. Just enable:

(Processor type and features ---> Paravirtualized guest support ---> Xen guest support)

..to be continued

Edit:

And finally at the End. The Direct Rendering is at the point of really few FPS (unplayable - watch unigine benchmark on youtube) even if the DomU-Windows got the control of the PCI-Card.

----------

