Somebody asked me if ESX 3.0 can run 64-bit guests like Windows Server 2003 x64 or Windows Vista x64. In short, the answer is yes. The longer, more complete answer is that there is experimental support for these guests and that it depends on the server's CPU.

Clearly, you need a 64-bit CPU because most of the instructions are run directly on the CPU. VMware does not use emulation of some sorts. It would be technically possible to run a 64-bit guest on a 32-bit CPU but the required emulation would decrease performance significantly.

For Intel, you need a processor with EM64T. For AMD, you need an Opteron revision E or later. I only refer to Opteron here because that will be the most common AMD processor for running ESX 3.0. Other AMD processors like the Athlon64 and Turion also support 64-bit guests but you will more than likely run VMware Player or VMware Server on those processors.

In addition to EM64T support, you also need VT support in Intel processors. VT support (in this case) is used to provide isolation for guests. According to VMware, doing so without VT would mean that performance would not be optimal. For 32-bit guests, VT is not required because the current implementation provides good performance.

VT (Virtualization Technology) is an Intel-only feature. AMD has similar technology in the works, Pacifica. However, on AMD processors, Pacifica is not needed. Segmentation is used to provide isolation and that feature is available for Opterons starting from revision E.

To sum up: ESX 3.0 has experimental support for 64-bit guests. You need an Intel CPU with EM64T and VT support - or - an AMD Opteron revision E and up.

In my car, I have an auxiliary input to connect an audio device such as an iPod to the car stereo. The auxiliary input is located under the arm rest together with a cigarette lighter. That makes it easy to put the iPod out of sight and still power it while connected to the car stereo.

To power the iPod, I use the Monster iCarCharger for iPod. It also provides a 3,5mm jack to connect the iPod to the car stereo’s auxiliary input. That provides better sound than connecting the iPod to the car stereo using the headphones connection.

Of course, it’s a bit inconvenient to have to open the arm rest to change tracks so I also bought a Griffin AirClick. The AirClick allows you to change tracks, pause, play, and so on. Because it uses RF signals, the iPod can stay neatly under the arm rest.

When the car is turned off, the iPod automatically pauses. When the car is turned on, playback can be resumed by using the AirClick’s play button. Naturally, you have to change playlists on the iPod itself.

It is of course much better to have the iPod integrated with the car stereo so you can change tracks from the radio or steering wheel, change playlists, view track names and so on. I can get that for my car from BMW itself but then I would have to pay something like 400 euros. Other solutions such as Dension’s ice>Link Plus are usually cheaper but there are some problems with the new BMW 3–series E90 model. I decided not to wait until they got that fixed. The solution described here works well, is cheap and above all, the sound quality is good!