Is there a way where I can use my PCI modem in a virtual machine on an ubuntu 12.04 host box? I have installed Ubuntu 12.04 on the host and I want to use my PCI modem on a guest virtual machine. Can this be done using kvm, vmware or virtualbox?
Update:
I have tried this https://askubuntu.com/questions/16586/how-to-access-serial-ubuntu-host-serial-port-on-virtualbox-guest-os but i had no luck, I suspect it needs the drivers for the modem installed on the host.
Update 2:
It seems that if i want to use the PCI modem on the guest box without having the drivers on the host box Oracle PCI Passthrough is the eay to go: http://howtoware.blogspot.com/2012/01/oracle-vm-virtualbox-how-to-use-pci.html
🙁
Hardware details:
Ubuntu 12.04 x32
Agere PCI modem (Tested on a Windows 7 box and is working fine)
Best Answer
Trying to use PCI pass-through on VirtualBox is dicey, it's still an experimental feature. Your hardware needs to support IOMMU which is uncommon in consumer-grade equipment.
The host OS needs to recognize the device and create a serial port for it, /dev/ttyS? or /dev/ttyUSB? or any of a series of other options depending on the distribution.
If it does, use VirtualBox's support for serial port pass-through and tie the virtual device, eg. COM1 to a Host Device and supply the appropriate device path (like /dev/ttyS0) in the text field.
When you restart the virtual machine, you should be able to access the modem from the appropriate /dev/ttySx port starting from 0 = "COM1"