bdwderm wrote on Tuesday, October 16, 2007:
Sorry in advance if this is a silly question but why would one use OpenEMR on a virtual machine when it can be operated in a Windows environment using xampp?
sunsetsystems wrote on Tuesday, October 16, 2007:
Well you could go to vmware.com and read their sales pitch. 
But basically, a virtual machine is portable and easily duplicated. Also OpenEMR is better tested with Linux… some things may be broken under Windows.
As another thought, I would expect Cygwin to play well with OpenEMR, but have not tested that.
drbowen wrote on Tuesday, October 16, 2007:
The usual reason to select to run any application using a Virtual Machine is convenience. OpenEMR with the FreeB, and SQL-Ledger all working together is a challenge for new users. Having everything pre-installed and already functional on a Virtual Machine makes it easy and relatively painless to try out OpenEMR. This is a good thing for inexperienced administrators.
In a production environment, clearly the resources being used by the Virtual Machine cut into performance. Most of us prefer running OpenEMR on a dedicated server. Some administrators prefer Windows. Many of us prefer Linux / Unix / BSD operating systems. The performance difference increases when the graphics are turned off. Turning graphics off in Windows is not possible because of the way the Windows Explorer is built into the operating system.
Virtual Machines make it possible to run Unix operating systems under Windows and to run Windows operating systems under Unix / Linux. This makes trying out how things work in a different operating system much easier.
If you want speed in a working environment you need a dedicated installation.
Sam Bowen, MD
bdwderm wrote on Wednesday, October 17, 2007:
Thanks for the replies. My plan is to run OpenEMR on a dedicated machine and while it has XP Pro pre-installed, I can also install Linux. As I understand things freeb is not utilized in the latest release, therefore, if I’m not using SQL Ledger, a windows set-up should not be too problematic. Brent
sunsetsystems wrote on Wednesday, October 17, 2007:
FreeB is still used, for paper claims. And you do need SQL-Ledger for tracking receivables.
bradymiller wrote on Wednesday, October 17, 2007:
hey,
No such thing as a silly question. The OpenEMR Virtual Machine comes pre-installed with php-gacl(access controls), sql-ledger(accounting), and freeb(paper insurance claims). I haven’t seen any examples of successfully installing these packages on Windows. So if you want this functionality, you need to use linux or VM. Windows users, please correct me if I’m wrong.
There were a couple initial objectives to this OpenEMR Virtual Machine project:
-Provide a quick and safe way to evaluate/test the complete OpenEMR package on any OS
-Provide a detailed set of instructions for a complete installation of OpenEMR
Along the subject of Dr. Bowen’s comments, I’m now getting several emails asking whether the appliance can be used in a production environment, and I’m having a difficult time figuring out an appropriate answer. I agree that performance will suffer, but do the easy backup mechanisms and portability of these things offset the performance loss? After lots of thought, I’ve concluded there’s no simple answer here. It depends on what your trying to accomplish. For example, if your just trying it out in a small clinic environment or with very limited resources(for example, only one computer), then seems like a viable option; then if it works out well and performance becomes an issue, can always transition it to a native server.
-Brady
drbowen wrote on Wednesday, October 17, 2007:
Using the Virtual Appliance is not a question of stability. It is safe. However the Virtual Appliance splits the RAM between the two operating systems and by its nature cuts into performance. This can be mitigated by using lots of RAM and adjusting the majority of the RAM to be used by the appliance.
The issue of FreeB will go away as FreeB is no longer needed for billing. This will simplify a lot of issues for both Unix/Linux and Windows users.
I have been using OpenEMR in my practice now and have 44 gigabytes in the database. I have upgraded my server twice. As your practice and the memory requirements grow so will your desire for speed. It is best to plan ahead as much as possible.
Ultimately the choice of operating system is left up to the comfort level of the administrator. It is usually safer to stay with what you know best.
Sam Bowen, MD