[Xen-users] Xen linux and gaming box

[Karim Sanjabi <karim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My first post, so please let me know if this is the wrong place for this newbie stuff. Been reading Xen ideas, docs, post for a couple months and decided to give this a shot.
 
Goal: Run any Ubuntu derivative off an intel i5 video card and play Windows 7 games on an Nvidia gtx 570 through vga pass through.  Use a simple dvi toggle switch on the monitor (2 inputs) to go between them. 

Hardware: 16g ram, i5 (non K), vt-d ASRock motherboard, Intel ssd 120 gig, and lots of other slower drives.

So my few questions are:

1) Is there any dis-advantage between Dom0 Mint/Ubuntu/Debian/Fedora ? Performance, stability? Was assuming to compile in the latest xen unstable for the best shot at nvidia support. 

2) What is the best disk performance I can get with a windows 7 DomU? Pass a controller though or just share it with dom0 and maybe another domU. 

3) Seems like the recommendation is to not have an GUI on Dom0.  is there any reason for this? Ideally would like to run XFCE for Ubuntu. I don't understand the pros/cons of running XFCE on an ubuntu dom0 vs running it on a DomU

4) Is it required to pass through a usb bus with a 2nd keyboard/mouse or kvm switch? Or Can I just share the keyboard mouse?  If I do need a kvm switch, will any of them work or is there an approved list (couldn't find any). Little unclear on how to switch between DomU instances (that what cntrl-] does?)

5) For allocating ram and cpu. How much do I need to leave for dom0? Guessing 2 cores for win 7, 2 cores for ubuntu, 8 gigs each may not work since I get the impression I must leave some resources for dom0.  Can the dom0 and ubuntu domU be shared with say 2 cores 8 gigs? 

Thanks ahead of time. These answers have been very hard to find and understand. 

Karim




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