Hardware, testserver: Sempron 64 + 1 GB
Installed Ubuntu for AMD 64. Stright forward, no problems.
Then installed Vmware using a slightly modified procedure found on Ubuntu Wiki:
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r` xinetd ia32-libs
wget
http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmserver/VMware-server-1.0.3-44356.tar.gzwget
http://knihovny.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/vmware-any-any-update115.tar.gztar -xzvf VMware-server-1.0.3-44356.tar.gz
tar -xzvf vmware-any-any-update115.tar.gz
sudo cp vmware-any-any-update115/*.tar vmware-server-distrib/lib/modules/source/
cd vmware-server-distrib/
sudo mkdir -p /etc/vmware/ssl
sudo touch /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.key
sudo touch /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt
sudo ./vmware-install.pl
All configuration alternatives selected to default. Installed no problem.
Sat new root password on Ubuntu64: sudo root passwd
Logged into Vmserver via windows console. Still no problems.
Tried to install SME 7.3. Vmware server and host operating system crashed.
Tried to install Windows 2000. Worked without a problem.
Tried to install Astlinux. Vmware server and host operating system crashed.
Conclusion: Vmware server on this host and this operating system supports Windows 32 bit systems but not Linux 32 bit systems. Not specificly related to SME 7.3 (The processor or the operating system ??)
Next step: Try to install Ubuntu 7.10 32 bit host system instead.
Comparision until now: All points to SME 7.3 virtual host system, zero points to Ubuntu.