[conspire] VirtualBox

[Dan Bikle]

I have spent a lot of time with various virtualbox setups over the past 4
years.

I suggest you try windows(10 and/or 8) as host and linux as guest.

Then try it for a month and see if you like it.

I have learned that  windows(10 and/or 8) as host and linux as guest is a
horrible experience.

You should challenge that view and try the setup yourself to see if you
will hate it too.

Now when I need windows, (about once a year to do my corporate taxes), I
buy the cheapest windows laptop which can do the job.

That is usually about $350.

Then I setup my good/expensive laptops so they boot Linux.

One setup which works well for me is Linux as host and Linux as guest.

Then I use my Linux guests to hold data and apps which require lots of work
to setup.

I try to keep my Linux hosts as clear of data and apps as possible.

I see a Linux host as a thing which runs virtualbox and nothing else.

As I pack data and complexity into my various Linux guests, I shut them
down frequently and back them up to a pair of rotating 8TB usb drives.

I keep one drive near and the other offsite.

If I ever lose a drive or a host, I can just buy new ones and restore
everything from the offsite usb drive.

-- Dan


On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 7:13 PM, Leo P <yaconsult at gmail.com> wrote:

> As the holder of a windows 8 license, you are entitled to a free upgrade
> to windows 10 which seems much better than windows 8 once the spyware
> aspects are turned off with SpyBot Anti-Beacon:
> https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/
>
> My suggestion would be to download the official windows 10 ISO from
> microsoft at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
> I would NOT do an upgrade but would record and store my windows 8 license
> number as it will be automatically converted to a windows 10 license once
> you apply it to the fresh install of windows 10 that I suggest you do from
> the ISO you downloaded.
> I would then decide how much of the disk space I wanted to use for windows
> and how much for linux and repartition and format the hard drive using
> gparted running from a usb key or cdrom.  Then I would install windows 10
> into the partition I created for it, update it, and then install linux.
> When you install linux it will also install grub and allow you to choose
> which OS to boot: windows 10 or linux.
>
> That is how I do it.  Others, I'm sure, will have different opinions.  No
> need to have the overhead of visualization unless/until it's needed.
>
> Leo
>
> On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 10:04 AM, Carl Myers <cmyers at cmyers.org> wrote:
>
>> Virtualbox is available for Linux.  If your usage is primarily Linux, you
>> probably want to install Linux, then Virtualbox, then windows as a guest.
>>
>> I am not certain, but I thought there was some rule that you must be
>> provided
>> windows installation media "upon request" or something?  Maybe
>> investigate that
>> avenue.  Failing that, there are other ways to obtain windows (which vary
>> in
>> degrees of cost / annoyingness / legality).
>>
>> -Carl
>>
>> On Sun, Mar 06, 2016 at 04:47:51PM +0000, Paul Zander wrote:
>> > Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2016 16:47:51 +0000 (UTC)
>> > From: Paul Zander <paulz at ieee.org>
>> > To: Conspire List <conspire at linuxmafia.com>
>> > Subject: [conspire] VirtualBox
>> >
>> > So I have a laptop that was factory installed with Win 8.1.  No install
>> media came with it.
>> >
>> > After I get Linux installed, I anticipate that my usage will be 90%
>> Linux and 10% Windows.  I have never used VirtualBox, but several people
>> say it is the way to go. I am inclined to give it a try since dual-boot
>> does not happen as part of installing Debian or Mint on this machine.
>> >
>> > After reading the documentation, it appears that what I need to do is:
>> > * Install VirtualBox on Windows.
>> > * Create a new partition for the guest OS.
>> > * Possibly create another partition for shared data
>> >
>> > * Launch VirtualBox
>> >
>> > * From inside VirtualBox install Linux as a virtual machine into the
>> new partition.
>> >
>> >
>> > After everything is configured, I will always be running Windows and be
>> subject to the annoying unscheduled downtime when Microsoft decides to
>> install an update.
>> >
>> > Is this the only practical option?
>> >
>> >
>> > Perhaps I should bring all of the pieces to the next CABAL and do the
>> install there...
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > conspire mailing list
>> > conspire at linuxmafia.com
>> > http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire
>>
>> --
>> Carl Myers
>> PGP Key ID 3537595B
>> PGP Key fingerprint 9365 0FAF 721B 992A 0A20  1E0D C795 2955 3537 595B
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
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