It doesn't matter, if you just want to delete them. If your looking to install a different distro, the installation program for said distro, should be able to wipe them for you. Best of luck with it.

>"when you could have been playing with Linux instead"
Do you have (access to) a/any PC? -I- would (&do) 'play' with VirtualBox;
I find it totally fast/simple/easy/SAFE/fun/...; like a PC/Mac game-app!
You can try most all things, ^Remove the VBox, try again, in -minutes-!

.deb on .deb :D

What's the most lightweight linux os that's similar to windows7/8 that will run within VB?

Welcome back! (been trapped in VBox for the last 2 months? :D)

The VBox part doesn't matter (because 'all' OSes work in it!)
OSboxes has pre-installed critters (IF you have decent net dl speed).

Zorin, from web-search of: linux similar to windows (3 more here; a good read!)
An LQsearch of lightweight will find lots of opinions BUT M$Win is opposite of lightweight:(

Does your PC have 4GB+ of ram? Big display? Model? Got 'fast' internet? Having fun? Enjoy! ;)

Actually, probably better to start your own new thread, if&when you have a different question :idea:

No Linux distribution is similar to any version of windows, almost by definition. That said, there are specific THINGS that can be set to be a LITTLE like Windows. We even have an emulator for the "blue screen of death" if you like that.

What specific factors from Windows would you be looking for? There may be a distribution that provides those, but we would need to know what you WANT.

If not Linux, would something else that happens to have the features you require be acceptable? There are always other options.

I simply remember my favorite things And then I don't feel so bad
 

You got me there.
There's really no overtly admirable features of Windows; come to think of it nothing that stands out for me in particular ...but if I had to guess:the Control Panel comes to mind and circumnavigating within windows in general but I suppose that's due to being acclimatized to it.

Being able to just click and download something easily is a Windows admirable feature that stands out; within Linux your made to work for it, which puts me off.

My needs:
1. downloading light stuff from the internet and referencing the material eg like zip file containing code
2. android emulator
3. free software
4. OS environment conducive to programming; java, javascript, python

Doesn't have to be linux per se, I'm open to other OS's.

When Microsoft bites
When Apple stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad...

All of that is accomplished by any of the more complete and integrated distributions.

The RHEL family including OpenSuse, RHEL, CentOS, Scientific, etc. have one line install commands from the terminal, and optional gui interfaces that are better and more complete than the ones for Windows. (Admittedly, they have the advantage that there are many more packages for Linux than there are for Windows.)

The Debian (and major offshoot Ubuntu) have a different but similar complete nicely integrated system with single command line and optional gui package managers for installing software.

There are a couple of other lines, but the above have the best support communities and greatest numbers.
If you search for a LUG (Linux Users Group) in your area and find out what they happen to use most, there is an advantage there in being able to go ask a friend questions without restoring to the internet.

That "work for it" only happens with these distributions if you install something outside of the package managers. The package managers take care of all dependencies, so it is click, enjoy your coffee, run the program: no work involved.

The gui settings menu is partly a function of your desktop environment (DE). There are now at least three lines of current or spawned GNOME, a couple of KDE, and several others. (I like foobar myself, but it requires work to configure. LXDE or XFCE based distributions may be more your speed.) In all cases stay with one of the primary desktops supported by the distribution so that all of that menu integration works smoothly.

As for downloading, I use Mozilla(Firefox), Google Chrome, and Opera as my primary browser set, and they work with all of my Linux instances. With those and sftp (and the gui front ends for it) I can pull down about anything I want at any time I want. There are also torrent clients, if you prefer.

As for Android, it is getting difficult to find a major Linux distribution that does not support at least one Android emulator. It does, again, depend upon what features you need. For this, hardware matters. There are at least two Android clones for *86 processors, but I have not researched ones for other chipsets.

www.distrowatch.com may be your best friend here. There is nowhere I know that you can investigate more different distributions and their characteristics on one site. Recommended highly.

On other fronts: If you do not need WIFI (work wired) you might try ReactOS for a very windows compatible OS. It is still in (late) Alpha so do not expect it to be complete.

If you need massive speed and want to experiment with another option, check out KolibriOS. It looks a bit like Win95, runs a bit like a minimal Linux, but is blinding fast. Almost no standard software is available for it, but everything that IS available (and the OS itself) are pure, clean, fast assembler language. IT screams, but is unlikley to be the desktop you are looking for.

I hope that this helps a bit.

First of all I'm not even sure that Windows 7 and Windows 8 are similar to each other. Many people hate the W8 tiled GUI but are fine with W7.

The OP was asking for Linux versions that are lightweight, presumably to run in a Oracle VB VM on a machine with limited RAM. These versions should also have a GUI/DE that looks and feels similar to Windows, such as a "start" button for application menus and a bottom control panel. KDE Plasma 4 which I use looks more like Windows than Gnome 3 shell. The button for the KDE application launcher is in the same place as a Windows "Start" button and there is a bottom control panel. Gnome 3 shell looks and behaves dramatically different.

No one on this thread ever said that M$Win is lightweight.

OpenSuse is definitely not part of the RHEL family. It is the free version of Suse a German commercial Linux. American Red Hat and German Suse are arguably the two biggest commercial Linux versions.

Ubuntu maybe up there, arguably that is... :D

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...0/#post5544589
https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/u...y-live-builds/

:hattip:

I prefer Win 7 over Win 8



I mentioned lightweight only because my machine seems to be slowing down of late and didn't want to compromise it further; just assumed lighweight linux wouldn't be a drag. I have 8GB ram.




What are you recommending I go with though? I want to add something to my list of what I want: I'm also after a very privacy-centric linux OS (exclude live CD's though).

The revised wants list looks like this:
1.something that won't further slow down my computer whilst using it in VB
2. respects my privacy; by this I mean not sending info on my computer to some external entity
3. windows-7-like feel

A live CD can be installed just like an install CD but from the DE\WM... ;)

Just like you can technically set up any environment, temporarily, from an install CD if you wanted\needed... :D

Unless the Linux is put out by a corporation like Canonical (and likely even then) "respects my privacy" is not a problem in Linux assuming you are the admin running a firewall, updates and script blockers.

https://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Netbooks
https://fossbytes.com/best-lightweight-linux-distros/
https://www.linux.com/news/best-ligh...x-distros-2017

Have you tried Searching?
http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/p...es/bones.shtml

There's opinions like your asking for and there's running Linux, try and catch them all.

From what I've heard, Canonical was pretty bad, but they've gotten a lot better. But if you still don't want to take a chance on them, then pretty much any distribution will fit your privacy requirement. But Ubuntu is a great distribution for people who are just starting with Linux. And if you want something that looks like Windows 7, you might want to go with either the LXDE desktop environment or the KDE Plasma desktop environment. Of the two, LXDE is the most lightweight.