Newbie Friendly VM for linux?
 

Ok i have finally taken my first real steps to finally move away from Windows as a 24/7 OS and for the past weeks i have experimented with the following linux distros : Zorin 15, Linux Mint, Deepin OS, Peppermint OS and Manjaro Linux.

For me i have narrowed it down to between Mint and Manjaro :) Now in order for me to be 100% confident that should i absolutely need to run windows software i was torn between running them on Wine or a VM within linux? i feel the lessons i could learn from VM could serve me well on any OS now and in the future hence the choice to go with VM.

The problem is i am an absolute newbie and my initial research about hardware requirements didn't exactly answer my queries so hope someone could help me out here ^^

#1 Test rig
AMD PhenomII X3 710
HD 4250 onboard graphics
8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
80 GB Samsung SATA drive

#2 Between Manjaro and Mint : which is better for a linux host OS to run Windows 7 as guest? If you have an even better distro i've not tried out do recommend ya!

#3 For the hardware stated in #1 which VM would perform best? Can QEMU run on the test rig? Is there an idiots guide to setting up VM on a linux system out there?

#4 When a Windows guest is installed inside VM of a linux host : can we make it start up automatically and certain windows apps to start up with it as well?

Hope someone can help a linux noob out ya! Also happy holidays to all :)

I've only used VirtualBox, but it's very friendly and graphical.

As to Wine vs. VM: On a VM, you have your usual Windows without any problems except that some programs might not play well with virtualized hardware. Whether Wine is able to run your applications to your satisfaction needs to be tested. On the plus side, Wine is definitely lighter-weight than a full VM.

The disk won't give you a lot of space for the guest, and RAM is probably just sufficient. Of course, the hardware requirements depend on the type of work you are planning to do on the Windows guest.
I don't think that there are significant differences among these general-purpose distros as far as virtualization is concerned.
I doubt you would notice performance differences. You have basically three beginner-friendly hypervisor choices: Vmware, KVM/Qemu and VirtualBox. KVM/Qemu might be a bit less comfortable, since its GUI is a bit frugal and Linux networking skills are definitely a plus when operating it (of course, you can develop those skills as you are using KVM). I don't know VMware, so that perhaps VirtualBox is the best choice. Plenty of tutorials are available.
To start apps inside Windows, you will have to configure Windows. From experience, I can say that my VirtualBox guests do start automatically under the right circumstances, so I guess it can be done (I run Linux guests on Windows).

I have successfully used a Windows XP guest on a Windows-based VirtualBox hypervisor for video editing using an ancient application. I have also successfully started Windows 10 in a KVM guest on Fedora 28.

I also have found VirtualBox easy for home use; it has not yet refused to run anything I've loaded into it, from Linux to BSD to Windows.

I use qemu a lot. While there is a graphical front end available, I prefer to script the start up. If very simple scripts are within your skillset then that is a very convenient option.

Either way, with qemu or Virtualbox, be sure to take advantage of the snapshotting capabilities. That way you can roll back to a last-known-good image when (not if) the legacy OS curdles.

As for WINE, since there are performance advantages to using it over a VM, try what you can in it. Not everything will run well in WINE but it may well be that the programs you are looking for do that and if so it will save you time.

hodak,

I use both Linux Mint MATE and Manjaro Xfce. They are both excellent distros but, as a newcomer to Linux, I would advise you to use Mint because of its general simplicity and user-friendliness.
Once you are familiar and confident with using Mint you can switch to any other distro at a later stage if you wish to do so.

Linux Mint 19.3 MATE download:
https://linuxmint.com/download.php

I would also recommend using VirtualBox.

Download the latest VB 6.1 version (use the Ubuntu 18.04/18.10/19.04 version):
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

I use about half my available RAM for VB and a VDI fixed disk (70GB to 100GB).

https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-i...on-virtualbox/

the hardware is not so strong, so probably wine is a better choice (than a VM), it requires less resources. But it also depends on the windows software you need. Also you may try dual boot.

Well the resource hungry work like video/audio encoding i have educated myself on the linux equilavent apps that i am used to in Windows so i think w/e i need to run on a Windows guest is fairly light. For example i think i would run NPVR or Windows Media Center solely to record Live TV over my tuner :) I've tried Kaffeiene and after reading up on how updates, etc break it easily i prefer to stick to my usual PVR that has served me well all this while? TVHeadend I've tried but its such a headache to get right (as a Linux noob that is haha)

Well i only have max 3 windows apps and fairly light ones so i feel a VM even for academic purposes would be better for me even as you said on dated hardware :)

LibreELEC might be a good choice. It will even run on a Raspberry Pi rather well.

Well i started with 19.2 Mint and updated to 19.3 before this post and it well super smooth and i tried the linux apps i've installed and everything runs a-ok! Hmm whats a VDI fixed disk? is that like a 2nd physical drive for storage only that is accessed by both Host and Guest?

Hmm u mean run Mint/Manjaro as host and LibreELEC as guest on a VM? from what i understand LibreELEC is just Kodi with no desktop environment?

I was thinking on a Raspberry Pi, bare metal as it were. However, that would mean a budget for a little extra hardware.

Trying it in a VM would only be overhead because you could run many of the key components from Kodi natively in Mint/Manjaro.

hodak,

The VDI is where you create, in your case, a W7 virtual machine.

VDI (Virtual Disk Image) is just one the required options when you create a new Virtual Machine (VM):
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26217_01...create-vm.html

I'd suggest Mint Cinnamon for better visuals (but that's personal preference).

If you rarely use Windows programs, wouldn't a dual boot be a simpler option?
Linux can do I/O to NTFS partitions as well as to standard Linux ext4 partitions.
Ideally, you would have a bigger disk (or multiple disks/SSD's).

It doesn't prevent you installing a VM in either Windows/Linux.