I have installed Debian linux but through no choice of my own I haven't been able to use linux in a while. I remember there was a way to install another distro using a virtual program. I don't remember what it's called. Any information would be helpful and greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I use VirtualBox. There are other solutions, including VMWare.

No, IMHO there is only one: VirtualBox.

First of all, it's free. And, unlike VMWare's various versions, it is not "a hobbled horse."

Second, its produced and backed by Oracle Corporation ... yeah, "the humongous-database people." The company that gave Larry Ellison his bigger-than-anybody-else's yacht.

(Of course, Oracle wasn't being entirely altruistic: they built the tool for themselves. They're also heavily involved in the sister technology, "containers.")

It runs on anything, and it does exactly what it says it will do. It lets you set up virtual machines and run Linux – or, anything else – in them. Most of the world's web sites and so forth run on virtual machines "in the cloud."

+1 on Virtualbox.
Repo first, else https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads for packages.

Thanks for the quick and informative responses. The download page even tells how to install it. I'm looking to install another linux distro permanently but I want to play some. Isn't that what makes Linux so fun?

I love VB myself but isn't therebuilt-in virtualisation availabled also? Another vote for VB though.

You have many choices. Free virtual machines exist for a number of OS's and each has good and bad reasons to select. Linux as a host offers a number of ways to run second OS's.

Linux could easily be run off a usb drive also in most cases. While I suggest starting with a VM while using a windows host, I don't always consider that for a linux host.

I'd think that the resources of your host computer may be needed to be known before you get going too far.

For home/hobbyist use, VirtualBox is excellent.

A search for "linux virtualization" will turn up a number of articles on it and its alternatives.

I bought this computer because it is customized for linux.

Dell Inspiron 15.6" Intel Core i3-5015U 2.1GHz 6GB RAM 1TB HDD
Dell Inspiron 15.6" Intel Core i3-5015U 2.1GHz 6GB RAM 1TB HDD
Processor

4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-5015U processor (3M Cache, 2.10 GHz)

Operating System

Debian

Memory

6GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600MHz (4GBx1 + 2GBx1)

Video Graphics

Intel® HD Graphics 4400

Hard Drive

1TB 5400 rpm SATA Hard Drive

Multimedia Drive

DVD+/-RW-

Media Card Reader

Media Card Reader

Biometrics

FastAccess Facial Recognition

Bluetooth

Bluetooth® tied to wireless card

Display

15.6 inch LED Backlit Touch Screen Display with Truelife and HD resolution (1366 x 768)

Fax/Data Modem

HDMI - Yes

Wireless Connectivity

IntelB. Centrino® Wireless-AC 3160 + Bluetooth 4.0

Audio

Waves MaxxAudio

Keyboard

Keyboard - English

Battery

4-cell Lithium Ion Battery

It has two / partitions and /home. I think the only thing that will be tricky is touchscreen but I've done some research already. I used VB in the past and as I remember it was quite easy to use. I plan on using a usb stick for permanent installation. I think the first distro I will try is Arch. I was a long time Gentoo user but eventually I got tired of the constant package updates conflicts. If you look at my join date you'll see I've been around a while. I really appreciate all the advice given. I remember this to be a very helpful forum with polite people. Glad to see things haven't changed. Sorry to get offtopic.

I use Qemu with KVM often myself. VB is very nice but Oracle has shown that it can't be trusted even as far as you could throw Ellison. So a vote for VB but with the warning to hang on to your wallet and keep a plan B ready.

1 members found this post helpful.

Indeed, that's my only reservation for recommending VB -- the understanding that it may "become monetised" at any point whereas the harder-to-use (for me at least) KVM is part of GNU/Linux.