Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472, and today, I’m teaching myself a long-overdue skill for Linux: Virtual Machines. Let’s get started!
Overview
Virtual machines are like a computer within a computer; a host operating system allocates some of its resources to a less powerful computer, often with an entirely different operating system. Applications vary from getting a feel for a new Linux distribution before/without installing it on baremetal to giving scammers a sandbox to waste their time destroying without risking your actual system.
Failing other methods with less overhead, virtual machines are a more brute force way to run old or incompatible software on your machine. One personal example from my past was a 16 bit Bible program I liked the interface for. Windows 7 wasn’t happy running it, but there was a special XP mode I could boot into and run my program. I found the solution slow and clunky, and I didn’t use it but twice. Furthermore: the license didn’t extend for Windows 10, so I refused to use it on principle when I downgraded.
Choosing a VM
Wikipedia is a great place for finding software comparisons. Their list of VM’s is quite lengthy, but I wanted a general purpose VM solution I could use anywhere and run anything, as I had an idea I wanted to try on a Windows machine, but my main focus would be running one Linux from another. I was also trying and failing to keep an eye on weather a VM was using a type 1 hypervisor (better performing) or a type 2 hypervisor (more portable/debugable – I think) to run a guest OS.
Looking into individual results, Oracle Virtualbox came out as having a reputation for being easy, even for beginners, though it does lock away some features for a premium version. Free and Open Source KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine) also came up as a better performing, but harsher on the barrier to entry. Further research from LinuxConfig article “Virtualization solutions on Linux systems – KVM and VirtualBox” warned me that KVM may not be as enthusiastic as advertised when it comes to running outside Linux on Linux VM’s, and that I’ll probably want to learn both at some time when I revisit this topic to straighten things out with QEMU and other elements I’ve glossed over while reading about.
Installation: First Attempt
While my goal when starting research was putting a VM on my father’s Mint machine for unrelated –and soon outdated– reasons, I started on my older, but more capable Manjaro machine. I found VMM, a package in a community repository for monitoring VM’s, so I installed it, though poking about only yielded error messages.
It took a while, but it looks like my CPU doesn’t support everything I need for running VM’s. None of my personal computers do. During my initial investigation, I looked up my CPU model on Intel’s site. From what I saw, it supported Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x), but not Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d). One guide only mentioned the former as a requirement, but no package for KVM proper showed up when I searched for it. Furthermore: any commands that look through my CPU’s info properly don’t see the required component.
Takeaway
So, no. I’m not doing a VM today, but when I looked at my father’s Mint box, the newer CPU did support virtualization, and by extension, ButtonMash should too, though their other resources may limit useful applications.
This week’s research has also given me insight as to why XP Mode was so clunky those years ago. I was sending my hardware in directions it wasn’t designed to go. It can still pretend like it’s up to the task, and for old enough applications it doesn’t matter. But hosting a modern OS on top of a modern OS is not for me at present.
Final Question
Have you ever gotten closure to an old project years after laying it to rest?