Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472 and today, I am building a Linux virtual machine for my mother and sister to split. Let\u2019s get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Switching operating systems is like moving to a new house. It\u2019s intimidating. Things are arranged in different spots. The pattern of your daily life will shift and there will be an uncomfortable adjustment period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But at least with computers, anyone with a semi-recent CPU and enough other system resources can host a \u201cguest\u201d operating system for evaluation. While I previously have no experience with this method, for others, it serves as a sandbox where they can try things with Linux without the pressure of learning everything at once or else risk being out a computer if a problem commands a chunk of research time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve done my share of research on Virtual Machines (VM\u2019s) in the past. VirtualBox is a well-respected name, and I can see why. Once I installed it on my sister\u2019s Windows machine, I didn\u2019t have to research anything about it specifically until I was looking at a desktop and my sister wanted the VM to use both screens. Otherwise, the experience was intuitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PopOS is quickly becoming my go-to easy mode for Linux. Their downloads come with shasum verification hashes, which I made use of. In one way, it was even easier to install because I could just install straight from the disk image without any physical install media. I did have one problem during installation where the installer window rendered larger than the screen resolution. Instead of brute forcing a virtual screen size from VirtualBox, I just used Super (Window key)+click&drag as I learned to do while working with GIMP on a boxy tube monitor with a similarly nostalgic resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dual screens had me stumped on their instruction set. From what I can tell, I had to insert a virtual CD that came with VirtualBox and install it into PopOS\u2019s virtual disk drive. A bit of computer wizardry happened that involved some sudo password prompts that crashed and duplicates thereof happened and I seemingly needlessly rebooted the VM several times before I unlocked the necessary options to enable dual screen. I will want to pay more attention next time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The default desktop environment for PopOS was based on GNOME 3, but it\u2019s not for us. System76, the makers of PopOS provided an awesome command by command guide for installing a large selection of alternate desktop environments, so I loaded a few my mother and sister should feel most comfortable with. KDE is my favorite, but Cinnamon and MATE are other names I recognize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of KDE, If Linux is the OS of customization and decision fatigue, KDE compliments it perfectly. I spent more of my blog project time this week trying to chase down the color settings than I would have liked. I was hoping for some sort of base color picker that would then populate the rest of the theme with different shades, but I found some options to pick each shade individually. Unfortunately, you\u2019d have to be an artist to make something that looks decent. I was able to find a user-submitted theme with an acceptable color palate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My Manjaro workstation has been getting its Internet through a Raspberry Pi for a while now, but lately I\u2019ve been getting periods of having the Pi\u2019s Wi-Fi connection drop randomly. My father picked up a special gaming Wi-Fi router and I set it up today after months of other projects constantly taking priority. Long story short: I was easily able to use my laptop to connect and arrange default configurations on the router, but I have yet to get it to agree with the Pi 4. I\u2019ve tried looking into possible inherit compatibility issues, but all the guides for finding information on Wi-Fi from Linux assume the presence of tools that aren\u2019t present in Raspian. I thought this was small enough for a side project, but it appears I was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Setting up a new computer and getting it tweaked properly takes a while and a VM is no exception. One point I didn’t go into was how our NFS drive didn’t admit the VM on account of its IP address. I also learned that one of the intended host machines sits a little too heavy on its existing RAM, so it will need an upgrade for comfortable VM operation. I expect a follow up to this project at a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you have any tips for working with virtual machines?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Good Morning from my Robotics Lab! This is Shadow_8472 and today, I am building a Linux virtual machine for my mother and sister to split. Let\u2019s get started. Machines Within Machines Switching operating systems is like moving to a new house. It\u2019s intimidating. Things are arranged in different spots. The pattern of your daily life … <\/p>\n