Question Virtual machine software choices

[mikeymikec]

I can't remember why I originally chose it, but I've been using VirtualBox for many years. My VM usage has gone up a fair bit since I switched to Linux as my primary OS (these days I have a Win7 VM for two apps, an old XP VM that I keep around just in case and was mostly superseded by the Win7 VM, a Win2k VM because I felt like it, and one or more Linux VMs for testing stuff out on before I try it on my main OS).

VirtualBox is doing the trick for my needs (and while I'm typing this I'm thinking "if it ain't broke don't fix it"), but are there any great advantages of alternative VM software over VB? If gaming was easy to do through Linux and a VM then I'd consider it, but I have a Win10 install for gaming. I also have Win10 as a native install for the data recovery software I occasionally use (GetDataBack).

Also, am I correct in my belief that for a USB device to work in a guest OS, it has to be working in the host OS?

 

[Red Squirrel]

I think it really depends what you're trying to do in Linux. Normal desktop stuff is fairly easy, but some things are in fact more complicated. My big pet peeve is the high reliance on internet for knowledge, because stuff is not turn key or all that well documented at times. Like even using --help on commands it's often hard to make sense of anything and that's if you even know what command to use for what you're trying to do. Try using ffmpeg without Google! Things like package names are also not obvious like if you get an error that something is missing how do you know what you're suppose to install, without googling it.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I always forget how to install Phoronix benchmarks and Google is no help coz there are multiple articles showing how to do it and none of them worked for me last time. But the first time I got it running, it still took me an hour or two of reading and fumbling with different commands to figure it out.

Hopefully with AI chips getting integrated into future CPUs, Linux of the future will guess what we are trying to do and offer up useful hints or even do it for us if we let it. Maybe 5 more years?

 

[igor_kavinski]

but I'd had enough at that point.

Been there so many times.