this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 36 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Well, I'm currently using VMware on Ubuntu

Well there's your mistake: using VMware on a Linux host.

QEMU/KVM is where it's at on Linux, mostly because it's built into the kernel a bit like Hyper-V is built into Windows. So it integrates much better with the Linux host which leads to fewer problems.

Ubuntu imho is unstable in and of itself because of the frequent updates so I'm looking for another distro that prioritizes stability.

Maybe, but it's still Linux. There's always an escape hatch if the Ubuntu packages don't cut it. But I manage thousands of Ubuntu servers, some of which are very large hypervisors running hundreds of VMs each, and they also run Ubuntu and work just fine.

[–] mmababes@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I just installed QEMU/KVM.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get it to run Win 10 and Kali

[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)

It'll definitely run Kali well, Windows will be left without hardware acceleration for 2D/3D so it'll be a little laggy but it's usable.

VMware has its own driver that converts enough DirectX for Windows to run smoother and not fall back to the basic VGA path.

But VMware being proprietary software, changing distro won't make it better so it's either you deal with the VMware bugs or you deal with stable but slow software rendering Windows.

That said on the QEMU side, it's possible to attach one of your host's GPUs to the VM, where it will get full 3D acceleration. Many people are straight up gaming in competitive online games, in a VM with QEMU. If you have more than one GPU, even if it's an integrated GPU + a dedicated one like is common with most Intel consumer non-F CPUs, you can make that happen and it's really nice. Well worth buying a used GTX 1050 or RX 540 if your workflow depends on a Windows VM running smoothly. Be sure your CPU and motherboard support it properly before investing though, it can be finicky, but so awesome when it works.

[–] mmababes@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Thanks for the tip!

[–] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You can install the virtual drivers in windows to get better graphics acceleration.

[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 2 points 10 months ago

They mostly don't exist yet apart from this PR.

On Vista and up, there's only the Display Only Driver (DOD) driver which gets resolutions and auto resizing to work, but it's got no graphical acceleration in itself.

[–] Aradia@lemmy.ml 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I use virt-manager GUI to control KVM easily, but you can control anything easily with virsh command lines. I dislike VMware and VirtualBox, neither needed. Also, on terminal client virsh you can do much more configurations than just with virt-manager.

[–] Still@programming.dev 4 points 10 months ago

virt-manager can also connect to remote hosts over ssh

[–] jjlinux@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Remember that Desktop and Server editions are very different in terms of stability. Ubuntu has got to be one of the, if not the, most widely used linux distros for servers, that's where the money is really in for them, so it's more deeply tested before release to the public at large, but in my experience, in the last decade or so, Ubuntu is painfully lacking on too many fronts in it's desktop versions.

[–] dewritoninja@pawb.social 1 points 10 months ago

My only issue with qemu is that folder sharing is not a great experience with windows guests. Other than that Ive had a great experience, especially using it with aqemu