Lightweight version for Virtual Machine?

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lmlm

Lightweight version for Virtual Machine?

Post by lmlm »

What distro and/or desktop do you recommend for use in a virtual machine?

The host would be Windows 7 or Linux, and the main uses of the Linux guest in VirtualBox would be:
  • Browsing (webmail, general surfing, streaming sports video)
    Opening Pictures and flash slideshows (from webmail)
    LibreOffice (rarely)
    Maybe an email program (Thunderbird?)
    Decent Firewall/security
That's about all, so a lightweight version with a Windows-like desktop for a newbie would be preferred. Thanks!
---------------
This is for these computers:
(1) an i3 with 4GB of RAM
(2) an i5 quad-core with 8-16GB of RAM
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
oobetimer

Re: Lightweight version for Virtual Machine?

Post by oobetimer »

All but not Unity (Ubuntu) or Mandriva´s new KDE
cwsnyder

Re: Lightweight version for Virtual Machine?

Post by cwsnyder »

For specifying a lightweight version, you have some heavyweight requirements!

First, multiple tabs with streaming video? You are probably going to require more than 1G RAM, more RAM for multiple streams. LibreOffice rather than a lighter weight Abiword or even lighter CLI editor would again probably require 1G or more to get acceptable loading and response time. Adobe Flash loaded to get your webmail videos means you probably won't want to use a lightweight browser like Midori. Thunderbird by itself is a full-bore e-mail client, instead of using web-mail.

With your requirements, I can't recommend anything lighter than Windows XP or Linux Mint LXDE.
lmlm

Re: Lightweight version for Virtual Machine?

Post by lmlm »

cwsnyder wrote:For specifying a lightweight version, you have some heavyweight requirements!

With your requirements, I can't recommend anything lighter than Windows XP or Linux Mint LXDE.
I'm looking for an easy transition from Ubuntu, since commands I've learned so far are based on that. I assume that means Debian-based (?) so I probably need to go with at least XFCE, based on this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Mint

You are correct, I do have some fairly heavy tasking :?

On the other hand, for my mother's computer, she will run mostly just webmail with picture/flash attachments (and Libre Office, rarely) in the Linux guest VM, with Windows 7 as host. Total of 4GB RAM --> probably allocate 1.5GB for the VM, so lightweight is best, but using Adobe Flash and LibreOffice.

Would XFCE be better than Cinnamon and MATE for her computer? Where can I see a resource use comparison?

Thanks!
cwsnyder

Re: Lightweight version for Virtual Machine?

Post by cwsnyder »

The main reason why I would recommend Xfce or LXDE over MATE or Cinnamon? MATE, GNOME 3.x, & Cinnamon are still what I would call beta software with problems in some configurations; Xfce, LXDE or even Enlightenment are less likely to simply dump a user. For memory usage comparisons, look at http://thelinuxexperiment.com/guinea-pi ... tle-ram-5/ .
lmlm

Re: Lightweight version for Virtual Machine?

Post by lmlm »

I see, thanks. With XFCE, I can easily add LibreOffice (or other programs) via the software center, correct?

For a virtual machine, since it will only get allocated 1-2gb of RAM, should I just run a 32-bit version? Would there be any advantage to running 64-bit?

Thanks!
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nunol
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Re: Lightweight version for Virtual Machine?

Post by nunol »

I would go with Mint 12 LXDE (or Lubuntu 12.04) with LibreOffice or Mint 13 XFCE. All 32bit.
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