What distros have you been testing recently?

Discussion on Linux distributions
User avatar
tlmiller
Posts: 4848
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:29 pm
Location: AZ, USA

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by tlmiller »

I use qemu w/ KVM for the hypervisor, virt-manager to create/manage them, and install the ovmf package so I have the ability to build my VM's with EFI, along with the spice-client-gtk package so that I can use the spice display server in virt-manager.

I tend to build 4-thread/8GB ram VM's as my default, although I was testing this particular distro on an Intel laptop machine so built it as 3-thread/8GB ram in order to leave a bit more resources for the host since Intel processors CURRENTLY lag AMD so badly in the mobile space (this does appear to be ready to change with Alder Lake, pre-release tests appear to be EXTREMELY impressive performance).
wove
Posts: 1188
Joined: Mon May 04, 2020 4:47 pm

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by wove »

tlmiller wrote:I use qemu w/ KVM for the hypervisor, virt-manager to create/manage them, and install the ovmf package so I have the ability to build my VM's with EFI, along with the spice-client-gtk package so that I can use the spice display server in virt-manager.
That is some industrial strength virtual machine construction. The IdeaCentre is really the first hardware I have had that has the resources to create a virtual machine that is actually useful. I think VM created in Boxes can be moved relatively easily to another system that has Boxes installed. I have no idea if a VM created in Boxes could be moved to VirtualBox or VM Player. I have Haiku and Endeavour VMs up and running now for a few weeks. It has occurred to me that I have as much invested in setting them up as I would if I had them installed on bare metal and it would be nice if the VMs could be some what easily transfer to another system.
User avatar
tlmiller
Posts: 4848
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:29 pm
Location: AZ, USA

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by tlmiller »

Since boxes is based on Qemu-KVM+spice-gtk, they're definitely going to be possible to use if you decide to go to a more complete front-end for qemu-kvm, and I'm fairly certain there's ways of migrating from KVM to Virtualbox. No clue about VMWare Player though.
User avatar
crosscourt
Posts: 11100
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:38 pm
Location: Wash DC
Contact:

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by crosscourt »

Continuing to test Mint 22 XFCE, MX Linux 21 and Zorin 16.
Site Moderator
User avatar
crosscourt
Posts: 11100
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:38 pm
Location: Wash DC
Contact:

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by crosscourt »

The terrible part is, I havent been able to spend much time in Linux, as all my time is taken up with Win10 and Chrome OS.
Site Moderator
User avatar
crosscourt
Posts: 11100
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:38 pm
Location: Wash DC
Contact:

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by crosscourt »

Ive been using Mint XFCE but going to give Cinnamon another try to see how it goes. Looking for a change of pace and using Mint recently has been a great experience.
Site Moderator
User avatar
crosscourt
Posts: 11100
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:38 pm
Location: Wash DC
Contact:

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by crosscourt »

Using my older Latitude laptops, Ive been testing all the Mint versions, Neon,Feren,MX,Zorin Lite and Mageia 8. I have to say I really like Mageia 8 except for net applet.
Site Moderator
User avatar
tlmiller
Posts: 4848
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:29 pm
Location: AZ, USA

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by tlmiller »

I don't quite get why anyone still uses net applet. It's so technologically far behind the NM-applet at this point (despite using the same backend) that you're just doing a HUGE disservice to your users to stick with it.
User avatar
crosscourt
Posts: 11100
Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2018 5:38 pm
Location: Wash DC
Contact:

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by crosscourt »

Thats one of the reasons I like KDE as I prefer the way they handle wifi connections.
Site Moderator
wove
Posts: 1188
Joined: Mon May 04, 2020 4:47 pm

Re: What distros have you been testing recently?

Post by wove »

I have been running Endeavour and Haiku in virt-manager and I am impressed with them. Both systems seem to run snappier than the host system they are running on. Haiku has a package called Aquemu, which looks to be a Haiku clone of the virt-manager, so I could probably move my VMs over. Endeavour is a very nice learning experience. Everything is quite well documented, and while I am still at a point where I need to look up how to anything, nothing has been too complex for get done successfully.
Post Reply