VirtualBox in Ubuntu 8.04

I see this is in the Ubuntu repos. It's also on a mag. DVD I stumbled upon
while browsing the local newsagent for Xmas presents.
The virtualization stuff is a bit confusing for me.

What happens when there is a kernel upgrade (been about 4/5 since I installed
8.04 LTS) - does one need to reinstall VirtualBox (and for that matter other
VM progs. like VMPlayer) ? That would be a bit of a nuisance.

Is there a good tutorial explaining how to create a new virtual machine ?

Let's say I have a live cd of Linux Mint ( and the iso image of course )
- how would I 'test run' i.e. install this in VirtualBox?

Could somebody be nice and kindly explain what is shown in the .png attached ?
(Maybe I should just install and take it from there - but it's lousy if one isn't
aware of any pitfalls etc. beforehand.)

Ah .. I think I see now, sounds easy - I was looking here:- http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2008/05/05/creating-seamless-virtual-machine-with-virtualbox-16/

 

Is there a question

Will you have to reinstall after kernel upgrade? Most likely no, if you used the official repos and installed from the package manager.

Mrk

 

Hmm... yes. Will the memory allocated to the virtual program be at all times
'subtracted' from system memory, even when not running the program ?
I have a modest 2 GB of RAM, if I allocate say 750MB to the virtual prog.
but am not using it, will I still have the 2GB available for my system ?

Would you still prefer VirtualBox from the repos. (ose) as opposed to the Sun
version ? Apparently the ose version does not have usb support whereas
the Sun version seems to have usb support.

(PS - Your site is getting better and better. Wink is a great app. that I have been
using for some 3/4 years making tutorials for sister in law who is even less
computer savvy than I am.)

 

Memory is in use only when vm is running. So no worries there. I think I have overbooked my ram 12 times over with all the vms I have, but I only ever run 3-4 at most at the same time, at any one machine.

And thank you

Mrk

 

Talking about Wink, a Mac version would be just great. Are there any plans in the pipeline for such an application for OS X?

 

I prefer to use the full version from the sun website so i can have usb support. it does mean you have to manually update it but its fairly easy. Unless you plan to run vista virtualized, 512mb should be plenty of ram for the virtual machine. I run most distros with only 400mb and they perform fine.

 

Yes, that also seems to be the consensus on the Ubuntu forum. The user manual which I downloaded is exceptionally informative. From that I see that
it is important to have the dkms packages installed on both guest and host -
this will apparently enable the Vbox kernel to be automatically rebuilt if the
host kernel is updated. This is one of the main probs. folks on the U. forums
have been experiencing.
One question, when creating virtual hard drive of say 10 GB, I trust that it will
not be installed to root partition by default as I only have a 10 GB root partition.
( I suppose it is created in /mnt ? Nah, probably ~/ but really have no idea and would like to know
before installing).

 

By default, it is created in /home/user/.VirtualBox, but you can put it anywhere you want. I place them in a separate partition that is available to all my distros.

 

Thank you.... and seasons greetings.

 

Have just installed VirtualBox 2.10 from Sun, not yet installed a virtual machine, but when I go to Preferences I get these error messages regarding
USB support:-
Could not load the Host USB Proxy Service (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND). The service might be not installed on the host computer.
Result Code:
NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x00004005)
Component:
Host
Interface:
IHost {f39438d7-abfd-409b-bc80-5f5291d92897}

Could not load the Host USB Proxy Service (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND). The service might be not installed on the host computer.
Result Code:
NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x00004005)
Component:
Host
Interface:
IHost {f39438d7-abfd-409b-bc80-5f5291d92897}

Did you also get them with Intrepid ? If so, did you perhaps solve the problem
like this ??

Add this line to etc/fstab:-
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=XXX_vboxusers>,devmode=664 0 0

(where XXX is vboxusers group ID; mine is 126 .... cat /etc/group | grep vboxusers)

Restart system - or - sudo mount usbfs

To test whether desired USB device is listed:- cat /proc/bus/usb/devices

(My host is Hardy)

 

Ocky, please visit the Ubuntu forums, there's a mega thread on virtualization there, explaining how to fix it, plus I've answered it a few times here and there ...
Mrk

 

You should install the dkms package from the repositories.

If you're still having an error message after a kernel upgrade just execute

sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

This solved every problem I ever had after a kernel upgrade.

 

This worked for me:-
Uncomment these lines in /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh (as root)

#mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
#domount usbfs "" /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
#ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
#mount --rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb

Restart service

sudo /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh stop && sudo /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh start

Restart VirtualBox.
Great but now I will need to decide on a guest to install.

Thank you tlu. I saw this as well so installed dkms. Glad to hear that the
driver setup works well if there should still be a problem despite having dkms.

Edit:- Found the mega thread and in accordance with instructions added the usbusers group and the /etc/fstab entry as well.

Question:- In the manual under known issues it states :-

I am not really interested in seamless mode, but I do have compiz on host. Is it better to switch compiz off in host - or is speed
acceptable ? Apologies for all these novice questions.

 

i am using virtualbox on ubuntu hardy with compiz on.no problems here.the speed is good as before..

 

Ocky, I must say that OpenGL acceleration in guests is not slow! It is decent on Windows hosts and really good on Linux hosts!
Mrk

 

Thanks clansman77 and Mrk. That's good to know in advance. (Maybe
the Guest Additions help with the speed).
I found the silly compiz fusion-icon that I tried yesterday fiddly in the extreme.
If I change from compiz to metacity it's a mess. I have awn, emerald,
and several screenlets of which a few are set to "treat as widget".
Maybe I should have logged in again after changing to metacity, I have no idea.
In any case with awn gone I would need to create the bottom panel again.
Much to fiddly and time consuming, that's why I am glad that you reported no
slow-downs. Bye bye fusion-icon.

 

I have CentOS 5.2 which is also on the DVD (LXF Dec.200 mentioned in my
first post.
Will VB 'pick-up' the install files from the DVD. Is it as easy as selecting
mount CD/DVD and having the right cdrom drive selected ?

Also would CentOS require more RAM than the usual live cd distros ?

 

Yup, it's as easy as that.
And no, CentOS won't need more than your average distro.
Mrk

 

I did the install of CentOS 5.2 in VB. It went smoothly except for one big
irritation. I was unable to use the mouse pointer and had to do everything
with the keyboard. ( The host just didn't seem to want to release the mouse -
and the Right Ctrl toggle doesn't work.)
This also after the install completed - see screenshot. A bit of a conundrum,
the toggle icon says the pointer is captured but the status box indicator says
no. How can I possibly get into terminal to install the Guest Additions ?
(Internet is working - there were some 32 updates which I haven't downloaded
until I know whether I can use my mouse).

 

Ocky try here:
http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/tip/2289.html

 

Cool theme, which one is that?
Mrk

 

It is better now. My Logitech mouse was on PS2 (because Acronis recovery
disc needs PS2). I switched it to USB and ticked USB Logitech .. in Devices..
so now I could use the mouse and will proceed to install the guest additions.
I found the Right Ctrl a bit iffy - maybe things will improve after guest adds.

Mrk. The theme is radial .. http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/radial?content=71352

Edit: - I need to do a sudo yum install gcc.

 

Guest Additions and other stuff all sorted. Now for the fun part, but I don't
have the bandwidth !

Thank you for your support. Have a look at the screenie if you want.

http://files.myopera.com/ocky/files/Centos.png

 

Damn, nice! I admin your desktop looks much better than any of mine. What did you use for the dock? I'll be playing a little ...
Mrk

 

The dock..

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/awn-testing/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/awn-testing/ubuntu hardy main

sudo apt-get install awn-manager-trunk awn-extras-applets-trunk

Question please. This seamless stuff is all very nice, I hope that it is
safe as well ? Edit: I think it is not supported with this CentOS version of x.org.

Whew, now I can finally, try out CentOS. Of course I realise that there is
no guarantee that it will play along with my hardware should I ever decide
to do a 'real' install.

Many thanks for your support !