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*NIX: Relatively Minimal Host OS for VirtualBox Use

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ewemoa:
I've heard from some that Ubu's remastering tool (UCK) works just fine with Mint.
-40hz (June 02, 2014, 09:32 PM)
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Thanks!  I'll give the GUI (looks like uck-gui) a try -- may be if I run into problems the HOWTO you mentioned will come in handy.


The following helped to give an overall sense of the process involved in using UCK:

  http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/739139-roll-your-own-customized-ubuntu-with-uck
  http://www.geekyprojects.com/ubuntu/build-your-own-custom-ubuntu-livecd/

It looks like Ubuntu's version of tasksel has a "Virtual Machine Host" option -- I just compared the sources of Debian's (version 3.14.1) and Ubuntu's (2.73ubuntu26), and I don't see such an option in the former.  Anyone tried this?

I didn't try it, but rather:


* chose "run console application" when prompted
* used apt-get to install virtualbox (and virtualbox-dkms and other recommended packages)
* added the mint user to the vboxusers and vboxsf groups (used vigr and vigr -s for this)
* exited the terminal
* continued with the rest of the outlined steps
I then worked on transferring the iso to an appropriate location.

ewemoa:
In the process of transferring the customized media to SDHC -- hope to boot from it soon.


On a side note, tried the persistence feature of LM (Ubuntu actually I guess) to add VirtualBox, but may be it was because of the USB set up I have...it worked but was intolerably slow...For reference, below are the instructions I adapted:

  http://tuxtweaks.com/2014/03/create-linux-mint-persistent-live-usb/


Booted customized "CD" (> 1 GB, USB media) ok, and had some success with running VirtualBox.  ATM, speed seems better than when using LM + persistence.

BTW, as part of the customization, I chose to delete some "Windows" related stuff -- the resulting iso is about 150 MB smaller than the original iso ;)  May be if I work at removing other things I can fit the result on a CD...

ewemoa:
Have since put together a "relatively minimal VirtualBox host" setup using NixOS.

The installation process goes something like:


* Boot from live media
* Log in as root
* Partition disk
* Mount the root partition
* Create a file describing the desired system result (e.g. install VirtualBox, disable IPv6, etc.)
* Run a command that builds a system based on the description from the previous step
* Reboot
Except for the specifics of the description, details can be found at:

  http://nixos.org/nixos/manual/#sec-installation

NixOS still has some rough spots for sure, but it seems quite promising.


Attached should be a gzipped tarball of a sample description (the 2 files in the resulting directory should live under /mnt/etc/nixos when installing).  This is for a machine with a single storage device (sda) with 2 partitions, sda1 for root and sda2 for swap.  The setup includes XFCE and VirtualBox.

ewemoa:
Status update: have been using NixOS for over a year now, has been quite good, though took quite a while to get used to.

Also tried Guix -- a bit more to my liking (based on pieces of NixOS), but still has a ways to go.

Tried Manjaro again (thanks to phitsc) -- the brief experience I had with the Fluxbox 15.10 edition this time has been nice so far.

Wondering whether to try out Qubes -- this appears to be a focused effort to carry out an idea of isolating execution of programs (perhaps among other things).  Anyone else try this already?

MilesAhead:
Status update: have been using NixOS for over a year now, has been quite good, though took quite a while to get used to.

Also tried Guix -- a bit more to my liking (based on pieces of NixOS), but still has a ways to go.

Tried Manjaro again (thanks to phitsc) -- the brief experience I had with the Fluxbox 15.10 edition this time has been nice so far.

Wondering whether to try out Qubes -- this appears to be a focused effort to carry out an idea of isolating execution of programs (perhaps among other things).  Anyone else try this already?
-ewemoa (October 20, 2015, 08:00 AM)
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I have noticed Qemu pop up here and there over the years.  Do you have any experience with it?

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