#virtualization

[nixcraft]

Skip the BIOS hassle! Want to know if your Linux system can handle virtual machines with blazing speed using KVM? Run the kvm-ok command. It's the quickest way to check if your hardware has the virtualization support you need on Intel or AMD CPUs. No more digging through BIOS menus – get your answer instantly at the CLI! 🚀 See this page for more info:

[koduflower2000]

Using KolibriOS to draw something for the OSC on Tumblr: 2024-04-12 03:00

it's been ages since the last time i played with the VM workstation i had on my tablet PC, and now i'm back again with cool things to show here. :D

Back in 2022, before I was an object show fan, there was an application which enabled to run real operating systems on a smartphone or a tablet. It was an emulator which ran operating systems using the x86 or x86_64 processor technology. Of course, I'm talking about Limbo Emulator, in which it has QEMU as the whole framework. It wasn't just based on QEMU, but was basically just QEMU, ported to ARM processors, with a graphical interface. I once created a VM, created a disk and formatted it using DOS, and ran KolibriOS on it.

However, it is to be noted that the VM runs so slow because the tablet has an ARM processor, and ARM processors, including ARM-based ones can operate only in about 1-2 megahertz when emulating x86 or x86_64 chips. The only operating system which can be booted from start to finish in less than a minute is KolibriOS, and let me tell you, it's much more fun to work with.

Then, when I opened Tinypad and wrote something down, I thought to myself, "Hey, what if I made something like a souvenir for the OSC on Tumblr using this operating system? It'll be like the next leap forward to the power of computing. It'll definitely be something like a wonder of lightweight OSes!! It doesn't have to be big, but little. I'm gonna draw something for the OSC!"

I then got an idea. A bright idea. I can draw a TPOT character ship!

When I chose a ship to draw, I considered 2 things:

The ship should be a popular one.

The ship contains characters which are easy to draw.

I had many ideas for that, but the closest ones so far were Fireafy (Firey x Leafy), and Sawty (Saw x Gaty). Both of these ships are popular, but they have either one or both of the characters in each ship which are hard to draw, especially considering the processor is too slow to render curves properly. Even drawing Fubble (Fanny x Bubble) is somewhere between difficult to impossible. Draw a curve very slowly, to the point you would never see the pointer moving, and you get a nice one. Draw it faster, and surprise, it's a collection of lines connected to each other, or in other words, a polygon.

And so, I settled for Coinypin (Coiny x Pin). It took a long time to neaten up everything until I got the result in which I liked. Yeah, I know it's just a bunch of lines and circles, but who cares? I'm happy with it though.

apologies for making a spelling error on the filename, it was supposed to say "tpot coinypin" but i was too lazy to rename it, and then i did it afterwards lol

This is a story in which I did the unthinkable. Next TPOT ship to be drawn on KolibriOS is Sawty (Saw x Gaty), sooner or later, and I hope it turns out fine as the Coinypin one.

The end.

Love,

- Kevin, the real koduflower2000.

[piscesdragon8]

What if Takato and Takuya had retail jobs in Paris and the store plays this piece of French music?

[shadowglitch90]

Retro computer emulation/virtualization resources

Not too long ago, it was one of my hobbies to recreate and emulate old machines and try to use them in a somewhat 'legit' way in order to experience how using them in an accurate time-period might have felt like. While it's always better to use a real machine, it's also important to note that time-accurate machines are essentially a 'ticking bomb'. Some of the electronics inside can go bad at any given time, like capacitors, and other critical components might also go bad due to humidity, moisture in the air, changes in temperature, etc. Plus, they are not always cheap and they take space that you might not have.

This is why I prefer using emulators and virtualization software in order to virtualize a time-period accurate machine that I can use. This is the software I found that I like the most, and what systems I use them for.

DOSbox-X

This is a modified version of DOSBox that includes support for multiple video devices including 3dfx emulation (Voodoo), networking, and even printer support (emulated, but AFAIK it only prints in black and white). It's perfect for MS-DOS and Windows (1-3.11) emulation. Technically you could even install Windows 95 in it.

86-box

This is the way to go if you want to emulate old retro systems. No questions. The best part of it is how flexible it is. You can select the motherboard, the processor you want to emulate, the video card, you can also enable 3dfx support up to the Voodoo 2 (but it also emulates a Voodoo3 and the Banshee), sound card, literally every detail. It's like building a PC, but virtually. And it has hardware from the old 8086 IBM PCs to more modern Pentium 2 machines. It also has network and printer support.

The downside is that since it's low-level emulation, you need a 'beefy' CPU with very good single thread performance in order for more modern systems like Windows 9x and ME to run more smoothly. Another flaw is that for some reason the FP emulation for older processors doesn't work properly for some reason, so you might prefer to use DOSBox-X if you want DOS emulation. The 3dfx emulation is also 'so-so' and not very great, but it works.

It also requires valid ROMs, but you can search for a valid ROMset online (check Github) if you want to use it. For legal reasons, I can't provide links to them, but they are not hard to find.

VMWare Workstation Player

I choose VMWare over other virtualization solutions because of it's graphic drivers capable of running relatively new games from the mid 2000s, and because unlike VirtualBox (since version 6) it still supports old Windows versions, including XP, 9x, ME and old NT systems.

Broadcom wants you to buy a license for the Pro version so they hide the links to the free Workstation Player version. But they are still available and they even release updates once in a while (yes, it's free of charge).

In the link I'm providing, go to the 'player' folder and select the latest version (higher number, now it's 17.6.1) and your system to download VMWare Workstation Player. Then go to the 'ws' folder and select the same version and system, but then select 'packages' to download a matching copy of vmware tools.

Finding software

If you need software, there are three places you need to look for. One is archive.org, the other is WinWorld PC, and the other is Vetusware (requires an account). I can't provide links so search for them on your own. I also browse sites like oldversion.com, but I don't trust these too much, so go at your own risk (or better yet, don't). Naturally you should always buy the software you use, whenever it's possible, and use backups of your legally owned software.

Did you like this post?

I will make more posts in the future about how to set up these emulated machines and how I work with them.

[virtualizationhowto]

Upgrade vCenter Server to 8.0 Update 3

Upgrade vCenter Server to 8.0 Update 3 - Learn the quick steps to upgrade #vcenter #vmware #upgrade #vsphere #homelab #homeserver #upgradevcenterserver

I wanted to share with you guys the process to upgrade vCenter Server from 8.0 Update 2 to the newly released Update 3. The process is super easy and can be completed in just a few minutes. Let’s look at the process along with screenshots of the process. Table of contentsThings to consider before updatingTake a snapshotRunning the upgrade process to vCenter 8.0 Update 3Steps after the…

[gorrus]

[netscapenavigator-official]

I hope you know you've earned the title Linux pro my friend. Installing linux on apple hardware is a challenge, installing a linux OS without support for the architecture/arm on apple hardware is truly triumph. Even if you don't believe it i bestow upon you an honorary title of Linux pro. Be well, and be free friend!

Well, to be fair, I didn't install Zorin OS onto an M1 Mac. It's running under a UTM (QEmu) Virtual Machine. I am, however, surprised that I got Zorin OS Core running on an ARM Machine, at all. I'm even more surprised that I've done it before anyone has documented it online. There are plenty of questions about an ARM version and M1 Virtualization on Zorin's official forum, but they usually go unanswered. From the initial forum posts I used to get my leverage, most people seemed to conclude that Zorin OS Lite would work just fine, but attempting to install Zorin OS Core over top of Ubuntu Server ARM resulted in dependency issues. I got this issues at first too, but after trying and trying again, I realize that Ubuntu Server 20.04's own repositories didn't contain the app versions that Zorin OS was looking for when attempting to install. I realized that Zorin's devs probably had to implement these in repositories of their own, and I was right. I found the list of official Zorin OS repos and "sudo add-apt-repository"ed about 3-4 of them into Ubuntu Server. After that, "sudo aptitude install zorin-os-desktop" ran without errors, and one reboot later, I was running Zorin OS 16.3 Core on an ARM Virtual Machine.

It's still not perfect. Strange oddities, glitches, and freezes occur here and there. For example, this is the second version of this post I'm writing. During the first draft, the VM froze, and I had to restart it. It just does that randomly, for seemingly no reason. I've added an app to the macOS host to see if it's the external SSD sleeping that's causing this issue, but I don't know, as of right now.

The Software Store (aka package manager) also doesn't seem to work properly. Nothing installs, and I always have to use "sudo aptitude install" to get stuff. I'm assuming, despite being the ARM64 version of Gnome Software, something under the hood is still attempting to install the AMD64 version of apps, causing the weird failures and indefinite stalls.

The main LibreOffice app, for some reason, also didn't appear in the Zorin Menu, and had to be added manually.

Only one of UTM's sound card drivers allowed the audio settings to appear as normal. Everything else eliminated a bunch of sliders in the "Sound" settings and muted the VM on startup. That was pretty annoying because I wanted to hear the Zorin OS login chime. Luckily, the one sound card option fixed all this, but for some reason, the VM occasionally starts up with zero audio. It always does this when I restart, so I always have to shut down and then turn back on to fix it.

I'm sure there's plenty more, but so far that's all I've found. I'm sure a more power user would find other stuff, but I'm really only looked to use Zorin OS as a productivity OS, so I'm not likely to run into much more.

To be fair, though, even with all the weird stuff, it still runs smoother than the native install on my 2011 MacBook Pro, so I'm not complaining. In fact, I'm just happy to be using Zorin OS on my desktop, at all.

[kontainersin]

VMware vSphere: Empowering Modern Data Centers with Cutting-Edge Virtualization

Introduction In the realm of enterprise-level virtualization, VMware vSphere stands tall as the industry leader, transforming the landscape of data centers worldwide. With its unparalleled suite of features and capabilities, vSphere has revolutionized the way businesses manage, deploy, and secure their IT infrastructures. In this blog, we will explore the power and uniqueness of VMware vSphere,…

[bigmickswingin]

I'll just do it here.

Linux FAFO

this method is going to be a bit slow compared to what you're used to, but this is the price we pay for virtualization.

1.) download and install virtualbox

2.) download linux mint

3.) launch virtualbox and set up a virtual machine

here's how:

Your left panel will likely be blank, don't worry about it, press NEW

type a name, anything you feel like

select the iso you downloaded in the ISO Image dropdown, it should figure out the rest for you, but if it doesn't Type: Linux, Version: Ubuntu are fine. Mint is based off Ubunutu.

I changed the username and stuff on the left, but I don't think I needed to.

this is asking how much RAM and how many cores (if you have more than one) you want to use for your homunculus computer. stay in the green and you should be fine, but you can keep it at the default too. don't worry about EFI

how big do you want your homunculus hard-drive? KEEP IT LESS THAN YOUR ACTUAL EMPTY SPACE

the next screen will be a summary of everything we've done so far, press finish.

gz you configured a virtual machine.

to start it:

Select your machine of choice, and press Start, then it will boot up. The first time, I got a thing that said it couldn't find an optical drive or something, with a dropdown; I would have picked the same mint iso as we did earlier for the dropdown, but I accidentally closed it. when I opened it again, there was no problem.

chances are it will slowly open you in to a linux desktop. this is because Mint isos are live discs, meaning they load linux in to your ram and you can fuck around without installation, but it's usually a bit slow and somewhat limited

in our case it will be a virtual environment inside a virtual environment and will suck, so just click the install from either the corner menu or the shortcut on the desktop.

installation was literally so easy i basically just pressed next all the way through, but i did capture some things I thought might be less intuitive for neophytes.

yea, go ahead, won't hurt

you'll see some screens about what language you speak, what your keyboard language is, and that sort of thing, set it up accordingly or just don't touch anything.

this sounds scary, it's not, it's talking about the homunculus simulated computer which currently has nothing on it, this is safe

you'll get a confirmation about the changes it's writing to the disc, etcetera. unless you know what you're doing just use the defaults.

this is around the last screen, set it up the way you want, just make sure you can remember the username and password you want for your sim computer.

continue, finish, etc. it will put you back on the desktop from before and give you a thing that says you should restart, go ahead and do that

there, you now have a tiny computer running inside your computer. you can use you sim computer to fuck around without worrying about screwing up your main computer.

either use it like a normal person or go around breaking and trying to fix stuff.

ubuntu has official tech support, some of that will translate to mint, although I never needed to go further than the user community. mint has it's own forums also, and there are generic all-linux forums like linuxquestions

that's your beginner friendly app store, click the corner menu button --you know exactly how that works -> Administration -> Software Manager. you can find open source linux stuff there, and you can also find certain other things like Discord, Spotify, etc.

anyway this is just intro stuff, you can customize the ever-living fuck out of linux and do some cool shit with just a little bit of experience with the technicals, if you want to, or just use it out of the box.

I'll follow up on that technicals shit later i guess.

25 ways to be a little more punk in 2025

Cut fast fashion - buy used, learn to mend and/or make your own clothes, buy fewer clothes less often so you can save up for ethically made quality

Cancel subscriptions - relearn how to pirate media, spend $10/month buying a digital album from a small artist instead of on Spotify, stream on free services since the paid ones make you watch ads anyway

Green your community - there's lots of ways to do this, like seedbombing or joining a community garden or organizing neighborhood trash pickups

Be kind - stop to give directions, check on stopped cars, smile at kids, let people cut you in line, offer to get stuff off the high shelf, hold the door, ask people if they're okay

Intervene - learn bystander intervention techniques and be prepared to use them, even if it feels awkward

Get closer to your food - grow it yourself, can and preserve it, buy from a farmstand, learn where it's from, go fishing, make it from scratch, learn a new ingredient

Use opensource software - try LibreOffice, try Reaper, learn Linux, use a free Photoshop clone. The next time an app tries to force you to pay, look to see if there's an opensource alternative

Make less trash - start a compost, be mindful of packaging, find another use for that plastic, make it a challenge for yourself!

Get involved in local politics - show up at meetings for city council, the zoning commission, the park district, school boards; fight the NIMBYs that always show up and force them to focus on the things impacting the most vulnerable folks in your community

DIY > fashion - shake off the obsession with pristine presentation that you've been taught! Cut your own hair, use homemade cosmetics, exchange mani/pedis with friends, make your own jewelry, duct tape those broken headphones!

Ditch Google - Chromium browsers (which is almost all of them) are now bloated spyware, and Google search sucks now, so why not finally make the jump to Firefox and another search like DuckDuckGo? Or put the Wikipedia app on your phone and look things up there?

Forage - learn about local edible plants and how to safely and sustainably harvest them or go find fruit trees and such accessible to the public.

Volunteer - every week tutoring at the library or once a month at the humane society or twice a year serving food at the soup kitchen, you can find something that matches your availability

Help your neighbors - which means you have to meet them first and find out how you can help (including your unhoused neighbors), like elderly or disabled folks that might need help with yardwork or who that escape artist dog belongs to or whether the police have been hassling people sleeping rough

Fix stuff - the next time something breaks (a small appliance, an electronic, a piece of furniture, etc.), see if you can figure out what's wrong with it, if there are tutorials on fixing it, or if you can order a replacement part from the manufacturer instead of trashing the whole thing

Mix up your transit - find out what's walkable, try biking instead of driving, try public transit and complain to the city if it sucks, take a train instead of a plane, start a carpool at work

Engage in the arts - go see a local play, check out an art gallery or a small museum, buy art from the farmer's market

Go to the library - to check out a book or a movie or a CD, to use the computers or the printer, to find out if they have other weird rentals like a seed library or luggage, to use meeting space, to file your taxes, to take a class, to ask question

Listen local - see what's happening at local music venues or other events where local musicians will be performing, stop for buskers, find a favorite artist, and support them

Buy local - it's less convenient than online shopping or going to a big box store that sells everything, but try buying what you can from small local shops in your area

Become unmarketable - there are a lot of ways you can disrupt your online marketing surveillance, including buying less, using decoy emails, deleting or removing permissions from apps that spy on you, checking your privacy settings, not clicking advertising links, and...

Use cash - go to the bank and take out cash instead of using your credit card or e-payment for everything! It's better on small businesses and it's untraceable

Give what you can - as capitalism churns on, normal shmucks have less and less, so think about what you can give (time, money, skills, space, stuff) and how it will make the most impact

Talk about wages - with your coworkers, with your friends, while unionizing! Stop thinking about wages as a measure of your worth and talk about whether or not the bosses are paying fairly for the labor they receive

Think about wealthflow - there are a thousand little mechanisms that corporations and billionaires use to capture wealth from the lower class: fees for transactions, interest, vendor platforms, subscriptions, and more. Start thinking about where your money goes, how and where it's getting captured and removed from our class, and where you have the ability to cut off the flow and pass cash directly to your fellow working class people

[chibanova]

To everyone considering paying 5 billion dollars per year to play gamecube games on switch

Take my hand. I can show you a better way

[nixcraft]

Run a container inside another container! Linux nested virtualization lets you test complex setups, deploy apps easily, and even emulate AWS/GCP/Azure instances locally for fun and profit. See how to run Docker inside Incus containers

[laurentgiret]

Parallels Desktop for Mac 20.3 is making macOS virtual machines easier to use on Apple Silicon Macs thanks to USB device support.

[dclessonsonline]

Configure and manage NSX Edge Service Gateway for secure network connections. Improve your networking skills with labs. https://www.dclessons.com/nsx-edge-service-gateway

[goodoldbandit]

Virtualization & Containerization: The New Era of Software Deployment.

Sanjay Kumar Mohindroo Sanjay Kumar Mohindroo. skm.stayingalive.in Explore how virtualization and containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes reshape software deployment through efficient resource use, scalability, and portability in an engaging, inspiring, and discussion-sparking deep dive. How Docker and Kubernetes are reshaping our tech world This post explains how…