Tell me more ×
Ask Ubuntu is a question and answer site for Ubuntu users and developers. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 17 down vote favorite
6

Okay my question is that, I want to run a heavy application, on a Virtual Machine (VirtualBox) with just 2 GB RAM (Windows 7 32Bit Host has 4 GB, 3.5 GB effective). Initially I thought of installing Ubuntu Server 12.04.1, which doesn't come with a GUI, so I thought it would be efficient in performance, but I have only Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop.

My question is, is it possible to remove the GUI parts in Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop (Not Server), keeping only the core OS, after installation in a virtual machine?

Or, is there anyway to improve the performance of the OS?

If you need more information, I am ready to provide.

I don't want the GUI or anything, even a small terminal window is fine for me, I can access files through FTP.

share|improve this question

3 Answers

up vote 27 down vote accepted

You dont have to remove GUI from your system.

You can leave it and just make your default boot as a text mode and if once you need a GUI you can restore it so easy.

open /etc/default/grub as and add text to the

sudo vi /etc/default/grub

And in the file, change this line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text"

Then update your Grub

sudo update-grub

Your system will then always boot to text mode.

If you once want to use GUI you can easly make light works

sudo service lightdm start

Here are some hints that you may use to increase performance of your system.

share|improve this answer
1  
+1 for quick reply. Let me try it out and see if that works! :) Also, will this perform better than having GUI and running it? – Praveen Kumar Oct 5 '12 at 6:06
take your time and post results please – user61928 Oct 5 '12 at 6:10
I have GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash". Should I use "text" or just text? – Praveen Kumar Oct 5 '12 at 6:42
1  
You are welcome.use command line sudo shutdown -h now or sudo halt – user61928 Oct 5 '12 at 7:28
1  
@maythux Though halt and poweroff are usually equivalent, arguably it is preferable to use sudo shutdown -P now or sudo poweroff to shut down and power off the system. – Eliah Kagan Oct 6 '12 at 1:08
show 3 more comments
up vote 5 down vote

Alternatively you can install openbox, one of the most lightweight window managers available:

sudo apt-get install openbox openbox-themes obconf obmenu

This automatically adds an openbox session to the login menu. And this is its GUI:

enter image description here

Yep, that's it. Nothing more but a right-click menu. A GUI with an incredibly low RAM footprint, just like you want it.

share|improve this answer
Looks cool, but I am more and more interested in removing the interface itself, coz, I wanna run some huge heavy app, which I can access using my Windows host. :) – Praveen Kumar Oct 5 '12 at 6:44
up vote 1 down vote

You could try using TurnKey Linux, they offer a variety of pre-built virtual machine images which run quite well in limited memory and have everything you'll need for many applications already installed and ready to go.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.