Improve Ubuntu 12.10 performance on VM

Question

I am using Ubuntu 12.10 on a virtual machine in Win7. It is really slow and I wanted to ask what can I do to improve it. I have set 2GB RAM(from 4GB on physical machine) and 16GB hard disk for the machine. I need to run only Player/Stage simulator from the Ubuntu and some text editor for the source code writing.

• Can I lighten the GUI as in windows. There are a lot of animations that I don't really need
• Can you suggest some disabling of applications or services

I would appreciate every advice.

Answer 1

There are several ways to achieve this and a combination of these might even be better.

• Instead of the vanilla kernel, you might want to install a virtualization guest kernel, e.g. linux-image-virtual
• Instead of a 3d-accelerated desktop, you might want to try a classic one, like windowmaker or openbox.
• You might start with a text mode install and only add the minimum required packages.
• Your mileage may drop severely if you run a 64-bit guest in a 32-bit host, however running a 32-bit guest in a 64-bit host might work better than 64/64.
• You might want to try a different virtualization software VirtualBox, VirtualPC, ...
• You might check your BIOS if virtualization support is enabled at all.
• Have a look at coLinux or andlinux, these do not virtualize at all and run linux as a user mode application.
• You might want to install the Windows version of Player/Stage after all.