The only reason I ask about other virtualization options is because after moving to Ubuntu and Linux from Windows, I still have a few apps that I want to use from the Adobe Creative Suite, e.g. Photoshop, among others.
The problem is that Virtualbox only lets me give up to 128MB of memory for video, which is probably system memory and not from my video card.
In fact, my video card is not recognized inside the Windows 10 guest. I know I installed the extension pack. I'm almost certain that I have the guest additions also installed. I have a 2.5k monitor (as in about 2500px wide) but I am not able to select a resolution anywhere near that in the guest OS. I also have an AMD Radeon R9-270X video card.
Do I need a different product or am I missing something with my Virtualbox setup?
Thanks,
Bruce
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IMO it makes little sense to run Windows in a virtual machine upon GNU/Linux. Either use Wine or similar, to directly run the applications you need in Ubuntu, or do it the other way around: run a Unix on Windows instead, either with an Ubuntu virtual machine, Cygwin, or with the new Windows-native Ubuntu integration feature (which I haven't tested and remain skeptical of, but it might possibly be a very good compromise).– leftaroundaboutJun 5, 2016 at 11:59
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1What an odd comment. Running windows in virtualbox on my Ubuntu machine is enormously useful. It was a key enabler for me to switch to Linux.– Organic MarbleJun 5, 2016 at 12:41
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@OrganicMarble: except you haven't so much “switched to Linux” then, as “encaged your Windows OS a bit”. To me, the only reasons to use Windows are better support for hardware drivers and resource-heavy commercial applications (audio editing etc.; games would count too). Both are undermined if Windows runs in a virtual machine. A Linux environment OTOH has tons of advantages – a big one is the freedom / open source aspect, which basically requires that you completely get rid of Windows; the more practical advantages like easy scripting are covered just fine with a Ubuntu VM or Cygwin.– leftaroundaboutJun 5, 2016 at 13:00
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Apparently, our mileage varies.– Organic MarbleJun 5, 2016 at 13:01
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How much VRAM do you need? Enabling 2D acceleration (only for Windows guests, which is not a problem for you) allows for 256MB, which is twice as much as the default max.– trysisJun 5, 2016 at 13:41
2 Answers
QEMU
QEMU is a generic and open source machine emulator and virtualizer.
When used as a machine emulator, QEMU can run OSes and programs made for one machine (e.g. an ARM board) on a different machine (e.g. your own PC). By using dynamic translation, it achieves very good performance.
When used as a virtualizer, QEMU achieves near native performance by executing the guest code directly on the host CPU. QEMU supports virtualization when executing under the Xen hypervisor or using the KVM kernel module in Linux. When using KVM, QEMU can virtualize x86, server and embedded PowerPC, and S390 guests.
QEMU is a member of Software Freedom Conservancy.
Text from QEMU's Official Wiki
IMHO
One of the best Emulators. It does what it promises and it does good. It won't do anything else, it doesn't do a lot of things but emulating a machine. It's worth a try if you wish just to have a machine inside of another machine.
Good luck!
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Is this the same as Qemu Kvm? I discovered that in App.Grid for Ubuntu. I'm leaning toward this... though both answers are good depending on what I want to do. Thanks. Jun 5, 2016 at 8:21
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Another good visualization option for Ubuntu is VMware Workstation but, it is not free, (free as in you have to pay for it and you have no access to the source code).
However, both virtualbox and vmware will give you poor video performance no matter what you do. OS visualization just doesn't provide you with good video performance.
The best solution for you would be to use a bare metal hypervisor such as xenserver. Then, use gpu pass-through to dedicate your Radeon R9-270X to the virtual machine. Below is a video of someone using gpu pass-through to play Battlefield 3.
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xenserver: when I went to look at that site and the software it was a little confusing... There were various related products. I understand that in all cases I need to install xenserver first and then install other OSes. The video doesn't show how to setup gpu pass-through, unfortunately... So, I need to learn more... I need to read more into this. Jun 5, 2016 at 8:25
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The product you are looking for is xenserver. Here is a download link. xenserver.org/open-source-virtualization-download.html You do not need to pay anything for it.– AndrewJun 5, 2016 at 22:30