Best Linux Distro as a Guest in a Win 10 System

[Jason]

Very nice, Harry! And you must be one of the only people to still have a copy of Windows 1! Must be some sort of insider, huh?

[buster]

Tried the vanilla install of Ubuntu 7.10. Can't get Synaptic to open after installing. Found out it's a common problem. Useless to me with out Synaptic. So it's gone.

Use Mint a lot in virtual, as well as Ubuntu Mate. Like Linux Lite because it's peppy and easy. The rest have disappeared.

[fox]

Synaptic works fine in 17.10 but in xorg, not Wayland. Wayland is the default, but if you log out, you'll get xorg as an option.

[cod3poet]

*AHEM*

[buster]

Because it's so cold outside, tested 2 more distros:

#1. MINT XFCE. Pretty good as are all Mint products. BUT, if you wish to use xfce, I think you're better off with Linux Lite. More polished, graphics work better. And that is the only desktop they use, so everyone who works on the distro tweaks everything for that particular desktop. So after a trial, Mint xfce is gone. Pretty good system though not as good as Mint Cinnamon in my opinion.

#2. openSUSE Leap. As does probably Jason, I have a huge fondness for this distro, and so  with a huge 4.2 gig download, and a great history and acceptance, I was ready to give it every break I could.

The install is meticulous and long, but graphically clear and simple. Felt the way installing a good Linux system should. Very encouraging.

After downloading over 4 gig, surely they have desktop backgrounds other than a lightbulb. Maybe thousands of them. But they don't. And no simple way to 'download more from the Internet'. So I switched to a plain colour. I'll solve that later.

Drag and drop between Win10 and Suse worked!

Probably I don't know much about Gnome, but I miss the - + on windows for minimizing.(  Right click does it but...). And I miss dragging and dropping icons on the desktop.  Someone might like to take me aside and point out all the tricks.

Used gnome-tweaks to change something (?) and then the desktop froze. And this wasn't the first freeze.

TuxRacer worked well and Kpat was fine. (Added the Packman repositories earlier.)

With a heavy heart, and a lessening Linux-install-pain-tolerance as I age, I sent my vm Suse install to the great unknown.

[buster]

OK, so openSUSE Leap with Gnome was a huge disappointment. But it seemed a waste to throw away the Suse download, so....

I reinstalled Suse using the KDE option. Gave it 2 gig of ram and 50 gig of space. Twice it had trouble installing something to do with printing, but in both cases the 'try again' option solved it. And again I added the Packman repository, and added qBittorrent, VLC, Extreme Tuxracer, and Kpat. To change the wallpaper there were many to choose from with a button that said 'for more wallpapers from the Internet, click here'.

The disto is quick and straightforward. Runs beautifully in virtual. Icons can easily be put on panel or desktop. Tux races superbly and Kpat flourishes perform better than most distros.  The music brings up Amarok, which is easy to work with. Downloads flawlessly and (trumpets!) drag and drop works out of the box!

I may have a new favourite here: openSUSE Leap 42.3.

(The attachment does not show for me in the preview, so I hope it works.)

[Jason]

You must tell us what you're downloading there, Duck Sou...p?

[buster]

Duck Soup is a legendary comedy from 1933 with the Marx Brothers. Unfortunately, this download is in German. However, it showed that drag and drop worked, as well as that  qBittorrent is efficient in the vm Suse.

[Jason]

Cool. And glad you like openSUSE. I'm starting to like the look of KDE now, it may be something I take another look at.

[buster]

Further on openSUSE Leap:

#1. During the install, the recommended amount of ram is quite small. I jumped it up to 2 gig. Whatever the cause, the extra ram or their engineering, the system is as quick as Linux Lite! Boot time and shutdown are no heck, but the opening and closing of programs is quick, especially for vm. Whole system feels 'lite'.

#2. The detail work is good, like the automatic check for 'updates' that goes on line once a day, and then goes off line. Yast is clear and complete. The wallpaper app is easy. It doesn't feel like the old, solid but clunky Suse from years ago.

#3. It feels like a desktop distro, rather than a business distro with lots of makeup.

[Jason]

I no longer go with the recommended RAM that Virtualbox suggests for a guest unless it also makes sense to me. I always look at the requirements suggested for the distro on their download page or do a quick google search to find it in their documentation. Or, I just give it 4 GB. Unless I'm running an Android emulator or more than a couple virtual machines, I don't believe it affects host performance.

[buster]

So while sitting quietly in Suse with an empty desktop, I accidentally touched a key and voila! all the programs that start with that letter appeared in a box at the top of the screen!!!! And you could click any to open.

Is that magic or what?

The letter 'a' produced 11 clickable items, some system settings. I chose Amarok and found they had included a free Joni Mitchell song (and that would be legal for a company like this). Does the wonder never cease with this distro?

[buster]

AND.... with the click of a button while in a window, you can get a split screen which is great for moving things from one place to another without opening another window.

(Just discovered this minutes ago.)

May put it on a real honest-to-goodness hard drive. Or as Mike would say, 'On bare metal'.

[Jason]

I think I'm most impressed with the free Joni Mitchell song, but the other stuff is cool, too.

[buster]

"And glad you like openSUSE. I'm starting to like the look of KDE now, it may be something I take another look at."

Thought I should include a picture of my clean, efficient openSUSE KDE desktop that I use now.