Understand the Concept of Virtualization
To install your Ubuntu distro, you first need to create a virtualized environment.
What's that?
It's is a very widely used technique in IT that is now accessible to the public.
A virtual environment, or virtual machine, simulates a computer within your computer.
This virtual computer allows you to isolate the system you're going to install (in this case, Linux) with no impact on the initial system.
For example, you can launch Linux in a window within Windows and vice versa, or even launch a Linux within another Linux. It's very useful for trying out systems without affecting the initial environment and is generally very popular among the risk-averse!
Sounds great, but how do I actually do this virtualization?
Using a hypervisor: in this case, VirtualBox. This is one of the easiest hypervisors to use, and we're going to take a look at it in this chapter!
Prepare Your Linux Virtual Machine With VirtualBox
Get the Recommended Resources
To ensure you have enough hardware resources for your Ubuntu distribution, it's best to consult the publisher's recommendations.
Depending on your choice of desktop environment (see the previous chapter), different resources will be recommended. For example, GNOME is a desktop environment that requires many resources, although this is improving with every new version.
In today's world, these resources are easily accessible.
Add and Configure a Virtual Machine
Now you need to build the virtual machine that will host the Ubuntu Linux operating system.
Ready? Let's go!
In this video, the graphics controller is preset to VMSVGA. This configuration comes from the VirtualBox user manual.
Install Ubuntu
Welcome to Linux and Ubuntu!
Install the Linux Ubuntu Distribution on Your Virtual Machine.
You see, it wasn't so complicated after all! 😄
Go Further!
If you liked this exercise, you can try to install another Linux distribution. This will allow you to see the differences with Ubuntu.
The following exercises are of course optional: if you are happy with Ubuntu and Gnome, you can move on to the next chapter!
Test the Debian distribution with an XFCE desktop
Try to install the Debian distribution with the XFCE desktop.
If you get stuck, don't worry! We'll show you how.
As you may have noticed, the Debian distribution (with the XFCE desktop environment) does not have quite the same "graphical atmosphere" as an Ubuntu distribution with the Gnome desktop environment.
That said, this distribution with the XFCE desktop is very popular because it is an environment that can run on a computer with very few available resources (very little memory and very little disk, in this case) and it still works very well: it is therefore a safe bet!
Test the Manjaro distribution and its KDE desktop
If you're familiar with Windows, you'll probably find some graphical similarities with the Manjaro Linux distribution and its KDE desktop, which makes it a good candidate for a smooth transition.
If you are interested, find out how to install it in the following video.
Of course, there are other graphical desktops, but that should be enough to choose from!
Let's Recap!
Hypervisors allow you to virtualize an environment.
Linux can be installed on a virtual machine.
The allocated Linux virtual machine resources depend on the chosen distribution.
Now we have Ubuntu installed, let’s go ahead and use it!
