Linux kernel version

[dcs.79c]

I come from a Windows & Mac background. I currently have a Mac mini. Tonight I downloaded & installed VirtualBox.

I have an HP netbook with Windows XP. It has a 32-bit single-core Intel N280 with 2 GB RAM & a 160 GB hard drive. I want to try & install Linux or Ubuntu on it.

I haven't created any VMs yet. I've just looked around VirtualBox. I started to create a Linux VM. When I got to Version, my choices were 2.4, 2.6, 3.x, 4.x or "other Linux 32-bit". Which one do I choose? How do I determine the kernel version? Why is it required for Linux but not for Ubuntu?

[socratis]

I want to try & install Linux or Ubuntu on it.

Linux is the kernel of the operating system. On top of that there are the windows/graphics/desktop managers like Gnome/KDE/LXDE/etc. Then there are applications, like browsers, e-mail clients, music/photo/video manager etc. The sum/collection of the kernel/managers/apps is called a distribution. One popular distribution is Ubuntu.

For known distributions (such as Ubuntu), VirtualBox has pre-made templates to help users. For those distributions that are not that popular (and they are plenty), VirtualBox can't know which kernel version you're trying to install, so it gives you the kernel options and then, you're on your own. But if you have to get to the kernel level to decide which template to choose, you already should know better...

To give you an example, a Mac example and in parenthesis the Ubuntu similarities from above. The operating system of the Mac these days is called macOS/OSX (Ubuntu). The kernel inside that OSX (Ubuntu) is called Darwin (Linux). You don't see Darwin (Linux) and in fact you may have never heard of or realized that it's there. There are operating systems that use the Darwin (Linux) kernel, but are not macOS/OSX (Ubuntu). It's the combination of the Darwin (Linux) kernel with all the bundled applications/helpers/etc. that make the final operating system that you use.

I hope that this clears things up a little bit.

Please do read the links, they provide a nice summary of those terms...

[dcs.79c]

Thank you for the quick reply.

Thank you for the link. I'll read it later.

I know that there are hundreds of distros of Linux. I want to try a Debian-based distro. More specifically, either Ubuntu or Linux Mint since they are the most popular Debian-based distros.

How do I find out the kernel version of the different distros of Linux Mint? Is it safe to use "other Linux 32-bit"?

[socratis]

The generic Linux ABC is the least optimal. For Mint, since it's Ubuntu based, you'll select Ubuntu.

PS. Moving to "Linux guests" from "OSX Hosts".

[dcs.79c]

Alrighty, then. That makes it easy.

Thank you.