What's the minimum PC spec required?

Discussions about using Linux guests in VirtualBox.
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maxwell's_silver_hammer
Posts: 7
Joined: 1. Jan 2018, 14:56

What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by maxwell's_silver_hammer »

Hi, I'm new to this software & forum, so I would appreciate some help...
So What's the minimum PC spec required?

On my: Pentium P4 Windows XP 32bit PC.
I was thinking of installing: VirtualBox-5.2.2-119230-Win.exe
into which I would then install: Virtual-Machine: LinHES_R8.5.1

So will: VirtualBox-5.2.2-119230-Win.exe
& LinHES_R8.5.1 run on my Windows XP 32bit PC?


Many thanks
socratis
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Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by socratis »

maxwell's_silver_hammer wrote:Pentium P4
There are a lot of Pentium P4's out there. Anything more specific?
maxwell's_silver_hammer wrote:Windows XP 32bit
The latest supported VirtualBox running on a WinXP host would be in the 4.3.x series. That doesn't mean that newer VirtualBox versions won't run, it means that if they don't run, nobody is going to lose their sleep over that.
maxwell's_silver_hammer wrote:LinHES_R8.5.1
It seems that their requirements are not that high. But that's if it's running directly on the hardware. You could always experiment. Just remember that simple rule:
  • Total CPUs for your guests + 1 Host CPUs.
  • Total RAM+vRAM+overhead for your guests Host available RAM + some.
 Edit: Fixed the math of the "simple rule", it was "simply wrong". 
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
maxwell's_silver_hammer
Posts: 7
Joined: 1. Jan 2018, 14:56

Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by maxwell's_silver_hammer »

socratis wrote:There are a lot of Pentium P4's out there. Anything more specific?
I'm not sure how I find out 'which' processor it is, the system info says:
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 Genuine Intel ~2992 Mhz
It's a Duel processor & the PC is: Medion PC Titanium MD 8080 XL
Total Physical Memory: 4,224.00 MB
And I believe it has: Hyper-Threading

And I don't know how that compares to your later formula, eg...
socratis wrote:
  • Total CPUs for your guests + 1 Host CPUs.
  • Total RAM+vRAM+overhead for your guests Host available RAM + some.
socratis wrote:Windows XP 32bit: The latest supported VirtualBox running on a WinXP host would be in the 4.3.x series. That doesn't mean that newer VirtualBox versions won't run, it means that if they don't run, nobody is going to lose their sleep over that.
The 'wiki/Download_Old_Builds' page says...
...that VirtualBox 4.3. is... (no longer supported, support ended 2015/12)
...and only 5.1 & 5.2 are shown as (active maintenance)
So would it matter if I used the latest version, or would an older version (eg V: 4.3) still be better?

Many thanks.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
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Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by socratis »

  1. Your PC seems like a quite old one. If your processor is the Pentium 4 Processor supporting HT Technology 3.00 GHz then it doesn't even have VT-x, which makes virtualization limited.
  2. Your host OS is not supported. WinXP stopped being supported in Apr/2014. Do not expect that programs that come after that will still be supporting an unsupported OS.
  3. Yes, VirtualBox 4.3.x is not supported (even 5.0.x is not), but since VirtualBox 5.0.x, WinXP as a host is not supported any more. Translation: do try whatever you think might work. If it doesn't nobody will really care.
  4. There's only one thing that you can/should do; try it. You've got only your time to waste...
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
maxwell's_silver_hammer
Posts: 7
Joined: 1. Jan 2018, 14:56

Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by maxwell's_silver_hammer »

socratis wrote:
  1. ....
  2. There's only one thing that you can/should do; try it. You've got only your time to waste...
OK:
So on my Windows XP PC: I've installed VirtualBox: VirtualBox-4.3.40-110317-Win.exe
...which seemed to install OK.

So I then installed the OS (into VirtualBox): LinHES_R8.5.1.iso
...which also seemed to install OK, but then I got the following Dos-type-Window-Popup,
...eg: Light Blue Header Bar, with Black-Page-Area beneath it

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Light Blue Header Bar, says: LinHES [Running] - Oracle VM VitualBox
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Then in the Black page area beneath, it had the following message...

This kernel require an x86-64 CPU, but only detected an i686 CPU,
Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd seen this mentioned by many people online, hence my earlier questions relating to my PC's suitability.

So is it the OS that needs a 'x86-64 CPU' ?
Or the VirtualBox ?
If it's the latter, are there any 32bit versions of VirtualBox ?
if so, how do I know which one is 32bit?

Thanks
maxwell's_silver_hammer
Posts: 7
Joined: 1. Jan 2018, 14:56

Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by maxwell's_silver_hammer »

socratis wrote:
  1. ....
  2. There's only one thing that you can/should do; try it. You've got only your time to waste...
Do I need to install 'Guest Additions' ?

OK: I found a 32 bit version of LinHES (LinHES_R7.4.iso) which I downloaded and installed.

This seems to have installed OK, eg:
a: This time the Guest-Window isn't black with an error message,...
Instead......
b: Initially the Guest-Window: Had a bright yellow-LinHES-Splash-Screen,
but the mouse wouldn't work in this Guest-Window, only the tab (and/or down-arrow) key.
And I wasn't sure what to do next !

c: Eventually/Somehow:
The the Guest-Window changed to a LinHES-Mid-Blue-Screen, that lists various URL's to info, with a wide blue [ OK ] button at the bottom of the page.
But I can't click that button because the mouse still won't work on this Guest-Window (only on my host)

d: I tried to follow the LinHES-install-info on page: http://www.linhes.org/install
but that didn't make much sense to me, especially since I'm now stuck on this Mid-Blue-Screen.

e: Also, I get pop-ups relating to the Host-Key:
Which says I can use the mouse in the Guest-Window, by using the 'Right-Ctrl' key, to toggle between the Host & Guest Windows.
Clicking the 'Right-Ctrl' key, changes the green-down-arrow-icon (at the right of the bottom-toolbar) from green to black, (indicating that the toggle is working) but this still won't enable the mouse in the Guest-Window.

f: The mouse-icon-info says that mouse-integration needs Guest-Additions to be installed...

So I tried: Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD image...
...but nothing happens.

NB: I noticed that this file is present, at:
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso

g: Also: The 'VirtualBox Help' info says that DKMS must be installed before installing Guest-Additions.

Q1: So do I have to install 'Guest Additions' to get the mouse to work ?
And if so...
Q2: How do I check that DKMS is installed, before installing Guest-Additions ?
Q3: And if DKMS is not installed, how do I install DKMS ?
Q4: How do I install Guest-Additions ?

Many thanks
maxwell's_silver_hammer
Posts: 7
Joined: 1. Jan 2018, 14:56

Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by maxwell's_silver_hammer »

Any Ideas Anyone ?

Many thanks.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by mpack »

See chapter 4 of the user manual. It already seems to answer all of your questions, and I prefer not to function as an interactive user manual.

Besides which, discussion of the GAs is off topic in the "Windows Hosts" forum.
maxwell's_silver_hammer
Posts: 7
Joined: 1. Jan 2018, 14:56

Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by maxwell's_silver_hammer »

mpack wrote:Besides which, discussion of the GAs is off topic in the "Windows Hosts" forum.
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my previous post.

I'm sorry, I didn't realise that there was a separate forum for GA.
But for completeness & clarity of understanding, it made sense to continue in this thread.
So do you wish me copy and paste some or all of this post into the GA forum ?
mpack wrote:See chapter 4 of the user manual. It already seems to answer all of your questions, and I prefer not to function as an interactive user manual.
* THINGS ARE ALWAYS OBVIOUS WHEN YOU KNOW HOW ! *

However: As I said at the start of my post...
'I'm new to this software & forum, so I would appreciate some help...'

I have spent a considerable time reading the info in the install file in VirtualBox etc, including chapter 4,

But it doesn't clearly explain my previous queries (or I wouldn't have asked !) eg...

Extract from my previous penultimate post:

f: The mouse-icon-info says that mouse-integration needs Guest-Additions to be installed...

So I tried: Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD image...
...but nothing happens.

NB: I noticed that this file is present, at:
C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso

So...
Q1: So do I have to install 'Guest Additions' to get the mouse to work ?

I GUESS SO ?

And if so...
Q2: How do I check that DKMS is installed, before installing Guest-Additions ?
Q3: And if DKMS is not installed, how do I install DKMS ?
Then...
Q4: How do I install Guest-Additions ?

Many thanks.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by mpack »

maxwell's_silver_hammer wrote: I'm sorry, I didn't realise that there was a separate forum for GA.
There isnt. There is however a forum for discussing guest problems, which this is.
maxwell's_silver_hammer wrote: So do you wish me copy and paste some or all of this post into the GA forum ?
I just moved the topic to the Linux Guests forum, even though the topic title is clearly inappropriate here. In future please try to choose the correct forum, and try to keep to one issue per topic.

Linux fans will no doubt be along soon to comment on your Linux questions. At least now you're in a forum where users with relevant expertise can see your questions.
mpack
Site Moderator
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Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by mpack »

maxwell's_silver_hammer wrote: f: The mouse-icon-info says that mouse-integration needs Guest-Additions to be installed...
Yes.
maxwell's_silver_hammer wrote: So I tried: Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD image...
...but nothing happens.
Inserting a CD... inserts a CD. No software will run unless the guest OS is configured that way, i.e. to autorun when a CD is inserted. I don't know LinHES, but from your experience I assume that is not the default. So, you need to browse to the CD and run the installer manually. Read section 4.2.2 of the user manual for quite detailed and clear instructions, e.g. I see no mention in there of the current version of VirtualBox Linux GAs requiring DKMS.
maxwell's_silver_hammer
Posts: 7
Joined: 1. Jan 2018, 14:56

Re: What's the minimum PC spec required?

Post by maxwell's_silver_hammer »

mpack wrote:...I see no mention in there of the current version of VirtualBox Linux GAs requiring DKMS.
Thanks for your info...

In my 32bit Windows XP PC, I'm using: VirtualBox 4.3.40

So I'm assuming that, that version will run on a 32bit PC, but I couldn't confirm this from their download page info.
This versions 'help' info states that VirtualBox Linux GAs require DKMS.
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