New VirtualBox : Bug solved + Question

[NexusPenguin]

Hi everyone reading,

After Apple released El Capitan and all the "regressions" it held (no third-party USB support, disk utility that was castrated...) I switched to Linux (Linux Mint, Debian Edition 2 with the MATE desktop) and it has proven to be a working solution, but not to it's full extend. The main pain in Linux is to add hardware and getting the manufacturer to release drivers for it (I could almost not rely on my all-in-one colour laser printer, because the drivers that Lexmark released were for Debian 6... a 4 years old system !).

Anyways, after Sierra was released I decided to give it a look : all my major concerns... and as an opposite to Yosemite or El Capitan, it's almost as smooth as Linux ! Man, that is a real progress so I decided to keep it !

Of course, I still compile some stuff on Linux (and allow some other people to remotely access my machine via ssh) so I wanted to install a Linux VM inside my Mac.

I decided to give VB a new try, even though the last time I used I reported a bug where VB would only use up to 40/45% of available computing resources which made the compilation process really slow (about 40% slower than with the commercial sibblings !).

So I took the last official VB version, installed Point Debian ( a really light-weight Debian distro), set-up the build environment... and fired a build ! Cool... now computer resources are used as I expected them too, and thus, the compilation is as fast in VB as it is in the other softwares (maybe even slightly faster).

Don't know if it was MacOS related or VB related... But anyways

SO I CAN HAPPILY REPORT THAT THAT LIMITATION IS LIFTED WITH SIERRA/VB 5.1


Now, this bug being solved, I use VB as my daily VM Driver ! And I was wondering if it would be possible to have the Linux VM in full screen and then be able to go back and forth between MacOsX Desktop and Linux VM running fullscreen using the "Ctrl + "left/right arrow" combination...
In other words to be able to use the virtual machine running in full screen as a real "Desktop Space"...
Parallels can do that... and VMWare also (well, more or less). I know those are paid software... but I was wondering if that feature exists on VB and I might have overlooked it...

If anyone knows and would care to share, I'd be etrnally grateful.

Regards.

[socratis]

Top right-corner of the VM window. There is the full screen button. The VM will occupy its own space. If you have GAs installed it will go full screen.

For the keyboard shortcut to work on the host you have to press the Host-Key first (once) and the the keyboard shortcut.

[NexusPenguin]

Hi Socratis,

Thanks a lot for your answer !

Yes, that did it

Not as smotth as Paralles, but that will do especially if I consider the price of VB

Cool !

Regards.

[socratis]

I'm sorry, but in every other application that I have on my Mac, that's where the full screen button is. What isn't "smooth" about the way that VirtualBox does it? Are you referring to the keyboard shortcut that you have to press an extra HostKey to activate it? How would you expect an OSX guest to react in that case?

There is another way as well.
- System Preferences, Mission Control, Hot Corners..., or
- System preferences, Destop and Screen Saver, Screen Saver, Hot corners...
Choose on of the corners to be Mission Control and if you go to that corner you'll have all your Spaces at your fingertips.

[NexusPenguin]

Hi Socratis,

Please forgive me, but I think that before considering me as a noob, you should take 3 seconds more to read the posts you're replying to...

So, I will copy/paste my question again :
"I was wondering if it would be possible to have the Linux VM in full screen and then be able to go back and forth between MacOsX Desktop and Linux VM running fullscreen using the "Ctrl + "left/right arrow" combination..."

So my question was about : ONCE I HAVE ENTERED FULL SCREEN MODE, how can I easily go back and forth between the VM running in full screen mode and another MacOS Space ?

So I will make it even more simple : "Is it possible to switch between a FULL-SCREEN VM and a Mac "Space" as easily as it is with Parallels Desktop ?"

Hope I have expressed myself clearly enough...

Regards.

P.S. #1 : just in case you don't know how it works in Parallels (I know you are allergic to anything that is not VB, and that you will answer : "Go and pay"...), the Full-screen VM is handled as a "Pure Mac Space" so I just have to use the regular default keyboard shortcut of MacOS without any other setting to set to do that. Please forgive me if I find this "smoother" than the way it's handled by VB...

P.S. #2 : just in case you are not aware. The "Hot corners" that you configure in Mission Control are "disabled" or "not working" or whatever you want me to call it... when you're in a FULL SCREEN VM...

[socratis]

Oh boy... Let's start from the beginning.

You're coming out way too aggressive and I frankly don't understand what you think I did/said to ruffle your feathers. Then I realized that this wouldn't be the first time; I've read all your previous messages to understand who am I talking to. It did refresh my memory...

My replies on your question:

• I told you the way to go to full screen via the widget. This seemed to escape you, despite the fact that it is the standard Mac way, even for TextEdit. Some native apps don't even have that (Address Book, Calculator, System Preferences, Activity Monitor, etc.). Maybe what VirtualBox is missing is the "standard" shortcut of Cmd-Crtl-F. I'll open a ticket for this if there is not one already open. "Console" for example (a native application) has the widget, but not the shortcut, just like VirtualBox.
• I told you the way to switch spaces you have to release the keyboard from the guest (press the HostKey once) and then use your pre-assigned shortcut key combination to switch spaces.
• I asked you what do you think should happen if you had an OSX guest running which had its own spaces. Who should take precedence of the SwitchSpace shortcut, the host or the guest? Answer that and you'll realize that you need the HostKey to designate who's getting the "Switch Space" shortcut.
• I told you the way to switch spaces with a hot-corner. You showed ignorance when you stated that the Hot-Corners are disabled in Full-Screen mode. Completely, utterly wrong. I don't have a clue where you pulled that from, although I have a couple of suspicions.

You on the other hand:

• You re-included the question, as I haven't read it, I didn't read it completely, or I didn't understand what you were talking about. I didn't considered you a noob (you managed to do that on your own), but you considered me naive and condescending.
• I have no clue how Parallels does it, because I've never used Parallels. And it's not a matter of money, as you implied. You assumed (mistakenly) that the person you're talking with has the same experiences as you do. Don't. The only assumption in these forums should be that the other person uses VirtualBox (to a grater or lesser extent) and they have some clue of what on earth they're talking about. If not, you really do have to explain what's on your head. I'm not a mind reader.

PS1: In some circles, typing ALL CAPS is considered SHOUTING, which is both inappropriate and rude.

PS2: Here are some screenshots with the Spaces enabled. In the Full screen one, you'll notice that VirtualBox has its own space (6 desktop spaces + 1 VM space). In the second one, you'll see a zoomed in shot of the "VirtualBox" space, where an OSX guest has 3 of its own spaces. Unfortunately I had to limit the size of the screenshot due to file size constraints, but you get the idea pretty clear.

[attachment=1]SpacesWithVMSpace.png[/attachment]

[attachment=0]SpacesWithVMSpaceZoomed.png[/attachment]

[ChipMcK]

I was wondering if it would be possible to have the Linux VM in full screen and then be able to go back and forth between MacOsX Desktop and Linux VM running fullscreen using the "Ctrl + "left/right arrow" combination...
In other words to be able to use the virtual machine running in full screen as a real "Desktop Space"...

How about some OS X tutorials to answer this

Essential Tools & Tips for Working With Multiple Mac Monitors
Mission Control 101: How to Use Multiple Desktops on a Mac
How to avoid a blank second display when using full-screen mode in an OS X app | Macworld
How to Keep the Mac Dock on One Screen in a Dual Monitor Setup

And good measure, search mac multiple monitor setup