Minimalist OS to run VirtualBox and Launch VM

[NirBurner]

Hey folks,

I found myself looking for the exact same thing (a minimal OS to run VBox with all elements).
Has there been any advancement in this area?

Thanks!
Nir.

[stefan.becker]

You can use Xubuntu with VBOX. But there is nothing from Oracle, if you mean that.

[NirBurner]

You can use Xubuntu with VBOX. But there is nothing from Oracle, if you mean that.

Thanks Stefan. I was considering Lubuntu, is Xubuntu better for that purpose in your opinion?
I was hoping perhaps BladeRunner made a crafted Linux version for this.

Nir.

[stefan.becker]

Use what you want, L/X/? buntu, it makes no difference what you are using, if you have modern hardware.

[Y E T I]

if you want a true minimal system you don't need to worry about x*, l*, or k* just use the ubuntu server and be done with it, or debian if you want it even lighter.

[NirBurner]

Thanks stefan and YETI.

Perhaps if I'll elaborate on my needs you could provide even more useful information. At work I found myself switching environment very often. Not only between Linux and Windows, but also switching physical locations. Unfortunately having a laptop didn't completely solve the problem as I've too often found myself without it, or without the ability to use it where I needed to. What do I do today? I carry a USB thumb drive, with two VMs (Linux and Windows) on it and when I find myself working on a station without the proper tools - I install VBox and run the relevant VM. Unfortunately it's a hassle, and sometime I would like to just boot from the USB drive. Why use a VM and not just a bootable OS on the drive you ask? because I want to have the flexibility .

So In general I'm looking for a small OS (probably a linux distro) to boot from a USB drive, and then simply run one of my two VMs.
My assumptions is that my USB drive is 64GB, and that I'm using modern and standard HW. I literally need nothing on the hosting OS aside of HW support (monitor, networking, input peripherals, sound etc.) and the ability to run VBox.

Ubuntu is full of unnecessary stuff, same goes for Xubuntu and Lubuntu (though less unnecessary stuff). Will Debian (or any other Distro) meet my needs better?

Thanks!
Nir.

[AMDV77]

Hi all,

Recently I had the same question and I just could not find any distro with Vbox integrated so I should make it for my own. I used Bodhi linux like host OS, is based on ubuntu and is a lightweight distro. I install it on a hard drive, install all the packages updates using apt-get command and install virtualbox 4.3.0. Then I made the distor using remastersys-gtk. the iso have 800MB size. I use it to start my custom virus free windows xp in any computer from a pendrive. When I go to some friend home and I want to use a computer with my own software for instance.

Anyway I believe that is possible make an even smaller and faster distro using feather linux, DSM or puppy linux, but must be hard to do (more packs to download and install before virtualbox, but I'm not familiar with the package system of those distros). If someone accomplishes it or knows any minimal distro ISO with a working virtualbox installation I would grateful if you could let me know. If someone needs the iso of bodhi 12.04+virtualbox 4.3.0 working send me a message and i will look for a way to send it using ftp or otherwise.

Greetings,

AMDV77

[ArditDashaj]

I guess, the idea is to create a pc like in old times (MSDos622+Windows3.1), install a linux OS like old dos6.22 and with VirtualBox install Windows of whatever version like windows 3.1/3.11workgroup/nt3.5, 9x, NT4/2000/or xp We have something like this in an our project for an OS-OpenHouse to show to next generations how OS-es did evolve. We're taking a serious though about using debian or ubuntu, but since distros change at maximum of 5 years, we can't prevent the future versions after EOL! We could even install all of these OS into real HW but since most of these PC are verry rare and old too, better to keep then just in expose, plus all of these OS are going to need a central command access to shotdown and etc, and for this reason we need to be based on an linux os.