VirtualBox LinuxMCE

[PaulH]

Hi,
I have a Dell T310 Quad core Xenon with 8GB ram and 2NICs that I run LMCE8.10 Final now (onboard audio/video only) as a core out of the way in the basement with multiple MDs throughout the house. I have been using this for over a year now dedicated to LMCE versions. I consider myself as a newbie when it comes to LMCE and now VirtualBox though. What I would like to do is start from scratch and install Ubuntu 11.04 as the host OS and run VirtualBox. With that I'd like to run LMCE 8.10 as a guest and LMCE10.04 beta, perhaps XP and Windows7 also. I'd like to use my primary 500GB HD to run host/VB/guest OS's and keep media in other HDs. I have few questions perhaps better answered by all helpful experts in this forum.  Is there an advantage to run Ubuntu 11.04 server as a host OS oppose to Ubuntu 11.04 desktop to run VirtualBox? Would you install LMCE from 8.10 Final release or use snapshot (Oct 5th release) in VB? Do I need to issue more commands in terminal to get LMCE running in VB? How would you configure (hd/ram allocations) in VirtualBox?
Thanks

[bongowongo]

Hi,
I have a Dell T310 Quad core Xenon with 8GB ram and 2NICs that I run LMCE8.10 Final now (onboard audio/video only) as a core out of the way in the basement with multiple MDs throughout the house. I have been using this for over a year now dedicated to LMCE versions. I consider myself as a newbie when it comes to LMCE and now VirtualBox though. What I would like to do is start from scratch and install Ubuntu 11.04 as the host OS and run VirtualBox. With that I'd like to run LMCE 8.10 as a guest and LMCE10.04 beta, perhaps XP and Windows7 also. I'd like to use my primary 500GB HD to run host/VB/guest OS's and keep media in other HDs. I have few questions perhaps better answered by all helpful experts in this forum.  Is there an advantage to run Ubuntu 11.04 server as a host OS oppose to Ubuntu 11.04 desktop to run VirtualBox? Would you install LMCE from 8.10 Final release or use snapshot (Oct 5th release) in VB? Do I need to issue more commands in terminal to get LMCE running in VB? How would you configure (hd/ram allocations) in VirtualBox?
Thanks

My config of virtualbox

• 2gb
• 2 cores from my Q6600
• video has 128mb allocated
• 3d accelation on though I only use ui1
• Network adapter 1, attached to my router NAT with Intel Pro /1000 MT
• Network adapter 2, attached to internal network with Intel Pro /1000 MT

If the rest from your network, e.g. your router doesn't serve DHCP, you can use your linuxmce in virtualbox to serve DHCP if you attach it accordingly to the network. You then have to select the Bridge instead of internal with network adapter 2. But for testing I use an MD also in the same virtualbox, that is why I use internal network.

[PaulH]

Thanks bongowongo. Any preference as to which Host OS and also could you advice me on LMCE8.10 final or Snapshot to use please.

Thanks

[Murdock]

LMCE 8.10 needs to correspond to OS kubuntu desktop 8.10

[PaulH]

I thought kubunto 8.10/LMCE to be configured as guest OS. I haven't seen VB for Kubuntu. Am I over complicating things for me?

[locutus]

LMCE 8.10 needs to correspond to OS kubuntu desktop 8.10

I believe you are confused, he was talking about host OS, not the guest OS
and ive had great success with OSX and Ubuntu 10.04 as host, but more so with ubuntu

[bongowongo]

Thanks bongowongo. Any preference as to which Host OS and also could you advice me on LMCE8.10 final or Snapshot to use please.

Thanks

For a host OS I used windows XP 32 bits and windows 64 bit.
If you use another host please tell your experiences.

[PaulH]

Thank you all. I am proceeding with Ubuntu 11.04 Desktop as my host OS. I just started to install it and hope to install VirtualBox over the net right after. Will run LMCE 8.10 Snapshot (Oct 5th) within VB. I will post my findings.
Thanks again

[bongowongo]

Thank you all. I am proceeding with Ubuntu 11.04 Desktop as my host OS. I just started to install it and hope to install VirtualBox over the net right after. Will run LMCE 8.10 Snapshot (Oct 5th) within VB. I will post my findings.
Thanks again

I would advise you not to use the snapshot but the 0810 release
Not all snapshots are working as should be expected.

[PaulH]

Awesome!  Wiped clean 250GB hard disk and loaded Ubuntu 11.04 from the DVD I copied download to. Did system update and upgrade. My other 3 1TB disks were recognized by Ubuntu also. Went on on-line and downloaded VirtualBox Linux Ubuntu i386. Double clicked on it and installed VirtualBox 4.1.4. Instructions in wiki was excellent. Followed thru step by step. The only thing I changed out of that is networking. I selected Intel Nic and set adapter 1 as NAT and then Adapter 2 as a Bridged Adapter and selected ETH1 with Promiscuous mode set to allow all. I do not know whether this is the right thing to do or not but it worked for me. Perhaps someone savvy with networking can advice me whether this setup makes me venerable. Installed Snapshot (Oct 5th). I only saw Bonowongo's advice after couple of hours after the install. It was a breeze. I don't know whether I am imagining or not but it seem Install went much faster and smoother. HDHome run was recognized instantly. I went to sleep after starting Diskless_Create to run overnight. This morning I started my home theater MD and I felt that was also smoother task. Went on to create Diskless_Creates in other MDs that I have. No problems what so ever. The only thing that I have to comment on is that my Gyration remote feels sluggish than usual.
However, my other 3 TB disks were not being recognized by LMCE at this time. I think this is more of a VirtualBox related thing than LMCE based. Considering I am learning my way around Ubuntu 11.04 and VirtualBox this will take few more hours/day to figure things out unless someone already know the answer to this and like to advice me on.
My sincere thanks to LMCE developers for an awesome job that they had done so far developing LMCE and to people contributed to writing Wikis for people like me to take advantage of them.
All the best.
Paul

[bongowongo]

When you want to test an MD also in the virtual machine I use one core and 1024 mb.
Also you have to change nic 2 core from bridge to intnet

Please update the wiki accordingly with your findings.

[PaulH]

I most certainly will update the wiki. Thanks for your help.
Kind of curious if I set my second Nic to Internal, would it matter to other MDs (at this time booted to their OS's) to access Internet when I am not running LMCE at the virtual/core. (since LMCE won't be running for DHCP distribution). I guess I'll find that out when I install LMCE810 Final on another Virtual environment with the settings you have recommended.
I was reading about "Bridged Adapter" settings in VirtualBox manual and it implies that has the potential to leave me exposed to bad things if I am not careful.
Thanks

[red68]

However, my other 3 TB disks were not being recognized by LMCE at this time. I think this is more of a VirtualBox related thing than LMCE based. Considering I am learning my way around Ubuntu 11.04 and VirtualBox this will take few more hours/day to figure things out unless someone already know the answer to this and like to advice me on.

This is a VirtualBox thing. If you already have media on the 3TB disks then I think the only way you can access these from the virtual machine is to use them trough "shared folders". I have not personally used LMCE this way so can not tell you how well it will work. Bu I do use this all the time when working with other virtual machines. Hope this helps some.

[locutus]

you should not have to setup shared folders, if the Guest Extensions are installed you should have USB 2.0 support so you can mount the drives in VirtualBox but then they cannot be mounted in the host OS also.