Subj : Remmina RDP To : Ky Moffet From : Barry Martin Date : Mon May 20 2024 07:48:00 Hi Ky! > KM> Assuming you can get it to install and run in the VM. You should > KM> hear my VM War Stories.... > I don't play all that much but have had a few instances where it just > doesn't play nice. I've also been using Raspberry Pi's for a disposable > machine. No, not going to toss the Pi itself, but can overwrite the SD > card and so remove all traces of the failed experiment. KM> If I'm just experimenting, I use real hardware and a stack of KM> small hard drives... much more reliable results. One PC, fifty KM> OSs. Probably better to use real hardware than 'pretend' hardware but again a matter of "all depends". I don't test/try stuff all that often and the expense of getting hot swap enclosures would probably really make a 'no'. Plus I'm running out of room: another computer plus storage of those hard drives! KM> But when I need to run something that the host OS doesn't like... KM> that's why I do VMs. KM> The two main use cases being: KM> Host: any linux KM> VM: KM> -- WinXP, for a handful of WinApps I can't replace and for KM> reliable networking KM> Host: Win8/10 KM> VMs: KM> -- WinXP so my eyes don't bleed when I need to work there all day KM> And the later experiments, in search of this interface between KM> usability and compatibility that is so absent in Certain Later KM> Windholes... KM> Host: Win11 KM> Still trying to come up with a combo that works on the Win11 KM> netbook. XP runs so slowly... 15 minutes later I was still KM> waiting for the desktop to finish loading. KM> Win9x/NT4 cannot use the Guest Additions, so can only run at KM> 800x600 (which is awfully small on a 1920x1080 monitor) and does KM> not see shared folders. That's not useful. KM> So far Win2k installer keeps looping back on installing hardware, KM> so that didn't work. KM> Host: XP64, which limits it to VirtualBox v4.3.12 KM> The main object is to get a few things working that need a newer KM> OS. VMs: KM> -- WinXP32 (for the DOS app I can't live without) -- works fine, KM> tho I had to install from scratch; it would not import my KM> existing "appliance" even as a naked vmdk (you can un7zip an .OVA KM> file to extract this). -- Linux Mint -- runs fine but only at KM> 1024x768. -- PCLinuxOS -- a couple of last-year's-models will KM> install, but throw up all over the Guest Additions, reducing the KM> screen to 800x600!! May try setting it up as Live only, and save KM> the machine state instead of installing it. The installed version KM> does not like the virtual video driver, judging by where it likes KM> to stall. -- Win8.1 -- runs fine, tho it makes my eyes bleed. KM> However, now I have a working FTP client without having to schlep KM> files to a Win1x box first. Chrome itself won't install, but KM> Supermium (current Chrome for old Windows) runs fine. (I'd KM> forgotten how braindead IE was back then...) -- Win10 won't KM> install. -- ReactOS just for giggles...runs okay but only at KM> small screen size, and I think there have been a lot of usability KM> regressions since the previous version (which was actually pretty KM> good). You do a heck of a lot more experimenting than I do! KM> Did you see the crazy thing (I think it was) MJD did, with VMs KM> inside of VMs until it went all the way from Newest Windows to KM> Oldest Windows?? No but sounds like an interesting project! Wonder if considered going back to MS-DOS?! ..Wonder how much storage it takes? Presume on a NVMe just for a reasonable speed to load the most current version, then the next from that, and the next from that one.... > > Yes, the 'rolling upgrade process' can be a litte detail-filled! > KM> "Rolling" is supposed to refer to the software, not the server > KM> cabinet! > Only when forget to set the brakes on the cabinet's wheels! KM> OUT OF THE WAY, BERTHA IS ROLLING!!!!! When I was growing up a strip mall was created on a swampy area. They filled in with the the usual dirt (guess from other construction sites) but also trees. ...You know what happens when trees rot or even the branches collapse? Yup! So the store floors are supported by what's underneath, which sometimes wasn't there. ...Eventually if one didn't hold on to shopping cart it would roll away! > KM> I've come to greatly prefer a rolling distro for an everyday > KM> desktop. There are NO UPGRADES and therefore NO REINSTALLS. > KM> Someone took the oldest extant PCLOS from 2010 to 2021 (I think > KM> it was) using only the rolling update process via Synaptic, and > KM> only twice did he have to stop and twiddle something at the > KM> command line. But normally it's just click-the-usuals, go away > KM> for a while, and it's done. > KM> The other advantage is that problems get fixed NOW, not when the > KM> next major version rolls around. > That option has advantages and disadvantages. I do like the 'fixed > now', assuming it doesn't break something else. (Of course the latter > is a possibility any time.) Ubuntu does have LivePatch, which is > probably your fix-it-now. KM> Regressions have been pretty rare. They all do some degree of KM> updating between, but the real point is there is no such thing as KM> a release version, because it just keeps trundling to the future KM> without the need of silly version numbers. "Beeg number good! Impressive!" Personally I don't use the version numbers other than to keep track: right now I need '31' for MythTV and it pretty much doesn't matter which version of the OS it runs on. As for the OS in general, I'm not a latest-and-greatest type of guy as for the OS in general but do sort of like to keep the thing up-to-date for security and other patches. > Around here I'd prefer manual version upgrades, meaning to go from > version 22 to version 23, not the more-minor updates. Have had old > computers no longer work properly with upgrades: IMO not a fault of the > OS, though one could say it didn't check for compatibility. KM> Yeah, that is a problem. And yes, it should do a compatibility KM> check, but that's not sexy programming, you should just do a KM> reinstall and stop bothering us. I've noticed Mozilla appears o do a full re-install instead of an update and I think LibreOffice does too. > KM> The downside is you have to do your updates regularly, because it > KM> can get out of sync if you let things go too long. (Tho Synaptic > KM> at least is pretty good at squaring things up.) But it's fast > KM> enough, given it's usually small, to do 'em often. > Agree: though with the limited experience I have it seems Ubuntu does a > reasonable job: it seems one can take a 'basic' version (say 22.04.03), > which does the installaion and original versions, then at the end of the > installation ask for the updates and it will d/l umpteen files, od the > magic, and now 22.04.39. (Making up the numbers.) KM> Well, my Fedora setup started at v32, and is now v40, with KDE KM> upgraded from v5 to v6, tho that's still early enough that there KM> are minor oddities. OTOH it did fix a longstanding visual bug in KM> my preferred theme. That's good! > KM> Speaking therewhich, I need to do the twice-yearly version > KM> upgrade on the Fedora system, which I keep forgetting because > KM> it's an overnight job (sometimes two nights) and takes some > KM> babysitting before it gets going. Grrr. > And if you're like me the babysitting is the major part of the delay! > Good reason to have two monitors so can have one on the upgrading system > and the other for while-I'm-sitting-here-do-e-mail, etc. KM> Fortunately it's not a system I'm trying to use while it's doing KM> this (in fact I hardly use it at all) but I still had to wait for KM> the repository list (which was about 100mb and dozens of files) KM> then two hours for the download, then half an hour for the KM> update, then repeat this for the full upgrade, except the KM> download took the rest of the night and the upgrade itself about KM> an hour. That's one nice thing about living in a small city with fiber-optic Internet access! Of course it still depends on the hardware on my side: I've had the other side of the desk tied up for hours/overnight as the installation proceeds. KM> I have no idea how one upgrades Debian, if it can even be done... I've done upgrades on Ubuntu (so by extension Debian) but on smaller, more basic machines. (By 'more basic' I'm meaning not too much has been added/modified from the original.) OTOH I do tend to go for a from-scratch upgrade install because something major has been changed in the machine, or a setting is wrong (old example: root set too small) and while something like the root partition can be expanded (I've done it) from my past experiences (Linux and Windows) it's just overall better to start with a clean slate. ¯ ® ¯ BarryMartin3@MyMetronet.NET ® ¯ ® .... "Please insert CD-ROM into Drive A." --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .