As I’m working on the ESP HomeKit project’s I needed a machine that was running Linux. Because my MacBook Pro did not support the needed software to compile the necessary binary files. So had come up with a solution. Oracle VM VirtualBox is a free package that provides me with the needed solution. It can run multiple operating systems simultaneously. Oracle VM VirtualBox enables you to run more than one OSes at a time. This way, you can run software written for one OS on another, such as Windows software on Linux or a Mac, without having to reboot to use it. Since you can configure what kinds of virtual hardware should be presented to each such OS.
Oracle VM VirtualBox.
Oracle VM VirtualBox is a cross-platform virtualization application. What does that mean? For one thing, it installs on your existing Intel or AMD-based computers, whether they are running Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, or Oracle Solaris operating systems (OSes). Secondly, it extends the capabilities of your existing computer so that it can run multiple OSes, inside multiple virtual machines, at the same time. As an example, you can run Windows and Linux on your Mac, run Windows Server 2016 on your Linux server, run Linux on your Windows PC, and so on, all alongside your existing applications. You can install and run as many virtual machines as you like. The only practical limits are disk space and memory.
Oracle VM VirtualBox is deceptively simple yet also very powerful. It can run everywhere from small embedded systems or desktop class machines all the way up to datacenter deployments and even Cloud environments.
Install Virtualbox In MacOS.
VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. See “About VirtualBox” for an introduction.
Presently (time of writing), VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and Solaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4, 2.6, 3.x and 4.x), Solaris and OpenSolaris, OS/2, and OpenBSD.
VirtualBox is being actively developed with frequent releases and has an ever growing list of features, supported guest operating systems and platforms it runs on. VirtualBox is a community effort backed by a dedicated company: everyone is encouraged to contribute while Oracle ensures the product always meets professional quality criteria.
Download Virtualbox MacOS version.
Click the download dmg file to install virtualbox. The process is very easy, just follow the instructions.
Install Ubuntu Virtual Machine In Virtualbox.
Double click the virtualbox icon to open it. Click New button to create a virtual machine, input the virtual machine name and select Linux in the Type drop down list. Then select Ubuntu(64 – bit) in Version drop down list.
Click Continue button and specify the memory size, hard disk and storage information in the next wizard dialog. After all those steps, a new virtual machine has been created.
Download ubuntu iso file and save it to a local folder. Right click the virtual machine, click Settings menu item in the popup menu list, then click Storage button. Click the laser disk icon after Optical Drive label and click Choose Virtual Optical Disk File menu item to select the downloaded ubuntu iso file.
Now right click the virtual machine, then click Start -> Normal Start menu item to start Ubuntu os installation.
In the first install wizard, you can click Try Ubuntu button to try it from the iso file ( This action will not do any change to the virtual machine), or Install Ubuntu to install it in the virtual machine.
In the next wizard just select the os language that you preferred.
Choose Normal installation in the next wizard dialog if you are new to this.
If you are a newbie, you can choose Erase disk and install Ubuntu radio button, this will use all default settings(partition settings etc) for this ubuntu os. If you have used other Linux version before, you can choose Something else radio button to customize the ubuntu os installation.
The last step is to specify a username and password for you to login ubuntu.
Now ubuntu has been installed correctly. Our version is ubuntu 18.04.1 desktop version. When you start it and login with your account, you can find it is stable like MacOS and it is easy to operate like Windows.
Now that my virtual machine is running It’s time to install some software!