Hi all :)
I manage a handful of websites and their emails using the PortableApps suite on Windows, so have a separate browser and mail client for each one. This has worked well for years, but now I’m switching to Linux, Mint specifically. I’ve read that I can set up profiles on Firefox and probably Thunderbird, or maybe run separate instances with things like AppImages, but it sounds like it’s a messy solution, and could end up with me using the wrong profile by mistake
What I want to do is set up a virtual machine for each site, and have a completely separate instance of the programs, and hopefully a way to easily transfer the machines to other systems if needs be.
I’d prefer to use a Debian / Ubuntu based distro with Apt and the ‘Windows’ style desktop, as that’s what I’m already used to, but am I better off installing Mint and stripping it down, or is there something more suited to this?
Thanks in advance :)
Alpine is great for VM and containers… Light on resources because of musl.
The weakness of Alpine is that anything relying on glibc probably won’t work. Yes, I know there’s glibc simulation, but that’s far from perfect.
It looks great, thanks :)
I’m nojt sure whether I’m going to use it for this, as I haven’t had a chance to try the package manager yet, but I’m definitely going to be giving it a test drive, even if it’s only to see what it can do with such low requirements :)
install Debian the way you want up through the apps you need. Then it off and use it as a clone to copy for all your setups as needed.
That’s a good idea, thanks :)
Exactly my idea aswell. Take your time to optimize and strip down your base install, then it’s easy to just clone your base in virt-manager.
Alpine maybe ?
Alpine does seem to be the popular distro in the thread :)
I’m planning on trying it out tonight and seein g how I get on with the package manager, not that I should need it much after the initial installation.
two popular choices for the container lifestyle are Debian Stable and Alpine (to the point it’s almost sacrilegious to run Alpine on the desktop)
Good choices, thanks :)
Alpine looks insane, with those low storage requirements. I need to try it out and see how I get on with the package manager though.
I use Alpine with Gnome 45. Works excellent for browsing web.
The package manager for Alpine is…so fast. The community (IRC/Gitlab) is responsive and helpful.
You should look into how Docker works. It, or something like it, is probably the better tool for the job.
At the moment, Docker is frying my brain >.<
I’m trying it out with a handful of programs, and I’m struggling so far. Too many of the guides assume that you already have a certain level of Docker knowledge, and can be very confusing. It’s something that I’m going to have to look at in the future :)
Linux Lite!
It’s based on Ubuntu and uses XFCE.
Resource wise how does this compare to Lubuntu which is also Ubuntu based with XFCE?
ISO wise it’s about 500MB smaller which is nice when I’m messing around with VMs.
Lubuntu is (slightly) lighter, but lacking on software resources.
Thus, i prefer Linux Lite.
That looks good, thanks. I use Xubuntu on my media server at the moment, so I’m used to XFCE too :)
Ever considered DietPi?!
DietPi is an extremely lightweight Debian OS, highly optimised for minimal CPU and RAM resource usage […]
You can install either LXDE, LXQt, MATE, Xfce or GNUstep as a desktop. Maybe Chromium in Kiosk mode could be suitable for you too?!
They provide ready-to-go images for a bunch of different hypervisors.
I hadn’t considered it, I thought it was just for SBCs.
I’ll give it a try in a VM, thanks :)
I use arch for stuff like this myself
Thanks for replying :)
I do like the idea of Arch, and need to give it a try. I won’t use it on these though as, at least for now, I don’t know enough about it to be able to repair it if something goes wrong, especially if I need access quickly.
Also: “NixOS’s declarative configuration allows you to define your entire system configuration, including software packages, services, and system settings, in a single configuration file.”
But now they have to learn nix…
Anti Commercial AI thingy
Thanks for the suggestion, but NixOS is a bit too complicated for what I need right now :)
Have you looked onto Pop OS? It combines VMs and you can delegate specific apps to a specific VM.
I tend to use Debian for VM clients because essentially all blogs assume apt-get and I hate Ubuntu.
I have, but I don’t like the WM. I’ll have another look at it though and see what it’s like with VMs :)
I tend to use Debian for VM clients because essentially all blogs assume apt-get and I hate Ubuntu.
This is why I usually use Mint :D
Peropesis maybe.
Thanks for the suggestion :)
How important is the Windows-style desktop? If the VM is designed for one thing and one thing only, I’d pick any minimal WM that can alt-tab, say JWM, and then just add Firefox and Thunderbird to the autostart file.
Ironically, JWM is the reason I don’t use distros like Puupy os DSL. For some reason, I just can’t get on with it. I don’t know if it’s muscle memory or something, but I just can’t get to grips with it.
Saying that though, it’s always worth another shot. As you suggest, I should only need the two programs, and maybe something lime FileZilla, so starting them at boot should help too :)
- LeFantome ( @LeFantome@programming.dev ) 2•11 months ago
Very light-weight Debian.
I’ll give it a look, thanks :)
You can create a shortcut for each firefox profile. This won’t give you an isolation like VM or container but similar to portable apps while consume less RAM.
Thanks for the suggestion :)
Profiles are what I’m trying to avoid. I have memory issues, possibly linked to ADHD, so I need the isolation more than the RAM savings. If everything’s inside a container, I’ve got less chance of launching the wrong instance and screwing something up.