Linux is true Freedom in the cyber world.

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Linux...the only free nation left in the cyber world. :). It is so free, in fact, that you can do the equivalent of a "homestead" by creating a custom distribution yourself and making it available to the Linux Community worldwide.

http://www.tuxradar.com/content/how-build-your-own-linux-distro

You can do it very easily with Instalinux here: http://www.instalinux.com/

Linux can do anything any of the other commercial operating systems do, with the only obstacles being the barriers created when a product becomes "commercial" (licensed and closed source). The only reason to close the source would be to make money and nothing else.

The safest, more secure way to run Windows is within a virtual environment in Linux. :). No Linux distribution supports TPM technology, they do not have provisions for the NSA or any other government entity, and the code is 100% transparent. If it isn't, then it cannot be be licensed with GNU or GPL.

What can you do in Linux?

Pretty much everything. There is an Open Source solution for just about every commercial product out there, and most of them are compatible with commercial products.

I could go on and on, but the real question is WHY are users not jumping ship from Microsoft and Apple for Linux? It is because those companies have advertising and marketing campaigns, and Linux does not. Linux makes itself available, without somebody trying to sell it to you.

So, if you want to continue to use Windows or OSX, the best way to do it is to put them in cages...er...virtual machines :). Then, you can install whatever you want in those machines and they will never touch your native Linux system.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
It has taken almost a couple of weeks to create my perfect Linux Computer Core! But it is approaching perfection. So far, you can see in this enlargable screenshot that I have Windows 8 running in a virtual machine, and the browser is here at Gatefans in Ubuntu using Firefox, and the gray text window is the EULA for Wine which just finished installing.

Screenshot from 2014-06-19 23:16:59.png
  • Virtualized my Windows 8 Professional machine and moved license with Microsoft to the VM
  • Running Ubuntu Trysty Tahr (14.04) as Master Host
  • Installed ntfs-3g for mounting NTFS drives
  • Installed TrueCrypt 7a for Linux, compiled from source
  • Encryped Linux system using 256bit encryption
  • Installed VMware Workstation 10 for Linux
  • Windows 8 Professional now running as Virtual Machine in VMware (runs GREAT!). Office, graphics applications running fine. GAMES SUCK in VMware
  • Migrated Windows user folders and files to external drive and updated paths, then encrypted the external drive
After working with it a few days, I found I wanted to install tweaks like the Unity Tweak Tool which allows you to install themes and change the appearance of icons and the windows and such. I installed XBMC, and I find I am jonesing for my GAMES which run better in Wine (the Windows compatibility layer), so as I write this I am burning up the 20 minutes or so it will take for Wine to install. :) After it is done, I will be installing Starcraft II from the DVD, then Diablo and Path of Exile. Now I am anxious to see how games run in Wine.

....it continues. :)
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Replacing useful little tools you have in Windows like the Snipping Tool led me to Shutter, which does the same thing in Ubuntu. :) Here is somebody's video on it:

 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
UPDATE: Games run GREAT in Linux, if you know what to do to run them. :) It takes specific steps for each game, depending on the game requirements, but I have successfully installed Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Path of Exile and going for Call of Duty next. They run flawlessly without lag or graphics glitches.

PlayOnLinux: http://www.playonlinux.com/en/

PlayOnLinux is a Wine-based configurator which uses various Wine versions (the Windows compatibility layer). Mine looks like this so far:

Selection_003.png


In the past, Wine was very iffy with Windows games. But PlayOnLinux allows several different customized Wine versions to be used, specific to certain games and applications. The result is that ubuntu can be as excellent a game platform as any Windows machine. I posted earlier that I have Windows 8 and other Windows machines running as virtual machines. They are fine for everything Microsoft, including Outlook and Office, as well as the other oft used programs like Quickbooks and Adobe programs. But when you install games in these virtual machines, they suck. They lag and online gaming is impossible. Also, the virtual graphics drivers are only 90% usable, not intended for gaming.

PlayOnLinux allows the games to access the graphics hardware from Ubuntu, and each game is installed on a virtual disk within Wine so they are in effect dedicated machines for each game. Very slick! They run without lag, without compromises on graphics or audio, and they run fullscreen. WONDERFUL! :)
 
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Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Okay, I am now settling in to my Linux lifestyle, and even though I am still having to use Windows and OSX daily, those are both in virtual machines that I call up in VMware Workstation 10 and use as necessary. The main show is on Ubuntu. Now, my cyber landscape at home looks like this:

Ubuntu (primary OS) - browsing, watching movies, downloading torrents, playing Windows games (in Wine), controlling network infrastructure at home and for external business clients
  • Windows 8 Pro (virtual machine) - Outlook 2010 (pre 365 which I hate), Office programs Excel, Powerpoint, Excel, Visio, Project. QuickBooks, Dreamweaver and some graphics programs
  • Mac OSX Mavericks (virtual machine) - Compatibility with business clients who use Mac programs. I need this to work with some files. I also have my MacBook Pro which gives compatibilit
  • Server 2012 (virtual machine) - Is used as a lab machine and is configured as a domain controler
  • Windows XP Pro (virtual machine) - Is used for working with Windows XP programs and troubleshooting, and is joined to the virtual server domain.
The Ubuntu machine is fully encrypted, and the virtual machines are also encrypted. No longer will I use these programs:

  • Dropbox
  • Skype (will use only in the Windows virtual machine to make phone calls internationally, never video or chat)
  • Windows Media Player
  • Google Drive or Google Apps for Business (this includes Gmail and any contacts or calendar syncing)
  • Chrome
  • Anything from Symantec/Norton
  • Anything from McAfee
  • Anything from Adobe

They have been replaced by:

  • OwnCloud (replaces Google Drive, Google Apps for Business, Dropbox, Calendar sync, Contacts sync)
  • VLC Player and XBMC (replaces Windows Media Player, Media Center)
  • Firefox and Torch browsers only.
  • I do not see a need to have any chat or video daemon running in Ubuntu when I do not need it. Windows and Apple run them 20/7. Why? :eusa_snooty:
  • Anti-virus is NOT NEEDED on Linux. :)

tuxbrkwndw.jpg


It still amazes me how Linux can give everyone free software, and it is GREAT software. Top notch stuff which has all the functionality of proprietary stuff (commercial). Sure, it may not be as pretty or shiny as the commercial software, but it is just as powerful and you can perform the same work. If you really NEED pretty and shiny, you can do that yourself for free. Linux is not the simple person's OS. It is not geek-heavy unless you are picky and you want to tweak stuff. The default Desktop version of Ubuntu is usable right out of the box for an average user, and you can even try it without installing it by loading your computer from the DVD found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/

Ubuntu fully supports touch screens. :) This means that my Acer 23" touch screen all in one is going to get converted to Ubuntu and the current Windows 8 OS is going to go bye bye. :). I will need to convert the physical machine to a virtual machine using the VMware Standalone Converter or otherwise image it. Im so done with Microsoft as my primary OS. It has betrayed the end user.
 
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Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Okay, now I am virtualizing my physical computer which is the Acer 23" A5600U-UB25 and is an all-in-one touchscreen PC

23acer.jpg

It was delivered with Windows 8 on it, and I have upgraded it to Windows 8 Professional. Thing is that it has a 1TB hard drive and is not exactly a cinch to virtualize. Windows 8 creates THREE partitions on the drive which are necessary to boot the system. Also, it can only be compressed a little bit, so I am ending up with a virtual machine which is taking up 751GB of space. I have chosen to use a 1TB external to store the virtuialized machine, then I can go in there and clean it up to make it smaller. :). Time to completion of virtualization? 16 HOURS 27 MIN!

The great thing about having powerful machines is that you do not have to wait until these things are done to use the computer for other stuff. :) I am posting this from the Ubuntu master, and the other computer being virtualized is transferring data through it to the external drive. I can monitor it all from the master, and the other machine in my bedroom is just sitting there condensing itself into a virtual machine. Once done, I will be able to wipe the Acer and load it with Ubuntu as it's primary OS, then bring up it's former Windows 8 personality as a virtual machine. Ubuntu is fully touch compatible, AND it has a great desktop.

Virtualization software used: Paragon Hard Disk Manager (I am using it for VMware Workstation, not Virtualbox):


I know this shit is geeky, but it is FUN for me! :)
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
You should have a LOVE button. :icon_lol:

Not a bad idea! I dont know why I ever went back to Microsoft for Windows 8 except that it was a business decision. I had this sort of Ubuntu setup 4 years ago, and when I was hosting SGUS I was 100% native Ubuntu with Windows and Mac running in virtual machines. But I was using Virtualbox which is not nearly as stable as VMware Workstation. I should mention at this point that VMware Workstation is commercial software and is not free. It costs $250.00. But for the stability of it and the compatibility of it in virtualization software like ESX and VMware Horizon, it was worth it. Virtual machines are literally portable now. Any computer running Workstation can pull up a virtual machine .vmx. Hardware failure? So what. Pull up the virtual machine on a totally different computer running Workstation 10 and there is all your stuff, your programs and nothing is lost. :)
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
More minor tweaks, but very useful. They are things you get used to in Windows but miss them when you need to use them in Ubuntu (all of these are FREE, of course):

Stuff that made Ubuntu's features more like Windows

Printing web pages to PDF: cups-pdf in the Ubuntu Software Center. This will allow you to set up a new PDF printer in CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) which is added using Printers in the search dashboard. Once installed, you can print web pages to PDF. The add-ins for browsers which do this in Windows do not seem to work in Ubuntu 14.04. This works.

http://www.cups-pdf.de/download.shtml

Image Editor that allows resizing images: Pinta Image Editor, in the Ubuntu Software Center. This is better than the installed image viewer, because that one does not resize images intuitively. Gimp is great, but it is bloated in features, like Photoshop. Pinta is very user friendly.

http://pinta-project.com/

Desktop Recorder for making demos, recording games: RecordMyDesktop, in the Ubuntu Software Center. This program is like EZVID for Windows, but is easier to use and makes cleaner video. It works with your Linux desktoip, with your fullscreen virtual machines, with games, whatever you can see on your screen, you can record it.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/recordmydesktop/

Snipping Tool: Shutter (see Post #3 http://www.gatefans.net/gforums/threads/linux-is-true-freedom-in-the-cyber-world.27417/#post-870090)

Samba: Create Windows-visible shares from Linux (you can do it from a virtual machine without this, as long as both computers are on the same physical network). This allows you to share Linux folders to Windows computers.

Stuff that proved to be clunky:

Crossover - supposedly allows install of Windows applications in a highly expanded Wine layer. DOES NOT WORK FOR OUTLOOK in Ubuntu 14, making it useless to me. I could not install Atmosphere Deluxe on it, or Quickbooks.

Mozilla Thunderbird - Touted as the best email desktop client for Ubuntu, and with tons of add-ins, it is no match or substitute for Microsoft Outlook. The automatic checking for mail is not reliable, the Lightning add-in for Thunderbird is very pretty, but the Caldav and Cardav is unreliable and did not work for me despite checking everything after install. I chose to just run Outlook in my virtualized Windows 8 machine and keep it minimized. WORKING ON CODE TO FIX THIS NOW

Chromium (Torch is not available for Ubuntu) - It may be open source, and it may be stripped of all the Google bits, but it asked me for my Linux LOCAL account password. Huh? Why would a browser need that, and why does Chromium still track browser history like Chrome, where it cannot be disabled? Im sticking with Firefox, since it does not track me or keep my browsing history if I do not want it to.

Kontact - This program was supposed to kept my contacts neat and organized, and it does that but the Cardav connection to my server is intermittent, and fixing the sync requires a reboot. Not good. IMO, there is just not a program in Linux that can hold a candle to Outlook when it comes to handling email, calendar, contacts and tasks. Even Outlook for Mac is clunky.

The overall Ubuntu 14.04 experience? :anim_19: For those of you who werent bored and read this far, you might be interested in an even EASIER Debian-based Linux than Ubuntu. It is called Mint, and it is beautiful, complete and the closest to Windows you are going to get in modern Linux. It is designed for first time Linux users, and already has most everything you need right after first boot. Here is what it looks like:

 
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Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
LOL, just on a lark, I decided to see if trusty old Evolution was still out there, and DAMN! It replaces Outlook. I mean completely and thoroughly. In addition, it has an EASY to set up Caldav and Carddav and Tasks sync. I have all my devices syncing with each other like what I had with Google, but this time it is using my private Owncloud and Evolution and Android. Google is nowhere in there, and I have disabled syncing with any outside programs. Examples of the interface (from the web)

Evolution_36_mail.png


screenshot-evolution-calendar.png


This is FREE, and it actually DOES replace Outlook. I do not understand the praise Thunderbird gets for being such a good email client for Linux. It sucks. Evolution used to be bundled with Ubuntu. Anyway, this setup is great, and I can easily see a day coming very soon when I will not have to use Windows for anything at home. Still, Windows Server is in the enterprise.

Even more interesting is that now most Windows Servers are going to be virtualized within VMware ESXi which is fast becoming the Enterprise "master" machine, with the Windows servers living in it as virtual servers. It makes sense, because you can put 8 Windows Servers in a farm running separate tasks, yet have only one physical machine with at least 32gb of RAM, and hopefully a SAN to store the virtual machines. You can even use ESXi to serve entire desktop virtual computers to a thin client at workstations and then back them up every single day. No more lost work!
 
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Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Update....

Living with Linux day to day is a snap, as before. But this time with the far more stable (and not free) VMware Workstation 10, I still have my licensed Windows 8 (on both computers) but now it is virtual. The Unity launcher is to the left of the screen and gives you all your applications shortcuts. The Dashboard at the top of the launcher allows a global search for any application. The Ubuntu Software Center is the App Store for Ubuntu. You can get all the free software in there as well as paid ones. Others you have to go to the web for.

The biggest gripe about Linux from noobs is that it is "too hard to learn". For the regular user, what is there to learn with a Linux distro like Mint? You install it and then start using it. Not much different from Windows. You can actually sit down in front of it and start working with it right away without knowing anything about Linux beforehand. You can see the familiar Firefox icon, you have Libre Office (Word, Excel Powerpoint alternatives) which can open any MS Office file and you can work with them just as you would in Windows. Mint uses Thunderbird mail which is okay for people who might be using gmail or Live Mail. But for those of you who use Outlook with calendaring and tasks, then Evolution is the ticket (see screenshots above). Once those things are set up, the experience is pretty much complete. Think of setting up your Linux machine like you would furnish a house. In Ubuntu, you need to build the machine you want by picking the elements you want to use. After that, you sit back and enjoy. :)

Having said that, I think I may have opened up my Windows 8 VM maybe twice this week, only to use Vsee which is my video chat app (yes everything works in the VMs as if they were physical machines, and you can use external devices such as webcams and printers within the VMs). I can play my games, remote to machines with Teamviewer, do my web editing and FTP, schedule my appointments and tasks (with sync) in Ubuntu.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
More growing pains....

NTFS filesystems and EXT4 can both be read by Linux, but EXT4 partitions are native to Linux. Although you can read files on ntfs drives, and read and write to them with help, you cannot take ownership of them and therefore cannot create stable shares to another Linux machine...at least not easily. If you started out as I did, with multiple physical drives formatted in NTFS (Windows), you will be able to see the files and use them, but not share them. You can get around it somewhat, but the BEST way is to go all EXT4. Since I now have all my Windows machines in VMware virtual machines, the NTFS filesystem should be confined to those machines dont you think? Here is what I did.

I had three 500GB drives, 1 2TB drive and one ext iTB drive. One of the 500GB drives became my new Ubuntu system which is the native OS. From Ubuntu, I can see the data on all those other drives easily, and I can write to them as well. But I have the touchscreen Ubuntu computer in my bedroom, and I could not share any of the folders and make them writable from the networked computer because I cannot authenticate as the owner of the drive (root). Even if you log in as root, you cant change ownership because you cant even see the drives. In user mode, you can.

I shrunk the NTFS portions of each drive, and created new EXT4 partitions on them, and then copied the data between partitions. In the case of the 2TB drive, I needed to do it in two operations because the space was not large enough on the new EXT4 drive to copy the data. Anyway, what you end up with is a native EXT4 system which you can easily manage when all of your computers are Linux. Apple plays very nicely with Linux. Windows, not so much so. :)

You can easily share resources from your host Linux machine to virtual Windows or Mac machines through the VMware software, which makes it painless. But your native Linux system can do great tricks if it is all EXT4.
 

Bluce Ree

Tech Admin / Council Member
Take a look at XFS. EXT4 was a good filesystem but suffers from performance issues with simultaneous writes. Not much of an issue with consumer-level usage but, in the enterprise, it was taxing database performance in high-volume random write operations. Simultaneous writes seemed to get serialized and performance would slow down exponentially with increased simultaneous writes.

I moved to XFS and everything sped up nearly 20x. Simultaneous writes flush out in parallel with no performance hit.
 

Bluce Ree

Tech Admin / Council Member
LOL, just on a lark, I decided to see if trusty old Evolution was still out there, and DAMN! It replaces Outlook. I mean completely and thoroughly. In addition, it has an EASY to set up Caldav and Carddav and Tasks sync. I have all my devices syncing with each other like what I had with Google, but this time it is using my private Owncloud and Evolution and Android. Google is nowhere in there, and I have disabled syncing with any outside programs. Examples of the interface (from the web)

View attachment 30072

View attachment 30073

This is FREE, and it actually DOES replace Outlook. I do not understand the praise Thunderbird gets for being such a good email client for Linux. It sucks. Evolution used to be bundled with Ubuntu. Anyway, this setup is great, and I can easily see a day coming very soon when I will not have to use Windows for anything at home. Still, Windows Server is in the enterprise.

Even more interesting is that now most Windows Servers are going to be virtualized within VMware ESXi which is fast becoming the Enterprise "master" machine, with the Windows servers living in it as virtual servers. It makes sense, because you can put 8 Windows Servers in a farm running separate tasks, yet have only one physical machine with at least 32gb of RAM, and hopefully a SAN to store the virtual machines. You can even use ESXi to serve entire desktop virtual computers to a thin client at workstations and then back them up every single day. No more lost work!

Take a look at Hypervisor type-1. It runs on bare-metal and virtualizes operating systems directly rather than inside a host OS.

http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/

You're running type-2, which essentially runs inside a host OS but, if the host OS dies, your whole box is dead. With type-1, you have no host OS on which to depend.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Take a look at Hypervisor type-1. It runs on bare-metal and virtualizes operating systems directly rather than inside a host OS.

http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere-hypervisor/

You're running type-2, which essentially runs inside a host OS but, if the host OS dies, your whole box is dead. With type-1, you have no host OS on which to depend.

I looked at that! I avoided using ESXi because I need to work on the master host machine as a computer (this is my home setup we are talking about) :) Can you work ON the host machine (without Hypervisor)? If I build a new host machine specifically for this virtualization setup, I could use this at home. Am I missing information?
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Take a look at XFS. EXT4 was a good filesystem but suffers from performance issues with simultaneous writes. Not much of an issue with consumer-level usage but, in the enterprise, it was taxing database performance in high-volume random write operations. Simultaneous writes seemed to get serialized and performance would slow down exponentially with increased simultaneous writes.

I moved to XFS and everything sped up nearly 20x. Simultaneous writes flush out in parallel with no performance hit.

Can I convert EXT4 to XFS in place? I see that file format in Gparted, but it is ghosted out. I would need to be able to read XFS from my NTFS virtual machines, as well as HFS for my Apple VMs, Also, can I encrypt the HFS/XFS volumes with Truecrypt? Im open to suggestions! This is how it looks:

Host machine (attached to my main HDTV in living room):

Main OS Ubuntu 14.04 installed on 500gb SATA [crypt]
1 2TB SATA (now EXT4, was NTFS) [crypt]
1 500gb (EXT4) SATA for backup (BackInTime root) [crypt]
1 500gb (EXT4) for data VMs live here
1 1TB external (EXT4+NTFS 50/50 will become 100% EXT4)
Using VMware Workstation 10.2 with shared machines

Secondary machine (Acer 23' touchscreen) is i my bedroom:

Main OS Ubuntu 14.04 installed on 1TB SATA [crypt]
1TB SATA (EXT4)
Using VMware Workstation 10.02, map from main host allows access to the VMs stored on the 500gb SATA on that machine

I am using my Macbook Pro and Acer tablet and of course the phone to access files from the system.

I need to be able to use both of these computers as workstations. I frequently watch movies on the main host, whilst also working with my email and surfing here. :) Suggestions?
 

Bluce Ree

Tech Admin / Council Member
I looked at that! I avoided using ESXi because I need to work on the master host machine as a computer (this is my home setup we are talking about) :) Can you work ON the host machine (without Hypervisor)? If I build a new host machine specifically for this virtualization setup, I could use this at home. Am I missing information?

Running a single OS through Hypervisor type-1, as I understand it, simply assign all resources to that instance and it will behave as if it were running on the bare metal. Is it performance that concerns you?
 

Bluce Ree

Tech Admin / Council Member
Can I convert EXT4 to XFS in place? I see that file format in Gparted, but it is ghosted out. I would need to be able to read XFS from my NTFS virtual machines, as well as HFS for my Apple VMs, Also, can I encrypt the HFS/XFS volumes with Truecrypt? Im open to suggestions! This is how it looks:

If you don't have many files on the EXT4 partition, shrink it, format the new partition in XFS and move the files over then delete the EXT4 partition and expand XFS. As far as I know, there isn't a direct path to converting EXT4 to XFS.

As for accessing the XFS file system directly from Windows, the easiest and most reliable method would be to run Linux in a virtual instance and serve those partitions up over the network to the Windows instance. I'm not aware of a Windows driver to read XFS partitions.

Yes, you can use Truecrypt to encrypt your XFS partitions.

Host machine (attached to my main HDTV in living room):

Main OS Ubuntu 14.04 installed on 500gb SATA [crypt]
1 2TB SATA (now EXT4, was NTFS) [crypt]
1 500gb (EXT4) SATA for backup (BackInTime root) [crypt]
1 500gb (EXT4) for data VMs live here
1 1TB external (EXT4+NTFS 50/50 will become 100% EXT4)
Using VMware Workstation 10.2 with shared machines

Secondary machine (Acer 23' touchscreen) is i my bedroom:

Main OS Ubuntu 14.04 installed on 1TB SATA [crypt]
1TB SATA (EXT4)
Using VMware Workstation 10.02, map from main host allows access to the VMs stored on the 500gb SATA on that machine

I am using my Macbook Pro and Acer tablet and of course the phone to access files from the system.

I need to be able to use both of these computers as workstations. I frequently watch movies on the main host, whilst also working with my email and surfing here. :) Suggestions?

You wouldn't lose the ability to use them as workstations if you're virtualizing them. If performance is your concern, let the single instance take over all resources.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
Running a single OS through Hypervisor type-1, as I understand it, simply assign all resources to that instance and it will behave as if it were running on the bare metal. Is it performance that concerns you?

Performance is part of it (because of games), but in ESXi, you cannot work directly on the host machine. You MUST use the Hypervisor to run the machines (or a thin client). I need to use the host machine like a workstation, and I do not have a spare machine to use as a VMware host and access machines through the Hypervisor. Am I mistaken here?

I wanted to keep Ubuntu as my main host on all my machines to standardize them. I could spend more money on a more robust host, but by just reconfiguring my existing hardware, I have created a very efficient home network. :). I can carry around my Windows 8 machine on a portable SSD now, and I find VMware workstation at every client I have at the moment. I can also load it into ESX and call it up with the Hypervisor.
 

Bluce Ree

Tech Admin / Council Member
Performance is part of it (because of games), but in ESXi, you cannot work directly on the host machine. You MUST use the Hypervisor to run the machines (or a thin client). I need to use the host machine like a workstation, and I do not have a spare machine to use as a VMware host and access machines through the Hypervisor. Am I mistaken here?

I wanted to keep Ubuntu as my main host on all my machines to standardize them. I could spend more money on a more robust host, but by just reconfiguring my existing hardware, I have created a very efficient home network. :). I can carry around my Windows 8 machine on a portable SSD now, and I find VMware workstation at every client I have at the moment. I can also load it into ESX and call it up with the Hypervisor.

For the type of use you're talking about, you're fine with type-2. Type-1 virtualization is better geared toward hosted VM server farms where you're renting out high volume instances. These have the ability to migrate a live instance seemlessly across hardware without any downtime.

When you say "I need to use the host machine like a workstation", what do you mean exactly?
 
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