Question Linux on a USB or VM?

[mikeymikec]

So does the latest version of VirtualBox oblige you to sign in with an Oracle account or something?

 

[biostud]

I use VMware, even though they have bad business practices. But the private version works really well and is still free.

 

[igor_kavinski]

So does the latest version of VirtualBox oblige you to sign in with an Oracle account or something?

No but they might be tracking the IPs that download VirtualBox. If it's a public IP belonging to a large company, they may send emails telling them that they need to buy a license for using the VirtualBox Extension Pack since the default license is for personal use only. This is kind of the same thing they did with Java. I know at least Western Union switched away from using Java to Node.js when Oracle started sending out the final notices of Java needing a paid license for commercial use.

 

[manly]

I use VMware, even though they have bad business practices. But the private version works really well and is still free.

Broadcom aspires to be as "bad" as Oracle.

As igor mentioned, Oracle has been trying to get businesses to pay just to use the Java VM.

 

[biostud]

Broadcom aspires to be as "bad" as Oracle.

As igor mentioned, Oracle has been trying to get businesses to pay just to use the Java VM.

Yeah, I know... But the very few hours I spend on a VM, I like that it works and just do what I expect.

 

[manly]

Yeah, I know... But the very few hours I spend on a VM, I like that it works and just do what I expect.

I don't use virtualization much, but I have a soft spot for VMware because I used it starting with version 1.0. So as a home user, I wouldn't mind using it again. Businesses is a different calculus.

Note that Linux has excellent virtualization in KVM. At this point, I wouldn't touch anything by Oracle. Chairman Larry Ellison was Elon Musk long before Musk revealed himself.

 

[biostud]

So I got steam installed and made a user account for my kids, so they don't use my user. I found out how to share the folders and steam would find my shared games on the ext4 data drives. But a few seconds after launch the game would just close, just like the if they were installed on NTFS. I found out if I used the "Move install folder" and moved the game, the game would launch fine and also if I moved it back. Unfortunately this results in the game not wanting to launch from my account.

Weird...

 

[biostud]

So I got steam installed and made a user account for my kids, so they don't use my user. I found out how to share the folders and steam would find my shared games on the ext4 data drives. But a few seconds after launch the game would just close, just like the if they were installed on NTFS. I found out if I used the "Move install folder" and moved the game, the game would launch fine and also if I moved it back. Unfortunately this results in the game not wanting to launch from my account.

Weird...

I got help from the linux mint forum if anyone is interested:

Steam's default Steam-library is in the case of Linux inside the home-directory of the user running Steam which is not good for sharing said library over multiple Linux user-accounts. You mention a "shared drive" with the Steam-library: I will assume this is available at e.g. /data/SteamLibrary. Substitute as needed -- but careful: I do hope it's a normal internal, always mounted "shared drive" and not something e.g. auto-mounted under /media/<you>. If it's not a statically accessible Steam-library on a normal always mounted drive, said mounting should be dealt with first. Then...

Install "bindfs" with sudo apt-get install bindfs and assuming your/kids' Linux user-accounts are "dad" / "kids", overlay the Steam-library with a bindfs-mounted copy of itself as

Code: Select all
sudo bindfs --perms=0660:+X --mirror=dad:kids /data/SteamLibrary /data/SteamLibrary
What this does is have "dad" see all files under /data/SteamLibrary as owned by "dad", "kids" as by "kids", and had things work for every Steam-game and Steam-situation that I once tested this with. Both you and kids would have /data/SteamLibrary setup as their Steam-library and both would access it as if it were private to them. Please test.

If you're satisfied things work you can automate the bindfs mount in /etc/fstab by adding a line to it as

Code: Select all
/data/SteamLibrary /data/SteamLibrary fuse.bindfs perms=0660:+X,mirror=dad:kids
A small "niceness" tweak can still be to have a group "gamers" or "steam" that you add users "dad" and "kids" to and instead use --mirror=@steam to mean 'anyone in group "steam"' but, note, if you e.g. insist on kids not having the ability to (un)install games from/to the shared library whereas you yourself do, things get to be more trouble quickly with Steam.

I'd not insist: as you can see, in the basis it's just one line added to your /etc/fstab to have things Just Work.

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=2662484#p2662484

 

[biostud]

I just had to do my first "Timeshift" as something got borked and when trying to switch between users it asked for my root password and simply froze the computer, so only a hard reset would get me going. Yay! my first time borking Linux