+SpiceWare Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 Just like you can run the program Stella to emulate an Atari 2600 and play games, a virtual machine lets you emulate a PC and run different operating systems. There are many virtual machine programs available, we'll be using Virtual Box because its free. Download and Install VirtualBox Visit https://www.virtualbox.org/ Find the downloads If you're computer uses a 64-bit OS then download the current release of VirtualBox. If you're still on a 32-bit OS then you'll need to download the 5.2 release. Install Virtual Box Download Linux visit https://kubuntu.org find the downloads download the LTS version. LTS = Long Term Support At the time of this post the file I downloaded was: kubuntu-18.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso As a BIN is to an Atari 2600 cartridge an ISO is to a CD/DVD. Note there are many Linux distributions available. I tested a six and decided to use Kubuntu for 2 reasons: It has a minimal install option - why waste space installing an office suite, etc. supports clearer text on HiDPI displays If you're familiar with and prefer another distribution feel free to use it, just note that some of the setup will be different and I might not be able to help if you run into problems. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted October 6, 2019 Author Share Posted October 6, 2019 Create a virtual machine Welcome to VirtualBox! Click New Name and operating system Name: AtariDev (can use whatever you like) Type: Linux Version: Ubuntu (64-bit) Click Continue Memory size Click Continue to accept defaults, or adjust it if you like. Note: the memory will be unavailable to your host OS while the VM is running, so don't give the VM more than you can spare. I have 32GB in my Mac Pro, I set my VM to use 4096 MB. Hard disk Click Create to accept defaults Hard disk file type As a BIN is to an Atari 2600 cartridge a VDI is to a HDD or SSD. Click Continue to accept defaults Storage on physical hard disk Click Continue to accept defaults File location and size I ran out of space with a 10.00 GB hard drive, so I increased it to 50.00 GB. Click Create Congratulations, you've made a virtual machine! Before we start it we're going to tweak the Display settings. Click Settings Click Display Video Memory is set to 16 MB. I ran out of Video Memory when I resized the "monitor" window to be larger on my Mac's 4K monitor... ... so we'll increase Video Memory to 128 MB. If you're using an HiDPI display you may also wish to set Scale Factor to 200%, else the text in the "monitor" window may be difficult to read during the installation. If you're not sure, leave it at 100% because you can change this while the virtual machine is running. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted October 6, 2019 Author Share Posted October 6, 2019 Install Kubuntu Click on Start You will be prompted to basically "insert CD/DVD". To do so click the folder icon and select the Kubuntu ISO file you downloaded. When I posted this the ISO file was named kubuntu-18.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso. It's possible a newer version was released since then. Welcome After some time the Welcome screen will appear. If the text is too small to read then go check the footnote below on how to make it legible* Click on Install Kubuntu. Keyboard layout (part 1) The default "monitor" size is a tad too small so you'll need to grab the title bar and drag it left... Keyboard layout (part 2) ... to reveal the Continue button. Change Layout and Variant if you need Click Continue Updates and other software Select Minimal installation - we don't need the Office Suite or other programs installed in the virtual machine Click Continue Installation type Defaults are fine Click Install Now Write the changes to disks? Click Continue to partition and format the HDD (the VDI file) Where are you? Select your Time Zone Click Continue Who are you? Enter name and password for your virtual machine. I went with: Your name: atari Choose a Password: 2600 Click Continue Note: You can chose automatic log in if you like. I don't because sometimes you have to enter your password for updates and such, and from experience I'm likely to forget what it was if I don't use it. Installation Complete After some time the install will finish. Click Restart Now Remove the Installation Media OR print_req_error messages I've encountered 2 different things after clicking Restart Now. Either a prompt asking you to Remove Installation Media (there's a graphic version and a text version of this message), or a list of print_req_errors. The list of errors actually appears after the text version of this, so it's a case of "blink and you missed it". You if read the text on the screen where you selected the ISO file you'll see "The disk will be ejected from the virtual drive automatically..." so you don't need to do anything to eject it. So no matter which one you get, just hit ENTER on the keyboard. graphic version of Remove the Installation Media MISSING SCREENSHOT TO COME text version of Remove the Installation Media text screen after the Remove Installation Media message Login The user is already selected, just enter the password. We're done for now, so let's shut down the virtual machine. Click the K-Gear (Application Launcher) Click Leave Click Shut Down Click OK Your Virtual Machine is now Powered Off. You can quit VirtualBox *At this time if the text is too small you can switch over to the VirtualBox Manager window and access the Settings. On the Display tab the Video Memory, Monitor Count, and Graphics Controller options are disabled whenever your virtual machine is running, but you can still modify the Scale Factor. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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