Running Linux as a guest VM

As discussed previously, a practical and convenient alternative to using a native Linux system is to install and use the Linux distribution as a guest OS on a VM. It's key that you install a recent Linux distribution, preferably as a VM to be safe and avoid unpleasant data loss or other surprises. The fact is when working at the level of the kernel, abruptly crashing the system (and the data loss risks that arise thereof) is actually a commonplace occurrence. I recommend using Oracle VirtualBox 6.x (or the latest stable version) or other virtualization software, such as VMware Workstation.

Both of these are freely available. It's just that the code for this book has been tested on VirtualBox 6.1. Oracle VirtualBox is considered Open Source Software (OSS) and is licensed under the GPL v2 (the same as the Linux kernel). You can download it from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads. Its documentation can be found here: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/End-user_documentation.

The host system should be either MS Windows 10 or later (of course, even Windows 7 will work), a recent Linux distribution (for example, Ubuntu or Fedora), or macOS. So, let's get started by installing our Linux guest.