[dba-Tech] Check out Distros

[Jim Lawrence]

Hi All:

For those of who a familiar with a few desktop versions of Linux here is a location that will allow you to pre-test a version before ever trying to install it on your system:

https://distrotest.net/

Depending on the version you select to review it may take longer to complete a OS clone and display on your browser screen. There will also be a bit a delay between mouse movement and selection but of course the version is an OS that is running remotely and is only as quick as your internet bandwidth. Some distros are as little as 60K and others can be up to 4GB (Considering the size of a fully install Windows 10 distro may be 40GB in size.)

Aside: The server hosting the Linux clones are using the Debian core distro and the incredible QEMU emulator and virtualizer (Xen and KVM virtual machines.):

https://www.qemu.org/

For more information on emulators and virtualizers check out the following:

https://www.techradar.com/news/best-virtual-machine-software

Aside: It is fairly easy to run up a Windows 10 OS distro on my Ubuntu desktop. (https://dennisnotes.com/note/20180614-ubuntu-18.04-qemu-setup/) Good fun but as Windows is a pig and a slow one at that. Setting up remote access works but only tried a couple of connections to the virtual Windows 10 system. My test was running off a small 64bit Linux desktop with only 8GB of RAM...should have 16GB. There is a few ways to completely strip out all the bloatware and create a smaller image but I have not tried that yet. VirtualBox and VMware could be used but this product is definitely faster.  

Jim