Hi there,
I've just recently started using Linux (Mint) and I'm pondering on if and how to change my setup.
Here's how it is right now: I have 4 drives - 1 512GB ssd which has Windows installed on it, a 2 TB hdd that's used for storage on the Windows part of my system, a 1 TB m2 ssd with Linux Mint and a 2 TB ssd for storage on my the Linux part of my system.
I can't unfortunately get rid of Windows completely, as I need the Office Suite for Work - I do training sessions on process optimization mostly online via MS Teams.
At the moment, I have fmstrat/winapps installed, as well as teams-for-linux (which is just a web app as far as I know) for most basic things like outlook and teams messages. Both options (Web-apps and winapps) are not really suitable for online training sessions or more work intense sessions as they are simply too slow or missing features. For everything else, I'll do a reboot into the windows system and after I'm done I reboot back to Linux.
Now here's my question:
Is there a way, e.g. to put a VM fullscreen over both displays on one workspace and give it full power / resources so I won't notice much difference to a native system (How good would my components need to be for this?) - and suspend the VM if I switch away from that workspace back to Linux. And would this be suitable to access my devices like the rodecaster pro duo or my cam (via CamLink 4K) and my streamdeck?
Do you have any other better ideas to get to my goal of basically having an easy way to switch between Win and Linux. The Windows VM would only be used for Office work and online Meetings but both should run without any noticeable lags or glitches.
Would another distro be better for this task? I like working with Linux Mint atm but I wouldn't mind trying a different one as well - the Linux distro would have to be suitable for gaming though.
This is my go-to guide for virtualization on Linux desktops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7SG7ccjn-g The first part covers the Linux (Manjaro) installation. 12:00 is where GPU passthrough starts (see below), and 21:00 is where he sets up the virtual machine.
The video shows how to use KVM, or Kernel-based Virtual Machines. It's a hypervisor built into the Linux kernel and much more performant than VirtualBox, but a bit more work to set up. If you give the VM about 6-8 GB RAM and at least 4 CPU cores, it'll happily run Win10 at a reasonable speed and 25-30 FPS (assuming your computer is strong enough, as most of this load is CPU-bound). You won't be using it to watch HD videos, but I think it's good enough for office-type applications. Even now I'm using a Win10 VM to manage a domain controller.
One thing the video doesn't cover is to install the spice-guest-tools service on the VM from spice-space.org to facilitate host-to-guest communication (SPICE being the protocol that shows you the VM's graphical output, not unlike VNC).
It's called GPU passthrough, and not something I'd tell a new user to attempt. It requires some advanced tinkering, a second GPU (unless you're willing to attempt a single GPU passthrough, which is even more sketchy), and a prayer to the Omnissiah. It involves detaching the PCI device from the host OS and handing it over to the VM so only the guest OS can use it. You can then attach a monitor directly to that GPU or use the Looking Glass application on a multi-GPU system to display the output in a window.
If you're comfortable with Mint, it's best to stay. Virtualization will work more or less the same. If you're looking for an Arch-based distro, consider EndeavourOS. It's basically Arch, but with an out-of-the-box experience comparable to Mint. Manjaro is another similar choice, but I can't recommend it because they've made some choices that make updates risky and system maintenance a pain.
Thanks for the extensive answer and the video. I'll put it to good use since I wanted to do a clean reinstall anyways.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=h7SG7ccjn-g
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
this is a great bit of advice here. KVM with GPU passthrough is magical when you get it working. excellent comment.
Can looking glass passthrough a xbox controller