As with most of my work, it evolves in spurts and never seems completed. This is an early draft page trying to capture some of those thoughts that I will refine over time. Likely should keep 50% of what I have private until in a more released state. But it helps me to document some links and such. Used to do it with emails to myself. But this is more accessible to others.
I have been using Unix/Linux since at least 1977. Back when it ran off a removable, 12" 1 megabyte disk. If you remember floppy discs, like that but much bigger and stiffer. Anyway, am often asked about Unix solutions either native on "PC" hardware or, as often is used today, virtual machines. Here are my comments on that.
First off, there are virtually no flavors of original Unix anymore. ATT keeping tight rains on the rights saw to that. As popular as BSD was in the 1980's during the mini-computer revolution, the marker is tiny today. It is all about Linux. Unix flavors still available are Plan9, .... and even MacOS. (MacOS of today is the old NeXT OS that was based on Carnegie Mellons C.mMP Unix.; from what I recall.)
Second, there are hundreds of flavors (or distros that is short for distributions) of Linux. Most popular still are the various RedHat varieties. Ubuntu, based on Debian, is very popular otherwise. (So do you say Ubuntu is popular or Debian with Ubuntu just a major form of Debian that others use? Hard to say.)
Finally, there is the virtual machine itself. Or hypervisor as they have now termed it. The software and support to allow one machine to be emulated on another. As mentioned in the VMWare intro below, this can involve dynamic code translation (or true emulation). But more often consists of wrapping native Intel processor code to allow it to run in a different OS environment.
OK, they could have come up with a better name. But for those die hard Windows fans who want that support and integration, this is the solution for you. In fact, you download your linux distro from the Microsoft Play Store!
The VM's have a feature of trying to do "similar look-and-feel" by allowing the GUI / Windows Explorer to be the Linux desktop. But very different techniques under the hood between the two solutions. Almost like a diesel versus gasoline vehicle. Very different technology under the hood but can look the same to the naive user from afar.
If you have the ISO's, you can jump to Step4 about setting up your VM in VirtualBox. Key with VBox is the steps listed in this Google Doc and replicated here with improvements:
See Techsviewer comment from 8 Jun:
The Geekrar.com mentions refer to Geekrar Install MacOS Catalina on VirtualBox Windows PC with special additional For AMD Systems which basically adds one line to VBoxManage script.
I have been using Unix/Linux since at least 1977. Back when it ran off a removable, 12" 1 megabyte disk. If you remember floppy discs, like that but much bigger and stiffer. Anyway, am often asked about Unix solutions either native on "PC" hardware or, as often is used today, virtual machines. Here are my comments on that.
First off, there are virtually no flavors of original Unix anymore. ATT keeping tight rains on the rights saw to that. As popular as BSD was in the 1980's during the mini-computer revolution, the marker is tiny today. It is all about Linux. Unix flavors still available are Plan9, .... and even MacOS. (MacOS of today is the old NeXT OS that was based on Carnegie Mellons C.mMP Unix.; from what I recall.)
Second, there are hundreds of flavors (or distros that is short for distributions) of Linux. Most popular still are the various RedHat varieties. Ubuntu, based on Debian, is very popular otherwise. (So do you say Ubuntu is popular or Debian with Ubuntu just a major form of Debian that others use? Hard to say.)
Finally, there is the virtual machine itself. Or hypervisor as they have now termed it. The software and support to allow one machine to be emulated on another. As mentioned in the VMWare intro below, this can involve dynamic code translation (or true emulation). But more often consists of wrapping native Intel processor code to allow it to run in a different OS environment.
Virtual Machines
VirtualBox
Originally a Sun Microsytems product, is my go to choice for developing a VM of any OS on any other machine.VMWare Workstation/Player
David Dill and his wife are responsible for re-inventing and creating the resurgence of virtual machines. IBM had created the concept back in the 1960's and still had it going strong in their mainframes as VM/CMS well into the 1980's. But David, a professor at Stanford University, saw that cheap PC hardware (i.e. Intel processors) was getting powerful enough to consider emulation again. But VM's are usually native code. So it is more a wrapper than emulation.Microsoft Windows10 Subsystem for Linux
Install InstructionsOK, they could have come up with a better name. But for those die hard Windows fans who want that support and integration, this is the solution for you. In fact, you download your linux distro from the Microsoft Play Store!
KVM
CygWin / MinGW
This is not a VM. Instead, provides a similar wrapper but by requiring the code be recompiled on the platform. So supports Linux programs (that have been recompiled) as native-run applications on Windows. The applications do not know the difference. And Windows users do not realize, necessarily, they are running a Linux application.The VM's have a feature of trying to do "similar look-and-feel" by allowing the GUI / Windows Explorer to be the Linux desktop. But very different techniques under the hood between the two solutions. Almost like a diesel versus gasoline vehicle. Very different technology under the hood but can look the same to the naive user from afar.
Apple MacOS X
Linux / Unix VMs are pretty easy, common and well supported. Win10 ones can be tougher but there are not many that want to create this case. Too easily to get on the open market as the ISO or working machine. But Mac OS X VM's are a different story. The ISO's are hard to come by as Apple has the installers in the App Store that can only be accessed from a MacOSX machine. And they are more strict in their licensing to not allow a MacOSX VM on non-Apple hardware. But as Apple uses Intel architecture, it is pretty easy to get a MacOSX VM working on a Win10 or Linux machine on a standard desktop / laptop. So here is how we did it. First for Mojave 10.14. And then for Catalina 10.15. TechsViewer has been key in having the simple approaches (and even, the first time, allowing a rabbit hole trail down to find an ISO copy of Mojave on some hidden server; allowing one to bootstrap without having an initial Apple box).- TV Catalina on VBox
- TV download in VM's but really simply a list of all the MacOS ver locations on AppStore:
- Catalina 10.15 - 2019 (15.5 on 8 Jun 2020)
- Mojave 10.14 - 2018 (14.6 on 8 Jun 2020)
- High Sierra 10.13 - 2017
- Sierra- 10.12 2016
- El Capitan- 10.11 2015
- Yosemite 10.10 2014
- If considering getting a real Apple box, see:
- version requirements for running Catalina (Mac Mini 6, 7 or 8)
- Mac Specs by Case Type
If you have the ISO's, you can jump to Step4 about setting up your VM in VirtualBox. Key with VBox is the steps listed in this Google Doc and replicated here with improvements:
cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\" setx VM "MacOS Catalina 10.15" VBoxManage modifyvm "%VM%" --cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff VBoxManage setextradata "%VM%" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemProduct" "iMac11,3" VBoxManage setextradata "%VM%" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiSystemVersion" "1.0" VBoxManage setextradata "%VM%" "VBoxInternal/Devices/efi/0/Config/DmiBoardProduct" "Iloveapple" VBoxManage setextradata "%VM%" "VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/DeviceKey" "ourhardworkbythesewordsguardedpleasedontsteal(c)AppleComputerInc" VBoxManage setextradata "%VM%" "VBoxInternal/Devices/smc/0/Config/GetKeyFromRealSMC" 1 VBoxManage modifyvm "%VM%" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i7-6700K" # Above line for AMD CPU's only; set to "Intel Core i7-6700K" instead of default "host" VBoxManage setextradata "%VM%" "VBoxInternal2/EfiGraphicsResolution" "1600x900" # Other resolutions to try: 1280x720 1920x1080 2048x1080 2560x1440 3840x3160 1280x800 1280x1024 1440x90 1600x900 # Last line on [https://www.geekrar.com/fix-macos-catalina-screen-resolution-on-virtualbox/|screen resolution from Geekrar.com] (this is password for rar files as well)
See Techsviewer comment from 8 Jun:
OK, really pulling my hair out. Have a MacOS Mojave 10.14 I setup in January with much difficulty. On VirtualBox 6.1.4 with host AMD A10-5700. It will not upgrade. I need to check something out on Catalina. So decided to create a new vbox from scratch; using Mojave to get the image. Go through all the steps to create an .iso and an initial ,vmdk.
If I try to boot directly, it hangs after a bit on the last line:
[EB|#LOG:EXITBS:START]
If I add the setting:
VBoxManage modifyvm “%VM%” –cpu-profile “Intel Core i7-6700K”
It hangs on the last line (that is a few above the previous last line) of:
[EB|`BST:FBS] {
If I use geekrar.com update or “VirtualBox Boot Image” and do the EFI command “install.nsh”, it simply hangs (after finding many files missing). Last succesful command is “map -r”. Then cannot find (4x):
“fs1:\macOS Install Data\Locked Files\Boot Files\boot.efi”
I also tried to download their .vmdk and use instead of the .iso but it did not change anything.
Saw this reddit post that seemed to indicate a similar issue and they stated to edit the config.plist file in the boot loader but not sure it applies (if using the generic EFI boot script it seems to rely on). See https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh/comments/g7rqt1/if_youre_stuck_at_endrandomseed_or/
Ideas?
FYI, not sure why your script is not simplified / parameterized (so a global replace is not needed):
setx VM “MacOS Catalina 10.15”
VBoxManage modifyvm “%VM%” –cpuidset 00000001 000106e5 00100800 0098e3fd bfebfbff
….
Oh, and I updated VirtualBox to 6.1.10 (and Extension Pack) and that did not make any difference either. Just grabbed the OS today to make the ISO but not sure if it was 10.15.4 or the 10.15.3 from April.
The Geekrar.com mentions refer to Geekrar Install MacOS Catalina on VirtualBox Windows PC with special additional For AMD Systems which basically adds one line to VBoxManage script.