Hello!, I was wondering (sorry about this, i’m no Einstein) what can one do with a virtual machine? what I mean by that is what cool things could one do? maybe use it to play older games, perhaps even make it a storage medium?. I personally like to use applications/games on vm’s (im also love customizing the whole thing, artist impulse). Do any of you have any suggestions? thank you for your input.
I use them to try out things safely. Whether it’s abandonware I found somewhere or an obscure OS I want to try that either doesn’t match up with hardware I own or something that I only want to use briefly
great idea, while I don’t dabble in unknown software myself, that is a really smart way to do it, thank you!
I use VMs because I want to sandbox work and school stuff from my personal computer. I’ve also used them to configure network stuff to understand more about it and tested different operating systems.
Does docker count?
I have jellyfin, navidrome, slskd and others running in little docker virtual instances.
I tend to use qemu kvm’s just for testing out novel operating systems, trying out package managers or just somewhere I can break stuff without worry.
Arcade Punks builds might be worth it…I just use them on an rpi.
may I ask, from what i’ve seen jellyfin and navidrome appear to be file transfer network applications? and docker looks like a application workflow type deal? what makes it useful for media? (im not sure what it does exactly so i’d like to know how it works?) thank you
Docker is similar to a VM. It’s a vilitualized container. They are used very heavily in enterprise stuff afaik.
I can run:
docker pull ubuntu
And have a virtual Ubuntu server up and running in seconds. Or Arch, Alpine or whatever.
Beyond just OS images many applications are packaged as docker containers as it comes with all the libraries, databases and underlying OS all set up, ready to go and easy to update.
I have Jellyfin & Navidrome docker instances so I can stream my video & music collection around my house and to my phone or laptop when away from home. They are a bit like Plex. Navidrome + Symfonium beats Spotify imo. Slskd means I can use my Android device away from home to download albums to my music collection and then stream them right back to the phone.
oooh! that’s actually really neat! so hypothetically, with docker you could set up a server super quick and with jellyfin/navidrome/slskd I can use said server to stream my music and etc to different devices and back? I should try that out! thank you
Yes.
Easiest to use separate containers tho. Jellyfin, Navidrome, Slskd, even Lemmy all provide Docker images just ready to pull. They tend to take up far less space and resources than a VM.
If it’s just for personal use I find Tailscale great…no need to worry about opening ports on my home router.
My phone, laptop & rpi server all talk to each other outwith the home network via Tailscale.
ah ok, i’m just looking for a personal shindig myself, i’ll look into tailscale, thank you!
VM’s are mostly used in businesses and enterprises. The general idea is that you can take your hardware and divide it up into smaller chunks. Most likely whatever application you are running doesn’t need the power of a full server. Domain controllers are generally a good example. They only handle directories and user authentication (by default). Because the load is light, it makes sense to create a low spec VM just for it. You can make a VM for basically any application you want to run which is where the next part of VM’s becomes awesome. It’s super easy to migrate a VM between servers. In the event a physical host has an issue, you can just move the VM to another box and keep going. Its far faster than spinning up a new physical box.
I find VM’s have limited use for general users. They can make a great sandbox to test software that you don’t trust. They are also great for backwards compatibility. Unless you have a specific use for one I would avoid them though. Windows does have its “sandbox” feature built in if you want an easy solution.
Can you be more clear on what you mean by “storage medium?” Do you mean having an intermediary place to put files? This seems overly complicated for no gain.
I see, I guess there are better ways to store files, thank you for the information.
If you want a decent way to store large files, research a NAS. I own and deploy Synology and QNAP Nas’s. They work great for my video archives. The added redundancy is fantastic. Feel free to ask all the questions you have (im a full time IT pro)
oh i see, thank you, I appreciate it!
I feel kinda bad, I’m not a software dev. while these are all great ideas, they don’t apply to me, i’m very sorry.
You dont have to be a software dev to work with VMs. They fall more under the “sysadmin” profession.
I sometimes install old OSes on virtual machines purely for the nostalgia. Pair that with some old versions of applications like WinAmp and you’ve got a fun way to spend an evening.
It’s very useful for dev work when packaging and testing software for a bunch of other OSs
