I use VirtualBox on my Mac to allow me to use Delphi, a Windows-specific tool. Perhaps Crossover for Mac would work, but Delphi depends on a whole mess of Windows dependencies it has accumulated over the years, including .NET frameworks and some other crap. So it’s easier to just install Windows 10 inside of VirtualBox and then run Delphi there. From time to time, I’ve run into networking issues, but for the most part, once I’ve gotten things running, it’s actually more stable than any Windows-based hardware I’ve used.

One of the things I develop in Delphi is server-side apps. They can only be targeted at Windows; the Linux support for the libraries I use isn’t fully there. I really hate dealing with remote Windows servers, so I’ve been thinking about how to host these services inside of something that runs on a common Linux hosting account, most of which run CentOS. 

I know VirtualBox can run under CentOS, but I’m not clear how easy or complex it is to install it.

One problem is I don’t have root access. Another is it’s headless, so there’s no way to run a GUI.

Any suggestions for doing what I need?


Also, Keith, maybe VirtualBox is simply not the best tool for what you’re trying to do?

-David Schwartz




On Nov 15, 2022, at 7:42 AM, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss <plug-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org> wrote:

Hi,

As you probably know I am struggling to configure Oracle's VirtualBox for web development testing.