My web studio is starting to take shape, and I want to share a bit about how I’m choosing to run my B2B business, and the way I do things. In this post, I want to share how I’m using virtual machines to solve a challenge.
The Challange
Building websites also requires testing them on different devices, web browsers, and screen resolutions to ensure the websites are working as intended.
This means I need several computers with different operating systems & browsers installed on them. Yes, I could purchase laptops, tablets & smartphones and configure each one for the intended task, but why bother with physical devices when I can use open-source software and virtual machines?
Open Source Software
I’m a huge fan of open-source software and use it whenever I can. This means I get to use Linux every day for my business. What is Linux and why is it so important? If you haven’t heard about Linux yet, you’re about to find out just how awesome this free and open source Operating System really is. A lot of my journey involves using free and open-source software to run my business, and I hope it gives you some ideas too.
How I run several computer systems from a laptop
I’m currently using Ubuntu Linux on my main laptop, with a few other virtual machines. What are virtual machines? A virtual machine or VM for short is a complete computer system running inside your main computer. In my case, I use a laptop with 32GB memory, which means I can run a few VM’s without experiencing any slowness. I currently have 4 virtual machines that I use from time to time. I only turn them on when I need to use them for something specific. For example, I can use a virtual machine with Kali Linux to test a website with Firefox or the TOR browser. I also have Microsoft Windows 10 as a virtual machine for testing with Microsoft’s Edge browser. Having access to multiple computers is very handy as you can see, and Linux makes this workflow very easy.
VirtualBox
VirtualBox is open-source software that lets you run operating systems inside your computer. It’s free to use and works on Windows, MacOS, and Linux.
Here is a screenshot of my desktop with Ubuntu Linux as the host machine, using VirtualBox to run 2 guest operating systems. Windows10 and Kali Linux at the same time.
Now it’s your turn
I would love to hear from you. What is your favorite operating system? Are you using virtual machines?
