Gslapt confusion - please help

[M0E-lnx]

The virtual environemt is only real to your linux installation. To your host OS (windows or any other), this environment is nothing but one big file.
Anything you do in the virtual machine... data you save, things you mess up are all contained in that one file.

If you so choose to get rid of it, simple delete that one file.

Here is a mini howto to help you setup a new virtual machine. This is using VirtualBox 3.1.0. I'm using the linux version, but the windows version is essentially designed the same way... you can follow the same steps.

With your VirtualBox gui open, follow these steps:
1 ) Click on "New"
2 ) Click "Next"
3 ) Choose a name for your virtual Machine. ANy name will do.. let's use "VirtualVL" for this example.
4 ) Under the section labeled "OS Type" select these values:
Operating System: 'Linux'
Version: 'Linux 2.6'
Click Next when you get these values in place.
5 ) Select the ammount of memmory the guest os is allowed to use. This value can vary depending on how much RAM you have in your computer, but usually, on a box with 1gb installed, you want to use between 256 and just under 512MB. If you have more ram available, you can select a higher value.
6 ) The wizard will help you setup your virtual hard disk, so just click 'next', 'next'
7 ) Select 'Dynamically Expanding Storage'. THis means the file will start out small and grow as you use the virtual environment.
8 ) 'Location' can be left alone, it should default to the name of your virtual environment. Under 'Size' use the slider to adjust the size you want to allow for vectorlinux. This is hard disk space... so for VL Light you want a good 5 to 10GB minimum so you can have some breathing room. Click 'next' when you're done.
9) Click 'Finish' , 'Finish'

Your virtual environment is now ready... now you just have to get it to boot the ISO you downloaded...

1) Select the Virtual Machine you just created from the left panel on VirtualBox
2) Click 'Settings'
3) Click 'Storage' on the left Panel and then click the CD icon labeled 'Empty'
4) To the right of the window, you will see 'Attributes'. Under 'CD/DVD device' click the yellow folder icon with the green '^' sign.
This will bring up a window to let you load your downloaded ISO
5) Click 'Add' and browse to the location containing the VL Light ISO you downloaded. This will just put it in the list.
6) Select the ISO from the list, and click 'Select'
7) Click 'OK'
You are now ready to boot the virtual machine.
1) Click 'Start'
2) As soon as you see the VirtualBox logo and a black screen after that, press F12 on your keyboard, and press 'c' to boot from cd rom.
3) Press enter to start installation process.


Quite lenghty process when you break it down step by step, but you can do it in 10 seconds once you get familiar with the vbox program.

[GrannyGeek]

I just want to tell you not to get scared when you get to the stage where you have to partition and format the "hard disk" in the virtual machine. The "hard disk" is not your actual hard disk, it's what the virtual machine sees as a hard disk. So the formatting affects only the "hard disk" in the virtual machine.

Same with LILO in the MBR. This is the virtual machine's MBR, not your actual MBR.
--GrannyGeek

[omergrigg]

Thanks guys for putting my mind at ease.
I found this little tutorial online on how to install VL:
https://vector.ecosq.com/ic/HowTos/HowToBook/ChapGetStarted/guiInstallation#secInstall

However, it has a few mistakes and also is a bit lacking in detail.  Could I have your advice please on what would be the best choices to make?  Things like the partitions (I set 10G for the machine, as you recommended), formats, what packages and bulks to install, etc?
I have a ThinkPad T400s - core duo 2.53GHz and 4G RAM, but I really want the install to be lean and fast.

Thanks!

[M0E-lnx]

With 10Gb, I normally make a 512MB swap partition and leave the remaining 9.5G to /
filesystem and bulks is a matter of personal taste. I've every one of them without any glitches... you can hardly tell the difference between them for every-day tasks.
With your hardware, I would give my virtual machine 1GB of ram... that should be plenty.

[Daniel]

I found this little tutorial online on how to install VL:
https://vector.ecosq.com/ic/HowTos/HowToBook/ChapGetStarted/guiInstallation#secInstall
However, it has a few mistakes and also is a bit lacking in detail.

Take a look at these video tutorials here: http://www.opensourcebistro.com/Tutorial/VL60/01.Installation/page
That page has tutorials about VirtualBox and about installing VL.