Author Topic: ArcaOS in VirtualBox  (Read 5689 times)

JVB

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ArcaOS in VirtualBox
« on: January 14, 2018, 07:45:16 pm »
Hey Folks!

I recently installed ArcaOS 5.01 in VirtualBox 5.1.3 running in Debian Stretch, so I thought I would follow up to some previous posts I saw on the subject.

In general the install went well. Rather than a fresh VM, I installed on an existing VM with a Warp 4.52 installation that I did a year or so ago. I did this simply to avoid reinstalling my old software.

The only problem area has been the sound card. What I have discovered as have others is that if you initially think the card is not working, it may be a volume issue. I initially installed the SB16 non PnP virtual card and used the ALSA driver in VirtualBox. At first this did not seem to work, but as I noted it was a volume issue. Turning up the host sound to max and the VM sound to max gave an audible result in the VM.

I had better luck with the Arca Noae universal sound driver and a virtual ACH97 card, again using the ALSA driver in VirtualBox. With the VM volume at max and the host volume at about 80%, the sound in the VM was mostly audible and the host sound was not intolerable. If you're using sound on the host, having the volume at 100%+ is not really a viable option.

Using the VirtualBox PulseAudio driver yielded similar results. Using the OSS driver in VirtualBox did not work.

I also installed the Injoy Firewall. This locked up the system on booting. I haven't tried to fix the Injoy issue. I just reverted to a snapshot of the VM prior to the Injoy install.

I've since been looking at the IBM Firewall that came with Warp and that is included in ArcaOS. Would anyone have a set of rules for a home NAT that they would share? I've spent a lot of time reading and fiddling with the fwfiltrs.cnf file with no success.

For your amusement, I have attached two photos of the two installations. As you can see, I'm used to an Object Desktop environment, so I kinda recreated it in ArcaOS. I just needed to add the new SmartBar program from Hobbes to get the monitors and have XWorkplace look pretty close to Object Desktop.

Thanks.

JVB

  • Guest
Re: ArcaOS in VirtualBox
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2018, 07:49:01 pm »
Oops! Looks like I forgot one of the photos.

I've attached it here.

Cheers.

ak120

  • Guest
Re: ArcaOS in VirtualBox
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2018, 08:47:02 pm »
I recently installed ArcaOS 5.01 in VirtualBox 5.1.3 running in Debian Stretch, so I thought I would follow up to some previous posts I saw on the subject.
It would be better to use the latest VirtualBox 5.1.30 in the 5.1 line. The 5.0 versions (latest was 5.0.40 from April 2017) are more reliable but no longer officially supported.

Quote
The only problem area has been the sound card. What I have discovered as have others is that if you initially think the card is not working, it may be a volume issue. I initially installed the SB16 non PnP virtual card and used the ALSA driver in VirtualBox.
It's only working for waveform playback and recording.

Quote
At first this did not seem to work, but as I noted it was a volume issue. Turning up the host sound to max and the VM sound to max gave an audible result in the VM.
There were some changes in the OSS and ALSA backends.

Quote
Using the OSS driver in VirtualBox did not work.
Which version of OpenSound is installed under Linux?

JVB

  • Guest
Re: ArcaOS in VirtualBox
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2018, 11:51:28 pm »
Hi Andreas!

Sorry, the VirtualBox version was a typo. It is Debian level: 5.1.30-dfsg-1~bpo9+1.

Some of the other sound related packages are:

pulseaudio 10.0.1+deb9u1
osspd / osspd-alsa 1.3.2-7+b1
alsa-base 1.0.27+1
kernel 4.9.0-5-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.9.65-3+deb9u2 (2018-01-04) x86_64 GNU/Linux

So OSS per se is not installed. It's being handled via ALSA and PulseAudio.

The osspd package showed in the package manager as needing reinstallation.  I did this and that resolved the basic issue of the VirtualBox OSS option not working. However, using OSS as the VirtualBox driver option still gives very low volume sound with either virtual card in the VM. It also tends to repeat the sounds in chunks rather than play the whole sound just once, e.g. 1 1 2 2 3 3 instead of 1 2 3. It sounds like it's stuttering.

At any rate, the combo of ALSA and ICH AC97 in the VirtualBox options paired with the universal sound driver in ArcaOS gives the best results for playback on my box. With the VM set to 100% on the volume control and the host volume set to 80%, sound generated in both environments are audible. Not being an audiophile, that is fine for me.

I only tested sound playback, nothing else.

Regarding my firewall question, I found Zampa on Hobbes and it has allowed me to get a basic firewall in place.

Thanks for your comments.

Ciao.

ak120

  • Guest
Re: ArcaOS in VirtualBox
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2018, 05:47:14 am »
Sorry, the VirtualBox version was a typo. It is Debian level: 5.1.30-dfsg-1~bpo9+1.
I don't know how this Debian build differs from the original one.

Quote
Some of the other sound related packages are:

pulseaudio 10.0.1+deb9u1
osspd / osspd-alsa 1.3.2-7+b1
alsa-base 1.0.27+1
kernel 4.9.0-5-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.9.65-3+deb9u2 (2018-01-04) x86_64 GNU/Linux

So OSS per se is not installed. It's being handled via ALSA and PulseAudio.
ALSA sounds horrible. I would use OSS for better mixer control unless you're using HDMI connection.
http://www.opensound.com/release/oss-linux-v4.2-2017-amd64.deb