This isn't just VirtualBox. It's VirtualBox with a KVM back end. So you get the performance of KVM, but with a much better GUI than virt-manager.
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Doesn't Virtualbox require kernel modules to run? How does that work in a flatpak?
The backend is not virtualbox stuff but KVM stuff. Only the frontend is virtualbox. so one can claim that it's more apt to say this is "virtualbox-ui"
One small downside…
This is not in FlatHub and it is not an official part of the VirtualBox KVM project from Cyberos Technology (the folks that make VirtualBox KVM).
This is a project from GitHub user tulilirockz
Cool that it is now a flatpak
However, I would recommend gnome boxes or virtual manager.
Via flatpak permissions.
Flatpak permissions can give access to pretty much anything, in this case, /dev/kvm.
As this uses the KVM backend, they are all essentially alternative UI for the same hypervisor.
This is awesome. I use the KVM version of VirtualBox all the time. Not only is it a great UI with good driver support but VirtualBox itself is cross platform while KVM and its various front-ends are not.
I do demos and create documentation that shows VirtualBox in screenshots. The audience are people who will almost all be using Windows and macOS. With VirtualBox, we can all use the same UI with me enjoying better performance from KVM on my Linux boxes.
VirtualBox KVM does not need kernel modules so kernel upgrades are not a hassle. Before now though, I have been having to compile VirtualBox KVM itself which is a bit of a beast.
I cannot wait to try this.
TIL there's a KVM backend for VirtualBox. Thank you. Does everything "get saved" in VirtualBox format?
I'm using libvirt on my workstation and Proxmox on my servers, it's effort but possible to transfer the VMs back and forth when I need to, not sure if I could do that if I switched.
VirtualBox KVM uses the same format as VirtualBox proper.
The virtual machine description is not compatible with Proxmox. That said, you can import a VirtualBox environment into Proxmox and vice versa. I have done it.
What you actually import is the “drive” of the VM. You create a new VM in Proxmox (or VirtualBox if going the other way). Then you attach the imported disk to it.
The devices may differ between environments. So they are not exactly the same. But as long as the OS you are visualizing can support both, it works well.
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