Currently I am using Windows 8. I have a virtual box with Ubuntu set up for development. Aside from that I sometimes just want to relax and enjoy a game (Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Saints Row: The Third, etc) after hours of research and development.
I want to have my main machine with linux, and install windows on a virtual box.
What I want to know, from those who have tried or seen it:
- How is the performance?
- I've never been clear on this but, even if I install the correct drivers on the windows box, will it matter? At least on this part, I'm just curious how it offload. Which drivers will matter the most.
- Mouse and Keyboard integration, I'll be honest, sometimes the mouse integration in Virtual Box is a bit frustrating, mouse cursor disappears, etc.
I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask. I'm merely trying to come back to linux, yet I'm a PC gamer so I can't throw away Steam. I'm aware of the linux client, but most of those games won't work.
If there's a right place to ask this whether StackExchange sites or any other site let me know.
Cheers and I hope those in the same position find a middle ground.
Best Answer
Gaming in a Virtual box is a bad idea. You wont have the great 3D support that you desire and applications that require a lot of resources will lag. Some games will probably work, like minecraft and minesweeper. But running heavy programs like Battlefield, Skyrim and similar will not work.
The reason for this is that you are basically running two operating systems within each other and the one you will be emulating will be limited to a small portion of that computers resources.
A solution to this problem is dual boot. For example you have one partition with Linux (where you are all serious and stuff) and one partition with windows (for gaming). I had this setup on my laptop for several years it works great.
There are instructions in the Ubuntu installer for how you install with a dual boot setup. The easiest is to install Windows first and then install Ubuntu.
Good luck.