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Hello Guys and/or Gals,

I am new to the site and after searching it for a few hours i finally decided to sign up as i have some questions.

I have a Windows 8.1 system and I would like to install Linux on it in VMware OS. I have never tried Linux before so I thought i would ask what is best version of Linux to run in VMware? I want to use it for rendering graphics, storage, teamspeak and other software. I do not want a dual boot system which is why I have vmware as I do not want it full time at this point. I also want to learn more about linux as when my windows 8.1 pc dies I will need a new os, and i am done with windows at that point.

So is Ubuntu the best choice and is there only one version to choose from?

Think that is all my questions for now. Thanks in advance Valshardreg

Valshardreg
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    "So is Ubuntu the best choice" There is no "best". Ubuntu is a choice and there is only what YOU like to use. I don't use kde, lxde, xfce desktops because I do not like it. I like Unity and Budgie. I would still pick Ubuntu over any of the less-spec needed versions even if my hardware would not meet the specs. Ubuntu has the biggest support sites though so help is not far away. – Rinzwind Sep 23 '17 at 09:11
  • Hello, Thanks for the fast reply to my question. I will google more on Budgie and Unity as I really know nothing of Linux at all. My specs should be good as my computer has space and processing power. Anyways thanks again. – Valshardreg Sep 23 '17 at 18:06

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Only you can decide what is the best Ubuntu version and/or [Ubuntu community] flavour of Ubuntu.

Try them live (booted from a DVD disk or USB pendrive or directly from the iso file in a virtual machine) without installing in your computer and with the tasks that are important for you. After that you can install the version and flavour, that is best for you.

Try Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, ...) before installing it

I should add, that it is worthwhile to compare booting from a DVD disk or USB pendrive with booting in a virtual machine. If the computer is powerful enough, your guest operating system can be rather fast and responsive, but the performance will suffer (more or less) when running in a virtual machine, and then it is a good idea to use an Ubuntu flavour with a light footprint, Lubuntu, Ubuntu MATE or Xubuntu.

Please note that installing an operating system is risky, so backup everything that you cannot afford to lose before starting the installation.

sudodus
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  • Hello, Thanks for fast reply. As for what you say it brings me to some questions. Should I still backup my system since I will only be installing Linux/Ubuntu into VMWare? As Said i do not want dual boot and only will have vmware with Ubuntu running sometimes and not all the time. Now about Ubuntu flavors, I downloaded Ubuntu Desktop and Server from this site, but I have not installed yet as I wanted to be sure I had a well supported version. I will look at the link you gave me and do lots of reading and searching this site for more information. Thanks again for the help and fast reply. – Valshardreg Sep 23 '17 at 19:13
  • No, if you only install into a VMWare virtual machine, there is no need for extra backup (but you should backup everything that you cannot afford to lose anyway). Standard Ubuntu should be best supported, but the Ubuntu community flavours are very well supported too. Many of us use them. For example, I use Lubuntu most of the time. The engine under the hood is the same, only the desktop environment (graphical user interface) and the selection of bundled application programs differ. But I would recommend that you use a version with long time support, LTS. Try version 16.04.1 LTS or16.04.3 LTS. – sudodus Sep 23 '17 at 19:24
  • Hey, Ok thanks for the info and help. I have just installed Xbuntu on vmware and it is running. Thanks again for the help. – Valshardreg Oct 02 '17 at 05:45
  • You are welcome, @Valshardreg :-) – sudodus Oct 02 '17 at 06:03