Tag: VirtualBox

Being Nice on a Linux Box – Process priority with ‘nice’ & ‘renice’

Problem (I had): Wanted to run a VirtualBox on a RHEL 4.7 Linux server which is shared by someothers. But as some other processes took more CPU, the VirtualBox performance was bad. So I wanted to increase the priority given to VirtualBox.

Solution (I found): VirtualBox can be given higher priority using nice command. Also renice command can be used to change the priority of a running process, which will also be useful.

nice -10 VBoxHeadless

Gives the VBoxHeadless process 1.5 times priority than the normal process, calculated as (20 – -10)/20 = 1.5

nice -20 make

Executes make at maximum priority.

renice +20 2222

Changes the priority of process 2222 to +20 (minimum priority).

renice -10 -p 13013

Changes the priority of a running process by specifying its process ID, where priority can be,

  • 1 to 20 : Runs the specified processes slower than the base priority.
  • 0 : Sets priority of the specified processes to the base scheduling priority.
  • -20 to -1 : Runs the specified processes quicker than the base priority.

References and further reading:

Windows XP on Ubuntu using VirtualBox

Hi,

Problem:

I got my Compaq Presario V6211AU, preloaded with Windows Vista Basic. As I have never used a legal version of Windows and this is the first time getting a legal version for me, I decided to stick with the troublesome Vista. Most of you would have heard of the compatibility issues that would arise with Visa, I had much trouble in installing many software.

Recently I had to MatLab to do an assignment at university. But after reading something around online I understood that it is not going to work as only the MatLab R2007a only works ‘properly’ on Vista.

Solution:

Running Windows XP inside Linux using VirtualBoxThought the problem is so long, solution is just simple. As I’m running a Ubuntu Studio as a dual-boot on my laptop, I decided to install Windows XP SP2 on VirtualBox, and install MatLab on it.

I followed the instructions on this page, and it worked perfectly for me. So some of you might have similar needs, so can give it a try when needed…!