03-01-2012, 10:53 AM

Hello, I have tried to run linux Mint 12 in virtual box on my early 2012 MacBook Pro and have had a few issues. It likes to freeze up a lot (if I switch to OS X and leave the VM running I have no issues there) and I had trouble installing it. I got it completely installed but it still freezes and doesn,t always show all the icons and task bar. I have the RAM set to about 2gb and the Processor set to 4 cores (i have a dual core i5 but with Turbo Boost it reconizes 4 cores) and the 3d Graphics are enabled. What should I do? is there a good dual booter for it?

03-01-2012, 11:06 AM

The problem here is Mint's DE (desktop environment). It, like GNOME 3, is 3D accelerated and these DEs don't play well in VirtualBox. This is why using Ubuntu's Unity interface in VirtualBox can be tricky for some since it's also 3D accelerated (unless you explicitly choose the 2D version). I'm assuming you're using the default version of Mint here.

You may have luck depending on the video card you're using but you'll have to install the guest additions to even attempt it. Have you done this already?

03-01-2012, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

The problem here is Mint's DE (desktop environment). It, like GNOME 3, is 3D accelerated and these DEs don't play well in VirtualBox. This is why using Ubuntu's Unity interface in VirtualBox can be tricky for some since it's also 3D accelerated (unless you explicitly choose the 2D version). I'm assuming you're using the default version of Mint here.

You may have luck depending on the video card you're using but you'll have to install the guest additions to even attempt it. Have you done this already?

I have an Intel HD 3000 graphics card. And yes I'm almost positive that I'm runnign the default version of Mint 12. I'll try the 2d version though.

03-01-2012, 01:34 PM

You'll have much better luck and performance sticking to 2D and non-accelerated desktop environments. Virtual machines don't handle 3D well and in many respects, it's just eye candy.

03-01-2012, 03:19 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

You'll have much better luck and performance sticking to 2D and non-accelerated desktop environments. Virtual machines don't handle 3D well and in many respects, it's just eye candy.

I just switched to 2D and it is working so much better. Thanks. By the way, Is there a good Java IDE I can use in Mint besides Eclipse? Thanks

03-01-2012, 03:38 PM

You could try Netbeans but I don't think that will be any better (it's also fairly heavyweight). I would like to suggest though that if you're doing Java development, you might be better off just sticking to OS X. Unless you've got some fancy J2EE application development going, there's little point in developing in Linux over OS X.