Mageia forum

Hello

I need a new computer and want to switch from Windows to Mageia. How much RAM is recommended for Mageia?

I have seen the Mageia Hardware Requirements. Does Mageia use less or more RAM compared to Windows 10? - I'm asking because I can't really estimate the specifications.
https://www.mageia.org/en/support/
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4028142/windows-10-system-requirements

I need the computer mainly for word processing, internet and VirtualBox. I need VirtualBox to continue using a WIndows 10 program. The manufacturer of this software recommends a computer with 16 GB RAM. Are 16 GB RAM only recommended for VirtualBox in my case? Is 16 GB RAM enough for the entire computer with Mageia with Virtualbox and the Windows 10 program? How can I estimate this?

Thanks in advance for the information and regards.
Luethy

maluethy wrote:Does Mageia use less or more RAM compared to Windows 10? - I'm asking because I can't really estimate the specifications.

That depends. On paper, windows 10 might seem to have a lower minimum requirement. But in practice, unless the hardware limits the maximum amount of RAM (think certain netbooks)
I'd not touch any windows system with less then 4GB of RAM, and generally the default nowadays is more or less 8GB RAM. That is for only for internet browsing and a bit of office stuff, and to make it a bit future-proof.
Requirements for virtualbox come on top of that, that is the same no matter which OS runs on your virtualbox host.

Although back to your question, for Mageia you can customize much more about the operating system, if you only want to use a very minimalistic graphic environment then you can go with a lot less RAM.
The minimal requirement is more or less a dependency for the graphical installer, the installed system can be made to use less RAM if you really want that.

maluethy wrote:I need VirtualBox to continue using a WIndows 10 program. The manufacturer of this software recommends a computer with 16 GB RAM. Are 16 GB RAM only recommended for VirtualBox in my case? Is 16 GB RAM enough for the entire computer with Mageia with Virtualbox and the Windows 10 program? How can I estimate this?

It might help if you could mention what program that is. But yes, in theory if the manufacturer recommends 16 GB RAM that would only be for the virtualbox guest, so if your host uses 8GB and the guest 16 GB overall you would need at least 24GB RAM physically.

I'd say as you want to use virtualisation frequently, you shouldn't go with less then 16GB RAM, as a generic rule of thumb. That should also be already sufficient so that you can run a VM the whole time without issues.
But performance will depend on what you actually run inside that VM, and another factor would be if you use a spinning disk (HDD) or an SSD.

Although I'd not save on RAM, considering that it's basically really cheap on its own - e.g. 32GB only cost slightly above 100$.

I used to run a Mageia system with 8 GB of RAM, and using VMware Workstation I could run 2 virtual machines (including one Windows 7 VM) in addition to my normal system before the system became swappy.

I presently run 32 GB of RAM and commonly have anywhere from 4 to 7 VMs running, with room to spare.

Windows 10 requires more resources, as a practical matter, than Windows 7 did.

I would guess, if money is tight, that you could probably get by with 8 GB so long as you only ran Mageia and one instance of Windows 10. If money isn't tight, I would strongly recommend 16 GB.

doktor5000 wrote:The minimal requirement is more or less a dependency for the graphical installer, the installed system can be made to use less RAM if you really want that.

The Live system (KDE /plasma) requires a minimum of about 1477MB, any less and the installer just locks the system up and just displays "please wait".
there are tricks to overcome this but that is about the minimum limit.
The Live Xfce requires less, and is available for this reason.
The Classical Installers require even less for the installation, usually less than 500MB.

Most of the systems I have contain 8GB RAM, and if multi-thread CPU, are easily able run 3 Linux OSes in VirtualBox, with a Mageia host.
If running a VB Windows (7 or X) they seem to require more resources (both virtual HDD and ram), so you will need at least 8GB.
Obviously, this is my opinion and others are welcome and encouraged to disagree.
If you are running something RAM intensive on your Windows VM, more RAM will be needed to be dedicated to that VM, as would be required in a real computer.

if 16GB ram is affordable, get it, or more if the price is right.

benmc wrote:

doktor5000 wrote:The minimal requirement is more or less a dependency for the graphical installer, the installed system can be made to use less RAM if you really want that.

[..]
The Classical Installers require even less for the installation, usually less than 500MB.

I was only referring to the minimum requirement.

If you recall a few years ago, the internet had mostly static information, while these days, you see a lot of video, including advertising. I also concur - get lots of RAM - it is relatively cheap, and the greatest component for speed you'll need.

If you have an eye for keeping your computer for a while, I'd suggest, don't go for anything less than 16GB these days - I'd say, get 32GB, and plan or expect the probability of expanding to 64GB in future. It is likely you'll need it as you'll probably be wordprocessing with more pictures compared to today - maybe you can even assume going on the wild side with embedded videos and audio.

Another possibility you may think of is getting an off the shelf windows 10PC and making it dual boot. If you can dual boot, you can then convert it to virtual - this saves you the cost of buying a separate win10 license to run in virtual space (since the PC already came with it).

If you have not used Linux in the past, I would suggest you seek a PCvendor that is also a bit more friendly to Linux too.
Based on past experience, I'd say lean towards Dell, Asus, Acer, Gigabyte, I have leaned-away from HP, or if you build a PC, do a check on the motherboard brand - but in any case, check before you commit to a purchase, example:
https://www.google.com/search?q=linux+f ... endor+2020

JoesCat wrote:Another possibility you may think of is getting an off the shelf windows 10PC and making it dual boot. If you can dual boot, you can then convert it to virtual - this saves you the cost of buying a separate win10 license to run in virtual space (since the PC already came with it).

For the purposes of licensing, Microsoft considers each virtual machine to be a separate PC. So you can't use a single Windows license for your host and your guest(s) - you'll need a separate license for each Windows virtual machine.

Furthermore, the vast majority of off-the-shelf PCs come with an "OEM" (a.k.a. non-transferrable) license of Windows, rather than a "Retail" (a.k.a. transferrable) license. So you wouldn't be able to "move" your Windows 10 OEM license from your host to your guest. Not only would it breach Microsoft's EULA, I don't think it would work - Windows 10 should detect that your motherboard has changed (as you are now using VirtualBox's emulated motherboard, rather than your host's motherboard), and should demand that you buy a new license.

Source: https://www.tenforums.com/virtualizatio ... -v-vm.html

Thanks for the correction.
...been on Linux for quite a while now
......in that case, I'll correct myself to suggest dual-boot