I’d be pushing that PC to its limits and honestly would be better off using a live Linux image instead running from a flash drive.

On the other hand, if I am working with much less robust hardware on a PC, then testing out a distro with a virtual machine installation of Linux is counter-productive. The reason for this approach is that I can download and test the distro in not only a live environment, but also as an installed product with persistent storage abilities. If I have access to my desktop PC, I’m going to run the distro to be tested in a virtual machine. When I test out a brand new Linux distro for the first time, the method I use depends heavily on the resources of the PC I’m currently on. Testing out a new Linux distro for the first time There are advantages to each method, but there are some hurdles with each method as well. In this article, we’re going to look at both running Linux virtual machines and running Linux live images. Yet the method I use to test them, does vary depending on my goals for each instance. I’ll be the first to admit that I tend to try out new Linux distros on a far too frequent basis.

Vm with linux