I want to switch from Windows to Linux for my office PC.
I will be using multiple Windows VM because in the office we use multiple software that runs only on Windows (maybe we’ll switch to something else, but right now I need the VMs) and because i like to snapshots and go back in time when I test new software.
I thought about Ubuntu because it seems to be the most user friendly.
I always work with a tons of opened windows (mainly Firefox) and I like to have a place for each of them, Right now on Windows I use DisplayFusion that creates multiple virtual screens (7, 4 or the 32" horizontal monitor and 3 on the 28" vertical one, both 4K), I’ve attached the configuration.
So, the question: is there a software that works kinda like DisplayFusion? (virtual screen each with it’s own taskbar, maximize in each of them, remember the position of each window, …).
P.s. Can I pass only some USB port to a Windows VM using KVM?
Pp.s. Is it possible to use Premiere on a Windows VM? Would it run smooth?
Try to use the standard virtual desktop functionality. It’s not going to behave the exact same way but you might find a workable adaptation.
You can pass through USB to VMs.
You can use Premiere in a VM. Depending on what you want to do and how fast your CPU is, you might be able to use it without any special config. If you need to pass through a GPU, you can buy the config isn’t trivial. Definitely doable though.
Generally you’d want to use KVM (with virt-manager) for virtualization but it doesn’t support any 3D acceleration in Windows yet. The result is that the Windows UI in a VM is not “smooth.” It’s usable but not smooth. If you need acceleration you’d have to do GPU passthrough. There’s some ongoing work to get basic acceleration without passthrough but it isn’t done yet. Both VirtualBox and VMware have basic 3D acceleration for Windows VMs. They have other pros and cons but if you find that one of them works better than KVM for your use case, go ahead and use that. We use both VirtualBox and VMware for different purposes at work. I know of people who use all sorts of engineering CAD software in VMware.
VFIO GPU Passthrough for Premiere is a must. While not trivial to set up, it’s not too bad if you know what to do. It took me some trial and error but didn’t spend too much time on it. Main issue is making sure your PC has enough PCIe lanes.
ETA: look into LookingGlass for capturing the framebuffer from a GPU accelerated VM into your Linux host. I haven’t tried getting this to work personally but I have used Moonlight which adapts Nvidia game streaming tech for your desktop apps.