Virtualbox (on linux) install fails

[johann_p]

I followed the configuration settings in the installation instructions and succeeded to get the installation process to start, but at 18% it remains forever, no progress - while the virtualbox monitor shows the CPU working, the hard disk and network do nothing and the installation progress bar remains at 18%
While the CPU is doing *something* the GUI is completely non-reactive, none of the buttons visible on screen works (Abort, Close, Next ) nor do any of the panel icons react at all. Only thing possible is to power down the virtual machine using virtualbox.

This is done using the ISO CommodoreOS3-20250422_0209.iso selecting the first option from the boot menu.
The Vbox settings are:

OS Debian 12 Bookworm 64 bit
4G RAM
3 CPUs
Video RAM: 256M
Graphics controller VMSVGA
3D Accell: enabled
SATA Port 0: 92G

Host OS is Ubuntu 24.04

UPDATE:

Running this a second time, changing only the OS setting from Debian 12 Bookworm 64b to generic Debian 64bit:

This time the install process shows additional setup screens (the next button was active so I could select the locale and time zone, which was not possible in the first attempt). After those, the Next button is greyed out and copying the system runs in the background, currently running and at 42% so it looks promising!

UPDATE:

This time the installation ran through but the whole system locked up after this. So impossible to click "Finish" or any other GUI element visible, have to virtualbox-power off again.

After re-booting the OS comes up ok though.

So, not sure if any of the settings caused those hangs or if these are just occurring randomly ...

[johann_p]

OK, so after successfully installing the OS, when I try to run any of the games in /user/share/commodoreos/systems/Commodore/C64/Games/Original_Commodore_Games by double clicking the .64 file, this fails and the VICE(C64SC) Window always shows:
...
SEARCHING FOR *
?DEVICE NOT PRESENT ERROR
READY

and then hangs forever, no game shown anywhere.

With other files from other directories, the "SEARCHING FOR *" message is shown forever without anything else happening.
So far, I was not able to get anything to run at all which is a wee bit disappointing.

[LeoNigro]

I don't know what it is wrong with VirtualBox on non-windows platforms, but it just doesn't seem to work well with Commodore OS.
It's really weird and there's nothing I can do about it unfortunately. If anyone works it out please let us all know.

In regard to your emulation issue, the problem is that the open source C64 ROM will only work with C64 cartridges. Some cartridge software is included BTW.

For the emulation to work 100% you have to add the Commodore 8-bit ROMs from Cloanto(who own the rights) from their website.
Ensure the following process is done after an update......(Also make sure you don't have a browser open beforehand as we discovered a bug)

If you go into the Commodore OS Settings you will find an Emulation Settings option.
You can then select the Cloanto ROM setup.
If you follow the prompts it should automate most of the process to set up the 8-bit ROMs (for free). It only works with the free version.
Unfortunately, the script was coded with C64 Forever V10 in mind and hasn't been updated to V11, but it will auto download V10 anyway and work just the same. I will have to update the process for the new version when I get time, but it still seems to work regardless and set up all the Commodore 8-bit emulators. Let me know if it doesn't.

FIXTODO

In an effort to further prevent confusion regarding the matter of C64 emulation, I also intend to prompt the user (in a future update when I get the time) if the user hasn't set up the 8-bit ROMs yet and provide them with the option to initiate the process.

FIXTODO

I can't wait until I have the time to knock off all the lingering user friction items in the Commodore OS setup and finally get Commodore OS development into full swing. What we have at the moment is only the beginning of the journey. But right now its all hands on deck to get the Commodore 64 Ultimate out the door, and I'm tied up for at least the next 2 weeks.

[johann_p]

Thank you so much for the help!

I have in the meantime booted the VM a couple of times and observed that there are random lock-ups occurring where the whole system freezes and only power off will work, not even ACPI Shutdown,or sending Ctrl-Alt-Del, or sending Ctrl-Alt-Fx to get out of the x-session.
I have now updated the Debian packages, this seems to have worked, but the system froze up right after doing this again.

I went to the commodore OS emulation settings, this shows 2 options of which the first is "1. Cloanto Commodore ROM Setup.." . However when I enter 1 and press Return nothing happens and the same menu is shown again.

Thanks for the great work, this is a really cool distro and project!

[LeoNigro]

If you update COS now the option should now be present.

[johann_p]

If you update COS now the option should now be present.

Thank you! I just tried this and this worked fine, I could install the emulator files now! Afterwards, a few of the games I tried worked fine!

However, the problem with the Virtualbox emulation persist and make it really hard to test this since the whole OS just locks up randomly about every 5 to 10 minutes in my case (with only hard power off able to get out of the locked up OS). I could not detect any regularity or any specific situation where this happens.

It is really odd, since the COS is based on Debian, I wonder what could possibly be the relevant difference? Does this have a modified kernel?

[LeoNigro]

Hmmm... Perhaps it is a SystemD problem.
Commodore OS does not utilise SystemD by default for various reasons.

However, the option is still present from the grub boot menu where you can select a boot option to run Commodore OS with SystemD.
Please try that an let us know if that resolved the VirtualBox issue.