qqX - quickemu quickget X terminal project

• Makes easy work of installing Mac and Windows

• Easier and simpler than the front-ends based on LibVirt.

• More up-to-date than Gnome Boxes and easier to mod.

• Currently based on Quickemu, a simply built front end for Qemu / KVM

Latest release 1.9.01

Adds new built-ins and consolidates the raft of tweaks and adjustments to handle all the new Quickemu code.

MacOS is now much faster and much improved too. Both in qqX and in with Quickemu.

More details in the wiki pages and the release notes

Hybrid interface. Part text, part mouse

• A full menu system with lots of power and functions

• Multiple display modes, utilities, optimizers and tools

• Simple code customizing

Less can be more.

Easy install the latest and greatest.

No need to wait for Quickget to add in the distros or releases that you want.

Start specific VM's straight from the folder

Get the latest fixes

No need to wait for Quickemu bug fixes to make their way through the system either. Any new input from the quickemu community can be put to work.

• Easy installation

• Always up-to-date text translation

Screenshots and features

Release 1.1.03 improved the main menu & added a gtk display option, while 1.5.02 now has GL toggle:

Release 1.5.02 added alphabetical zooming into list sections for the Quick Get multi distro menu:

Release 1.7.01 added a choice of 5 menu styles and of Custom Menus :rocket:

And 1.7.03 added

• A handy distro rename function to help with upgrades

Release 1.6.02 introduced custom boot parameters and the ability to run Arm64, Risc-V +

Whilst earlier releases added:

• Distro homepage browser and link checker

• Configuration tune-up wizard

• Boot up Screen sizing (default & individual)

• Multiple snapshot management, including of shared disks.

• qcow2 repair & resize

• Secondary storage creation

• Progress reporting on distro downloads & zsync iso's.

• Process logging and diagnostics

How to Install

Start from scratch. Or safely test out the qqX difference on your existing VM's.

• From version 1.8 onwards, the installation of quickemu is not essential. However, the easiest route to installing all the necessary components and dependencies is to just follow the standard Quickemu setup, as in the instructions on the quickemu-project pages

  In the case of some host distros, such as Fedora, manual installation of quickemu to 'PATH' may now be omitted.

  qqX has been designed to work happily alongside quickgui or any quickemu shortcuts, if you already have them.

• Download qqX. The latest release is available here. You can also make your first download via the code/clone button. The 'dev' branch may be newer and may have the very latest tweaks and bug fixes too ...

  Normal Filesystem_Hierarchy_Standard Linux is generally expected.

  No further software, support structures or dependencies should be needed.

See the installer wiki for more details

Release notes

• Release 1.8.05 should fix the wget 302 / SHA error that occured from github archive changes.

• For updates from 1.8.04 and previous, please download the latest release directly

Known Issues

Tests show that official Quickemu 4.9.5 can cause Intel processors to run MacOS very slowly. Doesn't affect FreeBird or FreeSpirit.

Recently noticed: is a problem with telescoping VM's on Intel Hosts. (Possibly AMD too?). Now fixed for FreeBird and FreeSpirit.

The removal of 'cow' from all qcow2 disks, for the benefit of btrfs, in the newly released 4.9.6 is a cause for concern ...

Changing from one code set to another may sometimes need a follow-up qqX restart. Hopefully to be fixed in the next release.

• See FreeBird for details on the built-ins, or change log for a history synopsis

Testing has been carried out on a variety of mainstream distros.

All scripts have been carefully Shellcheck linted & have full error handling routines.

qqX always makes backups, as is standard good practice with any software.

FAQs and Help

• Lots available in the qqX wiki pages

For Quickemu problems, there is a general chat forum at https://discord.gg/sNmz3uw

Why Bash?

Bash, or similar, is automatically there on the Linux command line. Most users already know or can understand at least a little of it.

• Improving your knowledge of Bash is always time well spent.

Keeping it Simple

• The qqX coding is clear and annotated sufficiently for newcomers to find their feet.

Quickemu currently uses simple Bash scripts. QEMU / KVM does all the heavy lifting.

• Much easier for community contributions. Much easier to edit and easy to fix.

qqX uses a more modern writing style but is much the the same.

• Anything in quickemu can be easily modded, shaped and improved.

... and Straight forward

There are none of the complexities that LibVirt creates by using only machine readable configurations.

And none of steep learning curves that come with languages such as Rust, C or Vala.

• Even seemingly simple LibVirt front-ends like Gnome Boxes can contain whole learning curves for the most basic of things, like moving the default VM folder for example. Forget anything more.

Development and Roadmap

See the specific wiki for more details and for what's happening in future releases

Why the Vinyards?

I live in a wine growing region of Italy, in a castled village dating from the 1300's

For me, qqX is something to do when it's too hot or it's raining and I can't be outside.

The Olde English spelling of " Vine Yards " doesn't have with an 'e' whilst the modern word isn't even pronounced with one:

1533 (1651 pub.), Henry Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia ...therefore they who are more religiously and holily instructed, neither set a tree nor plant their vinyard, nor undertake any mean work without divine invocation...

Perhaps Martha and others decided at some point to spell things out fully as Vine Yards, only later for the phrase to become contracted?

why 'X' ?

Traditionally Linux has used the X window system from X.org, so 'X term' often gets used as shorthand for the terminal.

More technically speaking qqX runs in a 'terminal emulator' and can also run with Wayland display systems as well as with 'X' ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayland_(protocol)