You will be doing development and testing on a Linux system. To make this easy to do in an isolated environment running on your own personal computer, you will create a virtual machine (VM) in which you will install Linux. This guide provides instructions for installing Debian Linux in a VMware VM. You will download and install VMware, create a VM using VMware, download Debian Linux, then install Debian Linux in your VM.
Download and install the latest version of VMware's desktop hypervisor for your computer:
VMware Workstation if you use Windows or Linux
VMware Fusion if you use macOS
There are many GNU+Linux distributions, but we will use Debian. Debian is composed of free and open-source software and is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kernel. It is the basis for many other distributions, most notably Ubuntu. The current stable distribution of Debian is version 12.7, codenamed bookworm.
If your computer has an x86 CPU, download debian-12.7.0-amd64-netinst.iso
from here.
If your computer has Arm CPU, download debian-12.7.0-arm64-netinst.iso
from here.
Always verify the checksums of what you download. This is done to make sure the file you downloaded is the file it claims to be online; if it is the same file, the checksum given by the website and the checksum of the file that was downloaded should match.
Create a new virtual machine in VMware using the Debian ISO image you just downloaded. For example, on VMware Fusion, this can be done by selecting New from the File menu.
For the OS for the VM, choose Debian 12.x 64-bit if available.
Depending on your platform, it may not be an option yet.
In that case, choose Other Linux 5.x and later kernel 64-bit.
For the boot firmware, choose Legacy BIOS.
If you are using an M1/M2 Mac, this option may not be available.
The default settings for memory and storage are probably too small. Customize your VM as follows:
Name: (your choice; whatever name you want for saving the VM so you can open it again later in VMware)
CPU: 2 processor cores
RAM: 2 GB minimum; 4 GB or more highly recommended, provided that your host machine has 8 GB of RAM or more
Hard disk: 64 GB minimum, 128 GB or more recommended
.After configuring the VM, start the VM. The VM will now boot from its CD-ROM drive containing the Debian GNU/Linux install disk, which is virtually mapped to the ISO file that you downloaded. Use the "graphical installer" and follow the instructions provided here for configuring the settings you should use and setting up your Debian VM.
Two tips you may find useful for using your VM include using SSH to connect to your VM, which you may find more convenient at times instead of using the graphical console, and setting up vim to do development in your VM.