after getting advice from a virtualization expert, I did some testing and Virtual Box uses the most host resources of any virtualization platform. VMW (vmware) ESXi, Fussion and Workstation used very little host resources. Neither did Docker (but they are containers vs full VMs). Parallels did a good job too. For some reason VB used host resources like Java does. Uses a lot more than we all thinks it should.
But it is FREE. and takes very little to get going.
So your mileage will vary.
For myself on Mac I use VMWare Fusion. But I know Dave resources are limited.
yeah those two are very very different. BSD is designed for the server market (and the BSD lovers will start bashing me now). Mint is designed for the desktop. Ubuntu is Server/Desktop/IoT/tablet/etc and isnt tweaked for the desktop. Mint is based on ubuntu and all its goodness but it is tweaked to be a desktop. In my lab at the office I have a bunch of RHEL and Ubuntu servers. and a few dozen MINT desktops.
and I do love Mint. I loaded it on my linux laptop and it runs liks a champ.
Centos with a GUI is decent as well
decent yes. But CentOS is RHEL which is tweaked for server.
Fedora is a better desktop than CentOS but uses the same RPM base (for the most part).
For those of you still interested in gPDF as a light-weight (but powerful) solution to your PDF needs, I am now able to tell you that I have it producing consistent PDF test cases in
Over the next few days I will be testing it for
I do not have the resources to test it for “Xojo for Web”, but the consensus seems to be that if it works as a Console App, it will work in Web as well
The code does have a few declares all of which are protected with TARGET conditions…
The one question, that I also asked elsewhere… is one declare is win32.rpcrt4 and is inside a #IF TARGETWIN32
do I need to change this for 64bit? (not a windows guy anymore)
I would ask the question in Target>Windows group.
For those of you still interested in gPDF as a light-weight (but powerful) solution to your PDF needs, I am now able to tell you that I have it producing consistent PDF test cases in
Desktop
Console
Still to be determined
decided to delay gPDF a few more days (sorry)… but I think it will be worth it…
I was going to make this a “lite” and “pro” version, but decided to make it just “pro” 
The next release of gPDF will support basic forms
These will be supported on the PDF document output mode, but will be ignored (for now) on the Xojo Graphics Object output…
[quote=293463:@Dave S]The one question, that I also asked elsewhere… is one declare is win32.rpcrt4 and is inside a #IF TARGETWIN32
do I need to change this for 64bit? (not a windows guy anymore)[/quote]
#If TargetWindows
MsgBox "Yes"
#End If
#If TargetWin32
MsgBox "Yes"
#End If
Both of these perform the same action by showing ‘Yes’ in a message box in 32-bit and 64-bit mode on Windows 10. TargetWindows was added because it is easier to understand when learning Xojo. Programmers accidentally thought that TargetWin32 was only 32-bit (I originally made that mistake). 
Thank MS for that bit of confusion as it was a name that gave it that Xojo adopted long ago (probably around the version 2.0 days in the late 90’s)
The programming API is Win32 but that has nothing to do with “is it 64 bit” (handy aint it ?)
If you need to know “Windows and 64 bit” use
#if TargetWindows
#if Target64Bit
msgbox "64 bit windows"
#else
msgbox "32 bit windows"
#endif
#endifWow… adding these field types is more work that I expected… I have the parser adding the objects to the dictionary, and when it generates the PDF output, it all LOOKS good (sound familiar?), but somewhere I have something just a tad out of synch. I found an example PDF that works, and trying to figure out what is different. Right now it is just ONE checkbox… once THAT works, the rest should fall into place (I hope)
Norman, Tim, thanks for the clarification 32/64
Well it seems that PDF form controls (as I listed above) have issues. And most seem to have been part of Adobe for years… Documents created BY Adobe Reader, and READ by Adobe reader seem to be compliant… but I have read hundreds of topics of people with this issue, especially if OSX Preview is used to read the document (although I had strange things with Adobe Reader as well)
I used gPDF to create a document with two TextFields on it, each with a default value, one of them marked as a PASSWORD type
in OSX Preview
in OSX Adobe Reader (and Win10)
in PDF a TextField, TextArea and Password field are identical code, EXCEPT for one flag (TF=0, TA=4096, PW=8192), so if there is a fix for this it would fix all 3 types at the same time.
finding viable documentation is near impossible, (yes I have read the Adobe PDF specifications, mostly a joke, as they do little to explain HOW to use the thousands of commands). And all the examples that come close, are encyrpted PDF so I can’t “reverse engineer” them
Checkboxes work just fine (finally)… Radiobuttons, I cannot get them to display in a group (the code looks fine, but as you know in PDF it just takes one teeny mis-step to blow the whole thing)
Dave:
You already have something that is of interest as a product.
It may make sense to draw a line on the version that doesnt do on screen controls, and call that ‘Version 1’
Otherwise you may not get something out.
Its like building a car but delaying the delivery because you cant get the embedded coffee maker to work.
Leave controls for a deluxe version and pick it up at leisure?
Jeff… you are correct… and I came to the same conclusion over dinner tonight
I was going to release it all as one package, because I really didn’t think “AcroForms” support would be that big a deal especially since I had the parser, dictionary and PDF engine designed, coded and in place. And for the most part, the Parser and Dictionary portions were a piece of cake.
So here is my plan.
Also, once I get the controls mentioned above working, I will also add Hyperlinks and maybe some extended actions (all depends on how long it holds my interest, and $$$ is always interesting )
Linux Mint:
I downloaded linuxmint-18-kde-32bit.iso
VirtualBox 5.1.8
Did you install Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-5.1.8-111374.vbox-extpack in your VirtualBox 5.1.8 ?
I do that using a double-click in the file.
My MacBook Pro 13", Mid-2014, have 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD.
[quote=294348:@Emile Schwarz]Linux Mint:
I downloaded linuxmint-18-kde-32bit.iso
VirtualBox 5.1.8
Did you install Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-5.1.8-111374.vbox-extpack in your VirtualBox 5.1.8 ?
I do that using a double-click in the file.
My MacBook Pro 13", Mid-2014, have 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD.[/quote]
I did not install any extensions…
You may as this is part of VirtualBox.
That said, I do not know why we have to add it. I check and let you judge:
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch01.html#intro-installing
Did you located the shared folder (if you set up one) ?
Or: how do you move data from OS X / macOS to inside VirtualBox ?
Emile… just to be clear… I installed Mint for the sole purpose of remote testing code I write in Xojo on my iMac. I have no intention of going beyond that… So the fact that the graphics are “slow” (compared to a true graphics card), or anything like that is of no concern. I did a simple install, added the free IDE version of Xojo, and thats all I care about…
So as far as shared folders, no I did not set them up (I might later, but doubt it)
Hope to have a Zipfile with Desktop and Console projects, that share an encyrpted evaluation copy of gPDF class, and a non-encrypted version of the gPDF test cases, that can be compiled for OSX/WIN/Linux/Console (and hopefully Web) uploaded in the next day or two.
I REALLY want those PDF Forms functions to work 