When comparing VirtualBox w/ any Linux distro + Terminator vs Extraterm, the Slant community recommends VirtualBox w/ any Linux distro + Terminator for most people. In the question“What are the best terminal emulators for Windows?” VirtualBox w/ any Linux distro + Terminator is ranked 31st while Extraterm is ranked 33rd. The most important reason people chose VirtualBox w/ any Linux distro + Terminator is:
Allows you to run your virtual machines pre-configured by you or others. Virtual Box versions for: -- Windows 7/8/10 -- All Linux installations -- MAC OS x -- Solaris 10/11 Virtual OSs include: -- Oracle Linux 5/6/7.x (RHEL clones) -- Solaris10/11 -- Occassionally a Windows Beta Oracle itself provides many free VMs, pre-configured with various software stacks and hands-on lab materials for learning, geared toward. These have helped me earn three of my Oracle certifications: -- Oracle Database development -- Oracle DBA -- MySQL development -- Java Standard/Enterprise development -- Big data -- Webcenter portal & others Pre-installed software in or more of the various stacks includes: -- Oracle Database 11/12 -- JDK/Eclipse -- Enterprise Mgr -- MySQL -- WebLogic -- Cloudera, etc.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Runs Pre-configured virtual machines
Allows you to run your virtual machines pre-configured by you or others.
Virtual Box versions for:
-- Windows 7/8/10
-- All Linux installations
-- MAC OS x
-- Solaris 10/11
Virtual OSs include:
-- Oracle Linux 5/6/7.x (RHEL clones)
-- Solaris10/11
-- Occassionally a Windows Beta
Oracle itself provides many free VMs, pre-configured with various software stacks and hands-on lab materials for learning, geared toward. These have helped me earn three of my Oracle certifications:
-- Oracle Database development
-- Oracle DBA
-- MySQL development
-- Java Standard/Enterprise development
-- Big data
-- Webcenter portal & others
Pre-installed software in or more of the various stacks includes:
-- Oracle Database 11/12
-- JDK/Eclipse
-- Enterprise Mgr
-- MySQL
-- WebLogic
-- Cloudera, etc.
Pro Supports modern shells
Whether you prefer zsh, bash, or fish, Linux will support it.
Pro Isolated from Windows
VirtualBox provides almost total isolation from Windows running underneath it, removing a lot of security issues.
Pro Free / Libre Software
While the OS underneath it is proprietary and does spy on you or actively violate your freedom, so to speak, you can still have a little piece of mind knowing that VirtualBox (your Linux distro and shell of choice) as well as Terminator are all FOSS.
Pro speed
not the fastest ever, but for me its a good comprimise of features vs performance
Pro Cross platform
Pro Supports tab, splits and panes
You can set up your own layout with multiple splits and tabs.
Pro Shell integration
The shell integration makes it possible to group in command output in "frames" which show success/failure.
Pro Image support
You can view images and other data types like audio directly in the terminal.
Pro Keyboard based text selection
It is possible to go into a cursor mode where you can select text just like in a text editor. It even supports multiple cursors.
Pro Global shortcuts
You can configure global shortcuts to open the terminal.
Pro Keyboard friendly "Command Palette"
Just like Sublime, Atom and VSCode you can easily search and find commands from the drop down Command Palette.
Cons
Con Install a whole operating system for one program
You would need to install the entire Linux distribution just for one single program.
Con Slightly slower than just running Linux
The Windows + VirtualBox layer introduces some overhead that wouldn't be present if Linux were installed directly on the machine.