Hallo Ubuntu-Mate team
(1)
Thank you.
(2)
In 16.04 I used KVM installed from the software boutique. It worked very well.
It seems to have been removed from the 18.04 software boutique.
Q1
Why was it removed (i.e. are their “technical” problems)?
Q2
Will it be returning at a later date?
Keep up the good work. 
From packaging point of view it is not removed. The qemu-kvm package is in place on all current Ubuntu versions:
Hallo Norbert_X
Thank you for that information.
However, the two questions that I asked have not been answered, so would you please remove the “solution” tick?
In the mean time I have installed Virtual Box from the software boutique and set up an openSUSE virtual machine (KDE desktop) with a “shared folder” between it and Ubuntu-Mate. It works well and solves the “pdfchain is broken” problem as the Qt GUI for pdftk works.
One thing I noticed when doing that, was that KVM installs the virtual machines to the root partition, while Virtual Box installs them in the “/home” partition. I don’t know if that always happens or is due to my particular set up.
@lah7
Hallo Mr. Horwell, are you perhaps able to answer the questions I asked? Many thanks if you can - its all about understanding you see. 
I couldn't remember, but I looked through the history of Ubuntu MATE Welcome (before-boutique branch) and found the answer:
It seems unlikely as it offers duplicate functionality to that of VirtualBox. It also required root privileges which is a bit risky for more novice users.
Hallo lah7
Thank you for getting back to me. That makes perfect sense off course. Now I know that I should count on running my VMs in Virtual Box for the foreseeable future. I’ll check the Forum, and depending what I find, may add the odd post relevant to running VMs in Virtual Box, as and when I run into things that may be of use to others.
