Running in a VM is a reasonable idea. Though part of my reason for wanting to run a microkernel is as a quest to run as minimal hardware + software as possibly

Running in a VM is a reasonable idea. Though part of my reason for wanting to run a microkernel is as a quest to run as minimal hardware + software as possibly without cramping usability (for appropriate meanings of "usability"). No good reason for this other than just to learn things along the way. At this point the Hurd doesn't even have USB or sound, IIRC, so even with virtualization we're a bit upstream without a paddle. Random question. My experience with virtualization is quite limited. How streamlined is the data sharing stuff between instances (files, clipboard, etc)?