The author of this web content shares their method of creating a “personal” virtual machine to use alongside their work laptop. They install a virtualization system and use a “Server” version of Ubuntu, with Emacs as their window manager. They explain that this setup allows them to split the screen into windows, launch programs, and edit files without using a mouse. They also discuss using text-oriented browsers within Emacs for web browsing, and mention the option of using lightweight window managers for overlaying Emacs when necessary. They describe running various applications within Emacs, including IRC, Twitter, RSS feed reader, Stack Exchange, and Google Talk/Jabber.
https://howardism.org/Technical/Emacs/new-window-manager.html