Please read this blog post to understand how to obtain VMware. Recently, VMware became free to use, and the blog post provides great details about how to obtain it. 

https://www.mikeroysoft.com/post/download-fusion-ws/

If you have a new Apple Computer VMware Fusion will now work on your system. However, you will need to use a special version of Linux for installation and homework assignments.  I suggest that you download and use Ubuntu Server:

https://ubuntu.com/download/server/arm

After installation, you will not have a GUI (not required for this course), but if you wish to continue to use this VM and wish to have a GUI the following commands will install one for you:

Command to install GUI:

sudo apt update

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Virtual Box:

Also, you need a special version of VirtualBox, so please download the correct version.