The Linux Distro Thread (maybe)

[ej-solutions]

Thought I'd start this one off, rather than continue on another thread.

As a quick catch up for others:

Have a look at Unetbootin, as a means to try out different versions of Linux, without producing numerous coasters (unwanted CDs).
I haven't tried the method of installing to hard drive, only the USB flash drive method (so far).

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[grumpy-cook]

You'll be fine OE, just keep taking the pills and keep your colonels lined up. ;-)

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[ej-solutions]

Yer all mad I tell ye, mad...

Surprised about it requiring a particular Major Kernel (sah!) for DKMS/Virtualbox (a Mandriva quirk?), no such nasties await in Mint, it'll just install dependencies as needed.

[Wonders when Mint will catch up with the Wine - after eights anyone?]

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[grumpy-cook]

It was more that at some point in the past when I did some updates, my kernel got screwed up and I had been booting from an alternate. It needed putting right anyway, just trying to install & run vbox showed it up.

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[ej-solutions]

Ahhh... the second half of the story :-)

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[grumpy-cook]

Oh shoot! I had Virtualbox running nicely with an XP machine installed and working well. This morning Mandriva presented me with some auto updates which included kernel updates. After installing those I am back where I was with Virtualbox not starting.

I re-ran the VB setup (/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup) but it failed recompiling. This is the message in the log -

Error! Your kernel source for kernel 2.6.29.6-desktop-2mnb cannot be found at
/lib/modules/2.6.29.6-desktop-2mnb/build or /lib/modules/2.6.29.6-desktop-2mnb/source.
You can use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located.
Failed to install using DKMS, attempting to install without
Makefile:147: *** Error: unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR= and run Make again. Stop.

And, sure enough, there is no source folder inside /lib/modules/2.6.29.6-desktop-2mnb/ although there is inside another named /lib/modules/2.6.29.6-desktop586-2mnb/

I don't really want to mess about changing kernels again because I will undoubtedly finish up with something non-standard and keep getting updates, and apart from anything else I don't really know what I am doing.

Any ideas EJ?

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[ej-solutions]

A soft link: 🙂
sudo ln -s /lib/modules/2.6.29.6-desktop586-2mnb /lib/modules/2.6.29.6-desktop-2mnb

Note: you'd need to replicate this for an future updates, with the corresponding kernel release. Unless Mandriva sort the naming convention/patch their release of Vbox.

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[ej-solutions]

Think of a soft link as a Super Shortcut :-)

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[grumpy-cook]

Thanks EJ, will give it a go. I didn't use the Mandriva release via the repos (it's OSE), I installed the Mandriva release from the Sun site - perhaps that's what's causing my troubles.

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[ej-solutions]

More than likely: taking updates/packages from anywhere other than a distro's official repository will often 'break' dependencies.

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[grumpy-cook]

Well, the link didn't help, same failure. I think I'll uninstall this version then and install the official one.

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[ej-solutions]

That'd defo be the best option but I'm a wee bit surprised the symbolic link didn't resolve it.
Good luck: Now going off for a quick look at Mandriva/Vbox but loads of other things to do today.

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[grumpy-cook]

Cheers EJ. Don't waste your Sunday on my little problems. I'll post back if I get anywhere.

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[grumpy-cook]

Another fine mess. The official release is even worse - same error but can't even run the vboxdrv setup, it isn't there. Throat slitting seems to be strangely attractive.

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[grumpy-cook]

Getting somewhere, throat slitting in abeyance.

Uninstalled the OSE version and reinstalled the Sun Mandriva release and it worked fine immediately. It was probably all I needed to do after the Kernels were updated. I just need to wait for the next disaster now.

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[ej-solutions]

Well I had a look.

Gotta say I'm not too impressed with Mandriva these days (my old favourite too). 😞
It's handling of kernel updates and software updates, in general, is pretty flaky. I asked it to install Vbox OSE and sure enough it grabbed all the dependencies. It seemed to download and install them. Upon reboot, a separate entry for the new kernel appeared - not very intuitive, as Mint for example, makes the new one the default. I created a virtual machine to run an ISO image directly. It refused to run - due to kernel differences - not good.
I had to go back to the Software Manager, select all packages and install DKMS properly along with the dependencies, then reboot once more (selecting the latest kernel). This time it all worked fine.

Mandriva, I'm sad to say, has plummeted in my user-friendly recommendation. Fine for the experienced but not for general use.

[Forgot sudo is not part of Mandriva - you need to su, then run the command without the sudo bit. As stated, better to use 'official' routes]

Through VirtualBox you can run most ISO files directly. There is no need for a virtual hard disk, just tell VirtualBox that you wish to boot from CD and attach the ISO as the 'CD' to use. That way you can run various distros without anything being touched on your PC.

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[grumpy-cook]

Yes, I'm beginning to agree with you about Mandriva, still I've done a lot on it now so I'll stick with it for the time being. Vbox is behaving well so far and I've got a working XP on it. I do find the su method cumbersome as well.

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[otherego]

Sorry to hear about all the hassles with Mandriva. I've never tried to do anything clever with it - so still find it a nice distro for everyday stuff on a low-spec machine.

VirtualBox installed fine in Mint 7 - straight from the Software Manager. I realise this probably means it's not the latest and greatest, but it was easy.

I'd vaguely hoped that VBox would allow old software like Windows 98 a few more years (no particularly good reason - mainly for the fun of it), but this proved pretty hopeless. After many hours, W98 sort-of worked - but unbelievably slowly and with high CPU use.

Turns out that VBox is optimised for Windows 2000 onward - which may yet be of use to Windows 2000 fans when support for W2K ends next year.

Ironically, I've had little joy getting Slitaz running. I WAS starting with very little RAM to see what it would run on - got to 256mb and decided there must be some other problem. After lunch, I'll try actually installing some other distro (Mandriva? - would be ironic if it worked within VBox/Mint).

Anyone tried VMWare? Presumably "Desktop" is the best version for this sort of thing, but they want money for that - not really an option right at the moment! VMWare Player might be worth a try, but I'm very put off by all the personal info demanded before they'll let you download it:

http://www.vmware.com/download/player/player_reg.html

Suppose there's no law saying you have to use your actual name, and I could always set up yet another GMail address to be sacrificed to their marketing mails and quietly forgotten.

If anyone's actually tried VM Player - was it straightforward and effective?

[ej-solutions]

Downloaded VMWare ages ago but never used it, preferring unrestricted and non-invasive Open Source instead 😉

Qemu is also interesting/useful but not so flexible as VBox.

Didn't know about the Win98 issue, you could try running Win98 programs through Wine, though - even goes back to Win95. 😮

Slitaz-2.0.iso running in Mint 7, with following (abbreviated) settings:
OS Type: Linux 2.6
Base mem: 184Mb
Video mem: 6Mb
Boot order: CD/DVD
ACPI: enabled
APOIC: disabled (likewise the rest on this section)

Hard Disks: not attached

CD/DVD-ROM
Image: slitaz-2.0.iso

Audio:
Host: PulseAudio
Controller: ICH AC97

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[otherego]

The more I look at VMWare's site, the less it appeals. I've absolutely no problem with people making money out of a good product, which it probably is, but have also become fond of the Open-Source ethos - and ever more resistant to aggressive marketing and advertising techniques.

I haven't tried running a distro in VBox by using an iso stored on the hard drive yet - something else to try out.

[ej-solutions]

I've a partition dedicated to storing Images, for that very purpose (40 ISO files currently). Just download an ISO and run in Vbox to ensure it's OK and check it out in terms of functionality. Then transfer to USB/CD/DVD as appropriate.

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