[H-GEN] Fedora Core 5 for PPC needed for the distro server.

[Tony Nugent]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: general-bounces at lists.humbug.org.au On Behalf Of Anthony Irwin
> Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 4:58 PM
> To: general at lists.humbug.org.au
> Subject: Re: [H-GEN] Fedora Core 5 for PPC needed for the distro server.
>
>> Tony Nugent wrote:
>>
>>> Speaking of Fedora Core 5...
>>>
>>> I have it on a DVD that came with the June issue of Linux Magazine, 
>>> but I haven't tried it as yet.  I'll planning to have a first look at 
>>> it in a Vmware box when I finally get some time.  If it looks good 
>>> then I'm thinking about updating two or three other boxes that I have 
>>> here.
>>>
>>> What are other people's impressions of it?  Is it worth the trouble?

[ ...to answer my own question... ]

If anyone else is planning to use FC5 as a VMware guest OS, then I would highly
advise looking through the vmware support pages and mailing lists before
starting out (hint: search in the KB for "fedora core 5 install" and go from
there).

There are problems installing FC5 as a vmware guest right from the start.  (BTW,
the VMware host OS I'm using is winXP, although the same problems occur using
linux as the host OS).

If the virtual machine is configured with a SCSI rather than an IDE disk, then
it needs to have the SLI Logic SCSI driver loaded before the disk will be seen
(which is documented nowhere).

Also, when initially selecting (in vmware) the type of linux OS that will be
installed, there is some debate about whether it is better to use "Redhat Linux
9" or "Other linux 2.6 kernel". (I used the former, but resorted to
re-configuring the virtual disk as an IDE device rather than SCSI before I found
the solution to the missing scsi driver).  In fact, Fedora is not even listed as
one of the choices of linux OS types.

During the installation, be sure to select the development packages including
kernel-devel package, the gcc compiler, libraries and binutils etc - they're
needed for getting the vmware modules, X driver and tools working.  Otherwise
you'll need to manually install these RPMs (and their dependencies).

You'll need to read the FC5 docs carefully about how to prepare the kernel
sources for first use once they are installed... redhat does it all "their way"
(as per usual).  Note that the actual kernel SRPMs did not come with the binary
distribution, they need to be downloaded separately (hint: read the FC5 docs
carefully).

Once installed, the VMware (kernel driver) and X11 modules and tools don't
compile and install correctly by default unless some 3rd-party patches to the
tools (not directly available on the VMware support site) are used, along with
some additional manual tweaking to the xorg.conf and other system files.

In the end, it probably would have been less painful to give FC5 a test run on a
stand-alone box on its own, rather than in a VMware virtual machine.  It
required lots of tweaking after going through perl scripts and mailing lists
etc, but I did finally manage to get it working.  (Although I can get the
vmmouse and X11 drivers working ok, I have never been able to do cut'n'paste
to-and-from the guest and host machines).

One fun thing that I did discover experimenting with this, is that it is
possible to easily run a linux live-boot cdrom or dvd disk (like Knoppix etc) in
a VMware window with the need for only a tiny virtual filesystem (mainly for
swap, then for maintaining small config changes and updates with unionfs).  Very
cool.

My overall impression is that FC5 is not recommended for anyone requiring a
"slim" install, or for using on older hardware.  Other than a cosmetic face-lift
to the default GUI (and updated versions of various software), I really haven't
noticed that much obviously different from FC4 that's worth talking about.  If
you are thinking about upgrading just because it's a new version then I wouldn't
bother, but it's a good base for a fresh start as a new install - the usual
office, desktop and server tools etc, are all there in their latest
incarnations.

BTW, I have FC5 on both DVD and as a 5 cdrom set.  If anyone around the Gold
Coast is looking for a copy, then they are welcome - drop me an email.  (I have
other linux distros here too, easily copied).

Cheers
Tony