Launching Fedora / Debugging Ubuntu / Recognizing ReactOS
Much learned in this past week. I’m blogging from my laptop while I watch the Fedora install and update on my HP xw9300 Workstation. Yes, I went ahead and decided to install trhe 64-bit Fedora 10. My xw9300 was running a 64-bit Ubuntu 8.1 and Windows XP Pro. I’ve been doing a lot of software testing recently and XP absorbed quite an infection. You know the type - incessant IE pop-ups that just will not go away. After trying every spyware, malware and virus scanning program I had, I dropped XP and pushed Fedora into the xw9300. The HP xw9300 hardware was originally developed in cooperation with Red Hat, Microsoft and Nvidia. I’m tired of XP so I decided to give the machine a try with Red Hat’s Fedora. I installed Windows Server 2003 first just for dedicated Adobe CS3 support and then installed Fedora. Fedora was quick and easy to install and also provided a Boot Loader section for dual-booting. Wifi worked immediately along with other hardware. Two minors bugs related to additional package installation and updates but mostly a walk in the park.
I’ve been reconfiguring Ubuntu 8.04 to suit my purposes lately and I managed to disable the sound control on my laptop’s physical, rolling volume switch which is located on the front of the machine. It still recognizes the rolling but the master volume doesn’t change. We’ll try to fix that shortly. Also, for some reason, Ubuntu has issues with external storage devices. The issue keeps me from being able to delete (”send to trash”) any items located on the drives. I can move and copy them, but no delete.
Finally, I wanted to recognize a project that has caught my eye recently. ReactOS is an open-source, operating system that mimics Microsoft Windows XP. It is still in the absolute alpha stages (current version 0.3.7 is unstable) of development but it shows hope. It is capable of using and supporting binary files (BIN or compiled EXE). I attempted to install ReactOS as a virtual machine but had errors immediately upon booting up. Hopefully they get that worked out. I can’t image completely dropping Windows and still being able to use my Adobe CS3 software. The idea carries much promise. Watch their progress at http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html.
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Just to note, you filed this under linux, but ReactOS is completley unrelated to linux. It’s an OS written from scratch and uses the NT architecture, not the *nix archetecture.
Thanks Ged. That’s a good point. IT IS an operating system completely devoid of any *nix methods and developments. Thanks for the correction.
I acquired an xw9300 with twin Opteron 252 (single core, 2.6Ghz, 64-bit) processors. I’ve gotten 64-bit Ubuntu Server 8.10 (Host OS) with the non-open source version of VirtualBox (2.1) running but I’m having trouble with 64-bit guest OSs. When I try to install Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop 64-bit it complains that the processor (it seems to imply that it only notices one processor) is i686, not 64-bit. Have you experienced this? Any suggestions?
I wasn’t able to get the open source version of VirtualBox running because it didn’t have the kernel modules available, that’s why I’m using the non-open source version.
The Host OS recognizes both processors. There is no option in the bios to turn on Virtualization extensions so my guess is that these particular chips are too old for those extensions. BIOS is updated to 2.09A. I haven’t found anything on the web yet that states they don’t have those extensions … it’s just my guess that these processors don’t support them.
I’ve messed around with the XML files a little but I haven’t found anything that tricks VirtualBox into sending any info to the guest OS so that the correct processors (type and count) are registered and accessible.
Since you are using VirtualBox, an xw9300 and have experience with Ubuntu 8.10 I thought you might have some insight. Any thoughts or a direction you can point me to would be helpful.
Thanks!
Dante, you must enable a feature in VirtualBox that is found under your virtual machine’s settings. With VirtualBox open, select your virtual machine and click the “Settings” button above it. The first selected category is “General,” go to the “Advanced” tab on the right and, under “Extended Features,” select “Enable VT-x/AMD-V” to enable 64-bit processor support in your guest OS. You may also have to select “Enable ACPI” in that same category but I’m checking it now. That is the case with my HP xw9300 Workstation. For my Toshiba Satellite A215, I had to go into the BIOS settings and enable “Virtualization Support” but that is not the case in your situation. That should solve your problem.
How did u make Ubuntu detect the SCSI harddrive. I don’t know which driver (aoe, arcmsr, aten….) to choose.
Tuan, I have never had to choose a driver for Ubuntu to detect the harddrive - given I am using SATA or IDE on most machines. Are you running a server or workstation using SCSIs primarily? The reason I ask is because I have a workstation that uses SCSIs as an alternative drive but I prefer SATA. Are you using the Live CD or Alternate CD?
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