Warren Watts’ Desktop

Guide: Installing VMware Server

Tilda - Quake style console in Linux

Tip: Booting Wolvix from DOS

New Games in the Repository

Note from the Editor

I finally did it. I ordered a replacement graphics card for my computer. The Nvidia Riva TNT2, while completely fine for normal use, really struggles with most games. I’ve been meaning to upgrade it for quite some time, but just kept putting it off. My computer has a very small power supply, so it was hard to find anything that had a chance of working, but I finally found something, an ATi card (9600XT). Yes, I know what you are saying, “But ATi drivers suck on Linux!” Even if it works at half speed, though, it’ll be much better than my current card. This might be changing soon with the immanent release of the new AMD 8.41 display drivers. After looking at some tests on phoronix.com, it seems that performance has really increased. Go over there and have a look for yourself, because I’m sure you’ll be surprised. This is only a limited preview build, though, so it isn’t certain that it will be actually released. I’m sure it will change the way most Linux’ers think of AMD/ATi cards in the future if it is released.

User Submitted Desktops

Warren Watts submitted his desktop for this edition. Here’s a small picture of it:

For more information about it, click here.

Guide: Installing VMware Server
by DarkVision

This Guide will describe the steps needed to install VMWare Server on Wolvix GNU/Linux.

VMWare Server is a free software to create virtual computers on your real computer. Depending on your hardware you can have multiple virtual machines installed at the same time, helpful when you want to test a new Slackware release or testing new packages before you install those on your desktop.

Learn more about VMWare Server from here:

http://vmware.com/products/server

Install VMWare Server

1. You need the following files:

Vmware-server-1.0.3-44356.tar.gz
http://www.vmware.com/download/server

vmware-any-any-update113.tar.gz (or a later release)
http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/

* Make sure to register the free VMWare Server to get your free serial number. This is required since you have to enter the serial number at the end of the install process:
http://register.vmware.com/content/registration.html

2. Since VMWare Server will be installed from the command line we have to get one now:

* Open a terminal window and get root using the su command or
* Hit [CTRL]+[ALT]+[F1] and login as user root.

3. Get the development files.

slapt-get --update
slapt-get --install glibc glibc-i18n
slapt-get --install kernel-headers kernel-source
slapt-get --install meta-development

4. Create the following directories:

mkdir /etc/init.d
mkdir /etc/init.d/rc0.d
mkdir /etc/init.d/rc1.d
mkdir /etc/init.d/rc2.d
mkdir /etc/init.d/rc3.d
mkdir /etc/init.d/rc4.d
mkdir /etc/init.d/rc5.d
mkdir /etc/init.d/rc6.d
mkdir /etc/pam.d

The ‘/etc/pam.d’ might not be necessary on Wolvix GNU/Linux but while trying to install VMWare Server on Slackware I was asked for a path to this directory so we better create a dummy directory right now. Maybe this got fixed in newer VMWare Server releases/patches since there is no need for a directory if pam is not installed.

5. Unpack the Vmware Server archive:

tar -xzf Vmware-server-1.0.3-44356.tar.gz

6. Start the install using the following commands:

cd vmware-server-distrib
perl vmware-install.pl

7. You will get asked a few questions, for example where to install files to.

Simply hit [ENTER] on all of the following questions:

* In which directory do you want to install the binary files?

* What is the directory that contains the init directories?

* What is the directory that contains the init scripts?

* In which directory do you want to install the daemon files?

* In which directory do you want to install the library files?

* The path „/usr/lib/vmware“ does not exist currently. This program is going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want?

* In which directory do you want to install the manual files?

* In which directory do you want to install the documentation files?

* The path „/usr/share/doc/vmware“ does not exist currently. This program is going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want?

8. The installation is complete now.

You will now get asked if you want to run the vmware configuration script ‘vmware-config.pl’. Say ‘no’ here. We need to apply some patches to vmware first to get ‘vmware-config.pl’ to work well.

9. Go back to the previous directory and unpack the vmware patches:

cd ..
tar -xzf vmware-any-any-update113.tar.gz

10. Apply the patches:

cd vmware-any-any-update*
perl runme.pl

11. You will get asked if you want to run ‘vmware-config.pl’. Say ‘yes’ now.

12. You have to accept the license.

Hit [ENTER] to display it, use [SPACE] to scroll down. At the end say ‘yes’ to accept the license.

13. You will get asked where to install a few more files. Simply hit [ENTER].

* In which directory do you want to install the mime type icons?

* What directory contains your desktop menu entry files?

* In which directory do you want to install the application’s icon?

14. Now we have to build some kernel modules for vmmon.

Answer the following question with ‘yes’ (make sure you have installed the meta-development files, see top of this Guide).

* None of the pre-build vmmon modules for VMWare Server is suitable for your running kernel. Do you want this program to try to build the vmmon module for your system (you need to have a C compiler installed on your system)?

15. You will get asked where your kernel header files are installed. Simply hit [ENTER].

* What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running kernel?

16. The next steps will configure the network settings:

* Do you want networking for your virtual machines?
yes

* Your computer has multiple ethernet network interfaces available: ath0, eth0. Which one do you want to bridge to vmneth0?
This question will only appear if you have multiple network cards installed.

* Do you want to configure another bridged network?
no

* Do you want to be able to use NAT networking in your virtual machine?
no
(This is because i have never used NAT before…)

* Do you want to be able to use host-only networking in your virtual machine?
no

17. The setup will now build the vmmon modules.

18. Specify the port for remote console connections. Simply hit [ENTER].

* Please specify a port for remote console connections to use.
902 is the default port for remote connections. No need to change it here.

19. Specify the location of your virtual machines:

* In which directory do you want to keep your virtual machine files?
Default is: /var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines

This can be changed to whatever you want. Make sure you have enough room on that disk drive since virtual machines can take up to several gigabytes.

* The path „/var/lib/vmware/Virtual Machines“ does not exist currently. This program is going to create it, including needed parent directories. Is this what you want?
yes

20. Enter the serial number.

You have to register at http://register.vmware.com/content/registration.html
to get a free serial number via email.

21. Setup is complete now.

To start the Vmware Server Daemon every time you reboot you should add this to /etc/rc.d/rc.local:

# Start vmware-daemon if installed
if [ -x /etc/init.d/vmware ]; then
sh /etc/init.d/vmware start
fi

If you don’t want to start the VMware Server Daemon every time you boot your system you can use the following command to start it (you must be root to do that):

sh /etc/init.d/vmware start
The background service is now running.

22. You can now start the VMWare Server GUI from the Wolvix System menu.

On each start you will get asked to which server you want to connect. Leave that on „Local host“ and select „Connect“. You can now create or start virtual machines.

Create a new virtual machine

1. Click „Create a new virtual machine“

Click the „Next“ button.

3. Select „Typical“ as Virtual Machine Configuration then click the „Next“ button.

4. Select your Guest Operating System.

Make sure to select the Version also from the drop down list below. If you want to install Linux as your Guest OS and the Linux version isn’t listed select „Other Linux 2.6.x kernel“ from the list.
Click the „Next“ button.

5. Select name and location for your virtual machine.

Click the „Next“ button.

6. Select the Network Connection.

‘Bridged Networking’ may be a good choice.
Click the „Next“ button.

7. Select the disk size.

If you check the option „Allocate all disk space now“ then the complete virtual disk will be created now. Make sure you have enough disk space. If not you can uncheck that option. Then only a minimal virtual disk will be created. The virtual disk will grow while you copy files into it until the selected disk size is reached. This will slow down the disk performance a bit.
If you want to test a LiveCD inside of your virtual machine then you can uncheck that option since the virtual disk will not be used.
Click the „Next“ button.

8. You can now power on your virtual machine.

Click into the window or hit [CTRL]+[G] to get control about the virtual machine. If you want to install from CD/DVD make sure to insert your boot/install/live cd into the cd/dvd drive. Select [ESC] from the boot screen to get the boot device menu. Select „CD-ROM drive“ to boot and install from CD.

9. Some hints:

* Hit [CTRL]+[ALT] to exit the window

* Hit [CTRL]+[ALT]+[RETURN] to enter FullScreenMode.

* Use [CTRL]+[ALT] to leave FullScreen.

Tilda - Quake style console in Linux.
by Wolven

If you ever played FPS (First Person Shooter) games by id Software, such as Doom, or Quake series, you are probably familiar with the practical ‘drop down console’ these games have. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s simply put a console/terminal that will drop down from the top of the screen at the press of a button. When you press the button again the console will roll back up and be invisible.

With a nice little program called Tilda , which it’s available in the Wolvix package repository, you can get a ‘drop down console’ like that on your Wolvix desktop. Very handy for quick access to the command line.

To install Tilda on Wolvix simply do: slapt-get –install tilda or install it through Gslapt. Once Tilda is installed you should find the launcher icon under Accessories in the menu. The behavior and look of Tilda can be tweaked in various ways depending on your preferences. You can change the size, placement, colors, toggle button and more. The default placement is top left with a size of 600×150 pixels and the toggle button is set to F1. When the Tilda console is visible on the screen you can right click it with the mouse to get a menu with various options, such as new/close tab, preferences and quit.

Tip: Booting Wolvix from DOS
by MasterGH

As I discovered after trying to help someone recently, Wolvix has the built-in capability of being able to be booted into from DOS (using a floppy or similar). This can be very useful if you need special drivers for your CD drive to boot the Windows installer. To boot Wolvix using a DOS boot disk, follow these directions.

1. If your drive is of the USB type, attach it with the Wolvix disc in the drive. If it isn’t, make sure you have the Wolvix disc in your internal drive.

2. Boot using your floppy.

3. Navigate in DOS (using the ‘cd’ command) to your CD drive, and then to the ‘boot/dos’ folder contained on the Wolvix CD.

4. Type in ‘wolvix.bat’ and press enter.

This should boot up Wolvix for you. I found this technique when trying to help someone boot Wolvix on his laptop that needed to use a floppy to boot CDs from his USB CD drive. It worked for him, and I hope it works for you!

New Games in the Repository

A few days ago, Wolven added and updated quite a few games in the Wolvix repository.
These include:

Beneath a Steel Sky
Battle Tanks
Flobopuyo
Flight of the Amazon Queen
GNOME Sudoku
Luola
netPanzer
Pathological
ScummVM (Not a game, but an emulator for them)
Endgame: Singularity
Solarwolf
Starfighter
Wesnoth
xscorch

Happy gaming

If you have any comments about this newsletter, please send an email to news{at}wolvix.org.

Note from the Editor

Since this is the first issue, let my introduce myself. I am MasterGH (MasterGoodheart) from the Wolvix forum and IRC channel. I’ve been using Wolvix since 1.1.0 Beta, and have very much enjoyed the experience. It was a bit of a surprise, though, when I was asked to be the editor of this newsletter. I’ve never done something like this before, so I was a bit unsure at first, but happily accepted after a bit of thinking.

There are quite a few reasons for this newsletter,

1. To have something for the community to check so that they easily know what is going on in Wolvix.
2. For us to be able to share useful knowledge we may have to help others.
3. To help bring more users to Wolvix.

To start with, most of the content will be written by me, but hopefully, as more people learn of it, we will start getting more user submissions soon. If you would like to help, please send an email to news{at}wolvix.org

I hope you enjoy reading!
MasterGH

Bugs in Wolvix 1.1.0

I thought I’d start this with some fixes for two of the bugs in Wolvix 1.1.0. Both are available on the Wolvix website.

Links here:
fluxbox menu icon problem
broken symlink for fonts

Wolvix 1.1.0 in the Press

There has been a surprising amount of press coverage about Wolvix 1.1.0 after its release. Todd Robinson, the Systems Devlopment Engineer of On-Disk, and Susan Linton of tuxmachines.org (who also provided lots of screenshots) both provided very positive reviews of it, as well as simplyjat on his blog. Caitlyn Martin from oreillynet.com mentioned she was tremendously impressed with Wolvix in an article about small distros, and later reviewed it.

User Submitted Desktops

This is where any desktops people have uploaded to the Wolvix website will be. To start it off, here is mine:

For more information about the themes I’m using, look here. For more information on customising your desktop, see the guide below. To submit your picture, use this link.

Guide: Installing Themes in Wolvix
by MasterGH

I thought it would be fitting for the first newsletter featuring a custom Wolvix Desktop to also have a guide about how to do it, so here it is.

Requirements of this guide:

* The user must be using Xfce.

Firstly, you might ask, “Where might I get these themes in the first place?” The answer to this is xfce-look.org. You will find many themes for all sorts of aspects of your desktop there, all tailored for Xfce. Some areas there are lacking, though, so you might want to try some other websites. gnome-look.org, a sister site, has quite a bit more content, and a lot of it will probably work with Xfce, like the cursors, (most) icons, and GTK 2 themes.

Once you’ve looked there, you may be wondering what things are which. Xfce themes are for xfwm, and greatly change the overall ‘look’ of the screen. GTK 2 themes are what gives the Xfce themes their colour and style over the top of the basic ‘look’. Other things (like cursors, icons, wallpapers, etc.) should be known to you.

Now that you’ve chosen some themes you think would look nice, it’s time to install them. I will separate this into two sections.

1. Installing for one user
Xfce: copy the theme folder to /home//.themes/
GTK 2: same as above
Icons: copy the theme folder to /home//.icons/
Cursors: same as above
Wallpapers: it doesn’t matter where you store these

2. Installing system-wide (root access required)
Xfce: copy the theme folder to /usr/share/themes/
GTK 2: same as above
Icons: copy the theme folder to /usr/share/icons/
Cursors: same as above
Wallpapers: anywhere the whole system has access to

Follow these instructions on how to enable them:
Xfce: Menu–>Settings–>User Inferface Settings, then select the theme from the list.
GTK 2: Menu–>Settings–>Window Manager Settings, then select the theme from the list.
Icons: Menu–>Settings–>User Inferface Settings, click on the ‘Icon Theme’ tab, and select the theme from the list.
Cursors: Menu–>Settings–>Mouse Settings, click on the ‘Cursor’ tab, then select the theme from the list. You will have to log out and in again to have the change happen.
Wallpapers: Menu–>Settings–>Desktop Settings, use the browse button in the Image section to find your wallpaper.

These instructions should be all you need to make your desktop just like you want it.

Tip: Something to try if USB

Jani Juvonen sent in some instructions on how to make a HD Frugal install work the the USB method fails.

Wolvix seems like a great distro but I wasn’t able to get it to work from my Kingston USB memory stick using the USB installer.”

After some experimentation, Jani got it to work like this:

I did a Frugal installation to the USB memory stick as if it was a regular hard drive, with GRUB. Then, to get the wolvixsave to work, I had to edit the menu.lst file in the grub directory to include on the kernel line “changes=/dev/sda2/wolvixsave.xfs” …and now it works!

Make sure you know the device name of your drive, and replace “sda2″ with it.

Another important tip:

I split the memory stick to two partitions using gparted, first one is FAT32 which Windows can see and I can save my user files to, and the second one is ext2 where Wolvix is installed. It is important that the first partition is FAT because otherwise Windows (XP) can’t see it!

Jani later sent me an email with this comment about Wolvix:

I’m really a BSD user (despite the fact that I’m typing this from WinXP :P) but every now and then I like to try some linux distro to see what’s happening there. The problem with linux so far has been that I haven’t found a distro that would work on my HP laptop - even OpenBSD and Syllable (except ethernet) does work with it so WTF… but it seems that Wolvix does in fact work. I guess the latest Slackware would work too… in any case, keep up the good work!

Thanks for the tips Jani!

User Comments about Wolvix

This is where I will put any comments sent in to me, or the answers to questions I have asked, about Wolvix.

I asked ghostwolf, who had mentioned he used Wolvix on PCs at work, a few questions about how he used it, and here is what he says:

We are using Wolvix to access a remote timeclock program on PC’s that are too old to upgrade to XP or Vista. We also use them to access OWA for several users on the same PC’s.I created bootable USB drives for 2 network engineers that work under me and they have been using it to access and retrieve data from crashed Windows systems.

I have used Red Hat, Slax, and SuSe. Wolvix runs better and comes with all the software we need to be up and running on a dated system.

Wolvix ROCKS!!!

If you would like to share your thoughts on Wolvix, write an email to me (see address below) with them, and I will try to include them in the next newsletter.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any comments, please send them to news{at}wolvix.org