Mandrake Linux 9.2

Support

This guest operating system is supported on the following VMware products:

• VMware GSX Server 3.0, 3.1, 3.2

  Note: If you are installing a guest operating system through VMware VirtualCenter, be sure it is supported under the VMware product - ESX Server or GSX Server - on which you are running the virtual machine.

General Installation Notes

Be sure to read General Guidelines for All VMware Products as well as this guide to installing your specific guest operating system.

The easiest method of installing Mandrake Linux 9.2 in a virtual machine is to use the standard Mandrake Linux distribution CD. The notes below describe an installation using the standard distribution CD; however, installing Mandrake Linux 9.2 via the boot floppy/network method is supported as well. If your VMware product supports it, you may also install from a PXE server.

Before installing the operating system, be sure that you have already created and configured a new virtual machine.

Note: During the Mandrake Linux 9.2 installation, you are offered a choice of XFree86 X servers. You may choose either one, but do not run that X server. Instead, to get an accelerated SVGA X server running inside the virtual machine, you should install the VMware Tools package immediately after installing Mandrake Linux 9.2.

Installation Steps

1. Insert the Mandrake Linux 9.2 CD in the CD-ROM drive.
2. Power on the virtual machine to start installing Mandrake Linux 9.2.
3. Follow the installation steps as you would for a physical machine. Be sure to make the choices outlined in the following steps.
4. Use the text mode installer. At the opening screen, press F1 for options, then enter text for text mode.
5. In the partitioning step, unless you have special requirements, it is all right to let Mandrake Linux automatically allocate the space. Click Use free space.
6. If you installed your VMware product on a laptop computer, on the Package Group Selection screen, click Advanced. Select Individual package selection and click Next. Scroll down to Services numlock and clear the asterisk to disable it. If you do not disable numlock when you install the guest, the number lock is always active in the guest and you cannot disable it by pressing the Num Lock key.
7. When you reach the Summary screen, configure the graphical interface.

   Select Graphical Interface, then click Do. Make the following selections:

   • The resolution and refresh rate you want your guest to use
   • VMware virtual video card
   • XFree 4.3
   • No when asked if you want to test the configuration
   • No when asked if you want to start X when you reboot
8. When the installer asks if you want to install updates to the packages, answer No.

This completes basic installation of the Mandrake Linux 9.2 guest operating system.

VMware Tools

Be sure to install VMware Tools in your guest operating system. For details, see the manual for your VMware product or follow the appropriate link in the knowledge base article at www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=340.

Note: With a Mandrake Linux 9.2 guest, you should install VMware Tools from the Linux console. Do not start X until you have installed VMware Tools.

Note: Provided you installed the XFree 4.3 X server when you installed the guest operating system (as advised in the install steps), when you start the VMware Tools installation script (by typing ./vmware-install.pl in the vmware-tools- distrib directory), the following message appears:

Found an installed version of the VMware SVGA driver for XFree86 4. Some versions of this driver included with the XFree86 4 distributions do not work properly. Would you like to install a stable (but possibly older) version of the driver over the currently installed one?

If you plan to dual-boot the virtual machine, answer Yes to allow the driver to be installed. Answer Yes again to back up the existing video driver files and also copy the XF86Config-4.dist file to XF86Config-4.vm. The latter file is used when dual-booting the virtual machine.

If you do not intend to dual-boot the virtual machine, answer No to keep the existing driver.

Note: As you are installing and configuring VMware Tools, the configuration program asks for the location of lspci. When that prompt appears, enter the following path:

/usr/bin/lspcidrake

Enabling Sound in a Mandrake 9.2 Guest

VMware GSX Server: The sound device is disabled by default and must be enabled with the virtual machine control panel (VM > Settings) after the operating system has been installed. To set up the virtual machine to play sound, see Configuring Sound in the GSX Server documentation.

Known Issues

Guest Screen Saver

On a Linux host with an XFree86 3.x X server, it is best not to run a screen saver in the guest operating system. Guest screen savers that demand a lot of processing power can cause the X server on the host to freeze.