This tutorial will take you every single step of the way through installing PCLinuxOS 2007 using VMWare Fusion for OS X. In other words, even your parents should be able to follow along.
- Who this tutorial is for
- Background
- Setting up VMWare Fusion for PCLinuxOS 2007
- Installing PCLinuxOS 2007
- Finishing up (installing VMWare Tools, increasing memory etc.)
This tutorial is for anyone with an Intel based Mac who is curious about Linux – specifically PCLinuxOS 2007, and has about an hour to kill (not including the time it takes to download PCLinuxOS).
The steps and screenshots used for this tutorial are specific to VMWare Fusion version 1.0b3 (43733) running on a MacBook Pro w/ OS X (10.4.9). With that said, they will be nearly identical if you have a Mac Pro, Mac Mini, MacBook or any other Intel based Apple Mac.
PCLinuxOS 2007, is a free, easy-to-use Linux-based operating system for the home. Anyone familiar with the MS Windows environment will be able to use PCLinuxOS 2007 with no problem.
VMWare Fusion is a virtualizer, or as they put it, “the best way to run Windows on your Intel-based Mac”. It’s currently in beta, and free, but that will almost certainly change at some point in the future. Sign up for the beta and download VMWare Fusion here.
3. Setting up VMWare Fusion for PCLinuxOS 2007
- Launch VMWare Fusion and select click the New… button.
- Review the Introduction screen and click Continue.
- Select Linux as the Operating System: and Other Linux 2.6.x kernel as the Version:.
- In the Save As: area, enter a name. It doesn’t matter what you call it, but something descriptive is a good idea. If you wish, you can change the default save location (Where:), but it’s not necessary.
- Choose a size for your Disk size:. I’m not sure what the minimum size you can specify and still have a working OS is, but it must be larger than 2GB. Once you’ve made a decision, click Continue.
- Make sure that Start virtual machine and install operating system now remains selected. If you’re installing/booting PCLinuxOS from a CD, leave the default Use operating system installation disc checked. If you’re using an .iso file (as I do in this example), select Use operating system installation disc image file: and then choose Other… from the drop-down menu.
- Navigate to your PCLinuxOS iso file, select it, and then click the Select button.
- Click Finish.
- As PCLinuxOS boots for the first time, VMWare will let you know that debugging mode is enabled, and how to disable it – which you can do later. Click OK for now.
- A very pretty boot screen will appear..
- and then you’ll be presented with a list of options. Click inside the VMWare window so that your cursor and keyboard ‘take’ focus from OS X to VMWare, select LiveCD (which is the default) and hit enter on your keyboard.
- Watch as PCLinuxOS starts..
- and then select your keyboard type. Click Next to continue.
- Choose your location from the list, and click Next.
- Select the appropriate Date, Click & Time Zone settings (default is fine) and once again, click Next.
- Make sure Ethernet is selected – even if your Mac is connected via Airport (or dialup, but really.. dialup?). Click Next.
- Click – you guessed it – Next.
- Leave Automatic IP selected, and click Next.
- Are you sensing a pattern yet? Leave the defaults selected, and click Next.
- If more than one person is going to use your PCLinuxOS installation, you may want to allow them to change the connection settings. If you do, place a check in Allow users to manage the connection. Regardless, you do want to leave Start the connection at boot
- Yes, you do want to start the connection now. Click Next – but for the last time!
- This time, click Finish.
- Normally you don’t want to do this, but this ONE time, login as root. The default password for the root user is also root.
- Again watch as PCLinuxOS starts up.
- And here you are – the PCLinuxOS desktop. If you’d like, take some time to explore. Keep in mind that you’ve just booted from a LiveCD, so if you decide to keep the OS, don’t bother to start bookmarking sites in Firefox or doing too much – it will all be erased once you install PCLinuxOS to your virtual hard drive. If you like what you see, and you want to install it, double-click the Install PCLinuxOS icon on your desktop.
- The Wizard will launch to guide you through the installation. Click Next.
- Leave Normal Hard drive checked, and click Next.
- Leave Use free space checked, and again, click Next. Remember – this is being installed to a virtual hard drive – so you’re not deleting anything in OS X. This is perfectly safe.
- That safe comment I just mentioned – it was to prepare you for this screen. Do not worry – you’re not going to format your actual Mac’s hard drive – just the virtual one that VMWare created. Click Next.
- Again, Next.
- Go get yourself a cup of coffee or tea. This takes somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes to install, depending on how fast your Mac is. If you’re installing from a CD rather than an .iso file, it might take longer.
- After PCLinuxOS installs most of its software, you’ll see the “creating mount points and preparing bootloader” message, if you haven’t fallen asleep.
- Unless you really know what you’re doing, leave the defaults and click Next.
- That’s it – click Finish!
- OK that’s not really it. There are a few more steps to go, but not too many. Set a root password by entering it in the spaces provided.
- Enter the required info in each of the spaces. You can change the default icon by clicking it (each click will move forward to the next icon). There are a lot to choose from. Of course this is something you can change later, so don’t worry about it too much.
- If you want to add another user to PCLinuxOX, you can do so now. Again, this is something you can do later, but it never hurts to get it out of the way with. If you don’t want/need to add other users, click Done.
- Now that you’ve finished, it’s time to shut down. Select the PC button (bottom left corner of the screen) and choose Log Out…
- Click the Turn Off Computer button – not Restart Computer.
- PCLinuxOS will now power off.
- You’ll probably be presented with a “you don’t have VMWare Tools installed” message. Don’t worry, in the section below I’ll guide you through installing it, so for now, just click OK.
checked. Click Next to continue.
5. Finishing up (installing VMWare Tools, increasing memory etc.)
- First things first, lets change some of the settings. To do so, click the Settings button from the top VMWare Fusion toolbar.
- Select the Memory entry from the menu on the left side. Though the recommended value is 256MB, I’ve found that PCLinuxOS runs quite a bit faster if you boost it up to 512MB. With that said, if you have 1GB or less memory on your Mac, you’ll probably want to leave it at 256MB. If you do make a change, click the Apply button to make sure it takes effect.
- Now select the CD-ROM entry from the left menu. If you used an .iso file to boot/install PCLinuxOS, change it back to Automatically detect physical CD-ROM and then click Apply. Close the settings window when you’re done.
- To start PCLinuxOS, either click the huge ‘play’ button, or the Start Up button in the top toolbar.
- Choose Linux, which should be the default, and hit enter on your keyboard. Or just wait 10 seconds and it’ll start on its own.
- Login to PCLinuxOS using the user name you created during the setup. Again, only under the rarest of rare circumstances do you want to login as root. If you sign in as root, the chances of you accidentally destroying PCLinuxOS go up by a factor of 100.
- Here you are – the fully installed PCLinuxOS 2007 desktop. If you don’t want to install VMWare Tools, you’re done, and this tutorial has served its purpose. Have fun! If you do want to install VMWare Tools, which will allow you to easily change the mouse and keyboard focus between PCLinuxOS and OS X (as well as copy text, files and folders between them), keep reading.
- Use the apple-key + ctrl (control) combo to ‘escape’ from PCLinuxOS, and select Virtual Machine from the apple menu, then Install VMWare Tools from the drop-down list.
- Review the pop-up window and then click Install.
- Click back inside the PCLinuxOS window to regain keyboard and mouse focus, and select Open in a New Window and then click the OK button.
- You should be presented with a window that contains two files. Close that window.
- Open a terminal window by selecting the PC button -> System -> Terminals and then Konsole.
- Enter the following commands one at a time. Anything below in italics is not text that you should copy/paste and enter, rather a hint/explanation.
su
(enter your root password)
cd /media/VMware\ Tools/
rpm -i VMwareTools-e.x.p-43733.i386.rpm (unless the .rpm file has been upgraded since this tutorial was created – in which case enter the name of your rpm file)
(wait a minute or two – you’ll know it’s done when the prompt returns)
vmware-config-tools.pl
(watch as text flys by the screen)
yes
(hit enter to accept the default location)
yes
(enter the number you want as your default screen resolution)
exit
exit - If all went well, you can know move your mouse from PCLinuxOS to OS X and back without having to use the keyboard combo. In addition, you can drag and drop files from linux to OS X and vice-versa. You’re officially done. Congrats.
I followed your steps exactly but after i installed vmwaretools it said the kernel needed something, a c-something and it doesnt seem to be fully installed, how do i reinstall vmwaretools?
Just to let you know Vmware Fusion is no longer free. There is a free 30 day demo but it now costs US$79.99 if you want to keep it.