OpenSolaris in Parallels VM on Mac OS X
I recently tried several Release Candidates for the OpenSolaris (Indiana) release and as I learned more about installing and setting up the OpenSolaris in Parallels virtual machine I decided to consolidate my previous posts on this topic. I also plan to update this entry later if a new information appears.
System
I performed all my tests at following system configuration:
- MacBook Pro with Intel C2D processor 2.33 GHz, 2GB RAM, 120GB HDD
- Mac OS X, version 10.4.11
- Parallels Desktop for Mac, version 3.0
Virtual Machine
The virtual machine has the following basic parameters:
| OS Type | Solaris |
|---|---|
| OS Version | Solaris 10 |
| Main memory | 768 MB |
| Video memory | 16 MB |
| 1 x HDD, size | 10240 MB |
| 1 x CD/DVD ROM | Image file with OpenSolaris image |
| 2 x Serial port | Emulation / Use output file |
| Network adapter | Bridged Ethernet / Default Adapter |
| Options/Booting | Boot Sequence is set to boot from CD-ROM at first |
Installation
The installation itself went without any problems, I just followed the instructions displayed by the installer. When the system is rebooted after successful installation do not forget to change the Options/Booting/Boot Sequence to boot first from the hard disk.
Network Set Up
Parallels emulate Realtek 8029(AS) network adapter. A driver for this
adapter can be found at vmtools.iso CD image located inside
/Library/Parallels/Tools directory. Click on the CD icon
at the bottom of window running the OpenSolaris virtual machine and
connect this image.
The vmtools.iso gets automatically mounted and inside
/media/PRTOOLS/Drivers/Network/RTL8029/SOLARIS
directory is located device driver for the Realtek network adapter.
Log as a root, copy all the files to a local disk and run network.sh
script. Choose to get the IP address using DHCP. Once the script finishes
then just reboot and the network should be up an running. If this method
does not work for some reason then you can try
a workaround describing a manual installation (it was needed for OpenSolaris
Developer Preview 1)
Native Resolution in Full Screen Mode
After the installation the default resolution is 1024 x 768 points. This is nice but native resolution of the 15 inches MacBook Pro laptop is 1440 x 900 pixels, so the next step is to change X settings to be able to use the native resolution in a full screen mode. Here are the required steps:
-
Log as a root and copy file
/etc/X11/.xorg.confto file/etc/X11/xorg.conf -
Edit the
/etc/X11/xorg.confas the following:-
In the section "Monitor" add rows:
HorizSync 31.5 - 100.0
VertRefresh 59.0 - 75.0
Option "dpms"
Modeline "1440x900" 108.84 1440 1472 1800 1912 900 918 927 946 -
In the section "Screen" add row:
DefaultDepth 24 -
For each subsection "Display" you want to use in the section "Screen" add a new resolution
"1440x900"at the begin in theModesline. For example:
Modes "1440x900" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" - Restart X server (reboot).
-
In the section "Monitor" add rows:
Solaris is so much easier to set up in VMware Fusion than Parallels. Network and X.org are configured correctly out the box, you get proper time sync with OSX, and all sorts of other nice desktop integration features (copy and paste between Solaris and OSX etc*.) that just aren't available in Parallels.
*Okay, this bit broke around snv_71, but the VMware folks are working on it.
Posted by 193.203.156.23 on May 02, 2008 at 01:03 AM CEST #