Un tutoriel fait par Baptiste (Merlouche) sur l'installation de VirtualBox en ligne à cette adresse:

http://worldgen.e3b.org/news/news.php

Pour y accéder:

• s'inscrire en haut à gauche
• aller dans Forum, rubrique Thèmes principaux, puis Informatique
• sélectionner "La virtualisation avec VirtualBox"

Merci Baptiste pour ta contribution.

Chris Hoy answering this question: "What do you think about when training?"

Answer: "The short term goal for that session and giving your best for that"

 

 

Thanks to James Gosling tip described here, i am able now to share my Photos which are on my OpenSolaris laptop for the iMAC

From the laptop running Solaris, i simply share my photos directory via NFS. Go to  System->Administration ->SharedFolders and add the folder you want to share.

Then you go to your Mac computer and do this two commands that James Gosling describes on his blog:

#ls /net/192.168.0.2/D/PHOTOS

#sudo ln -s /net/192.168.0.2   /D

And now you can browse your photos from the MAC with the Finder application.

This way, the iMac which is on the ground level of our house can see the photos which are on my OpenSolaris laptop on the first floor. Photos are going through the ethernet cables which were inserted when we buid our house nearly 10 years ago. Last week, i just add RJ45 connectors at the end of the cables, bought a D-Link switch and put that switch behind my Freebox.

Thanks James!

The new Solaris 10 Applications Library is now live on BigAdmin:

http://www.sun.com/bigadmin/apps/

Le groupe d'utilisateur francophone d'OpenSolaris organise une journée de conférences à Labège, à deux pas de Toulouse.

La matinée sera consacrée aux technologies innovantes d'OpenSolaris (Zones, Containers, SRM, ZFS, ...), présentée en français: le meilleur moyen de les découvrir ou approfondir ses connaissances.

L'après-midi fera ensuite la part belle à la Communauté Open Source du système d'exploitation: des acteurs incontournables de quatre distributions d'OpenSolaris partageront leur expérience, en anglais.

Une install party terminera la journée pour mettre la main à la pâte, pour tous ceux qui désirent tester et installer OpenSolaris sur leur portable.

Pour cela, il suffit de s'inscrire gratuitement sur le site:

http://guses.org/ostls/

As i am very satisfied with my OpenSolaris on this Toshiba, i decided to upgrade with 1GB of memory. This is the reference i just

order: CORSAIR 1GB DDR2 (SO DIMM) 533Mhz PC2-4200 - VS1GSDS533D2

Kingston ValueRAM SO-DIMM DDR2-SDRAM 512 Mo - KTT533D2/512  is for laptop. (The above in blue was for desktop computer)

You can see if you have room for memory (DIMM) in the laptop with the following command:

#prtdiag -v |more
System Configuration: TOSHIBA TECRA M3
BIOS Configuration: TOSHIBA Version 1.40 11/15/2005

==== Processor Sockets ====================================

Version                          Location Tag
-------------------------------- --------------------------
                                 uFC-PGA Socket

==== Memory Device Sockets ================================

Type        Status Set Device Locator      Bank Locator
----------- ------ --- ------------------- ----------------
SDRAM       empty  -   DIMM 0              CSA 0 & 1
SDRAM       in use -   DIMM 1              CSA 2 & 3

I have just finished the upgrade of OpenSolaris 2008-05 to build 98. The update runs without any problem with the following commands:

#pfexec pkg refresh

#pfexec pkg image-update

checking that SUNWipkg (in /) is up to date

#pfexec pkg image-update

And the result is:

A clone of opensolaris-4 exists and has been updated and activated. On next boot the Boot Environment opensolaris-5 will be mounted on '/'. Reboot when ready to switch to this updated BE.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Please review release notes posted at:
   http://opensolaris.org/os/project/indiana/resources/rn3/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

dmerle@opensolaris:~/Desktop$ beadm list

BE            Active Active on Mountpoint Space
Name                 reboot               Used
----          ------ --------- ---------- -----
opensolaris   no     no        -          9.84M
opensolaris-1 no     no        -          11.86M
opensolaris-2 no     no        -          32.18M
opensolaris-3 no     no        -          19.03M
opensolaris-4 yes    no        /          18.16M
opensolaris-5 no     yes       -          14.59G

From the book "Understanding cultural differences", Edward T. Hall.

A table comparing "Intercultural relations in European business"

Culture Dominant features	France	United Kingdom	Germany
Ideology	History, nation and meritocracy	Class and privacy	Order organization and discretion
Influence	State	Capital	Capital
Strategy: Time Space Logic Organisation Information Management style	Polychronic Panopticon Demonstration Centralized Network Multi-competent	Monochronic Home Humor Home rule Power Civilized	Monochronic Compartiments Procedure Multi-nucleus Power Civilized
Tactics Money Language Communication Rational	No money, bad luck Speed/wit/eloquence Speaking Thesis	No money, no comment No nonsense Symbols Common sense	No money, a washout Thouroughness/Examples Writing The boss
Psychology	Hedonistic/Individualistic	Class conscious	Obedient / Power conscious
Reference area	France	Atlantic	Western-German industrial expansion sectors
Untranslatable	Grande Ecole	Civilized	Fuhrung
Symbols	On se téléphone et on se fait une bouffe	The Continent is isolated (The Times)	?

While waiting for Chrome to be available for OpenSolaris, you will have to run it in xVM VirtualBox, as i did this morning: (click to enlarge)

GoogleEarth.exe running with Wine on OpenSolaris. (Click to enlarge)

Thanks to Jérome.

After reading Jérome's entry, you just have to add a launcher:

/usr/local/wine/bin/wine "/export/home/dmerle/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Google/Google Earth/googleearth.exe"

View is Lyon, "Le parc de la tête d'or". Sun is just nearby.

We are using Open Source Ticket Request System (OTRS) to manage our pre-sales information requests with our partners. Our German colleagues are using it for two years right now, and we are spreading its usage throughout Europe.

I had today a demonstration from my colleagues, Quentin and Bernard, and i saw how easy it is to use this tool. For sure, i know Bernard, had this tool be cumbersome and not well performing, it would have not been selected.

In fact, we saw the demonstration by connecting to a computer running OpenSolaris in Strasbourg. All the users, Claude in Aix-En-Provence, Sébastien in Rennes, Quentin @ Paris and myself in Lyon were following the demonstration using vnc to connect on the OpenSolaris machine.

But, come back to OTRS.

First simply connect to the interface, the interface being localized:

View a queue:

Log a ticket if you get a phone call, handy if you have an incoming call you want to track:

The "ticket" number is unique, and when ticket is locked, it means that ticket has been taken in charge by an "agent". Two tickets can be merged if related. When a ticket is registered within OTRS, the submitter receives an acknowledgement of receipt.

Answer with a template, when you want to educate or communicate on a targeted theme:

Move the request to an other queue, for example if you need the help from an other group of persons:

More screenshots from the official OTRS website here.

This is a post that will help you to install xVM Virtual Box on OpenSolaris 2008 snv_95 in five instructions steps.

The release of OpenSolaris which is installed on my laptop Toshiba Tecra M3 is:

# uname -a
SunOS opensolaris 5.11 snv_95 i86pc i386 i86pc Solaris

A) First, download xVM from http://virtualbox.org

Select xVMVirtualBox1.6.4 for OpenSolaris x86

B) Unwrap the downloaded stuff

Unzip and then untar:

#gunzip VirtualBox-1.6.4-SunOS_x86.tar.gz

#tar -xvf VirtualBox-1.6.4-SunOS_x86.tar

#more ReadMe.txt 

#pkgadd -G -d VirtualBoxKern-1.6.4-SunOS-r33808.pkg

#pkgadd -G -d VirtualBoxKern-1.6.4-SunOS-r33808.pkg

I installed it in /opt

ATTENTION: if you try to run VirtualBox from here, you wil get this following error:

ERROR 0 bytes from child process. Failed to create the VirtualBox COM object

Proceed to step C:

C) Use this workaround :
You have to be root.

# cd /opt/VirtualBoxVirtualBox/VBoxSVC.real "$@"
# chmod +x VBoxSVC# mv VBoxSVC VBoxSVC.real
# cat > VBoxSVC
#!/bin/sh
LD_NODIRECT=1
export LD_NODIRECT 
exec /opt/VirtualBox/VBoxSVC.real "$@"
# chmod +x VBoxSVC
 

D) Start VirtualBox as a regular user

#/opt/VirtualBox/VirtualBox

During the installation menu, i selected the following options:

• Name: Windows
• OS: Windows XP
• memory: 512Mo
• Disk: new dynamically disk of 6GB installed in /export/home/dmerle/.VirtualBox/VDI/windows.vdi

E) Install Windows XP with a CD of Windows.

Insert your Windows XP in the CD reader...later on enter your licence key

Reconfigure input key if necessary: my laptop has no Right Ctrl key, so i had to reconfigure:

Go to File -> Preferences and change input to  Left Ctrl

Usage: My laptop has only 1GB of RAM. Enough to run Sun xVM VirtualBox. But when you switch your mouse to OpenSolaris and start Firefox, the machine is swapping. But that works quick enough for me :=)

If you want to have the sound working, just adjust it in the Preferences menu:

For OpenSolaris, replace sudo with pfexec.

Merci Bernard.

I have just upgraded OpenSolaris to snv_95. It's now completely a routine with command:

#pfexec pkg image-update

#beadm list

BE            Active Active on Mountpoint Space
Name                 reboot               Used
----          ------ --------- ---------- -----
opensolaris   no     no        -          9.84M
opensolaris-1 no     no        -          11.86M
opensolaris-2 no     no        -          32.18M
opensolaris-3 no     no        -          19.03M
opensolaris-4 yes    yes       /          12.68G

#uname -a
SunOS opensolaris 5.11 snv_95 i86pc i386 i86pc Solaris

• Firefox 3.01
• Thunderbird 2.0.0.14
  

In his book "Guns, Germs ans Steel" afterword, Jared Diamond compares China unity and Europe fragmentation. Two excerpts:

"Europe's barriers were sufficient to prevent political unification, but insufficient to halt the spread of technologies and ideas. There has never been one despot who could turn off the tap for all of Europe, as of China." 

"Optimal fragmentation  principle: innovation proceeds more rapidly in a society with some optimal intermediate degree of fragmentation: a too unified society is at a disavantage, and so is a too fragmented society"

Just have a look at an Eurasian map and compare it to China:

So keep our differences, share our best practices and use a friendly version of Germs, the internet, as a viral mean for diffusion of our ideas :=) 

Jérôme opens his OpenSolaris blog here. Congratulations Jérôme!

For the second time, i have upgraded my OpenSolaris, which was on build 91, to build 93.

In order to do that, i simply follow the procedure indicated here. 

However, after booting the new environnment, named opensolaris-3, /opt and /etc were missing.

I had to manually mount /opt with the following command:

#pfexec zfs set mountpoint=/opt rpool/ROOT/opensolaris-3/opt 

The benefits of this new release are numerous, but to name the ones that interest me:

• a new Gnome version 2.22.2
  
• an updated pidgin 2.4.2
  
• the suspend/resume capability available in the menu (works better, but not completely satisfactory) 

Below is the history of the available environments:

#beadm list
BE            Active Active on Mountpoint Space
Name                 reboot               Used
----          ------ --------- ---------- -----
opensolaris   no     no        -          9.84M
opensolaris-1 no     no        -          11.86M
opensolaris-2 no     no        -          32.18M
opensolaris-3 yes    yes       /          11.10G

This  is the beauty of OpenSolaris: you can always go back to a previous environment!

Here are the four commands i entered in a terminal to update OpenSolaris 2008 to the latest build 91:

# pfexec pkg refresh

# pfexec pkg image-update

(# beadm list)

# pfexec mount -F zfs rpool/ROOT/opensolaris-2 /mnt

# pfexec /mnt/boot/solaris/bin/update_grub -R /mnt

The full procedure is indicated here.

By comparison to Nevada, the Solaris Express Community edition i have been using since build 54 in December 2006, here are some numbers:

	Nevada	OpenSolaris	Comment
Time to upgrade	~ 5 hours	~1hour and 40 minutes	With OpenSolaris, there is always a possibility to roll back
Time to boot	~ 3 minutes	~ 1 minute	login banner

Isn't it enticing?

I have switched from Solaris Community express (a.k.a. Nevada build 86) to OpenSolaris 2008.05. It was a difficult decision to take as i was completely satisfied with Nevada and having lived with it since build 54 up to build 86.

But OpenSolaris is the future and the future begins today for me. This post is a step by step howto install OpenSolaris on a laptop. My laptop is a Toshiba Tecra M3, 1 cpu@2,1Ghz with 1GB Ram and 70GB hard disk.

A) Backup your PC.

Backup up took me about 1h 

Here is my checklist: 

• D partition (D is a common partition between Windows and Solaris)
  
• Thunderbird configuration : mail server and port
• Firefox bookmarks
• vsftab
• .bashrc
• .packingrules
• /etc/resolv.conf and /etc/nsswitch.conf
• your vpn configuration : client_backup -i /your_vpn_backup
  

B) Download OpenSolaris 2008.05

Download site is here.

and burn a CD.

Download and burn took me about 1h15. 

C) Installation

The installation last for me about 1h45 (reboot included) 

Insert the CD and boot over the CD: on my Toshiba, just after power on press the F12 key  and select CD. The CD then goes live and you will be presented with an installation icon: click on it!

The system will try to find a Solaris partition. If it finds a Solaris partition, it will propose you to erase it. The installation is via a GUI and is very simple. 

During the installation, you will be asked to enter a user account: i advise you to create {admin, admin}. This way, it will be easier for you later on to create via the GUI your own user, with specifics you want. For example, i had to create my own userid with uid which is the same (+10) of the one i have on the Swan. Mounting your home directory will be then without trouble.

D) Configuration

D)1) Mount the common partition beween Windows and OpenSolaris 

Add the following line in /etc/vfstab 

/dev/dsk/c4d0p2    -    /D    pcfs    -    yes    - 

D)2) Install the network driver

For my Toshiba Tecra M3, you have to use yukonx0 (yukon_xsol_x86v8.10.4.3.tar.z) (and not skge0 wich failed)

# pkgadd -d . YUKONXsol

By the way, you notice that with Opensolaris, the old packaging system is still compatible 

D)3) Mount your home directory

Add the following line in /etc/vfstab:

sunlyon.france:/export/home3/dmerle    -    /HOME    nfs    no    no    -

D)4) OpenOffice installation

# pfexec pkg install openoffice 

This is really cool! This is the new IPS packaging system: it goes over the network, get your bits and performs the installation. It took me about 20 minutes. 

D)5) vpn installation

Package installation. To get the package, go here and then do a pkgadd:

# pkgadd -d SUNWpunchin-i386.pkg
# pkgadd -d ITpunchin.pkg

Restore your vpn configuration :

# /usr/local/bin/client_restore -i your_backup_directory/punchin.backup

Your vpn will be automatically put in your menu: Applications->Internet->IPsec Punchin VPN

D)6) Projector configuration

The external projector being connected, run the following command:

#xrandr --output VGA-0 --auto

Then you can configure the resolution with the menu : Applications->SystemTools->NVidia server settings

Click on "Detect Displays"

Select clone in one of the option (more here)

D)7) Install frkit, it will silent your PC

Get frkit here, save it and run the script as root. Reboot your PC

D)8) Network configuration

I had some trouble with nwam (Network auto magic). So i disable it and installed Ginet instead.

Nwam desactivation:

#svcadm disable nwam
#svcadm enable network:/default

Get Ginetmenu: see my previous post here

D)7) Update your OS:

#pfexec pkg image-update

It will create for you and alternate boot environment directly on ZFS! On next boot, you can choose the new updated BE. Really cool!!!

E) Opensolaris documentation

It's here.

You are nearly all set.

What is missing for me: i did not succeed to install FreeMind^*, and the suspend resume is not working. I also did not have enough time to install Virtual Box.

^*(For Freemind, i had to modify the freemind.sh script and bluntly set freedir=/opt ) 

But i am quite happy with OpenSolaris. Compiz is integrated, desktop is very nice, ZFS by default, containers, the new system installer and the new package management system (IPS). For those who want support, a support subscription is available.

48 Tshirts of souvenirs! Pele-mele or mixed, all of these T-shirts  tells a piece of my story @ Sun.

The acquisitions, the partners, the tools, the fun. As Winston Churchill said, the further backward you look, the further forward you can see. It goes all the way up to 1994!