macbuntu
MacBuntu - A word describing making something easy, humane towards others.
Starting again with a picture for the folks that like shinny objects :-)
In installed parallels with a trial key (I was not going to pay just in case my manager alter ego kicks in and I am not able finish the project), I downloaded Ubuntu 6.10 and started on the journey of making my MacBook Pro even more powerful.
- I burned the Ubuntu image on a DVD and tried the install. Oops, parallels won't recognize the media :-(. OK, perhaps I have a coaster, let me burn another iso. Nope, the VM would choke and would ask me to insert the media. OK, let me google this ...
- It turns out that you can boot from a local image of the guest OS. I further use Parallels to configure for Ubuntu to use 1024 MB of memory and 16GB of hard drive. Once I do that, happiness! So short lived :-(
- Ubuntu loads a live image of the desktop and you seem to be one click away of the installation. The installer hangs after 15% progress. I am agitated. I pull Anger Management and watch a short segment to relax :-)
- It turns out that on MacBook Pro hardware the installer chokes if the memory is set to anything higher than 512 MB. Once I change the setting of the VM I am able to install without any problems
The result is stunning:
- desktop is beautiful
- (wireless) networking works like a charm - this blew me away, since I was expecting all kind of driver issues
- OpenOffice, Firefox, Evolution
- bash as the default shell
- JDK 1.4.2 (we have to fix that)
One of the things you'll have to do is edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add the native resolution of the you Mac. In my case I had to add 1440x900 and tweak HorizSync and VertRefresh.
HorizSync 30-82
VertRefresh 40-12
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1440x900" "1280x800" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
