Monday July 25, 2005

Solaris Community Express + Toshiba Tecra M2

So. I deleted the Linux JDS installation from my laptop, reclaimed the filesystems, and prepared myself to install Solaris Community Express build nv_18. I downloaded and burned the 4 CD images, plus the Software Companion CD image for Solaris 10, and proceeded to to the install.

With the size of disks these days, I tend to just do an "Entire Distribution + OEM" install, and today was no exception. Everything went very smoothly, and I didn't have any problems with the installation.

I saw where some people had issues with X.org, and the Toshiba Tecra M2. I didn't have those problems, as the screen detection worked just fine for installation purposes, 1024 x 768 x 256 colors. Not great, but usable. Then I downloaded and installed the Nvidia Drivers for Solaris x86. Use the Nvidia README. If you follow the instructions step by step, you'll have no problems. I found that the xorg.conf installed by the Nvidia drivers works just fine on my Tecra M2.

I found quite a few blogs here @ blogs.sun.com talking about Solaris 10 and Community Express x86 on the Toshiba Tecra M2. Folks like Chris Gerhard and Josh Simons have some good tips, and advice, and Eric Boutilier has some generally interesting content regarding Solaris and OpenSolaris, and what's going on in that whole 'movement'.

Thanks to Chris, Josh, and Eric, for the information they've had available, as well as the anonymous masses on various forums, bulletin-boards, and to the Casper Dik's of the world for their nifty tools, and tips, and stuff.