Gentoo in a VM

Hi all,

My web host provider dreamhost decided to pull the plug on my binary (bnbt) tracker this morning. So, obviously its down, while I'm fighting it out with the admins, I have managed to spin off a tracker off my vps host. Check out the downloads section on http://www.vmwhere.net/ for the tracker.


Cheers!!
Jay

Hi All,

Thanks to Mark at the vr dot org we have a nice fast http download link.

Head to gentoo-vm.vr.org for Downloads!!

Jay

Hi,

Some versions of the VMware Server and Workstation 5.5.X has a newer version of the tools. To install vmware tools do the following:

This can also be followed if you are doing a fresh install of the vmware tools. Also note that this procedure does not follow the Gentoo way of managing packages. So some purists don’t' like this. There is an alternate way using the emerge, I will cover that install method shortly.

This pretty much follows the standard Linux tools install procedure, except noted otherwise.

http://www.vmware.com/support/kb/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=340

http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_newguest_tools_linux.html#wp1127177

Install Procedure:

1. Select the option to install vmware tools on the WKS/GSX UI. Usually VM -> Install VMware Tools

2. Then log into the Gentoo VM as tools and mount the cd-rom drive.

#mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

3. Then untar the vmware tools so some temp location like /tmp

#tar xvzf /mnt/cdrom/*.tar.gz /tmp

4. Create a set of empty rc directories to fool the tools installer

#mkdir /etc/init.d/rc{0,1,2,3,4,5,6}.d

5. Run the vmware-tools installer and go with the defaults

#cd vmware-tools-distrib
#./vmware-install.pl

The above installs the vmware tools startup scripts on the rc directories. So to fix it do the following
6. Add vmware tools to startup

#rc-update add vmware-tools default

vollia ur done.

Please do add ur comments as to what’s ur experience.

Gentoo Virtual Machine



Gentoo Linux is a Linux distribution named after the Gentoo Penguin. It is designed to be modular, portable, easy to maintain, flexible, and optimized for the user's machine. This is accomplished by building all tools and utilities from source code, although, for convenience, several large software packages are also available as precompiled binaries for various architectures. Gentoo achieves all this via the Portage system. Gentoo is also appreciated for its discussion forums and the large knowledge base they represent.

Even with all the fun and frills, Gentoo is primarily criticised for its long installation process, sometimes taking days on older hardware, especially very large ones such as X11 and OpenOffice.org take hours to compile and are incompatible with the needs of many users who require quick software installation.

Having said that, working with Gentoo is a great learning experience and one is rewarded with much knowledge and insight into how various parts of Linux come together to work in a way it is supposed to and a wealth of information on minute details of each and every configuration option in the packages.

My endeavour with this VM is to enable the community use Gentoo and decide for them selves what the enigma of the Gentoo Linux really is.

Now about the VM itself.

Gentoo Linux Configuration
Distribution: 2006.0
Linux Kernel: 2.6-15-r1
Installation Type: Minimal (no Desktop Environment)
Networking: DHCP
User Name/password - none
Root Password: "gentoo"

Virtual Machine Configuration
RAM: 256 MB (configurable by editing the gentoo.vmx file)
Disk: 10.0 GB (sorry I had to err on the side of plenty)
Networking: Bridged
VMware Tools: Loaded
Monitor Resolution: 1024x768

Download Information
Please head to my blog at www.vmwhere.net for downloads.

File Size: 383 MB
Compression: ZIP
MD5SUM 41ca265fe7358c547889cee414d47b66 *Gentoo.zip


The http link is donated by someone who likes Gentoo and wanted to help me out, so please use it only and only if you will not be able to use Bittorrent in anyway whatsoever. Thanks for understanding. - Update - 21, Apr, 2006.


This VM just about gives you the head start with base installation. It has the shell and the basic networking installed. Everything there on needs to be downloaded and configured using emerge.

I will be posting more expansive VM's covering both GNOME and KDE Desktop environments individually as soon as i'm done with them.

Until then, hope ya have fun with this version.

Hi All,

This is an attempt to provide the Gentoo user community with a VMware Image to test and get a feel about.

This is not a official Release and I'm neither part of or related in any manner with the releng team at Gentoo.

Though I do work for VMware, whatever I say or post on this site does not represent the views of my employer or co-workers.

Thank you & Enjoy ur Stay!!

-Jay