Keyboard Mouse integration between Solaris 11.1 and Windows 7 using Synergy

Note: Please read the copyright notices and license agreements before making any changes to your software. This document is not intended to take care of legal issues.

I'm running Solaris 11.1 in my desktop machine, a keyboard and mouse is connected to this system. My laptop under the same network is running Windows 7. Following are the steps I have taken to use the same keyboard and mouse in my laptop using Synergy.

Solaris 11.1

Step 1. Install the required packages.

# pkg install SUNWPython SUNWcmake SUNWgcc SUNWxorg-headers
# pkg install pkg://solaris/SUNWxwinc

Step 2. Download and extract Synergy from -
http://synergy-foss.org/

Step 3. Navigate to the directory and run

$ ./hm.sh conf -g1

Step 4. Now run

$ ./hm.sh build

This step will fail with the following error message.

[ 89%] Building C object src/micro/CMakeFiles/micro.dir/uSynergy.o
In file included from /home/righosha/synergy-1.4.15-Source/src/micro/uSynergy.c:26:0:
/home/righosha/synergy-1.4.15-Source/src/micro/uSynergy.h:49:92: error: operator '==' has no right operand
*** Error code 1
The following command caused the error:
cd /home/righosha/synergy-1.4.15-Source/build/release/src/micro && /usr/bin/gcc  -DSYSAPI_UNIX=1 -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DWINAPI_XWINDOWS=1 -O3 -DNDEBUG -o CMakeFiles/micro.dir/uSynergy.o   -c /home/righosha/synergy-1.4.15-Source/src/micro/uSynergy.c
make: Fatal error: Command failed for target `src/micro/CMakeFiles/micro.dir/uSynergy.o'

You will need to manually edit "src/micro/uSynergy.h" to resolve this issue. But before you do that, make sure you know if your system is little endian or big endian. Google it if you don't know how to figure that out. My system is little endian, most probably yours too.

Now open the file using your favorite editor, and comment out the following lines -

#if defined(USYNERGY_LITTLE_ENDIAN) && defined(USYNERGY_BIG_ENDIAN)
        /* Ambiguous: both endians specified */
        #error "Can't define both USYNERGY_LITTLE_ENDIAN and USYNERGY_BIG_ENDIAN"
#elif !defined(USYNERGY_LITTLE_ENDIAN) && !defined(USYNERGY_BIG_ENDIAN)
        /* Attempt to auto detect */
        #if defined(__LITTLE_ENDIAN__) || defined(LITTLE_ENDIAN) || (_BYTE_ORDER == _LITTLE_ENDIAN)
                #define USYNERGY_LITTLE_ENDIAN
        #elif defined(__BIG_ENDIAN__) || defined(BIG_ENDIAN) || (_BYTE_ORDER == _BIG_ENDIAN)
                #define USYNERGY_BIG_ENDIAN
        #else
                #error "Can't detect endian-nes, please defined either USYNERGY_LITTLE_ENDIAN or USYNERGY_BIG_ENDIAN";
        #endif
#else
        /* User-specified endian-nes, nothing to do for us */
#endif

and replace it with

#define USYNERGY_LITTLE_ENDIAN

Please clearly mark this change is done by you and this is not a part of the original software as mentioned in the copyright notice. Also if you are using a big endian machine then use "#define USYNERGY_BIG_ENDIAN" instead. Save your changes and go back to step 4 again. This time it should work fine.

Step 5. Create a synergy.conf file. You can create it anywhere e.g in your home directory. My Desktop system (hostname - host1.com and IP - a.b.c.d) is on the left side of my laptop (hostname - host2.com and IP - w.x.y.z) and my synergy.conf file looks like -

$ cat synergy.conf
section: screens
       host1:
       host2:
    end
    section: links
       host1:
           right = host2
       host2:
           left = host1
    end

Step 6. Start Synergy server from host1.
synergy-1.4.15-Source/bin$ ./synergys -f --config synergy.conf

Windows 7

Step 1. Download and install Synergy.
Step 2. Run Synergy
Step 3. Check client, enter server IP (IP of host1 i.e. a.b.c.d)
Step 4. Apply and Start.

Enjoy Synergy!

Virtual Box guest OS Solaris 10 U9 networking

I'm running Virtual Box 4 on Ubuntu 10.04 in my Toshiba laptop. I downloaded Oracle Solaris 10 9/10 Virtual Machine for Oracle VM VirtualBox and the installation was pretty simple and straight forward. My VBox was configured to use NAT. I chose networked - yes and name service - none during installation. After successful installation I took the following steps to enable networking by configuring DNS.

1. Added "nameserver 192.168.1.1" at /etc/resolv.conf
2. Aadded "10.0.2.2" at /etc/defaultrouter
I took these two information from another virtual machine, Solaris 11 Express 2010.11
3. Copied /etc/nsswitch.dns to /etc/nsswitch.conf
4. Enabled dns/client service using SVCS (svcadm enable dns/client)

However, I was not able to access internet after taking these steps. "netstat -rn" output was showing the default gateway was not configured properly and "route add" command was failing as well. My system was not able to ping the gateway. I got fed up with this and ran "sys-unconfig". After that I took the following configuration steps  -

Networked -> Yes
DHCP -> yes
IPV6 -> No
Kerberos -> No
Name Service -> None
NFSV4 domain config -> derived by system

and repeated steps 1-4 again. After a reboot networking started working as intended.

Star Office 9 Beta : product review

I am trying Star Office 9 Beta on OpenSolaris 2008.05 for last few weeks. It provides some new features which are not currently available in any other office suit. I think this can be considered as a good alternative to MS Office , Adobe Acrobat Professional and Adobe Dreamweaver. I have used Star Office 8 on SXDE 1/08 and observed pretty improvements in this new version.

Download it from http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/get_beta.jsp and don't forget to check out system requirements and Beta FAQs.

Star Office installation is simple . I have used 'pfexec' command to install it as a normal user. Command line output during installation process was something like :

ritwik@ritwik:~/Desktop$ pfexec ./so-9-beta-bin-solia-en-US.sh

Select the directory in which to save the unpacked files. [/var/tmp/unpack_staroffice]

File is being checked for errors ...
Unpacking ...
All files have been successfully unpacked.
Using /usr/bin/java
java version "1.6.0_04"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_04-b12)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 10.0-b19, mixed mode)
Running installer /usr/bin/java -DHOME=/export/home/ritwik -jar JavaSetup.jar
System locale: en_US
Root privileges
OS: SunOS
Mode: installation
Path to packages: /var/tmp/unpack_staroffice/packages/Jar file: /var/tmp/unpack_staroffice/JavaSetup.jar

If you try to install it as a normal user (& without 'pfexec') installation would be failed with the following error message :

“ Root privileges required for installation!”. After that if you try “ pfexec ./so-9-beta-bin-solia-en-US.sh ” you will get another error message “ Directory /var/tmp/unpack_staroffice already exists. Please select a new directory name.” Actually all files were already unpacked in the said directory viz '/var/tmp/unpack_staroffice' during previous installation process. You can always continue installation in such condition by using this command : $pfexec '/var/tmp/unpack_staroffice/setup'.

After successful installation I created a launcher (right click on ~/Desktop, create launcher) 'Star office 9 Beta' with the command '/opt/staroffice9/program/soffice'. Following screenshots were taken during the installation process :

One thing I need to mention here that star office generated files would be opened by archive manager or previously installed office suit by default. You need to manually change it to open with star office 9 for each type of file for once . Say, if you save a file as *.odt , right click on the file icon, go to properties → Open With → Add and browse to '/opt/staroffice9/program/swriter'.

Star office 9 Beta introduced a lots of impressive features like online update of office suit as well as extensions. MS Office 97 to 2003 generated files are fully accessible in this suit, 'save as' option also provides support for these formats. you would be also able to read MS Office 2007 generated (like *.docx etc.) files. This multiplatform supported office suit (Currently supporting MS Windows including Vista, linux, solaris (sparc & X86), Mac with OS X) provides ODF 1.2 i.e the latest ISO standard. Spreadsheet has been improved with solver tool of calc (access it tools → solver) , spreadsheet and presentation both contains improved insert → chart option. It can import *.pdf files for editing , enhanced security feature is also available for pdf files. Notes in a writer now appearing in the sidebar , they are not only yellow icons anymore. Image cropping and other useful features are available in Drawing wizard.

Database wizard is another beautiful feature of this office suit , creating a new database and opening an existing database file worked fine for me , but I face some problems while tried to connect to an existing database by using following steps :

Connect to an existing database → MySQL → connect using jdbc → Database name and server url , port was given already(3306)→username and checked 'password required' → 'register the database for me' and 'open database for editing' was already checked → save it as a ODF database → a login form appeared asking username and password → after providing all required informations I got an error message like : “Connection to the datasource “Dbname”could not be established, The driver class 'com.mysql.jdbc.Driver' could not be loaded”. I don't know why the driver class is not being loaded. Please leave a comment if you have any idea to solve this issue.

You will find a 'Media Player' under Tools menu. This player is confusing me as it's not being able to play most of the media files I have tried. (Same thing happened on Star Office 8)

During the slide show operation of a Presentation slide transaction is not happening smoothly. I am using Open Solaris 2008.05 with screen resolution 1024X768. I have an intel motherboard 845GVSR with inbuilt graphics chip. May be I am facing a hardware related graphics problem.

The most stunning features are available as add-ons. You must check out available extensions from http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/extensions.jsp .

“ Sun PDF Import Extension Beta” allows to import, edit and save a pdf file. Simply download the extension (I downloaded it for solaris x86 platform) : pdfimport.oxt ; go to Tools → Extension manager → Add and browse to the file 'pdfimport.oxt'. After successful installation you would be able to open any pdf document with star office writer and edit as you wish.

“ Sun Weblog Publisher” allows to publish a post to your web blog directly from star office writer. Download this platform independent extension : 'sun-weblog-publisher.oxt' (mine version was 1.1.0) and add it through extension manager.

Then go to 'options' → 'add' → select your web blog type → give user name and password → ok.

.. and your blog will be added.

In the menubar you will find two buttons viz 'To Weblog...' and 'Open Weblog entry...'. You may also right click somewhere on your document to get 'To Weblog...' , 'Open Weblog entry' is also available under 'File' menu.

Actually this post was published by using this extension , but images were not appearing in my blog. so I was needed to edit it manually later.

“ Professional Template Pack II – English” provides an option to 'Create stunning, professional documents and presentations with more than 120 templates available for Writer, Calc, and Impress.' After installation browse it from File → new → templates and documents.

Lots of more impressive extensions like “ Sun Presentation Minimizer” , “ Sun Wiki Publisher” are also available.

Be sure to check out all features !!!

Wine on Solaris and Linux

Wine -- the one and probably the only tool for Solaris, Linux (& Unix too) to execute a *.exe file. Actually , "Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Windows API on top of X, OpenGL, and Unix." Wine is available for solaris , bsd unix and various linux distros ( Redhat, Fedora, ubuntu, debian... n more), Check out the full list and get wine now !!

** I think wine installation as root will never create any problem to the system , but running wine as root may give windows viruses access to the system. So it's wise to be a bit careful while working with wine.

I tried wine on various solaris distributions like Solaris 10, SXDE (Solaris Express Developer Edition) 9/07 , SXDE 1/08 , OpenSolaris 2008.05 etc. and found 3 different ways of wine installation.

I) Build from source : Probably the most native way , but worked for me on SXDE 1/08.
What I did to install wine in my system is the following :

1) Download wine from here. Mine version was wine-1.1.0 , it was a *.tar.bz2 file.
2) Extract files using gui tool.
3) copy the wine directory to /opt, and navigate to that directory.
#cp -r /export/home/ritwik/Desktop/wine1.1.0 /opt
#cd /opt
#cd wine1.1.0
4) Add /usr/ccs/bin and /usr/sfw/bin to the path.
#PATH=$PATH:/usr/ccs/bin:/usr/sfw/bin
5) perform "#./configure" . During that process I came to know that in my system some development files were missing :

#./configure

--------------------- many lines omitted ----------------------------------
configure: libXxf86vm development files not found, XFree86 Vidmode won't besupported.
configure: libxrandr development files not found, XRandr won't be supported.
configure: libsane development files not found, scanners won't be supported.
configure: liblcms development files not found, Color Management won't be supported.
configure: libldap (OpenLDAP) development files not found, LDAP won't be supported.
configure: libcapi20 development files not found, ISDN won't be supported.
configure: libcups development files not found, CUPS won't be supported.

configure: Finished. Do 'make depend && make' to compile Wine.

6) Then I tried gmake , it was completed with some warnings like :

regsvr.c:633: warning: visibility attribute not supported in this configuration; ignored
regsvr.c:633: warning: visibility attribute not supported in this configuration; ignored
regsvr.c:633: warning: visibility attribute not supported in this configuration; ignored
regsvr.c:633: warning: visibility attribute not supported in this configuration; ignored

I got the same warning (i.e visibility attribute not supported in this configuration)from a lot of *.c files during this GNU make process.

7) Anyway , after that I added the path to the .profile file at my home. I just append this line to the file :

PATH=$PATH:/opt/wine-1.1.0

8) Now I can use "$wine *.exe" to execute a *.exe file.

I tried this method on SXDE 9/07. Check out what happened.

II) Solaris 9 and 10 : I think Blastwave.org provides the best possible way with different flavors of wine and complete installation instructions. Check out here !

III) Doug Scott's wine build instruction : Applicable for open solaris distros like SXDE (Solaris Express developer Edition ) . Check out Doug Scott's CBE wine build instruction from here !

I tried all of the above said methods on OpenSolaris 2008.05. Here is my experience.

I am also a fedora linux user , and I used to download and install wine on fedora ( Fedora 7, 8, 9) by using yum. One simple "#yum install wine" command does everything !

HP printer behaving strange on OpenSolaris 2008.05

I have a HP Deskjet 3745 printer and trying to print a page from Open Solaris 2008.05 platform. First I tried to configure my printer in the system. I did it in the following way -
1) I connect my printer to the system and powered it on.
2) system -> administration -> print manager
and Solaris print manager was opened.
3) Tools -> Find printer
This tool was able to find my printer and add it to the system. Check out the screenshot.


After that I found my printer in solaris print manager.


Again , a printer icon on the panel told me that the printer is online and ready to print.


I opened a pdf file to take a print , and I was happy to found my printer in the options.


I clicked the 'Print' button , and after that..... No reaction in my printer !!! I opened a text file (written using gedit editor) , but my printer was not present in the 'Print' option. I tried an image file (jpeg) , my printer was present in the options, but again no reaction after clicking the print button.

Finally I was not able to take a printout from any kind of file though my printer is working perfect when I am using a different operating system.

Do you have any idea ?? Please comment ...

OpenSolaris - Linux file sharing (Fedora 7 and OpenSolaris 2008.05)

I am using NFS to share some files between my linux and open solaris system. I am working behind a router which connects my desktop pc and my laptop . My desktop pc has OpenSolaris 2008.05 installed with ip address 192.168.1.105 and Fedora 7 is installed in my laptop with ip address 192.168.1.102.

I have configured my fedora system in the following way :

*A ping test to make sure that they are reachable to each other.

[root@ritwik ~]# ping 192.168.1.105
PING 192.168.1.105 (192.168.1.105) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.1.105: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=3.53 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.105: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=1.18 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.105: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=1.18 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.105: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=1.16 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.105: icmp_seq=5 ttl=255 time=1.30 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.105: icmp_seq=6 ttl=255 time=1.44 ms

--- 192.168.1.105 ping statistics ---
6 packets transmitted, 6 received, 0% packet loss, time 5000ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 1.161/1.636/3.537/0.856 ms

** System -> Administration -> Server settings -> services.
I looked for NFS service and make sure that's running.

*** System -> Preferences -> system -> NFS.
click on 'Add'. I selected '/home/ritwik/study' directory to share .
Host(s) : 192.168.1.105
I checked 'Read-Write'.

now , /etc/exports was looking like :

/home/ritwik/study 192.168.1.105(rw,sync)

I have also checked the following :

[root@ritwik ~]# exportfs -rv

exporting 192.168.1.105:/home/ritwik/study
[root@ritwik ~]# showmount -e
Export list for ritwik:
/home/ritwik/study 192.168.1.105

My firewall service trusts NFS4 as trusted service , though I have used NFS version 3 to mount shared files.

Now configuration details for OpenSolaris 2008.05 :

*A ping test to make sure that they are reachable to each other.

-bash-3.2# ping 192.168.1.102
192.168.1.102 is alive
** Go to services. (for OpenSolaris 2008.05, browse it from system -> administration -> Services). Activate NFS services.

*** Go to Administration -> Share Folder. Click on 'Add'.

1)Now select the path to the folder you want to share , by default your home directory will be selected. I have shared '/export/home/ritwik/softwares'.

2)Share with : NFS

3)Click on "Add Host"

Allowed hosts : Specify IP address
enter IP address : 192.168.1.103
Check out the 'Read Only' box in Hosts settings if necessary.

Click OK to exit the wizards.

Optional Steps :

Now check out whether NFS server is running properly :
# svcs network/nfs/server
You should get a result like :

STATE STIME FMRI
online 21:22:11 svc:/network/nfs/server:default

Now check out Shared files :
#exportfs
From my laptop I got a result like :

- /export/home/ritwik sec=sys,ro=192.168.1.105 ""

and from my desktop,

- /export/home/ritwik/softwares sec=sys,ro=192.168.1.103 ""

You may also check /etc/dfs/dfstab , the file in my laptop was looking like :

# Do not modify this file directly.
# Use the sharemgr(1m) command for all share management
# This file is reconstructed and only maintained for backward
# compatibility. Configuration lines could be lost.
#
# share [-F fstype] [ -o options] [-d ""] [resource]
# .e.g,
# share -F nfs -o rw=engineering -d "home dirs" /export/home2
share -F nfs -o sec=sys,ro=192.168.1.105 /export/home/ritwik


Now , I make a mount point in my fedora system.

[ritwik@ritwik ~]$ mkdir OSolShare

Then I used the following command to mount OpenSolaris shared files in that directory :

[root@ritwik ~]# mount -t nfs -o vers=3 192.168.1.105:/export/home/ritwik/mysql/docs /home/ritwik/OSolShare

Then I was trying to mount fedora shared files in my Opensolaris system.

first I make a mount point :

ritwik@ritwik:~$ mkdir linxShare

then I tried the following command :

-bash-3.2# mount -F nfs -o vers=3 192.168.1.102:/home/ritwik/study /export/home/ritwik/linxShare

but got the following error :

nfs mount: 192.168.1.102: : RPC: Rpcbind failure - RPC: Timed out
nfs mount: retrying: /export/home/ritwik/linxShare
nfs mount: 192.168.1.102: : RPC: Rpcbind failure - RPC: Timed out
nfs mount: 192.168.1.102: : RPC: Rpcbind failure - RPC: Timed out
nfs mount: 192.168.1.102: : RPC: Rpcbind failure - RPC: Timed out

then I checked whether rpc is running :

-bash-3.2# ps -ef | grep rpc
daemon 339 1 0 23:28:42 ? 0:00 /usr/sbin/rpcbind
root 896 716 0 00:30:12 pts/2 0:00 grep rpc

which means rpc is running !!

Now I am trying to solve this problem... I'll post the solution asap.

OpenSolaris - OpenSolaris File sharing (OpenSolaris 2008.05 & SXDE 1/08)

Network file sharing in open solaris system is quite easy !! I am working behind a router which connects my desktop system and my laptop . OpenSolaris 2008.05 is installed on my desktop pc with ip address 192.168.1.105 and SXDE (solaris express developer edition) is installed on my laptop with ip address 192.168.1.103.

Now configuration details for my laptop (SXDE 1/08):
(This method is also applicable for SXDE 9/07)

*A ping test to make sure that they are reachable to each other.

-bash-3.2# ping 192.168.1.105
192.168.1.105 is alive
** Go to services. (for sxde 1/08, start -> administration -> Services). Activate NFS services.

*** Go to Administration -> Share Folder. Click on 'Add'.


1)Now select the path to the folder you want to share , by default your home directory will be selected. I have shared the default directory to NFS.

2)Share with : NFS


3)Click on "Add Host"

Allowed hosts : Specify IP address
enter IP address : 192.168.1.105
Check out the 'Read Only' box in Hosts settings if you want to give 'Read Only' permission.

Click OK to exit the wizards.

Now configuration details for my desktop (OpenSolaris 2008.05):

*A ping test to make sure that they are reachable to each other.

-bash-3.2# ping 192.168.1.103
192.168.1.103 is alive
** Go to services. (for OpenSolaris 2008.05, browse it from system -> administration -> Services). Activate NFS services.

*** Go to Administration -> Share Folder. Click on 'Add'.

1)Now select the path to the folder you want to share , by default your home directory will be selected. I have shared '/export/home/ritwik/softwares'.

2)Share with : NFS

3)Click on "Add Host"

Allowed hosts : Specify IP address
enter IP address : 192.168.1.103
Check out the 'Read Only' box in Hosts settings if necessary.
Click OK to exit the wizards.

Optional Steps :

Now check out whether NFS server is running properly :
# svcs network/nfs/server
You should get a result like :

STATE STIME FMRI
online 21:22:11 svc:/network/nfs/server:default

Now check out Shared files :
#exportfs
From my laptop I got a result like :

- /export/home/ritwik sec=sys,ro=192.168.1.105 ""

and from my desktop,

- /export/home/ritwik/softwares sec=sys,ro=192.168.1.103 ""

You may also check /etc/dfs/dfstab , the file in my laptop was looking like :

# Do not modify this file directly.
# Use the sharemgr(1m) command for all share management
# This file is reconstructed and only maintained for backward
# compatibility. Configuration lines could be lost.
#
# share [-F fstype] [ -o options] [-d ""] [resource]
# .e.g,
# share -F nfs -o rw=engineering -d "home dirs" /export/home2
share -F nfs -o sec=sys,ro=192.168.1.105 /export/home/ritwik

Now , make a mount point.

bash-3.2$ mkdir dsktopShare (in my laptop)
bash-3.2$ mkdir laptopShare (in my desktop)

Mount the shared file :

-bash-3.2# mount -F nfs 192.168.1.105:/export/home/ritwik/softwares /export/home/ritwik/dsktopShare(from my laptop)

-bash-3.2# mount -F nfs 192.168.1.103:/export/home/ritwik /export/home/ritwik/laptopShare
(from my desktop)

Unmount in the following way :

# umount /export/home/ritwik/dsktopShare
# umount /export/home/ritwik/laptopShare

OpenSolaris 2008.05 REVIEW

I have spent almost a week with OpenSolaris 2008.05 and I was able to check some features of this operating system. Working with it was really a great experience and everyday I have blogged about some features I have gone through. All total 7 posts cover my review about it.
[Please Click on a OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - X) to view that post]

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - I) : This is my first hand experience with the OpenSolaris 2008.05 live cd. It includes Device driver utility , login options etc.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - II) : This post was created after successful installation of this os. It contains installation details,a small warning during boot, network configuration, sound device detection , terminal behaviour, visual effects and different location of menu.lst file.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - III) : It contains "Application-Places-System" type start buttons , new login in a window feature , IPS packaging system ,window selector option etc.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - IV) : The "RBAC" feature , web-stack components and IPS (more..) has been reviewed in this post.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - V) : This post covers "ZFS" file system , "BE" boot environment , "beadm" command , "reboot" command etc.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - VI) : Various ways of software installation , Sound and Video features , mounting ntfs partitions are described in this post.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - VII) : Here I have described wine installtion , device driver utility , various services and some minor bugs.


Comparison with other operating systems I have used :

At present I am using fedora 9 and SXDE (solaris express developer edition) 9/07 in my systems along with opensolaris 2008.05. I have my experience with fedora from fedora core 3 to fedora 9 , Red Hat 9 , RHEL 5 , solaris 10 ,SXDE 9/07 , Ubuntu and some windows like xp, vista etc. Fedora core 3 to fedora core 6 and redhat 9...they are too old.. it's meaningless to compare with them. On comparison with fedora 7, KDE is absent, visual effects are not working ("compiz" is not working in my system) though fedora was able to bring visual affects in the same system , driver support is improved in this version , still further improvement is necessary. Fedora core 6 brought "ntfs -3g" i.e ntfs read-write support for the first time. Fedora 7 also has that driver and ntfs file systems are automatically mounted in fedora 8 and 9. So , read-write support for other file systems should be added. As it was not possible to install NetBeans IDE in fedora 8 , I have only few hours of experience with fedora 8. Anyway ,"Package manager" has been introduced for the first time , which was in fedora since long. "IPS" is a revolutionary step , specially I would like to appreciate the "add repository" feature. But , it should be capable of resume downloading. If network connection fails at any point of time ,download should not be started later from the beginning. Also ,I think , it's really easy to add a "text field" and a "button" in the package manager window to enable users to add repository graphically."ZFS" (also present in solaris 10) is another advantage of this distro over the others. Integration with the webstack components like NetBeans , mysql etc has made this distro more developer friendly than others."Sound and Video" feature is still not up to the mark !!! I know the problem of licensing issues of various formats , but this is a mandatory feature of any popular operating system. I like the RBAC feature of this distro , but that may create problem for those who are not used to with unix commands. Many manual pages are missing in this distro , that must be added in next release. The file browser window has a "Document" in the list of places , but no "Document" folder was present in my home directory.I created it manually.According to security features , no doubt it will score higher than linux. But sometime it's become difficult to download large files in a lesser speed due to port blocking for enhanced security features. "BE" , the boot environment utility is another beautiful feature. Support for Ipod , webcam , Scanner , MP3 player and external USB harddrive must be improved. This distro is pretty small in size , but I think open office , netbeans , Mysql etc should be bundled in a DVD release. Some people may want to take these benefits who don't have (or have a slow) internet connection.

Request for enhancements :

- Improved driver support
Improved support for Ipod , webcam , Scanner , MP3 player, HD Audio device , external USB harddrive , read-write support for other file systems etc.
-- Desktop environment
KDE
--- Sound & Video
support for populer formats like mp3 , avi , dvdrip , vob , mpeg etc.
---- More built-in features
more built-in features like OpenOffice and webstack components etc.
----- IPS utility enhancement
Download should be resumed , repositories should be added graphically.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - VII)

Check Out :

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - I)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - II)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - III)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - IV)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - V)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - VI)

* Wine Installation : Today I was trying to install wine in my system. I have downloaded the latest version of wine (1.0-rc3) from here , but wine build failed with the following error :

configure: error: X development files not found. Wine will be built without X support, which probably isn't what you want.You will need to install development packages of Xlib/Xfree86 at the very least. Use the --without-x option if you really want this.

This is probably a bug , check out !!

Then I tried "Wine patch kit" and follow this instructions , but "./maintain download /usr/local/src/wine-patchkit /usr/local/src/wine-sources" failed with the following result :

Arg 1 == download - downloading
mv: cannot access wine
Use "cvs" as password for winehq cvs
cvs checkout: warning: failed to open /root/.cvspass for reading: No such file or directory
cvs checkout: authorization failed: server cvs.winehq.org rejected access to /home/wine for user cvs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Then I tried Doug Scott's wine build instructions , but when "./cbe-install" was asking for "Enter the path to the Solaris packages [/cdrom/cdrom0/Solaris_11/Product]:" , I didn't understand what should I give. (SXDE 9/07 installation DVD contains a Solaris_11 dir which has a Product dir but OpenSolaris 2008.05 installation CD has nothing like that !!).

Anyway , I opened 'cbe-install' from 'jds-cbe-1.6.0' and tried to resolve JDS_DEPENDENCIES using package manager. Below I have copied a part of cbe-install file which contains JDS_DEPENDENCIES :

# packages that the JDS build requires. cbe-install will check if they
# are installed and install them if not.
JDS_DEPENDENCIES="SUNWgpch SUNWi2cs SUNWi1cs SUNWi15cs SUNWceuos SUNWcleu SUNWeuluf SUNWdeiso1 SUNWi5cs SUNWi13cs SUNWi9cs SUNWeeuos SUNWi7cs SUNWesiso1 SUNWcleu2 SUNWeu8os SUNWfriso1 SUNWale SUNWhkleu SUNWhleu SUNWinleu SUNWitiso1 SUNWjfpu SUNWkleu SUNWmeaos SUNWnafos SUNWnamos SUNWneuos SUNWsamos SUNWseuos SUNWsviso1 SUNWtleu SUNWweuos SUNWgtar SUNWwgetr SUNWwgetu SUNWhea SUNWsfwhea SUNWsprot SUNWxcu4"

Then I searched for each package in the "Package Manager". Most of them were available except a few . List of unavailable packages is given below :

SUNWcleu
SUNWale
SUNWhleu
SUNWhkleu
SUNWjfpu
SUNWtleu
SUNWgtar
SUNWwgetr
SUNWwgetu
SUNWhea

This time "Package Manager" worked in a pretty strange way !!! When I searched for SUNWi2cs , it find out the package but after clicking the install/update button it showed me something like : "1 package will be installed, 0 MB will be downloaded" and SUNWi2cs installed in a moment.

"General Info" about the package was something like :

Information for installed package:

Name: SUNWi2cs
FMRI: pkg:/SUNWi2cs@0.5.11,5.11-0.86:20080426T181621Z
Version: 0.5.11-0.86
Packaged: 2008-04-26 18:16:21

But , "Files Details" contained a single line : "Root: /".

Anyway , I found SUNWi2cs in the location : "/tmp/cbe-pkgs-vGxb". Other installed packages were also there. Then I tried "./cbe-install" again , result is given below :

ritwik@ritwik:~$ cd jds-cbe-1.6.0
ritwik@ritwik:~/jds-cbe-1.6.0$ ./cbe-install
Checking for required packages...
Package SUNWi2cs is required for building JDS
Would you like to install it now? [yes]:
Install all required packages? [yes]:
Enter the path to the Solaris packages [/cdrom/cdrom0/Solaris_11/Product]: /tmp/cbe-pkgs-vGxb
Installing package SUNWi2cs
WARNING:
The package "X11 ISO-8859-2 required fonts"
is a prerequisite package and should be installed.
Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.

Installation of was suspended (administration).
No changes were made to the system.
WARNING: failed to install required package SUNWi2cs
Would you like to retry? [yes]:
Enter the path to the Solaris packages [/tmp/cbe-pkgs-vGxb]:
Installing package SUNWi2cs
WARNING:
The package "X11 ISO-8859-2 required fonts"
is a prerequisite package and should be installed.
Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.

Installation of was suspended (administration).
No changes were made to the system.
WARNING: failed to install required package SUNWi2cs
Would you like to retry? [yes]: n

Installation aborted.
ritwik@ritwik:~/jds-cbe-1.6.0$

I don't have any idea about solving this problem..... :(

** Device Driver Utility : This utility checks whether a driver exists in the Image Packaging System (IPS) for devices that do not have an attached driver. Device Driver Utility enables you to install the device drivers from IPS for those devices on your system that do not have an attached driver. Another function of this tool is to submit system configuration information to the OpenSolaris Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). (Read more...)

*** Various Services : Various services are available here... just enable them to use. Everything needed for network administration is available , access it from System --> Administration --> Services.

**** Minor bugs :
-- "Package Manager" is not closing normally , every time I tried to quit it by clicking on the close button, it shows that file manager is not responding. I need to 'force quit' the window each time.
-- "Documents" folder was available under the 'places' option in the 'file browser' window , but it was not present in my home folder. I created it manually.
-- I use 'gedit' to create a new document and often save it on my desktop. But , sometime after closing the gedit window , I can't find the file on my desktop. I need to 'reload' the desktop from the file browser window to view the file on the desktop.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - VI)

Check Out :

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - I)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - II)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - III)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - IV)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - V)

* Software Installation : I have tested IPS few days before (Check this from part - IV). Today I was trying to add some additional package authorities. I did it in the following way :

-bash-3.2# pkg set-authority -O http://pkg.sunfreeware.com:9000/ sunfreeware.com
-bash-3.2# pkg set-authority -O http://blastwave.network.com:10000/ Blastwave.org

(Read more...)

After that , I opened "Package Manager" and find that "sunfreeware.com" and "blastwave.org" was added in the drop down list of "Repository". I tried both of them , but both were not working !!!! There was no package list at all appeared in the window . Then I execute "pkg refresh" from command line and package list from those repositories appeared in the package manager window.

[Click on the image to get larger view]

Anyway , let's check out other procedures which I have used to install softwares in other solaris distros. Most of them are working on solaris express developer edition (9/07) and solaris 10.

pkg-get and wget : It's very easy to use them. A simple command like "pkg-get -i xxxxxx" will download and install xxxxxx in your system . You can use any of these packages from blastwave.org.
(Check out how to use them....).

pkgadd and pkgadm : pkgadd transfers the contents of a software package from the distribution medium or directory to install it into the system and the pkgadm utility is used for managing the packaging and patching system. It has several subcommands that perform various operations relating to packaging. The pkgadm command includes subcommands for managing certificates and keys used. Check out "man pkgadd" and "man pkgadm".

rpkgadd : rpkgadd is a remote package management tool for solaris. It is useful when you want to install a software in a large no of machines. Basic requirements are like :
-- SSH must be installed on all servers.
-- Access to an account with root permissions on each target server.
(Read more...).

pkgman : pkgman is a a package management utility that can be used to maintain packages in a desired state on hosts that run solaris. Gtk+ packages need to be installed for creating gui .
(Read more...).

pkgbuild and SFE : pkgbuild is a tool for building Solaris SVr4 packages from RPM-like spec files and SFE (spec-files-extra) is a repository of RPM-like spec files for building Solaris SVr4 packages from various Open Source modules. OpenSolaris 2008.05 is NOT in the list of SFE supported solaris versions.
(Read more...).

Building from source : this is probably the most native method.... still works fine most of the time. Click here to check out list of freeware sources from sunfreeware.com.

** Mount ntfs partitions : I have followed the same way to mount local ntfs partitions as I did in SXDE 9/07 (Check this post). I executed "fdisk /dev/rdsk/c4d0p0" to get the partition table. (last line of my /etc/vfstab is something like : "/dev/dsk/c4d0s1 - - swap - no -"). From the partition table I found that c4d0p1 is a ntfs type partition. I mount it in a local directory and it's working fine !!!

*** Sound and Video : Currently provides two players i.e totem movie player and rhythmbox music player. Other options are for sound recording , volume control, cd ripping etc. Sound and Video category of the package Manager (opensolaris.org repository) provides an option which names like "SUNWgnome-media-mp3". I installed it in my system , but I was NOT able to play any mp3 format audio file.
You can install mplayer to play your favorite media files. If you have added blastwave.org in your list of authorized repositories you can find it as "IPSmplayer". you can also use command line instruction like "pkg install IPSmplayer". But , DO NOT use "pkg-get -i mplayer". This command worked for me in SXDE 9/07 but producing errors in OpenSolaris 2008.05. I got an error like :

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Trying to install dependancy glib2 glib2
Segmentation Fault (core dumped)

Then I tried "pkg-get -i glib2-2.16.3" , but I was unable to solve this issue.

Also check out "Compiling Mplayer on OpenSolaris 2008.05" from lewiz's blog.

NEXT : Opensolaris 2008.05 (part - VII)

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - V)

Check Out :

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - I)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - II)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - III)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - IV)

and now :

* ZFS filesystem : OpenSolaris 2008.05 uses ZFS as default filesystem. ZFS Community presents ZFS as a "pooled storage model that completely eliminates the concept of volumes and the associated problems of partitions, provisioning, wasted bandwidth and stranded storage. Thousands of file systems can draw from a common storage pool, each one consuming only as much space as it actually needs. The combined I/O bandwidth of all devices in the pool is available to all filesystems at all times."
Check out the documentation and view the demos from opensolaris.org.

** BE (Boot Environment) : If you want to manage multiple OpenSolaris boot environments on a single system , there's a good news for you !!! Open Solaris 05/2008 introduces a "boot environment (BE) utility" with ZFS file system. Check out how to create / destroy , mount / unmount and activate or rename a BE. Also check "man beadm" and beadm Command Reference..
Don't forget , BE utility works only with ZFS filesystem.

Check out OpenSolaris 2008.05 Release note for various BE issues.

** Reboot command : I used to reboot my SXDE 9/07 system by using the "#shutdown -y -i6 -g0" command , but OpenSolaris 2008.05 provides a reboot command. You can simply execute "#reboot" to reboot your system.

NEXT : OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - VI)

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - IV)

Check Out :

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - I)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - II)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - III)

Now another new features I came to know :

* Root login : Root login is NOT enabled in this distro. OpenSolaris 2008.05 describes root as a role using RBAC (Role Based Access Control).
(Read more about RBAC...)
So , you can be the root by using "su" cammand, but root login is not permissible. If you still want to login as root you need to disable the root feature from user profile and execute the following : "# rolemod -k type=normal root".
(Read more about login and root specifications ....)

** IPS (Image packaging system): OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - III) already described the features of "package manager" which is basically IPS GUI. IPS is a network centric packaging system which makes software installation , update and removal procedures easier than anything !! If you want to install openoffice or netbeans (6.0.1) or sunstudioexpress in your system , you simply need to execute the followings one by one :
$pkg install openoffice
$pkg install netbeans
$pkg install sunstudioexpress

(Read more about IPS....)

[I was trying to manually install glassfish-mysql bundled version of Netbeans 6.1 in my system (as "pkg install netbeans" installs 6.0.1 version). Check out what happened.]

*** Web Stack Components : The OpenSolaris 2008.05 distro includes a set of widely used web technologies that provides options to easily build web applications.

web stack components includes "Apache HTTPd Server 2.2.8" , "MySQL 5.0.45" , "PHP 5.2.4" , "PostgreSQL 8.2" , "Ruby on Rails" , "Squid 2.6" and "memcached 1.2.2".
Non- root users can easily install these packages in their system by using "pfexec" command. Say , if you want to install Mysql , you need to execute the following : "pfexec pkg install SUNWmysql5".

(Check out the full list....)

[I didn't know that Mysql can be installed so easily !! I tried to install Mysql for solaris 10 on OpenSolaris 2008.05 . Check out what happened.]

Anyway , Web Stack UI component will allow you to admin over the components like start and stop apache2 / mysql servers graphically etc.

(Read more about Web Stack ...)

NEXT : OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - V)

Mysql : NetBeans 6.1 : OpenSolaris 2008.05

I am trying to install "glassfish - mysql bundled netbeans 6.1" on open solaris 05/08. During the installation , I got some Gtk warnings like :

(:1464): Gtk-WARNING **: Attempting to add a widget with type GtkButton to a GtkComboBoxEntry (need an instance of GtkEntry or of a subclass)

(:1464): Gtk-CRITICAL **: file gtkwidget.c: line 3236: assertion `GTK_WIDGET_ANCHORED (widget) || GTK_IS_INVISIBLE (widget)' failed

(:1464): Gtk-CRITICAL **: file gtkstyle.c: line 5879: assertion `style->depth == gdk_drawable_get_depth (window)' failed

(:1464): Gtk-CRITICAL **: file gtkstyle.c: line 5879: assertion `style->depth == gdk_drawable_get_depth (window)' failed

Anyway , during the installation of netbeans I have selected all default locations. thus mysql and glassfish were installed in my home directory.

I have tried to start mysql server with the following configuration :

[Click on the image to get larger view]

[Click on the image to get larger view]

but , after clicking 'start' I received an error like :

"ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)".

Which means , Mysql server is not running at all. So , I tried to start it manually.
In terminal , I typed "mysqld_safe --user=mysql --log &" which results :

ritwik@ritwik:~$ cd mysql
ritwik@ritwik:~/mysql$ bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql --log &
[1] 764
ritwik@ritwik:~/mysql$ nohup: ignoring input and redirecting stderr to stdout
Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
bin/mysqld_safe[380]: /var/lib/mysql/ritwik.err: cannot create [Permission denied]
bin/mysqld_safe[388]: eval[1]: /var/lib/mysql/ritwik.err: cannot create [Permission denied]
STOPPING server from pid file /var/lib/mysql/ritwik.pid
tee: /var/lib/mysql/ritwik.err: Permission denied
080604 18:26:41 mysqld ended
tee: /var/lib/mysql/ritwik.err: Permission denied


[1]+ Exit 1 bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql --log

From the result , I think some permission related factor is creating problems. That's why I changed permission of the above said directories as a super user.

Now "bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql --log &" results :

ritwik@ritwik:~/mysql$ nohup: ignoring input and redirecting stderr to stdout
Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /export/home/ritwik/mysql/data

Thus MySql server is running and doing all desirable functions.

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - III)

Check Out :

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - I)
OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - II)

now , let's getting introduced to some another new features :

* No single start button , this distro introduces "Application - Places - System" type start buttons which categorizes different tasks.


** "system Tools" provides a new option to "New login in a window". you can login as a different user by using this window and perform desirable tasks.

[Click on the image to get larger view]

*** "Window Selector" : At the top right hand corner a window selector button is available , on click which displays a list all opened windows , choose anyone to select.


**** "Package manager" (browse it from system --> Administration) provides another impressive feature which enables you to download and install softwares in your system by using a graphical window.
Here you can search a package by name , select it and click install/update. It will resolve all dependencies (Installation of a package requires another packages) , download all of them and install in your system.
"opensolaris.org" is the default repository , you can add your own repository and create new package of your own. (Read more about "Image Packaging System"....)

[Click on the image to get larger view]

package manager works fine for installing / removing packages but one problem is there. I was trying to install open office using it , when more than 50% download was completed my internet connection started facing problems.... after a few minutes it was resolved , but download was not continuing. So I canceled the application and tried to install/upload it again. But as soon as I click the cancel button , everything downloaded in /opt/openoffice was gone and download operation started from the beginning.

NEXT : OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - IV)

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - II)

Check Out :

OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - I)

Today I have installed open solaris 05/2008 in my system . I have a desktop pc with p4 processor (2.8 GHz), Intel D845GVSR motherboard , 768 MB of physical memory and a 25GB partition I have alloted for this os.
I have my previous experience with SXDE (solaris Express Developer Edition) 9/07. Installation was much similar , "gparted" was used to delete a partition and make a new PRIMARY partition of type "linux-swap". During installation this partition was changed to "solaris". Installation goes on smoothly , without creating any problem. If you have windows installed in your system , it will be automatically added in your grub menu (I have it on the first partition of my hard disk , I don't know what will happen otherwise !!). If you have linux installed in your system be sure take a printout of /etc/grub.conf . Then add it to the solaris grub menu i.e /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst. If you have vista installed in your system , You may face some problems. (I didn't try vista with this os , but tried with SXDE 9/07.. Check out what happend).
(Check out how to get prepared for multiboot system with OpenSolaris 2008.05)
After successful installation , during system boot I got a warning like : "No randomness provider enabled for /dev/random. Use cryptoadm(1M) to enable a provider". I was unable to resolve it , according to web search it's a bug (Read More ...) .
My first login was really a good experience... a decent wallpaper, slim design, attractive look and feel .. everything was pretty improved.

[Click on the image to get larger view]

Network Configuration :

"Administration --> Network" was the first thing I was trying to configure. I noticed that it needs no root password for configuration. I was needed to disable "nwam" as I am using static ip address.Following steps I have taken to move to the manual mode from automagic mode.

# svcadm disable svc:/network/physical:nwam
# svcadm enable svc:/network/physical:default
(learn more...)

after I configured it properly and checked that my router is detected.
"nwam" is also working fine after the following steps :

1)I edit /etc/nwam/llp which was previously :

iprb0 dhcp

and now :

iprb0 static 192.168.1.105/24

2)I checked /etc/defaultrouter
, it was already
192.168.1.1

3)I edit a line of /etc/nsswitch.conf which was previously :

hosts: files

and now ;

hosts: files dns

4)I edit /etc/resolv.conf

nameserver 192.168.1.1

Thus I connected my system to internet.

menu.lst is in different location :

I was trying to edit the "menu.lst" from "/boot/grub/menu.lst" but found that "For zfs root, menu.lst has moved to /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst". menu.lst is pretty simpler than previous versions (SXDE 9/07) I have used .

Sound device working fine :

my sound device has a profile like:
vendor : Intel corporation
model : 82801DB (ICH4 family)
AC'97 Audio controller

my another audio device was not detected in sxde 9/07 (Read more...) but open solaris 05/08 has detected the above said and also working in the perfect way !!

Terminal behavior is more improved :

my arrow keys were not working in super user mode in sxde 9/07 like up key to bring the last command etc. but now they are working in both user mode and super user mode !!!!

Visual Effects are not working :

May be it's a problem of my hardware device but neither "normal" nor "extra" visual effect is working !!! According to the result I got from "System --> about open solaris --> devices -->" (this is another new feature !!!!) my video device has a component like : "Intel corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdle-G]/GE chipset integrated graphics device" and a driver "i915". Actually I have an intel motherboard of D845GVSR and NO graphics card (that's why "extra " not running , but what's wrong with "normal" ????).

Compiz , an OpenGL based 3D graphical window manager was used in this distributions. Compiz website has really impressive screenshots !!! Be sure to check out this feature ...

Next : OpenSolaris 2008.05 (part - III)