What version of Linux should I try and why???

B

beattyMBP

Member
Got parallels mainly to run a few windows apps for my wife, but would like to "play around" with a Linux distribution under parallels. Just for home use, not "enterprise."

Any suggestions for which distribution to try and why?

I was going to try Unbuntu, but it looks like some are having installation issues.........

I do know some Unix from way way back (SGIs), usually just enough to cause problems, so a VM seems to be to be the way to go.....

John :cool:
 
beattyMBP said:
Got parallels mainly to run a few windows apps for my wife, but would like to "play around" with a Linux distribution under parallels. Just for home use, not "enterprise."

Any suggestions for which distribution to try and why?

I was going to try Unbuntu, but it looks like some are having installation issues.........

I do know some Unix from way way back (SGIs), usually just enough to cause problems, so a VM seems to be to be the way to go.....

John :cool:
Click to expand...
Try Centos at http://centos.org/

It is a full red hat distro and works fine under parallels. That is what I am using. You can also get scientific linux, but I think Centos has better support for the updates.

Mike V
 
I also recommend you CentOS or Scientific Linux. I actually now switched to Scientific Linux, though, they are in principle the same, free versions of RHEL.

Since there are no "Parallels Tools" for linux now, I recommend you to use the own X11 server of MacOSX for display.
 
I installed Debian Sarge (http://www.debian.org/CD/netinst/) via the Net Installation in Parallels without any problems (get Netinst iso image, attach it as CD to a Parallels VM, boot from it into the Installer)

Debian is my favorite Linux because it is a very carefully collected and documented distribution. I haven't seen an installation system working as smoothly, transparently and simple as Debian's apt/aptitude on any platform, not only Linux.

But then, I'm not using Linux as a desktop system, but more for command line things, web apps, development etc. So Debian's conservative choice of software is perfect for me, but might be disappointing to those seeking the latest and greatest versions of everything.

I'm using Mac OS X's X11 as interface, so I don't have any graphics stuff going on within the VM and hence no driver problems (don't know if I had any if I would install an X11 server within the VM - simply haven't tried).
 
mimi said:
Since there are no "Parallels Tools" for linux now, I recommend you to use the own X11 server of MacOSX for display.
Click to expand...
Would you have some quick steps / instructions somewhere on how to do that easily for beginners?
 
I've generally used Fedora for all my Linux needs. However, it is not at all obvious to me whether it is worth bothering with a virtual Linux distro given that the Mac IS already running BSD Unix. I'm not quite sure what would be the benefit unless there are sigificant apps for Linux that won't work on BSD Unix.

D




beattyMBP said:
Got parallels mainly to run a few windows apps for my wife, but would like to "play around" with a Linux distribution under parallels. Just for home use, not "enterprise."

Any suggestions for which distribution to try and why?

I was going to try Unbuntu, but it looks like some are having installation issues.........

I do know some Unix from way way back (SGIs), usually just enough to cause problems, so a VM seems to be to be the way to go.....

John :cool:
Click to expand...
 
I'm not quite sure what would be the benefit unless there are sigificant apps for Linux that won't work on BSD Unix.
Click to expand...

Well correct me if I'm wrong, but I assumed that using it on a VM would better insulate my MacOSX from any changes that could cause problems on the MacOS side.

Easy backups of the Virtual hard drive images make it very easy to go backwards too.

Not true? If so educate me please!


Thanks in advance! :cool:
 
I installed Fedora and it works ok. No sound or CD access but I haven't spent a lot of time on the problem. I've never seen Fedora before so was curious. It installed quite easily from 5 iso images.

dp
 
Display linux VM on X server of OSX

Olivier,

there are several way to run linux applications on a Xserver of OSX. I would explain
three different methods briefly.

Here I assume "mimi" as a login name of linux VM, "192.168.10.45" as the IP
address of linux VM, "192.168.10.44" as the IP address of Mac OSX, and "labview" as an application of linux VM.

I. login to Linux VM by ssh and display X via X-forwarding function of ssh.
1) in a xterm window of X server on OSX,
ssh -l mimi 192.168.10.45 -X
2) in this terminal (of linux VM),
labview

II. use X server of OSX as an external display.
1) in a xterm window of OSX, allow connection from an external client.
xhost +192.168.10.45
2) in a terminal window of Linux VM,
labview -display 192.168.10.44:0.0

III. locate entire gnome desktop on Xserver of OSX.
1) allow xdmcp login in linux VM.
1)-a. modify /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf file
[xdmcp] enable=true
1)-b. allow access ports 177:tcp and 177:udp in the firewall setting.
2) in a xterm window of OSX,
Xnest :1 -query 192.168.10.45 -geometry 1024x768
3) login to linux VM via gnome login window, which is now available on X server of OSX.

I hope this helps.
 
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