Linux on VMware Fusion

Hi All,

I'm a Computer Systems & Networking Student in Toronto. Recently I started taking a Unix/Linux course as a part of my program, in which we require a distribution of Linux to be on our work system (in this case it is my MacBook Pro). Naturally I decided to use VMware Fusion to run my Linux Distributions on my Mac instead of Boot Camp.

I would just like to share solutions to some opstacles that I have come across when attempting to instal Ubuntu 7.10 or Fedora Core 8 on VMware Fusion. Just in case any fellow forum members wish to do the same.

Use the 32-bit version.
Naturally with the Core 2 Duo processor, I wanted to run the 64-bit version of these two Linux distros. Although previous 64-bit versions have been known to work, I could not get 64-bit distributions of Ubuntu 7.10 or Fedora Core 8 to run properly in VMware Fusion. In the case of Ubuntu, I was able to complete installation using the full X Server from the Live CD; however once the virtual machine was rebooted, it would not even load the kernel on boot. In the case of Fedora Core, installation repeatedly failed at approximately 15% completion. Installation of the 32-bit versions of these distros went flawlessly.

Replace the virtual hard drive with IDE instead of SCSI.
Prior to launching the virtual machine, edit the settings (to do this, uncheck the box that says "Start virtual machine and start installation now") In the settings, select the hard drive and use the (-) button to remove it. Then use the (+) button to add a new hard drive. In the hard drive type, make sure you select IDE.

Those two steps should be sufficient to get your virtual machine running. If you want to be adventurous, you can experiment with the single or dual processing core options. I found in my installs that Battery Status was sucessfully transfered to the guest operating system for both distributions. I left the "Accelerate 3D Graphics" option unchecked, as it makes no difference in visual performance. I could not get Desktop Effects to properly work on either distribution with that setting either enabled or disabled, even after completing software updates to the guest OS.

I hope this helps some people and some people find it useful. Best of Luck!

The 3D effects are not supported on VMF. Somehow I dont prefer VMF much since it puts lot of load on the hardware running two OS parallely. Native is always better.

Try running 64-bit OS under bootcamp. I have tested fedora 8 & opensuse (both 64-bit) successfully.

I specifically didn't want to run Boot camp for my OS's.. since most times I have the need to switch between OS's on the fly.

Thanks for your input.