Fedora 7 install

[xaoslaad]

Just went through this so here's for anyone else having trouble.

Read the whole thing before starting:

1.) Reduce the memory for the virtual machine down below 512. 256MB is a good number.
2.) When you see grub counting down quickly hit 'e'
3.) If you entered a grub password during the install press 'p' to enter it.
4.) Press 'e' to enter edit mode.
5.) Arrow down to the second line that reads 'kernel...'
6.) Press 'e' to edit it.
7.) delete 'rhgb quiet' at the end. We're not so much worried about 'quiet' as we are 'rhgb' (RedHat Graphical Boot); since if it tries to do a graphical boot we won't be able to see anything.
8.) Press 'return' to accept the changes.
9.) Press 'b' to boot.
10.) X will start crashing like it normally does, except after you receive the error message about the desktop server shutting down excessively and retrying in 90 seconds you will be dropped to a login prompt. You have 90 seconds to work now. But don't worry. If it starts retrying again, wait for it to timeout and drop you back to your session again.
11.) Login with your root account.
12.) Run system-config-display
13.) Under the hardware tab setup a generic LCD display that meets your resolution requirements.
14.) Go back to the Settings tab when you are done there and choose a resolution that floats your boat.
15.) Apply your changes and wait for X to restart at the next 90 second interval.
16.) Login with your user ID
17.) edit /etc/grub.conf with your favorite text editor.
18.) You will have a line that reads:
'kernel...quiet'
Add agp=off to the end of the line so that it reads:
'kernel...quiet agp=off'
19.) Save the file.
20.) Shutdown Fedora 7.
21.) Set your virtual machine memory to whatever you want.
22.) Start your virtual machine.
23.) Enjoy Fedora 7.

[Erunantion]

ok, you said that X would crash. then you said to run system-config-display. it runs in X. X tries to start. X crashes because we haven't edited anything. you even said something about tabs. How are there supposed to be tabs in a TEXT environment. this doesn't solve anything. When X was crashing you tried to fix it in a program that runs in X, which then tries to start X which isn't running because it crashed. I don't know if you actually suceeded, but if you did, you told us wrong, cuz that don't make no kind of sense

[xaoslaad]

If you run system-config-display on the command line it will start X11. Why it runs properly despite X11 crashing repeatedly when GDM attempts to start, I am not sure. But it did. At least it did for me. If it goes the same for you then you should not be in a text environment, and therefore you will have tabs :p

Did you try it? Did you have results to the contrary? Or are you just nitpicking because you think the directions are inconsistent. Because I agree that it seems it should not work, but it did for me.

If it is not running properly for you then try running 'system-config-display -reconfig'

It will ignore the xorg.conf file and start with a clean configuration. That may circumvent whatever problem you are having.

[seebs]

The agp=off thing is a nice touch. I can run mine with 512MB, but not with more. Old threads said to add mem=nopentium, but no joy for me even then.

The linux tools disk image provides a script which, for me, fixed X even though I didn't do the agp=off thing.

[rstawarz]

Anyone get FC7 running under a native Vista machine? I'm having networking issues where the Virtual FC7 instance will not get a DHCP address. Anyone have a workaround/solution?

[verket]

Thanks for the detailed list. It didn't work for me, most likely because I didn't do #1 (I have it set to 512).

I did do the rest of the steps with no joy when I realized that parallels tools might help. I created a snapshot (in Parallels 3), applied Parallels Tools and success! The steps were:
1) Follow the list below to get to the textual login prompt and log in as root.
2) Select "Install Parallels Tools..." from the Parallels 3 menu
3) Back in fedora, "mount /dev/cdrom /mnt"
4) cd /mnt
5) sh parallels-tools.run

Just went through this so here's for anyone else having trouble.

Read the whole thing before starting:

1.) Reduce the memory for the virtual machine down below 512. 256MB is a good number.
2.) When you see grub counting down quickly hit 'e'
3.) If you entered a grub password during the install press 'p' to enter it.
4.) Press 'e' to enter edit mode.
5.) Arrow down to the second line that reads 'kernel...'
6.) Press 'e' to edit it.
7.) delete 'rhgb quiet' at the end. We're not so much worried about 'quiet' as we are 'rhgb' (RedHat Graphical Boot); since if it tries to do a graphical boot we won't be able to see anything.
8.) Press 'return' to accept the changes.
9.) Press 'b' to boot.
10.) X will start crashing like it normally does, except after you receive the error message about the desktop server shutting down excessively and retrying in 90 seconds you will be dropped to a login prompt. You have 90 seconds to work now. But don't worry. If it starts retrying again, wait for it to timeout and drop you back to your session again.
11.) Login with your root account.
12.) Run system-config-display
13.) Under the hardware tab setup a generic LCD display that meets your resolution requirements.
14.) Go back to the Settings tab when you are done there and choose a resolution that floats your boat.
15.) Apply your changes and wait for X to restart at the next 90 second interval.
16.) Login with your user ID
17.) edit /etc/grub.conf with your favorite text editor.
18.) You will have a line that reads:
'kernel...quiet'
Add agp=off to the end of the line so that it reads:
'kernel...quiet agp=off'
19.) Save the file.
20.) Shutdown Fedora 7.
21.) Set your virtual machine memory to whatever you want.
22.) Start your virtual machine.
23.) Enjoy Fedora 7.

[csquat]

Does anyone know why you can only use 512 MB of ram in the Virtual Environment. I am working with 1500MB in my windows virtual machine just fine.

thank you
-csquat

[edwardd20]

9.) Press 'b' to boot.

I read everything but I don't understand it all. I got as far as step 9. On my MacBook Pro (2.33 with 2G), Fedora 7 displays "unmounting old /sys" and it something is going into a loop. One of the CPU's is pegged. I don't know if it's Fedora or Parallels. (How can you tell?).

Without your fix, I get about the about the same. Last message I see is "2 logical volume(s) in volume group "VolGroup00" now active". Same thing but this time instead of 1 CPU pegged, both CPU's race up to about 50%.

I did the DVD.iso installation using all of the defaults with Parallels configured as "other Linux" instead of "Fedora Core".

Any suggestions?

[edwardd20]

I reinstalled Fedora 7 and everything went smooth this time. I don't recall doing anything differently but I must have.

[itsdapead]

Thanks for the detailed list. It didn't work for me, most likely because I didn't do #1 (I have it set to 512).

I did do the rest of the steps with no joy when I realized that parallels tools might help. I created a snapshot (in Parallels 3), applied Parallels Tools and success! The steps were:
1) Follow the list below to get to the textual login prompt and log in as root.
2) Select "Install Parallels Tools..." from the Parallels 3 menu
3) Back in fedora, "mount /dev/cdrom /mnt"
4) cd /mnt
5) sh parallels-tools.run

Hint - provided you can work out what the IP address of your new VM is, then you can skip step (1) above, open a terminal on the Mac, and ssh into fedora and do steps 2-5 from there.

[Erunantion]

no mine really didn't work, i'm still trying to get it started. the first time it crashed, it was a parsing error. but there were sooo many mispellings in there... i spent twenty minutes getting it looking normal.

[Erunantion]

and i just did the thing with the reconfig tag, and it still crashed, could this be because the first time i ran it without it, and it was still crashing from that? Sorry for the Double post

[kassanu]

I follow your steps up until:

12.) Run system-config-display

At this point I receive an error that says X server could start on card 0. When it tries with a fresh config or when i run 'system-config-display --reconfig' it returns another error, "error while retrieving Xinerama information" which it then aborts the whole process making me unable to continue to step 13. Have any of you seen this and know a work around?

[RobW]

I got it working much easier than this. Here's how:

With your Fedora Core 7 machine stopped, edit the machine so that it has 256MB memory, and boots CD/DVD, Hard Drive, Floppy. Either point to the Rescue CD ISO _OR_ insert your Rescue CD.

Boot from the rescue CD, choose the Rescue Option.

cd /mnt/sysimage/etc/X11

edit xorg.conf so that it reads as follows (The parser here got rid of my tabs):


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen "Parallels Screen"
InputDevice "Parallels Mouse" "CorePointer"
# Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0"
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection


Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Parallels Monitor"
VendorName "Parallels Inc."
EndSection


Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
ModelName "LCD Panel 1280x800"
HorizSync 31.5 - 90.0
VertRefresh 59.9 - 60.1
Option "dpms"
EndSection


Section "Device"
Identifier "Parallels Video"
Driver "prlvideo"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection


Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "vesa"
EndSection


#Parallels screen
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Parallels Screen"
Device "Parallels Video"
Monitor "Parallels Monitor"
Option "NoMTRR"
DefaultDepth 24

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection


Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Parallels Mouse"
Driver "prlmouse"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
EndSection



Make sure the xorg.conf file reflects these changes. Stop the FC7 VM, change it so that the machine boots off the hard drive, and you should be good to go.

Please let me know if this works. (Its a combination of my work, and installation of Parallels Tools installation after I got the graphics up and running.) If you want a 'pure' xorg.conf, without the Parallels Tools stuff, match this instead:


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
ModelName "LCD Panel 1280x800"
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DCC:
HorizSync 31.5 - 90.0
VertRefresh 59.9 - 60.1
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "vesa"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection




Rob

[fca]

Hello,
I have tried everything described here, but no luck. If I do not install parallel tools, everything works fine. If I install parallel tools, X does not start, exactly as described. My compromise solution is to set as a device for the Parallel screen "Vidoecard0". This way the mouse does not get stuck. The drawback is that I only have 640x480 and 800x600 and I cannot set any other resolution.

[slrdc]

The agp=off thing is a nice touch. I can run mine with 512MB, but not with more. Old threads said to add mem=nopentium, but no joy for me even then.

The linux tools disk image provides a script which, for me, fixed X even though I didn't do the agp=off thing.

Has anyone have the memory issue figured out? I'm running FC7 (kernel 2.6.22.9-91.fc7) on top an XP host and could use the extra memory.