In a blog that deals with Windows, OpenSolaris and VirtualBox, Sun engineer Alan Hargreaves recounts his experience with loading VirtualBox and a release candidate ISO of OpenSolaris 2009.06 on his laptop. He also used the exclusive-to-Sun-employees test tool punchin* (see below). His first caution is not to attempt this install with a mere 512MB memory since the laptop shows the installation as apparently successful when it is not in fact.

Restoring his punchin packages and restored credentials from the Windows side with VirtualBox was a relatively straightforward operation, he reports. This was not the case from the OpenSolaris side, however, where consulting the user guide was necessary. Since he attempted all of this from the road, the process consumed all his available battery life. Once plugged in to commercial power and with memory dropped back to half a GB, the install worked all weekend on the laptop, Hargeaves writes.

Returning to work the following Monday, Hargreaves utilized the pair of 22-inch screens and the keyboard and mouse usually plugged into his Sun Ray, viewing the Windows session on one screen and the OpenSolaris on the other.

Turns out there is a second caution that Hargreaves shares: "Don't install the VDI files on a FAT32 filesystem, which is what I did because that's where I had the most free space. Everything worked wonderfully until the size of the dynamic disc that I had allocated hit 4gb. Then I started getting errors about full disks from VirtualBox. OK moving the VDI file to the NTFS wasn't that hard. I had to first physically copy it, then release and remove it from within Virtual box, then attach it again from the NTFS disc."

Aside from those two reservations, Hargreaves reports that he is happy with the results and with his ability to finish the work at hand using his installs.

* punchin, Hargreaves reports, is an internal test tool that has won a wide audience within Sun where, for the moment, it is available only to Sun employees. He suggests that it may become available under CDDL later in 2009, but he says that is not definite information.

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"Windows, OpenSolaris and VirtualBox" - blog entry by Hargreaves

OpenSolaris

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