How to get vmware tools going on fedora core 9

After install the official VMware-Tools RPM, download the open tools from here and do the following:

tar -zxf open-vm-tools-2008.11.18-130226.tar.gz
cd open-vm-tools-2008.11.18-130226/modules/linux/
for i in *; do sudo mv ${i} ${i}-only; sudo tar -cf ${i}.tar ${i}-only; done
mv /usr/lib/vmware-tools/modules/source /usr/lib/vmware-tools/modules/source.orig
mkdir /usr/lib/vmware-tools/modules/source
mv *.tar /usr/lib/vmware-tools/modules/source

And then run the vmware-config-tools.pl

Hiring filters

I copied this from some guy on slashdot, who copied it from a comment poster from here:

Methods from Human Resources...

1. Put 400 bricks in a closed room.
2. Put your new hires in the room and close the door.
3. Leave them alone and come back after six hours.
4. Then analyze the situation.

a. If they are counting the bricks, put them in the
Accounting Department.

b. If they are recounting them, put them in Auditing.

c. If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks,
put them in Engineering.

d. If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order,
put them in Planning.

e. If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them
in Operations.

f. If they are sleeping, put them in Security.

g. If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in
Information Technology.

h. If they are sitting idle, put them in Human Resources.

i. If they say they have tried different combinations and
they are looking for more, yet not a brick has been moved,
put them in Sales.

j. If they have already left for the day, put them in
Management.

k. If they are staring out of the window, put them in
Strategic Planning.

l. If they are talking to each other, and not a single brick
has been moved, congratulate them and put them in Top
Management.

m. Finally, if they have surrounded themselves with bricks
in such a way that they can neither be seen nor heard from,
put them in Congress.

My first spec file commit

Took me long enough :-)
It builds, so I'm happy, not that much of a contribution, but still a contribution!

$ svn ci --username XXX patches/dynamips-01-makefile.diff copyright/SF>
Authentication realm: SourceForge Subversion area
Password for 'XXX':
Adding SFEdynamips.spec
Adding copyright/SFEdynamips.copyright
Adding patches/dynamips-01-makefile.diff
Transmitting file data ...
Committed revision 1528.

snv_98 on the EEE 701

I don't have any huge drives to perform a pkg image-update so I took the easy route and just performed a backup of my data popped in a USB DVD drive and booted OpenSolaris current (snv_98).

After installation I still got some errors:

• Still have to add -v to boot options
  
• Power status reports problems about an old battery
• Stumped into a problem while trying to perform a search which went away after performing a package remove:
  $ pkg search NVIDIA
  Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/pkg", line 1958, in ?
  ret = main_func()
  File "/usr/bin/pkg", line 1930, in main_func
  return search(img, pargs)
  File "/usr/bin/pkg", line 916, in search
  searches.append(img.local_search(pargs, case_sensitive))
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/vendor-packages/pkg/client/image.py", line 1738, in local_search
  res = qe.search(query, self.gen_installed_pkg_names())
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/vendor-packages/pkg/client/query_engine.py", line 59, in search
  matched_ids, res = self.search_internal(query)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/vendor-packages/pkg/query_engine.py", line 158, in search_internal
  assert ((term == tok) or
  AssertionError
  pkg: This is an internal error. Please let the developers know about this
  problem by filing a bug at http://defect.opensolaris.org and including the
  above traceback and this message. The version of pkg(5) is '1b1547cb8655'.
  

The disk was quite full (4GB) after installation, so I started to remove some software drivers I would never use, note that removing some of these don't add up to much space:
$ pfexec pkg uninstall NVDAgraphics pkg:/slim_install pkg:/babel_install
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWatigfx
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/BRCMbnx pkg:/SUNWbge pkg:/SUNWvia823x pkg:/SUNWnvsata pkg:/SUNWmegasas pkg:/SUNWnge pkg:/SUNWiwk pkg:/SUNWwpi pkg:/SUNWnxge pkg:/SUNWpcwl pkg:/SUNWrge
$ pkg search wireless| sed -e '1d' | awk '{ print $4 }'| xargs pfexec pkg uninstall

To get audio working you need audiohd from here

A new atheros driver is needed, download it from here:
$ pfexec /usr/sbin/pkgadd -d ~/Download/driver/SUNWatheros

One particular network returned:
Oct 3 20:22:59 nargothrond nwamd[717]: [ID 134467 daemon.error] failed to read zenity output

So I had to do a:
$ pfexec svcadm disable -t nwam
$ pfexec svcadm enable -t physical:default
$ pfexec dladm connect-wifi -e LAB-UBP
$ pfexec ifconfig ath0 auto-dhcp

Back to removing unnecessary software, I don't use thunderbird so:
$ ls /var/pkg/pkg/|grep thund|xargs pfexec pkg uninstall

The screen is too small for desklets:
$ pfexec pkg uninstall SUNWgnome-desklets

No need for accessibility for me (yet):
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWgnome-a11y-dasher
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWgnome-a11y-gok
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWgnome-a11y-reader

No need for i18n:
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWiiimf

Removing the package manager gui:
$ pfexec pkg uninstall pkg:/SUNWipkg-gui

Destroying the @install pools adds up into more space:
$ pfexec zfs destroy rpool/ROOT/opensolaris@install
$ pfexec zfs destroy rpool/ROOT@install
$ pfexec zfs destroy rpool@install

Suspend to ram is working fine with this configuration.

puppet ebook and digital reading

I've been playing with puppet... well, it may actually go into production (lab production that is) so playing might not be that accurate. As usual I found myself fooling around the web and ran into this which I yet haven't listened to. Anyhow in the comments I saw someone talk about a book he wrote published on Apress. I followed the link, and as an impulse and because I never bought an ebook before, I decided to purchase it and check it out. The book in question is titled "Pulling Strings with Puppet: Configuration Management Made Easy".

I thought I didn't like to read ebooks, but somehow the feeling is quite different when the actual artifact was a purchased one. The value one inadvertently gives to such things astonishes me.

I'm also subscribed to the IEEE and rather read what is provided over digital media, but constantly look over what I get in print. I guess it is more related to the feeling and ease when skipping pages and going back and forth. I value that a lot, too bad it doesn't feel so good when you think about the trees at stake...