I have Ubuntu 8.04 running on an old Toshiba “tablet PC” whose touch-screen no longer functions (and Windows therefore malfunctions), and yesterday Ubuntu 8.10 was released so I jumped right on the bandwagon to try to install it so I could test it out.
My choice was to install using VMWare Fusion on Macintosh OSX, so I downloaded the Ubuntu 8.10 distribution, burned a CD, installed VMWare Fusion’s 30-day trial version for OSX, and then first installed 8.04. That installation went without a hitch, as Fusion detects the CD and the version of Ubuntu and goes right ahead and without any problem installs a virtual machine that seems to run flawlessly.
Installing the 8.10 distro, however, was odd. Fusion first warned me that it was a pre-7.0 Linux distribution, but allowed me to move forward.
Once installed (which I let run overnight because it just was a terribly slow process), 8.10 did run, but “VMWare Tools” didn’t install. So I found the VMWare Tools install volume and ran a “manual” installation from Terminal. It required (automatically) recompiling a lot of modules for the (upgraded Linux) kernel. Following that process, I was able to reconfigure the screen to greater than 800×600, which I guess means that the tools were successfully installed. I installed a few plug-ins (such as Flash for the browsers) and they work just great. A bit scary, but looks like it was a success.
I didn’t need to refer to other sources, but look around if you find you need help.
No for me it doesn’t–not fully anyway. As of VMware FUsion 2.0.2, VMware Tools will not install properly. IF you resize the screen, you get a an small overlay screen of about a quarter of the full screen in the lower left corner and you mouse is pinned in side of it. This means you cannot see the full menus when expanded and cannot reach all menus. It sucks frankly.
I found that VMWare Tools “fails” to install. So I ignored it. Nevertheless, the features that I need -do- work even though the tools install fails. I use networking and sound, but not shared folders. I’ve seen the phantom small screen, but when I tested just now I was able to select/change display sizes (within Ubuntu itself) with no problem…it resized the window and everything worked fine. I’m on a dual-core Intel processor, the most recent OSX and Fusion 2.0.2.
My conclusion was that shared folders do not work – see also http://laurentbois.com/2008/04/26/install-ubuntu-804-using-vmware-fusion-on-mac-os-x/ and I just don’t have the time to go through the process of modifying the open-source for the VMWare tools and recompiling it.
I do share files from Ubuntu to the host Mac by using its ability to connect to network servers. I have network-attached-storage, and also I have a shared volume on the local Mac, which Ubuntu can see and can share files into even though the VMWare Tools -folder sharing- doesn’t work.