DSL and DIMES for VMWare Player: a how-to

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

(NOTE: this assumes you have VMWare Player installed. if you do not, download it and install it from www.vmware.com)
Firstly, we need VMXWizard; a freeware application to help us make VMWare images for VMWare Player. You can get it here. The installer is apperently a silent one by default, so you'll have to go into the start menu and stuff to load it up.
Second, grab the DSL 2.0 iso here.
If you do this with VMWare workstation, DSL does not detect the vmware emulated scsi hard drive so it is best when creating a new virtual machine to select as the Guest operating system "Other" and "FreeBSD" from the drop down box. (thanks Fitz Goran)

How to create the image in VMXWizard:
At the splash screen, press next.
Choose linux and leave it on kernel 2.4. pick an amount of RAM (I use 96 because it's happiest with that for me; feel free to experiment with less). Hit next.
Leave New Disk checked, and set it to 256 megabytes (nice and small ) and hit next.
For CD-ROM, use iso image and browse to the DSL iso that we downloaded previously and hit next.
Ethernet settings are fine by default (ethernet 0 checked and set to bridged)
type in a machine name (I'm using "DIMES" for a name because it makes sense) and browse to wherever you keep your VMWare images. Hit next.
It'll display all the choices you've made now; click next.
Leave "launch created machine" checked and hit OK.

Our base system should now be created and booting.

the DSL splashscreen will now be displayed. at the "boot:" prompt, type in
install
and hit enter. some random words will fly by, and they don't really matter.
A menu will now be displayed with some choices. we want 0.
Now for a list of commands to enter to do some magic (we're setting up a partition to install to)

cd /dev (change directory to the /dev folder)
fdisk hda (launch fdisk for drive hda)
n (new partition)
p (primary partition)
1 (partition 1)
(enter) (lowest sector)
(enter) (highest sector)
a (set bootable partition)
1 (partition 1)
w (write and exit)
(wait for it to save to the partition table and stuff)
dslinstall (go back to the dsl install options menu)

that menu should be back now. We want option 3
Target partition: hda1
y
y
y
for those first 4 options.
now we get to install a boot loader; say y
i use grub because... i have no good reason, but just hit g and move on
now hit y and it'll reboot the VM
it'll tell you to remove the CD, but since our CD is an iso, just hit enter.
GRUB will do its thing, select DSL from the list (other ones probably don't matter for you).
Pretty colors and words will now flash by.
Now we'll get prompted for passwords for root and the default user (dsl; we'll never be using the root login). I'm using "dimes" for root and dsl passwords. ignore its warnings about weak passwords and stuff...
DSL is now installed! lets log in and get stuff set up!

box login: dsl
Password: dimes (or whatever you used)
just hit enter at the first menu (Xvesa)
no, we don't have a USB mouse (whatever your real mouse is doesn't matter); we have an IMPS/2 mouse.
Select preferred resolution (I'm using 800x600).
Color depth (32).
skip the dpi setting.
Choose a keyboard layout (i'm using us, the default)
DSL will load and the little welcome page will display. close it out

Now to install java and DIMES!
load firefox (it's on your desktop and SINGLE CLICK!) and go to java.sun.com. find your way to the download page for J2SE 1.5.0 JRE 5.0 update 6 yadda yadda. make sure you accept the license agreement
download the linux self-extracting file (not the rpm!!!) and save it to its default location.
Now go to www.netdimes.org/download.html, scroll down, and download the DIMES agent for linux and save it to the default place. We're done with firefox now

Now to install all this stuff and make things happy
load "ATerminal" in the upper left of your desktop. Commands are as follows (descriptions in parentheses) <other actions in these little arrow thingys>

chmod +x jre-1_5_0_06-linux-i586.bin (change access properties or something)
sudo ./jre-1_5_0_06-linux-i586.bin (start extracting the JRE)
<scroll past the license agreement, approximately 2 page-downs and then say yes. text will now fly by as the jre extracts itself>
nano .bash_profile
<after the line "export IRCNICK=DSL", hit enter and put in "export JAVA_HOME="/home/dsl/jre1.5.0_06".> (sets an environment variable every time the VM loads)
ctrl+X
y
[enter]
tar -xzvf DIMES-0-4-2.tar.gz (extract DIMES)
export JAVA_HOME="/home/dsl/jre1.5.0_06" (we have to do this just this once, because .bash_profile is only loaded at boot so our changes haven't taken effect yet)
rm -rf JRE-1_5_0_06-linux-i586.bin (remove the jre installer; its wasting loads of our preciuos 256 meg HD)
rm -rf DIMES-0-4-2.tar.gz (we're done with it too)
cd DIMES (get into the DIMES directory)
chmod +x Makefile
sudo ./Makefile

There, we just installed and set up the JRE and installed and launched DIMES. enter your info for DIMES as you normally would. (note: the textboxes to type in are black and the font is black, so even though you can't see what you type, it's there. highlight it to check)

TIPS from moddolicious:
Just a couple of tips I want to add to this: if you want DSL to automatically load into the OS without you typing dsl + password, when it asks to install multi users, select no, and when it asks for a boot loader, choose lilo. After you install dimes & java, right click on the background, go to style and choose minimal. Also, choose no icons. Those little things should use ~10mbs less.

You're now done! to start the agent next time you boot, just go into ATerminal and cd DIMES and sudo ./agent.sh and DIMES will launch!

[InSanCen]

Nicely Done. I'll check it out this weekend if I can get some stable hardare running.

[Fitz Goran]

You can have the DIMES client start automattically.

Open a terminal window

nano startdimes
cd /home/dsl/DIMES
sudo ./agent.sh &>/dev/null
ctrl+X
y
[enter]

chmod +x startdimes

nano .xinitrc

replace dillo /usr/share/doc/dsl/getting_started.html &>/dev/null &

with /home/dsl/startdimes &>/dev/null &

ctrl+X
y
[enter]

The DIMES agent should now start automattically.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

oooh, thanks fitz, i was tryin to think of a way to do that but didn't want to get off my lazy arse and try

[[XC] moddolicous]

Nice find bloody sorceror and fitz goren. I'm gonna be giving this a shot soon. I'm gonna try to make one with zipslack, although it wont be as small as yours. Maybe 50mb bigger, unless I can make it guiless. Hmmmmm

[[XC]thewildblue]

Nice Thread. Do we vote sticky ?

[InSanCen]

Stickier than a sticky thing that got hit with a stick!!!

[[XC]thewildblue]

So thats a negative from you then insancen ! hehe

[[XC] moddolicous]

Definetly a sticky. 3 quick questions though: How much ram can it use (just 64mb), can I choose an old name thing (like a client name), and can I hide it in the toolbar in the bottom right (vmware player)?

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

RAM usage is highish at startup (usually ~90 megs) but after running for a bit it plummets; my VMs are currently sitting in the 37-45 megs of ram used (all are set to 96 megs maximum); as for using it to revive dead agents (i have 2), i'm not sure whether or not you can (dunno why you shouldn't be able to though), and there does not appear to be a way to get them to minimize to the taskbar, but if you run enough of them they do the little auto-grouping thing.

[[XC] moddolicous]

Thanks Bloody_Sorcerer. Theonly reason I asked about hiding it in the toolbar was that my dad used to always ask what it was (vmware workstation). Guess its worth a shot.

[[XC]thewildblue]

Any idea why I get this when I try and fdisk the hda ? Ive followed all the instructions. Its fun trying this linux cmd line stuff.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

hm... did you make the VM with an IDE drive? if its a SCSI drive you'd have to do fdisk sda. if it is an IDE drive, do ls and hd* and take a screenshot please

[[XC]thewildblue]

Screenshot attached as requested. I did do SCSI as thats default.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

ah... its a scsi drive, so you'll have to replace any occurences of hda (with or without numbers after it) with sda (with the same numbering).

[[XC]thewildblue]

Here is ls sd*



Still cant get fdisk to launch so I can create a partition.

[[XC] moddolicous]

try it with the slash in front. Like /sda. In gentoo its fdisk /dev/sda

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

hmm... what has me confused is that the names are purple, which usually means that the device doesn't exist. when the machine is booting, it probes some stuff and lists hard drives/CD drives. any idea what yours says at boot? like for mine its some stuff like ATAPI IDE hda and ATAPI IDE hdc

[Fitz Goran]

DSL does not detect the vmware emulated scsi hard drive so it is best when creating a new virtual machine to select as the Guest operating system "Other" and "FreeBSD" from the drop down box.

This created an emulated ide hard drive which DSL has no problems detecting.

[[XC]thewildblue]

The freebsd trick works a treat. Was able to create a new partition perfectly.

[Bloody_Sorcerer]

DSL does not detect the vmware emulated scsi hard drive so it is best when creating a new virtual machine to select as the Guest operating system "Other" and "FreeBSD" from the drop down box.

This created an emulated ide hard drive which DSL has no problems detecting.

thanks fitz, added to the main guide.

[[XC] moddolicous]

Quick question: When it asks are you sure you want to use ext3, is that the best choice?? I mean, everyone (well, ALOT) say that reiserfs is way better with smaller files and is quicker. The only downside is if you use it everyday as a rig, it becomes fragmented. Since we wont use it for daily use, maybe reiserfs would be better? I'll set up one rig with ext3 and one with reiserfs and see which is better.

[[XC] moddolicous]

Alright, did some research: DSL uses kernal 2.4 (didnt know) and I think reiserfs was implemented in kernal 2.6, so reiserfs is a no go. Choosing a previous agent name only works with the same OS (linux with linux, windows with windows). I got 2 agents up and running with 60mb ram, and there is no visible slow down on my dad's comp, so maybe I can keep them. Hopefully I can catch TWB's daily, but we'll see. I'm experimenting with freedos (its like impossible to install) and zipslack to get another linux thing up. No luck so far.

[[XC] DragonOrta]

I went through everything, and keep getting an error.

Error: JAVA_HOME Environment variable is not defined. Please install JDK or define it manually.

Could someone tell me how to get by this? Thanks

[[XC] moddolicous]

Just a couple of tips I want to add to this: if you want DSL to automatically load into the OS without you typing dsl + password, when it asks to install multi users, select no, and when it asks for a boot loader, choose lilo. After you install dimes & java, right click on the background, go to style and choose minimal. Also, choose no icons. Those little things should use ~10mbs less.