Screenshots of Fedora Core 6 in VMWare Fusion Beta

Please note: this is an early report, and more details will be posted as I have more time to dig deeper into Fusion. Loads of screenshots in the meantime.

As I mentioned earlier, VMWare Fusion for Mac has had its first beta version released publicly today. My first thought was to try the existing Fedora Core 6 x86 virtual machine I put up for download a few weeks ago, to see if it would run as is on my 2006 Core Duo Macbook.

Having experience with both VMWare on other platforms and Parallels Desktop on the Mac, I was eager to see how the two compared. Having moved VMs between OS platforms with VMWare, I really wanted to know if the Mac would indeed be treated equally.

So since I’m busy packing for a holiday trip, and only have little time for it, I thought I’d post screenshots of how it all went. Hint: it’s all good. :) You can go ahead and download my VM image, and give it a shot for yourself.

I’m only going to embed a few screenshots below, so the page stays light, but here is a complete archive: FC6_in_VMWare_Fusion_Beta-SCREENSHOTS-20061222.zip (71 screenshots. SHA1SUM: 0e468e48e8727ff842258e720b323960f19b92ad)

Pre-Order a PS3 with Linux Installed

TerraSoft is now taking pre-orders for Sony PlayStation 3 with Yellow Dog Linux 5 pre-installed. YDL5 is based on Fedora Core 5.

If you already have the new console, you can also just order the new YDL5 distro on DVD, or download it via TerraSoft’s YDL.net Enhanced. Both options have support options.

You can also wait a few more days and download it during the week of December 25, or take the more experimental road, and do it the other way.

Screencast: Installing Ubuntu 6.10 Desktop

In the spirit of my other Linux install screencasts (1, 2), I took a lot of screenshots while installing Ubuntu 6.10 Desktop on my 12″ iBook G3, and made this 2+ minutes video out of them.

It hopes to demonstrate how easy it can really be to install Linux, and to demystify some of the FUD around this great platform. Show it to your family and friends during the Holidays, and we might just end up with a few more Linux users in the new year! :)

Praise Be Parallels Desktop's Performance

I mean, what else can I say? If you watch the attached video, you’ll see what I mean.

  • Mac OS X 10.4.8, Parallels Desktop
  • Windows XP, Internet Explorer 7
  • Fedora Core 6, Firefox 2
  • Ubuntu 6.10 Desktop, Firefox 2

All running on my usual 2GHz Core Duo MacBook with 2 GB RAM (512MB/VM).

Performance is awesome. The video is in real time and the only reason the VMs were set to 800×600 was to try and keep the screencast relatively crisp when converted to a small FLV.

Tip: It’s in the docs and all, but it took me a while to remember how to launch multiple windows in Parallels Desktop, since it loads VMs in the same window when opening them: File menu » New Window

Screencast: Fedora Core 6 Install in VMWare Workstation

This screencast illustrates installing Fedora Core 6 Linux as a virtual machine in VMWare Workstation. It is based on the series of screenshots offered for download, along with the resulting virtual machine, in my previous post.

Related posts:

Enjoy!