April 25, 2006
Running Ubuntu on Mac OS X
One of the first things I did when I got my MacBook is install Parallels, CPU virtualization software that lets me run Windows XP in a window on Mac OS X, so I can easily test our site with Internet Explorer. It's very fast, and very, very friendly.
Recently I was tasked with discovering whether it is possible to do non-blocking file reads and writes to a filesystem that is mounted over NFS. I tried on OS X, and I was unable to get a read to return EWOULDBLOCK. So, I decided to install Ubuntu on Parallels. I downloaded the iso, burned it to a CD, created a new virtual machine, and installed it.
Everything worked flawlessly. Ubuntu has always been incredibly high quality, and it has only gotten nicer in the year since I used it last. It's polished, beautiful, and just works. It is definitely something that I could install on my machine for my Mom with a web browser and mail reader.
Here's a screenshot:
Posted by Donovan at 16:59:32
Comments
Looks great... I will be replacing my dell inspiron soon, and the macbook looks good. However, I don't think I'm ready to give up on Ubuntu. I will have to look into this Parallels program to see whether it offers what I want...
Oh, and why is your screenshot portrait instead of landscape??
Posted by: Michael on May 17, 2006 06:34 AM
Michael: Can't speak for Donovan, but I get portrait screenshots like that because I have dual displays with the MBP display positioned below the CRT.
Donovan: Any trouble with networking Ubuntu under Parallels?
Posted by: joe on May 17, 2006 03:57 PM
I get screenshots like that because I am using an external monitor in portrait mode. I like it a lot because you can see an incredible amount of code on the thing!
I haven't had any problems with networking. I think there are pproblems switching back and forth between airport and wired networks. I don't do that, though.
Sound works on Linux, but not on Windows, though.
Posted by: Donovan Preston on May 17, 2006 08:13 PM
Could you possible tell me how to configure my ubuntu to work in portrait mode? I would like to switch between portait and landscape. Can you do this in ubuntu?
Posted by: 22samurai on June 1, 2006 07:32 AM
22samurai: I don't know. On Mac OS X, when using certain Dell monitors that swivel 90 degrees, the Displays prefererence pane has a pull-down menu that lets me choose the rotation.
Posted by: Donovan Preston on June 1, 2006 07:38 AM
What version of ubuntu did you install ? I tried 6.06 but it could not install grub
Posted by: james brown on June 8, 2006 01:29 PM
You can install from the iso, you don't need to burn ubuntu to a disc. And for sound, install Parallel Tools on Windows.
Posted by: Chris on June 17, 2006 08:44 AM
How do you force parallels to install the Parallels Tools on Ubuntu
Posted by: M on July 21, 2006 04:24 AM