I have been a SCO reseller since 1988, and I still have several clients
running SCO OpenServer. I don't have a computer dedicated to running
OpenServer, but it can frequently be very convenient to have access to
an OpenServer system for testing. And it is not always acceptable to
remotely access a client's system, because the desired testing may
require rebooting or other actions that would prove disruptive to users
of the system.
I have been using VMware Workstation version 4 for running Windows 98
and various distributions of Linux, so it was natural to want to do the
same with OpenServer. However, I soon realized that VMware does not
support OpenServer. The reason apparently has to do with how OpenServer
interfaces with the hardware.
I did manage to find a brief outline of a procedure for installing
OpenServer under VMware. As I am writing this, it is still available at
http://www.chinaunix.net/bbsjh/4/11249.html
(if you can read Chinese).
After several failed attempts, I managed to get OpenServer installed and
running quite successfully under VMware. I have been using it for some
time. It is very stable, and has proven very useful to me.
I wanted to fully document the procedure for installing OpenServer under
VMware, for myself and for the public at large, so I went through the
entire procedure and documented every step along the way. Here is the
product of that process.
Start VMware.
Create a new virtual machine by selecting "File / New / New
Virtual Machine...".
Skip through intro to "New Virtual Machine Wizard" by
clicking "Next".
Specify a "Virtual machine configuration" of
"Custom", and click "Next".
Specify a "Guest operating system" of "Other", and
click "Next".
Specify a "Virtual machine name" that suits your taste,
accept the default "Location", and click "Next".
Specify a "Memory: Guest size (MB)" of at least
"48", and click "Next".
(I tried 32MB and the installation failed with the error
"/ramFs/extractProd/extractAll terminated by signal
8".)
Specify a "Network connection" that suits your
requirements, and click "Next".
(I prefer "Bridged networking", which makes your virtual
machine appear as if it is just another system on your existing
network.)
Specify to "Create a new virtual disk", and click
"Next".
Specify a "Disk size (GB)" of at least "1",
specify "Allocate all disk space now" and "Split disk into
2 GB files" as appropriate for your requirements, and click
"Next".
Specify a unique "Disk file" name, click "Advanced
>>", specify a "Virtual device node" of "SCSI
0:0", and click "Finish".
Click "Edit virtual machine settings".
Click the "Audio" device, and click "Remove".
Click the "CD-ROM 1 (IDE 1:0)" device, specify a
"Connection" that points to the CD-ROM drive from which you
will be installing, and specify a "Virtual device node" of
"IDE 0:1".
Start adding a device by clicking "Add...".
Skip through intro to "Add Hardware Wizard" by clicking
"Next".
Specify a "Hardware type" of "Hard Disk", and
click "Next".
Specify to "Create a new virtual disk", and click
"Next".
Specify a "Disk size (GB)" of only "0.1", leave
"Allocate all disk space now" and "Split disk into 2 GB
files" unchecked, and click "Next".
Specify a unique "Disk file" name, click "Advanced
>>", specify a "Virtual device node" of "IDE 0:0",
and click "Finish".
Note regarding driver for BusLogic MultiMaster BT-958 SCSI host adapter:
VMware virtual machines emulate the BusLogic MultiMaster BT-958 SCSI
host adapter. OpenServer includes drivers for this host adapter, but for
some reason installing OpenServer under VMware without using the
BusLogic MultiMaster BT-958 BTLD (which is becoming increasingly
difficult to find on the Internet) will eventually result in a
"no root disk controller found" error.
Start a command-line session by clicking "Start /
Run...", typing "cmd", and pressing [Enter].
Make the drive where "mmunix.exe" resides the current drive
by typing "{drive}:" (where {drive} is the drive
letter for the drive where mmunix.exe resides) and pressing
[Enter].
Make the directory where "mmunix.exe" resides the current
directory by typing "CD {path}" (where {path} is
the path where mmunix.exe resides) and pressing
[Enter].
Extract the "BusLogic Multimaster BT-958 BTLD" diskette
creator by typing mmunix and pressing
[Enter].
Create the "BusLogic Multimaster BT-958 BTLD" diskette by
typing "unix a:", pressing [Enter], and
confirming that you do wish to continue.
Close the command-line session by typing "exit"
and pressing [Enter].
Insert the "SCO OpenServer CD-ROM" into the CD-ROM drive,
and insert the "BusLogic Multimaster BT-958 BTLD" diskette
into the diskette drive.
Return to VMware and start the new virtual machine by selecting
"Power / Power On" (or by pressing [Ctrl-B]).
Enter the virtual machine's BIOS setup utility by quickly
clicking inside the virtual machine window and pressing [F2].
Select the "Boot" settings page by pressing
[Right] three times.
Use [Up], [Down], [+] and [-] to
rearrange the boot order so that "CD-ROM Drive" is
first and "Hard Drive" is second.
Use [Up] or [Down] to select the "Hard
Drive" and press [Enter] to expand the selection.
Use [Up] or [Down] to select the "VMware
Virtual IDE Hard-(PM)", then use [-] to rearrange
the boot order so that it is last in the boot order.
Save the BIOS settings and exit the BIOS setup utility by
pressing [F10] and confirming that you wish to "Save
configuration changes and exit now?".
Note regarding floppy drives and VMware:
For some unknown reason, VMware seems to have frequent problems
connecting to the diskette drive when booting a virtual machine. If you
receive a warning stating that VMware could not connect to the floppy
drive, click "OK" to dispense with the warning(s). Then, click the
"Reset" toolbar icon (or press [Ctrl-R]) to recycle power
to the virtual machine. After a few tries, you should eventually be able
to start the virtual machine with the floppy drive connected.
At the "Boot:" prompt, type "restart
link=blc Sdsk=blc(0,0,0,0) Srom=wd(0,0,0,0)" and press
[Enter].
Note regarding bootstring:
I have received feedback to this article that indicates that adding
"mem=64k-128m" to the bootstring will work-around the error
message: "Warning: can't allocate page counts for pstart loading
RAM disk image fd(64)rootFS memory excessively fragmented (inuse map full)".
At the "Please insert the fd(65)blc volume and press
<Return>, or 'q' to quit:" prompt, press [Enter]
(and then be patient).
At the "Please enter ..." prompt, type
"a" and press [Enter].
At the "Press <Enter> to begin installation"
prompt, press [Enter].
At the "Please insert (blc) package BTLD disk
..." prompt, press [Enter].
At the "Installing SCO OpenServer(TM) software
..." prompt, press [Enter] to
"Continue" and press [Enter] again to
"Accept".
At the "Media device to be used:" prompt,
specify "IDE CD ROM".
At the "IDE Controller:" prompt, specify
"primary".
At the "Master or Slave:" prompt, specify
"slave".
Press [Enter] until you confirm the "Accept above
choices" prompt.
At the "Insert your installation CD-ROM ..."
prompt, press [Enter].
At the "Keyboard:" prompt, specify "US
English" (or whatever is appropriate for your
circumstances), and press [Enter] until you confirm the
"Accept above choices" prompt.
At the "License number:" prompt, enter a valid
license number and press [Enter].
At the "License code:" prompt, enter a valid
license code and press [Enter].
Press [Enter] until you confirm the "Accept above
choices" prompt.
At the "Suitability for automatic Upgrade"
prompt, choose "Fresh" and press [Enter].
At the "Select OK to continue." prompt, choose
"OK" and press [Enter].
On the "Configuring the basic system" screen,
complete the choices as appropriate and press [Enter] until
you confirm the "Accept above choices" prompt.
On the "Initial system profile" screen, complete
the choices as appropriate and press [Enter] until you
confirm the "Accept above choices" prompt.
On the "Preparing your disk and choosing
software" screen, specify a "Hard disk
setup:" of "UNIX only : Bad Blocking OFF".
At the "Optional software:" prompt, specify
whatever optional software is appropriate for your circumstances and
press [Enter] until you confirm the "Accept above
choices" prompt.
On the "Configuring optional software" screen,
specify a "Network card:" of
"Autodetect", which should result in "AMD
PCNet- PCI" being detected.
Still on the "Configuring optional software"
screen, "Video and graphics:" should already specify
"VESA SVGA".
Still on the "Configuring optional software"
screen, specify whatever remaining settings are appropriate for your
circumstances and press [Enter] until you confirm the
"Accept above choices" prompt.
On the "Setting your root password" screen,
specify and confirm your root password and press [Enter]
until you confirm the "Accept above choices" prompt.
At the "The installation can now proceed
unattended." prompt, choose "OK" and press
[Enter].
At the "Please select the floppy device you are
using:" prompt, choose "(2) /dev/fd1".
(I know this is the wrong floppy device, but there is a method to the
madness, so stick with me here. We already loaded the blc driver
when we booted, so the installation can complete without reloading
it. After the installation, at boot-time, we will load the driver
once again, and then manually install the blc driver to the root
filesystem using btldinstall.)
At the "Please insert the floppy for BTLD package: blc
and press <Return>:" prompt, press [Enter].
At the "mount: Bad address, Could not mount the BTLD
floppy ..." prompt, choose "(b) Abort BTLD load, but
continue installation".
At this point, the installation will continue unattended. (Be
patient.)
At the "Press <Enter> to continue:" prompt,
press [Enter].
At the "Press <Enter> to continue" prompt, press
[Enter].
At the "Safe to Power Off ..." prompt, press any
key.
Leave the "SCO OpenServer CD-ROM" and the "BusLogic
MultiMaster BT-958 BTLD" diskette in place.
See note above about floppy drives and VMware, and ensure that
the diskette drive is connected.
At the "Boot:" prompt, type "fd(64)unix
link=blc root=hd(42) swap=hd(41)" and press [Enter].
At the "Please insert the fd(65)blc volume and press
<Return>, or 'q' to quit:" prompt, press [Enter]
(and then be patient).
At the "Please enter ..." prompt, type
"a" and press [Enter].
At the "Type CONTROL-d to proceed ..." prompt,
enter your chosen root password and press [Enter].
At the "#" prompt, type "mount
/dev/fd0135ds18 /mnt" and press [Enter].
At the "#" prompt, type "btldinstall
/mnt" and press [Enter].
At the "Please enter the names of the packages you wish
to install, or q to quit" prompt, type
"blc" and press [Enter].
At the "There is already a blc installed. ..."
prompt, choose "y" and press [Enter].
At the "A previous installation of BusLogic driver,
'blc', has been detected. ..." prompt, choose
"n" and press [Enter].
At the "Are you installing on a PCI-compliant host
adapter? (y/n):" prompt, choose "y" and
press [Enter].
At the "Do you want to enable Tag Queuing now?
(y/n):" prompt, choose "y" and press
[Enter].
At the "Do you want to rebuild the kernel now?
(y/n):" prompt, choose "y" and press
[Enter].
At the "Do you want this kernel to boot by default?
(y/n):" prompt, choose "y" and press
[Enter].
At the "Do you want the kernel environment rebuilt?
(y/n):" prompt, choose "y" and press
[Enter].
At the "#" prompt, type "scologin
disable" and press [Enter].
Note regarding running the SCO GUI under VMware:
The SCO GUI does not appear to work well (if at all) with VMware. This
is probably largely because, since VMware does not support OpenServer,
(unlike Linux and Windows) there is no accelerated video driver provided
for it. If you require the GUI, then consider using VNC to access the
GUI remotely from your host operating system. I have complete
instructions and installation scripts for use installing TightVNC onto
OpenServer at http://www.PrestigeComputing.com
