Dear all,
I recently came up with a virtual machine suitable for VMware player that carries a DotLRN 2.2.0a1 instance including all XoTcl extensions (XOTcl 1.3.9, see www.xotcl.org), hosted by an Ubuntu 5.10 server installation. Note that I did not use any VM image authoring tool (VMware workstation, GSX, ESX or similar) but followed a couple of hacks originally discussed at http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000153064739/ and slashdot. This implies either savings in terms of licence costs or it simply means that you don't have to breach IPRs on authoring tools.
Please, find a distribution at http://julia.wu-wien.ac.at/~ssoberni/vDotLEARN-0.1.tar.bz2 (tared / bzipped: 297mb; untared / un-bzipped: ~740mb)
Developed / tested on WinXP PRO SP2 & Ubuntu 5.10 (host systems) using VMware player 1 (b18587)
My intention is to easen the setup of appropriate working environments, especially for WINDOWSed students of mine currently engaging in OACS / DotLRN development tasks. However, it is a comfortable development and testing environment and a sandbox / show case for an XoTclized DotLRN / OACS.
Note:
* Ubuntu comes with German / Austrian env settings (system language is default English), you will have to adjust accordingly. keyboard layout is international Generic-105.
=====================================================
vDotLEARN
0.1
=====================================================
stefan.sobernig(at)wu-wien.ac.at
-----------------------------------------------------
This virtual machine features:
* Ubuntu / Debian 5.10 (minimal / server installation)
* Aolserver 4.0.10 (patched for ad_returnfile_background support, see http://media.wu-wien.ac.at/download/xowiki-doc/xotcl-apm.html)
* Postgresql 7.4
* DotLRN 2.2.0a1 (OACS 5.2.0rc1)
* xotcl-core & extension family (based on XOTcl 1.3.9, see http://media.wu-wien.ac.at/download/xowiki-doc/xotcl-apm.html)
User account: dotlearner / dtpwd (use sudo for obtaining super-user permissions)
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Steps to get your DotLRN virtual machine up and running:
1> Obtain a copy of VMware player at http://www.vmware.com/download/player/ and install it
2> Having extracted the vDotLRN distribution archive, double-click on dotlrn.vmx
(on windows host systems)
and watch your virtual machine / Ubuntu starting
3> Wait for the Ubuntu login prompt and type in your credentials (see above)
4> You are set ---
-----------------------------------------------------
Steps to get DotLRN up and running:
1> Verify that your network interface (eth0) is mounted and got assigned
an IP (this assumes that you allow VMPlayer to bridge your host system's network
interfaces or your host system provides NAT to the virtual machine)
# ifup eth0
Note: I tweaked DotLRN's config.tcl and daemontools/run script in order to directly extract
the IP address the AOLServer is supposed to listen at (port 80) from eth0's configuration
(/sbin/ifconfig eth0)
2> start DotLRN instance as super user (sudo)
# sudo /var/lib/aolserver/dotlrn/etc/daemontools/run &> /dev/null &
Note: Including Daemontools support is just a matter of taste, feel free to do so.
=====================================================
How-to create a VM(ware) image carrying Ubuntu / Aolserver 4.0
/ DotLEARN 2.2.0a1 suitable for VMware Player WITHOUT an image authoring tool?
(This outline basically draws upon an in-depth discussion at
http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000153064739/ and comments thereon)
1> Create a raw vmdk image by means of QEMU (see http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/ or
http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~qemu-win/ for a windows port):
# qemu-img create -f vdmk dotlrn.vmdk 1G
2> Create a *.vmx configuration file using the template dotlrn.vmx (see distribution archive); adjust the following
section according to your needs (don't modify the template except from the sections indicated below,
it deals with some pecularities that come with SCSI emulation for IDE devices as done by the VMware Player):
#1
--
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.filename = "%your-vmdk-just-created%" # either a relative or absolute path
--
#2
--
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "auto detect"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
--OR
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "%path-to-your-install-iso%"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
--
When VMPlayer mounts the image and enters into the boot process, by having set #2, you can then
switch the actual boot handling to either a cdrom residing in your host system or a bootable
image of such a cdrom by pressing ESC at the boot prompt. I used (either way) a recent Ubuntu 5.10 distribution cd.
3> Get a recent VMware Player from http://www.vmware.com/download/player/ and install
it
4> double-click your *.vmx file and wait for the boot prompt to appear. Then press ESC and watch
your VM booting from your bootable cd / image. Go through the (Ubuntu, Win ...) installation process as usual.
5> Enjoy playing around with your distributable / IPR-compliant VM image; in my case, setting up a DotLRN instance.
