[ubuntu-us-mi] JeOS 9.04 in a VBox VM on 8.04

[Robert Citek]

Does anyone have any insight on how I can install JeOS 9.04 in a
VirtualBox virtual machine that is running under Ubuntu 8.04?

All I need is a 1 GB virtual machine with a simple bash shell and
networking. VirtualBox 1.5.6_OSE that comes with Ubuntu 8.04 does not
support PAE. The kernel that installs under JeOS 9.04 seems to
require PAE.

Is there a boot option for turning off PAE? A google search and a
'man bootparam' suggest there isn't.

Any suggestions?

I'm thinking of installing JeOS 8.04 and then doing a dist-upgrade.

I was hoping that I could install the Desktop version and then strip
things back down, but the Desktop version of Ubuntu 9.04 requires much
more space than 1 GB. And stripping it back down seems to obviate the
whole point of having JeOS.

Which brings up the question of, why does JeOS have the PAE option in
the kernel? If I have more than enough RAM to warrant PAE, why would
I need Just Enough OS? I'd just run a full-blown kernel.

Regards,
- Robert

[Ben Rousch]

Post by Robert Citek
Does anyone have any insight on how I can install JeOS 9.04 in a
VirtualBox virtual machine that is running under Ubuntu 8.04?
All I need is a 1 GB virtual machine with a simple bash shell and
networking. ?VirtualBox 1.5.6_OSE that comes with Ubuntu 8.04 does not
support PAE. ?The kernel that installs under JeOS 9.04 seems to
require PAE.

The Ubuntu server install is quite small and barebones if you don't
pick any extra stuff to install. You can still get 9.04 if 9.10 is too
awesome. http://releases.ubuntu.com/9.04/

Post by Robert Citek
Is there a boot option for turning off PAE? ?A google search and a
'man bootparam' suggest there isn't.
Any suggestions?
I'm thinking of installing JeOS 8.04 and then doing a dist-upgrade.
I was hoping that I could install the Desktop version and then strip
things back down, but the Desktop version of Ubuntu 9.04 requires much
more space than 1 GB. ?And stripping it back down seems to obviate the
whole point of having JeOS.

It would be much easier to start from the server install, or maybe the
alternate install without a GUI. I remember trying to strip down a
Desktop install a while ago and there were a lot of useless little
things that always hung around.

Post by Robert Citek
Which brings up the question of, why does JeOS have the PAE option in
the kernel? ?If I have more than enough RAM to warrant PAE, why would
I need Just Enough OS? ?I'd just run a full-blown kernel.
Regards,
- Robert
--
ubuntu-us-mi mailing list
ubuntu-us-mi at lists.ubuntu.com
Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-us-mi

[Robert Citek]

Post by Ben Rousch

Post by Robert Citek
Does anyone have any insight on how I can install JeOS 9.04 in a
VirtualBox virtual machine that is running under Ubuntu 8.04?

The Ubuntu server install is quite small and barebones if you don't
pick any extra stuff to install. You can still get 9.04 if 9.10 is too
awesome. http://releases.ubuntu.com/9.04/

Trying 9.04 server now. I got a hunch that the server install will
include a PAE kernel. We'll see.

Post by Ben Rousch

Post by Robert Citek
Any suggestions?

It would be much easier to start from the server install, or maybe the
alternate install without a GUI. I remember trying to strip down a
Desktop install a while ago and there were a lot of useless little
things that always hung around.

I tried the alternate CD but it still installed the GUI ( or rather it
tried before it ran out of disk space.) How does one specify to not
install the GUI?

Regards,
- Robert

[Robert Citek]

Post by Ben Rousch

Post by Robert Citek
Does anyone have any insight on how I can install JeOS 9.04 in a
VirtualBox virtual machine that is running under Ubuntu 8.04?

The Ubuntu server install is quite small and barebones if you don't
pick any extra stuff to install. You can still get 9.04 if 9.10 is too
awesome. http://releases.ubuntu.com/9.04/

Trying 9.04 server now. ?I got a hunch that the server install will
include a PAE kernel. ?We'll see.

Works. The trick is that the server install installed the -generic
kernel. Once it booted, I installed the -server then the -virtual
kernel. Neither would boot because of the issue with PAE.

So, the server install is not really the server install I thought it
was. It was more like installing the Desktop install but without the
GUI. If one really wants the server kernel, then 'sudo apt-get
install linux-image-server'.

The server install is also a bit bigger than the JeOS install. JeOS
took up about 350 MB. The server install takes up about 550 MB. Not
a big deal, but it's a 60% increase in space for stuff I don't need.
Oh, well. At least it's working.

Regards,
- Robert

[Scott Moser]

Post by Robert Citek
Which brings up the question of, why does JeOS have the PAE option in
the kernel? If I have more than enough RAM to warrant PAE, why would
I need Just Enough OS? I'd just run a full-blown kernel.

Well,
the -virtual kernel (which I'm guessing is used by jeos) is a "sub
flavour" of the -server kernel. What "sub flavour" means is that it is a
proper subset. Simply it is the same vmlinuz with less modules, thus
requiring a smaller disk footprint.
If I recall correctly, the kernel team is hoping to move away from i386
non pae kernels entirely, as there simply isn't a lot of hardware that
can't do pae, and the pae overhead is somewhat small . This is largely
memory of a conversation I had once, so it could be way off base.

I'm surprised that virtualbox can't boot the kernel, that is a somewhat
serious issue. I'm guessing thats because you've got an older virtualbox
version with 8.04. Just from googling it seems newer virtualbox supports
pae. http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog .

Scott

[Robert Citek]

? If I recall correctly, the kernel team is hoping to move away from i386
non pae kernels entirely, as there simply isn't a lot of hardware that
can't do pae, and the pae overhead is somewhat small . ?This is largely
memory of a conversation I had once, so it could be way off base.

I would have thought one would want to have the lowest
common-denominator. That is, make it so everyone can install and
boot, and those that want/need more can install the fancy stuff later.
Some ways to achieve that:

1) use a non-PAE kernel and offer a PAE kernel in the repositories
2) have the option to turn off PAE in a PAE kernel (google for
"nopae" gets lots of Windows hits)
3) choose which type of kernel at install time, defaulting to non-PAE

? I'm surprised that virtualbox can't boot the kernel, that is a somewhat
serious issue. ?I'm guessing ?thats because you've got an older virtualbox
version with 8.04. ?Just from googling it seems newer virtualbox supports
pae. ?http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog .

Yes, the version of VBox that comes with Ubuntu 8.04 does not support
PAE. But the latest version of VBox hasn't been back-ported.

Regards,
- Robert