VMware Player 3.1.5

Virtual machines, emulation, etc.
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TheAsterisk!
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VMware Player 3.1.5

#1 Post by TheAsterisk! »

http://www.vmware.com/products/player/

You'll need the devx and kernel source files for whichever Puppy version you plan to use. (I've tested it on Puppy 431, Lucid 511 through 528, and on Slacko 531.)
EDIT: There is a note and an additional dependency for Lucid 520 through 528 in the thread's third post.

Before anyone gets their hopes up too high, VMware's license (if I've read it correctly) states that I can't (re)distribute the actual binary, so you'll still have to get that from their site yourself.
Having said that, I've put together a dotpet to install their binary *.bundle file. Arguably, it abuses the pinstall.sh and puninstall.sh scripts' purposes, but it works, and the ultimate aim is to use it to allow everyone to package up their own VMware Player SFS, if they want to.

CAUTION! VMware Player may not work with 3-series kernel versions. More information to come after confirmation and some tests.

WARNING! Sometimes, the limited user "spot" and the "su" command can get messed up and rendered inoperable in Lucid Puppies when loading multiple large SFS files. (I don't know the underlying cause, but the problem is not present in Slacko 530/531.) The VMware SFS, if you choose to make one, is no exception. Keep that in mind, and plan accordingly.

Here's the dotpet:
vmware_player-3.1.5-491717.i386.pet
Use this if you plan to make an SFS file with my script later.

There is also an alternate installer which instead installs the VMware Player software to a folder in /mnt/home, freeing up savefile space without the need to later build an SFS.
vmware_player-3.1.5-491717.i386_alt.pet
Note that this package may not be made into an SFS later, unless you do so on your own, by hand.

md5sums for both packages

The dotpet itself it only a few KB, but it will be used to unpack VMware's *.bundle file, and in doing so you'll end up eating about 300 MB of disk space or savefile. Make sure you're ready for it.

For the dotpet to work, place a copy of the VMware *.bundle into /mnt/home, and then install the pet package. The install script will help it along and fix the *.desktop file. Assuming you have the necessary space, this is all you really need to do.
(Keep a copy of the *.bundle- my script deletes the one at /mnt/home.)


After you've installed the pet, you can opt to create an SFS module from that installation. There's a big, 300 MB reason to do so, if you have a frugal installation and did not elect to use the alternate PET.
I've made a script that will pull together the required files and create an SFS module.

Here it is
vmplayer-3.1.5_sfs_script.tar.gz
md5sum.txt

Just extract it to "/mnt/home/", run it in a terminal, and follow the prompts. The SFS it created on my test runs came out at around 95 to 100 MB.

The SFS it creates is at least to some extent not reliant on the specific kernel of the Puppy you installed the pet and bundle into. I never could get some of the darned drivers to be recognized as a part of an SFS, and it would just recompile them. I eventually just accepted this and omitted the troublesome drivers from the SFS. As a result, it compiles these drivers on the first run from the SFS, and I've been able to run the same SFS on Lucid 511, 520, and 528 and on Puppy 431. If you're adventurous, you could try other versions of Puppy, too.

Once you've made the SFS, you can just uninstall the dotpet from the package manager. I've utilized the puninstall.sh script just as much as pinstall.sh, so it should remove all of VMware's files like a normal package should, and then you can run the SFS cleanly.


If you decide to unload/uninstall the SFS later, there are a few files that will stay behind unless you remove them yourself.
sfs_uninstall_note.txt
Last edited by TheAsterisk! on Mon 07 May 2012, 22:26, edited 18 times in total.

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TheAsterisk!
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#2 Post by TheAsterisk! »

Altogether a bit hacky, but this seems easier to me than blundering about with the *.bundle has always felt.

The following thread was a big help:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=51278

Finally, if using the install scripts like I have is a taboo, let me know right away so I don't do it again. It's actually kind of fun to watch a dotpet installation or removal do so much work! :D

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TheAsterisk!
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#3 Post by TheAsterisk! »

I've only just begun testing Lucid Puppy 520 in preparation for moving all my personal junk to it, and I discovered another dependency for 520.

On the first run, when the VMware drivers compile, I ran it from a terminal and received complaints about GNOME settings that weren't set, and VMware refused to run.
Turns out, the HAL daemon that was in 511 isn't in 520. (Why it instead complains about GNOME stuff is beyond me.)

There is an additional dependency for Lucid 520 and 525!
I've repackaged some Ubuntu Lucid binaries, and they seem to fill the need:
hal-0.5.15-i386.pet
md5sum.txt

The dot-pet is about half a megabyte, installed roughly 1.7 to 1.8 MB.
After installation of this package, you should reboot unless you want to try starting up the HAL daemon manually.

There are also some GConf complaints that amount to nothing important, and you might need to install the higher-performance graphics drivers for your system.


If you opt to create an SFS with my script, it will not include HAL. You'll either need to keep this dot-pet installed or add this dot-pet's contents to the SFS manually.
Last edited by TheAsterisk! on Sun 28 Aug 2011, 06:19, edited 2 times in total.

dickieblack
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#4 Post by dickieblack »

Hi,

Thanks for the effort to make these .pets and the sfs creation script. I have tried this using Lucid Puppy 5.20 and have received a bunch of gconftool errors when I run the vmplayer from a terminal. I have installed the hal pet you provided. The player seems to run though, so I'm not sure if it matters.

However, when I run the create sfs script, I get an error "cp: cannot stat `usr/bin/vmmouse_detect': No such file or directory"

Also, is it possible to have the sfs file include a desktop icon for the player, so that when the sfs is loaded it appears on the desktop, but when it is not loaded it doesn't (in the same way that the open office one does? I know it is only a very minor thing, but it would be extremely helpful :-)

Many thanks,

Richard

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TheAsterisk!
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#5 Post by TheAsterisk! »

dickieblack wrote:Hi,

Thanks for the effort to make these .pets and the sfs creation script.
No problem! It kind of became a quest for me, as I've struggled with VMware's *.bundle installers in the past.
I have tried this using Lucid Puppy 5.20 and have received a bunch of gconftool errors when I run the vmplayer from a terminal. I have installed the hal pet you provided. The player seems to run though, so I'm not sure if it matters.
If it matters, it's not terribly critical. Most of those same errors presented themselves on all the versions I tested, but the VMs all run just fine, creating new VMs works, etc.
However, when I run the create sfs script, I get an error "cp: cannot stat `usr/bin/vmmouse_detect': No such file or directory"
That file is (sometimes) created after running a VM, so I wrote my script to package it up. If it isn't present, my somewhat hacky script will just return that error. It's nothing to worry about.
Also, is it possible to have the sfs file include a desktop icon for the player, so that when the sfs is loaded it appears on the desktop, but when it is not loaded it doesn't (in the same way that the open office one does? I know it is only a very minor thing, but it would be extremely helpful :-)
I'll see if I can't figure out how to do that. If and when I do, I'll update my script and note the change somewhere in this thread.
In the meantime, there should be a menu entry under "Menu -> System -> System Status and Config -> VMware Player" if you just don't want to launch it from the terminal. If it's not showing up, let me know.
EDIT: Oops! That's where the menu entry is in Lucid Puppy! In 431, it's just "Menu -> System -> VMware Player" instead.
Many thanks,

Richard
Glad I can help!
Last edited by TheAsterisk! on Sun 30 Jan 2011, 14:21, edited 2 times in total.

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666philb
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#6 Post by 666philb »

Hi TheAsterisk!

I'm having a bit of trouble. on lucid puppy 520

i've installed the 'devx', and the 'hal-0.5.15-i386.pet', and the install goes fine.
But when i try to start vmware though i get this error, ... any ideas?

thanks

666philb
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666philb
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#7 Post by 666philb »

It's ok i found the solution in this thread.........

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=51278

i needed the 'kernel_src_L4-2.6.33.2-patched.sfs' which works fine with lucid puppy 520

Thanks for the good work TheAsterisk!!!!
i really appreciate it. I think it breaths new life into puppy!

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TheAsterisk!
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#8 Post by TheAsterisk! »

Updated the sfs script. Now it will present an option in the terminal to include a desktop icon/shortcut.

Note that the sfs-creation archive (script and a few extra files) must be extracted to and run from /mnt/home/ to work correctly.

Nothing else has changed, so if a desktop icon isn't important to you (or you can create one by hand), you don't need to start over, replacing the older gzipped script. In all cases, the dot-pet that installs the *.bundle is unchanged.


@666philb: If something bugs me and I can help remedy it, then I give it a shot. Thanks for the kind words!

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Luluc
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#9 Post by Luluc »

Hi. I am a Puppy newbie and this is my very first post here.

I've been testing Puppy for a couple of days, I find it very interesting. VMplayer is one very important component for me. I never bothered to research the particulars of its installation on Puppy. I just went ahead and installed it the regular way, i.e. the way it is installed in other distros. It didn't work, of course. Slap on my forehead. Now I want to try following this procedure here, but first I want to uninstall the existing installation. If only I knew how to do that. Do you, people?

I suppose I could just run vmware-uninstall, but I thought that maybe I should come here and ask for some input before I do something stupid in this peculiar distro.

nooby
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#10 Post by nooby »

I've tested several linux distros on Puppy using Vbox. How does VMware player behave compared to latest pet for Vbox for Puppy?
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

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Luluc
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#11 Post by Luluc »

I haven't tried Virtual Box on Puppy. I have tried it on Slackware, Suse and Ubuntu several times over the last four years and the result was always the same -- painfully slow, unusable.

DPUP5520
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#12 Post by DPUP5520 »

I'd have to disagree with Luluc's post about Vbox being way too slow, I've been using it on puppy for a while now to run XP and 7 and it works just fine, maybe not as fast as they would run installed but just fine none the less. Vbox is also alot easier for me as I run live-cds and Vbox doesn't take up all that much space whereas putting VMWARE together in a live cd is a pain and winds up being Huge due to requiring the kernel source files and devx sfs

nooby
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#13 Post by nooby »

I know nothing about VMware that is why I got curious on this thread.

Vbox are rather easy to learn how to set it up but are slow while VMware are fast executing but steeper learning curve how to get everything working smoothly together.

Edit ah so Vbox is not that slow? DPUP5520 that sound reassuring but then it must have been me doing it wrong because some linux distros took forever to and locked up all the time.

But I love all such things so good that we also have VMware for puppy.
We have Qemu too and what about that Zen thing. Are them painfully slow or hard to set up?

The good thing about them all are that one can test drive doing installs in the virtual so one get a bit experience of how programs behave but it is so different from the real thing so it is not so easy to know how a real install would behave.

One way would be to use VMware on lupu and then install lupu again and compare the speed of things?
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

DPUP5520
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#14 Post by DPUP5520 »

Nooby I think the bigger possibility why it runs fine for me is because of my box, I only have a few older boxes and run different OSs on them and all the puppies I test are on boxes that have been put together/built in the last few years. I use Vbox on the puppy that I run on my laptop that I use for work at home I suppose if I ran it on a bit of an older system with a slower cpu and less ram it would probably slow down signifigantly

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TheAsterisk!
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#15 Post by TheAsterisk! »

I tend to use VMware, only because VBox holds my hand so much that it occasionally limits my options. For instance, VBox will throw up loads of warnings and sometimes refuse to run if you assign >50% of the physical RAM to the VM, but VMware just nods and chugs on merrily. When running a bloated system like Windows on top of the minimally demanding Puppy, I don't feel like I should have to reserve 768 MB of memory for Puppy just because I've already assigned 768 MB to Windows, when really Puppy can just make do with maybe 384 MB while running the VM. (A Windows VM needs all the extra help and muscle I can spare it, in my experience.)

For trying out other distributions, though, VBox's comparative simplicity does pretty well, and it's fine if you aren't trying to push your machine farther than you really ought to. I run FreeDOS in VBox, too, since the memory and processor demands are almost inconsequential.

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VERSION UPDATE

#16 Post by TheAsterisk! »

Updated to version 3.1.4.
Main/first post reflects this update.


Version 3.1.3 files are still available @ http://www.silverdollarsolutions.com/Pu ... re_Player/.

Darkgame
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#17 Post by Darkgame »

i dont get it. Ubuntu's repo and pclinuxos' repo have vmplayer, so why puppy cant?
Well, im having trouble installing this. The pet doesnt see my bundle, i know as it is not deleted. It is in /mnt/home, and the categories is NONE.
I wish u can slam a pet or sfs, without the need of the bundle

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TheAsterisk!
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#18 Post by TheAsterisk! »

Darkgame wrote:i dont get it. Ubuntu's repo and pclinuxos' repo have vmplayer, so why puppy cant?
I wish u can slam a pet or sfs, without the need of the bundle
The VMware license says you have to apply and be approved to be a redistributor.
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/faqs.html
I'd bet Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, applied. I don't have the means to do that, though, and I don't know that Puppy does either.

The application asks for a job title and a company contact. :lol: Puppy is nearly anarchy, so I don't think that'll work.
Maybe if one of Puppy's big guns like BarryK applied for it, it could stand a chance of happening, but I'm pretty sure my word and name carry little to no weight with VMware.

Anyway, just trying to stay legal. :)
Well, im having trouble installing this. The pet doesnt see my bundle, i know as it is not deleted. It is in /mnt/home, and the categories is NONE.
Are you using the exact same version of *.bundle and *.pet? My script only works for one version per PET package, so if, say, you tried to run the 3.1.3 PET with a 3.1.4 bundle installer- or vice versa- then it will just blink errors at you, uselessly.

You'll also want to make sure the bundle is executable.

If that checks out and it's something else, then please provide some more information: Puppy version, VMware version (both their bundle and my pet), etc. I'll help as best I can.


EDIT: There's also a dependency, hal, listed on the first page of this thread, with a link to a package. I know it's needed for Lucid 520, but I haven't properly tested 525 yet. It might be necessary on 525, too, so keep that in mind, too.
Last edited by TheAsterisk! on Sun 01 May 2011, 07:40, edited 2 times in total.

Darkgame
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#19 Post by Darkgame »

ok. I wont ask u to do it, just a wish. I wish there is an installer that allows me to point it to the bundle, and install it
puppy 5.2.5, many stuffs removed. Jwm and openbox incl, currently using icewm.
Vmplayer 3.1.4, both pet and bundle.
Yes, the bundle can be executed.
I remembered there is vmplayer 2.5.2.sfs in the wiki. Where did it go?
I will try to install again, with the fresh, unmodified puppy 5.2.5 tommorow

Darkgame
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#20 Post by Darkgame »

unmodified puppy 5.2.5 does not work too.

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