Installing openSUSE 10.3 in Virtual PC 2007 - Part 4 of 4

Step 26 - Online Update
The installer wants to do an online update at this point. Let it go ahead and do it. You may as well at least start off with everything as up to date as possible.	openSUSE_10.3_install_23.gif
Step 27 - Accept Updates
The first thing that updates is the update system. Accept this important update (nobody wants to go into an endless loop).	openSUSE_10.3_install_24.gif
Step 28 - Wait
Wait just a bit again for the YaST update to complete. Once it does, click "Next" to move on.	openSUSE_10.3_install_25.gif
Step 29 - Accept More Updates
I'll bet you thought you were done getting updates. Well, not quite. This time around, there are a bunch. There's a good chance you don't really need all of these updates, but I'm going to stick by my "practice patience" mentality. There is a kernel update and a couple of additional acceptance screens with this update. Just accept everything. It will be ok, I promise.	openSUSE_10.3_install_26.gif
Step 30 - Wait
I'll admit, this wait stinks. Your best bet is to pull open Minesweeper and knock out a few games while the updates install. My connection dropped probably about 20 or 30 times while it was installing. Every time a package fails to download, you will be prompted to retry or abort. Every time I had one fail, I chose "Retry" and the package immediately began to download. The one thing worse than waiting forever for something to install is waiting forever and having to babysit for stupid prompts. Once it's done, click "Next" to actually move on.	openSUSE_10.3_install_27.gif
Step 31 - Reboot
Due to the kernel update (and maybe one of the others), the system will reboot. Try to boot from the newest kernel update (the first on the list). If your reboot fails, openSUSE inserts a "Failsafe" boot option into the bootloader list you can try. The reboot went very smoothly for me.
Step 32 - Choose Authentication Method
If you're a real guru, you may be able to configure one of the network authentication methods. Windows domain authentication is very cool conceptually, but I had no success trying to get it to work at this point. I recommend sticking with the "Local (/etc/passwd)" option at this point. You can change it later - and I'll post an Active Directory authentication tutorial in the future.	openSUSE_10.3_install_28.gif
Step 33 - Configure Local User
I'm a Windows admin (among many other things) by profession, so I like to draw on my Windows knowledge frequently. On any Linux VM, I create an account for "administrator" and use the Windows local machine "Administrator" account's password. This means that all machines in my FOOBAR domain can be logged on using the same username/password combination. You don't have to do this, but I think it helps keep it simple.	openSUSE_10.3_install_29.gif
Step 34 - Release Notes
I always read release notes in detail. Wait, did I say read? I meant ignore.	openSUSE_10.3_install_30.gif
Step 35 - Hardware Configuration
Wait a couple of seconds for the hardware to be probed. All of the video settings are fine. I like to run my VM sessions in 1024x768 resolution (it fits nicely on my secondary 1280x1024 display). Just click on "800x600" and change it to whatever resolution you'd like. I did try to change the monitor settings to more accurately reflect the virtual hardware, but it ended up hosing up X-Windows. So just leave it be.	openSUSE_10.3_install_31.gif
Step 36 - Finish
Finally, the install is finished. Take this time to double check and make sure your wife hasn't left you due to neglect during the install process. Everything ok? Click "Finish" to exit the installer and boot openSUSE for the first time.	openSUSE_10.3_install_32.gif
Step 35 - Login to GNOME
Use that local user account ("administrator") you created a couple of steps ago to log in to a GNOME session.	openSUSE_10.3_install_33.gif
Step 36 - Use openSUSE
Congratulations! You can now use openSUSE as you'd like. If you're a Linux newbie, notice how easy it is to use. An average computer user can easily adapt to use the X Window System (X or X-Windows), and it can be easily deployed on a minimal budget.	openSUSE_10.3_install_34.gif
Installation Summary
Now that the install is complete, there are a couple of quirks I've found, some of which were mentioned earlier in the tutorial: The clock has a tendancy to run slowly. This is some kind of bug that is common to multiple Linux distributions on Virtual PC. It has been suggested to add "clock=pit" or "clocksource=pit" to the boot options to overcome this issue, but, in my experience, that doesn't help at all. Generally, a slow clock will not affect the utility of the system. However, if you are interested in using Active Directory (or kerberos) authentication, it will cause a problem. I don't have a good fix formulated for this as of yet. The sound card doesn't work. Again, this is common to multiple distros. I haven't even tried to fix this because I generally don't care about sound on a VM. The mouse's scroll wheel doesn't work. This one can be fixed easily, if you have enough know-how to manually edit a configuration file. In "/boot/grub/menu.lst", find the line that starts with "kernel /vmlinuz-..." and has "i8042.noloop" in it. After "i8042.noloop", enter "psmouse.proto=imps" (with a space between the entries). Next time you boot up, you'll be able to use the scroll wheel with no problems. The "Join Windows Domain" features that are included in the YaST administration console have not worked at all for me. I was able to overcome this problem, but through many manual changes. If you are interested in full Active Directory integration - including using Windows AD accounts to log into openSUSE, stay tuned. I'll be posting that tutorial in the future. It works, and it is way cool. If you have any questions or comments, please fire away. I'll do my best to respond, and keep your eyes peeled for more obscure entries.