Linux nerds! Help convert me to Caldera!

[genericname]

Sick and tired of dealing with the sloppiness that is Flexi, and the randomness of errors I get from Onyx, I'd like to give Caldera a try.

I can't afford to take our RIP system down to set up a dual-boot just to try something out though, so I'm trying to run Caldera through a VM VirtualBox install of Debian. Problem is, when trying to do a GUI install of Caldera's distro, it completely locks up. Found out why by trying to do an advanced install, as it gives me the following error:

This kernel requires an x86-64 CPU, but only detected an i686 CPU.
Unable to boot - please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU.

Everything I've found points to this being an issue with virtualization technology, but I'm still getting the error after enabling all virtualization in my BIOS.

Ideas?

----------------------------
HP xw8600 Workstation
Intel Xeon X5450 3GHz
XP Pro - SP3
4GB of RAM (Registering in XP as 3GB, of course)

Running Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.1.8

 

[genericname]

This kernel requires an x86-64 CPU

Awwww fer- Ok, looks like I answered part of that question myself. I have this system on a dual boot with win7, and that's 64bit, but not this install of XP. Oy.

Caldera's Debian distro was only released as x64, so I'm going to try their older com Kubuntu. Ugh.

 

[Suz]

Awwww fer- Ok, looks like I answered part of that question myself. I have this system on a dual boot with win7, and that's 64bit, but not this install of XP. Oy.

Caldera's Debian distro was only released as x64, so I'm going to try their older com Kubuntu. Ugh.

Generic, sounds like you are on the right track now... I'm working toward same thing but may abandon the PC ship and go Mac. Do you have an nvidia processor in that PC. You probably do, but just checking. Not sure what Caldera would recommend if you do try the Kubuntu 32 bit, but they highly recommend that you go with the Nvidia with their newest Debian software when your OS is 64 bit PC. Just trying to save you a little time if you did not catch that fact yet. Too late for me, I have to return the cute little PC laptop I got but that is okay.

For me, might be easier to just get an Imac or whatever the Mac world offers.

 

[MatthewTimothy]

my 1st question is what are your "errors" you are normally getting with flexi and onyx?? It may be something as simple as a driver update.

Generic, sounds like you are on the right track now... I'm working toward same thing but may abandon the PC ship and go Mac. Do you have an nvidia processor in that PC. You probably do, but just checking. Not sure what Caldera would recommend if you do try the Kubuntu 32 bit, but they highly recommend that you go with the Nvidia with their newest Debian software when your OS is 64 bit PC. Just trying to save you a little time if you did not catch that fact yet. Too late for me, I have to return the cute little PC laptop I got but that is okay.

For me, might be easier to just get an Imac or whatever the Mac world offers.

thats the nice thing with server 2010 for windows. It has a built in plugin for running an Outlook mail server into a mac. Ive read a little about this but I am really wanting to try it out.

 

[Suz]

my 1st question is what are your "errors" you are normally getting with flexi and onyx?? It may be something as simple as a driver update.




thats the nice thing with server 2010 for windows. It has a built in plugin for running an Outlook mail server into a mac. Ive read a little about this but I am really wanting to try it out.

Hi Matt, I have no clue about the server 2010 for windows but will check that out, there is so much to learn. I feel like I am all over the board on what to do about this. Thanks!

 

[MatthewTimothy]

Hi Matt, I have no clue about the server 2010 for windows but will check that out, there is so much to learn. I feel like I am all over the board on what to do about this. Thanks!

agreed, it is indeed a task for an IT team. I have spent many years just learning how to build machines, network, and all the ins and outs of a networking system. It is more of a hobby. In the end I do spend less than going to a retail store and buying one. Only issue is the support, I generally have to provide it myself but you would have to do that after a yr or two anyways. I typically build my workstations with the same specs and run a backup software so I can mirror the HDD encase anything were to go wrong and the machine was needed to be taken out of the network/offline. Helps out greatly when I build a new rig and dont want to spend a TON of time loading all the software. I just plug in the cd and go

 

[jhanson]

As long as you have an extra hard drive, you can simply disconnect the hard drive with Windows installed, connect the new drive, and then do a stock install of Caldera Debian onto it. If you ever need to go back to Windows, just swap the cable to the old hard drive. (Obviously, any cable swapping should be done with the workstation OFF...)

I generally don't consider it a good idea to run RIP software in a virtual machine since RIPing tends to be very processor, network and CPU-intensive, and many drivers (e.g. USB printers, EyeOne) will not work well (or at all) in a VM.

 

[round man]

it sounds like you are running your virtual emulator on a 64 bit processor with a 32 bit operating system,...the emulator is only going to see the processor that the host operating system utilizes,...while there may actually be a 64 bit processor in the machine the emulator is running in a 32 bit operation host os and will only function in that 32 bit mode,...

edited to add,....the idea of booting from an external drive is an excellent solution to your problem,....virtual machines are probably not a good solution to a rip process and an external drive can load the os and utilize the full potential of the machines hardware without taking a working machine offline,...all you have to do to change back to a system you know is functioning properly is reboot from the original internal drive as it normally would,...

 

[genericname]

Not sure what Caldera would recommend if you do try the Kubuntu 32 bit, but they highly recommend that you go with the Nvidia with their newest Debian software when your OS is 64 bit PC.

No problem there. Definitely have an Nvidia GPU.

my 1st question is what are your "errors" you are normally getting with flexi and onyx?? It may be something as simple as a driver update.

Flexi's an overall sloppy mess; it crashes regularly, loses preferences, doesn't save job states, and its colour profiling sucks.

While I prefer Onyx to Flexi in just about every area (though layout tools would be awesome), we've been getting messed up resizing issues lately, as per another thread I've started. I'm just looking for an alternative, should Onyx prove too unreliable down the road.

Both programs, while not the newest versions, have been fully updated and patched.

As long as you have an extra hard drive, you can simply disconnect the hard drive with Windows installed, connect the new drive, and then do a stock install of Caldera Debian onto it. If you ever need to go back to Windows, just swap the cable to the old hard drive. (Obviously, any cable swapping should be done with the workstation OFF...)

That's just one of the finicky problems here. I was hoping to give Caldera a quick test run before going all hardcore and doing a standalone install. I could easily just set up a multiboot, but there are networked drives associated with this RIP station, and constantly rebooting to switch into different environments to test or print a job would create havoc in this workplace.

it sounds like you are running your virtual emulator on a 64 bit processor with a 32 bit operating system,...

I quickly realized that this is exactly what was going on, which is why I went with an older 32-bit distro of Caldera's custom Kubuntu. If I like the setup, I'll eventually go with a full, clean install of Debian, which will let me take advantage of the 64-bit processor, but for the time being, I really just need to give it a test flight in a virtual environment. Not the best test ground for it, I know, but I have limited time and resources at the moment.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I quickly realized that this is exactly what was going on, which is why I went with an older 32-bit distro of Caldera's custom Kubuntu. If I like the setup, I'll eventually go with a full, clean install of Debian, which will let me take advantage of the 64-bit processor, but for the time being, I really just need to give it a test flight in a virtual environment. Not the best test ground for it, I know, but I have limited time and resources at the moment.

Knowing that, how can you accurately gauge your results in determining if Caldera is the right one for you if you are testing it in less then ideal conditions?

 

[genericname]

Just getting it printing is my first step. I figure the most challenging part for the virtual environment will just be getting the RIP to communicate with the printers. Anything past that is gravy. If it works, I don't have to waste my time with a clean install just to test a few features.

After printing, I want to test size compensation, and colour profiling. Should I need to do a clean install to get satisfactory results, I'll figure it out, but that's a worst case scenario.

 

[signswi]

VirtualBox allows hardware passthrough to host OS so getting the VB Caldera install to see your printers shouldn't be a big deal.

You could always use a Live CD installed onto a usb flash drive to run Ubuntu/Debian from and skip the whole "host OS" issue. As long as you keep some decent space free on the drive for the Caldera install & updates it should work perfectly. An 8GB usb flash drive would do the trick I think.

 

[garyinspringhill]

linux switch over

If I can make a point:

I'd use either Ubuntu or Mint they are very well polished for desktop use and with wine installed older versions of coreldraw/illustrator and some of your windows cutting software will work fine or you can use my cutting software google "Tux Plot" from inkscape , sk1 etc. No need for virtualbox at all. If you can find a p4 3ghz gig of ram and a couple hundred gig hd your good to go. The integrated intel video works great with desktop effects but of course nvidia is the best.
After it's installed email me for ways to get your desktop looking and running great.
By the way install 11.04 not 11.10 unless you like the Unity desktop? Look on youtube for Ubuntu Unity.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

You can use the Gnome shell on 11.10. Get rid of the Unity dock and use Docky instead. Just have to work at it but you can get it done.

With regard to Wine, its good, but look at their application list and see the quality ranking of the software in question. You also might have to tweak Wine as well to work. Its nice to have, but not an absolute work in all situations.

 

[jhanson]

Honestly, I would just use Caldera's Debian distribution. Debian isn't quite as bleeding edge as Ubuntu, so they're still using GNOME 2; GNOME 3 so far has proven to be a complete train-wreck as far as the GUI goes. And since Ubuntu is built on Debian, they're both very user-friendly.

And if you want to find out what the latest version of a Windows program you can run (more or less) safely under WINE, check this out:

http://appdb.winehq.org/