Desktop Tutorial
From Genunix
== OpenSolaris Desktop Tutorial ==
Scope:
This tutorial for the new user of OpenSolaris who wishes to use OpenSolaris as their Desktop OS. As such I will not be focusing on Server use even though Solaris and Unix/GNU/Linux in general has more of a server OS reputation. There are many very good reasons for an average user to choose OpenSolaris as their Desktop OS rather than Windows, GNU, Mac, Linux or any of the other varieties out there. That said, OpenSolaris does have some weaknesses. OpenSolaris is designed to run well, not to run every kind of hardware out there. If you have trouble running OpenSolaris on your hardware, then please use the Device Driver Utility to help us improve hardware support. Also, you will find that other Operating Systems have a lot more software available for them than OpenSolaris currently does. If you want to be able to download and use a certain piece of software but it is not currently supported in OpenSolaris, well, you can wait or you can just move on to a different OS that currently uses that software. We are currently porting as much open source software as we can so in time the application you want or an alternative to it will be available.
Step Zero: Know what the difference is.
There are currently three products that bear the Solaris name. There is of course OpenSolaris but really this is a kernel not an OS. There is also the OpenSolaris OS, which has taken the OpenSolaris kernel and put an open source userland on top of it to make an open source distribution. OpenSolaris OS is not the only OpenSolaris out there. Others have taken the OpenSolaris kernel and created distributions as well. In theory, these should all be compatible with each other. Before there was OpenSolaris OS, Solaris 10 (the current production version) existed along side the Solaris Express Developer Edition. Solaris 10 was for use in you business and the SXDE was the sneak peak / developer edition. The Solaris 10 kernel was open sourced and that kernel became the OpenSolaris kernel. SXDE was taken down and replaced by the OpenSolaris OS. This served for the developer community and was made with all open source software but Sun still needed to give customers a sneak peak OS to see the proprietary software they were producing in house that could not be redistributed as part of an open source OS. So they created the Solaris Express Community Edition. This is the new sneak peak OS and is not meant to be used in business or as your main OS. In this tutorial we will get and install the OpenSolaris OS. Even though this is the “developer” OS of the bunch, it is very well suited to just everyday desktop use in an office or at home. Developers and normal users alike will need to install additional software to get the OS where it needs to be anyway so don't worry about this. We will not be installing the SXCE because even though it has some great software in it that you can't get anywhere else, it lacks some software that we need, like IPS, that makes like much easier for the normal desktop user.
Step One: get a computer.
Visit the OpenSolaris.org web page and view the HCL (hardware compatibility list). If you already have the computer you want to run OpenSolaris on then this is a good place to look to check to see if it is supported. Also, if you do not yet have you computer, you can see the hardware you need to build your own or buy a computer that is on the list. You may find that you can install and run OpenSolaris on a computer that is not on the list, and if this is the case please tell them so that it can be put on the list.
Step Two: download and install OpenSolaris
This step is easy, just download the recent “release” version not the developer version and you will be fine. Once you have it, installing it is easy.
NOTE: This tutorial is for someone who wants to use OpenSolaris as their main OS, not for someone who wants to test it in a VM. That said, it is also for someone who wants to use OpenSolaris to the exclusion of having a separate partition for Windows or any other OS. If yo want to use those other systems then get a computer dedicated to them. OpenSolaris certainly can be used in a VM or on a partition but you can only really use one OS at time so the question is why have it there if you will not be using it.
Step Three: take a look around
You would have had the chance to do this during the install process as it is a Live CD, but this is better as it is your file system and changes that you make will be kept. Don't like two panels, just delete one. Want the clock at the bottom instead of the top, just move it. This is your desktop to do with as you please. You will notice that while you have a full system to work with, you don't have that much in the way of software yet. Your two best friends at this point are Firefox and the Package Manager. The Package Manager is how you get more software for your OS very easily. It is easier then even Windows. Open the Package manager, pick the software you want from a massive list and tell it to download. Pick as much as you want and download it all together if you with. However, let me stop you before you actually do that. Right now all you want to do is see if anything needs to be updated in the base OS. Click the show updates button and update anything that needs to be updated. Before we actually use the IPS let us open Firefox and use the OpenSolaris bookmark button to go to OpenSolaris.org. There you will see a link on the right to register.
Step Four: Register and use the IPS for the first time
Some people do not want to register, that is fine but if you do, you get access to the extras repository. Once you register just follow the instructions for how to get access to this great repository. I suggest copying and pasting the instructions into a text file for future reference. Once you have completed that it is time to fire up the IPS and select the Extras repository. The packages you want to install will be the Flash plugin from Adobe. You also want to get Virtual Box and the fonts packages. If you live in Japan, the Japanese input systems are there as well. I suggest staying away from the Grid technology as that is for servers. Once all the packages you want are installed, it is time to step back and ask a question.
Step Five: OpenOffice or StarOffice
You need to decide at this point if you want OpenOffice or StarOffice. Now that you have registered, you will see back in the main repository that entire wants to be updated and instead of OpenOffice 3.0, you can now download OpenOffice 3.1. Go ahead and update entire. Then if you want to use OpenOffice and don't really care for StarOffice then you can easily just get it. If you get OpenOffice you will need to go to the OpenOffice.org website and get the spelling dictionary so that you can spell check. Alternatively you can decide that you want StarOffice. This is a good choice but does require some work to get. Do you remember your Sun Online Account information? Go to OpenSolaris.org and click the download button. Scroll down until you see the link to the Solaris Express Community Edition. Click the download link. You will now download the SXCE, but don't worry we will not be installing it. Once you have downloaded it you can choose to burn it to a DVD or you can just extract it. Either way you will need to eventually open a command prompt. The command prompt is the old way that Unix used to be done. We now have a great GUI for navigating the system but to do this bit we need to use the command prompt. If you extracted the ISO then you will probably need to put something like this into the terminal; cd Downloads/SOL_11_X86/Solaris_11/Product This brings the command prompt to that folder in the system. On a different desktop use the GUI to go to the same place so that you can see the packages listed. You want to find all the packages that begin with OOO and SUNWstaroffice. Use this command to install them one at a time. This will take some time. pfexec pkgadd -d `pwd` After this you type in the name of the package so if the packages' name is SUNWstaroffice then we type in; pfexec pkgadd -d `pwd` SUNWstaroffice Go through the folder and add all OOO and SUNWstaroffice packages one at a time. Don't worry about the warnings, we will be installing all required files for the program to work. Now that you are finished with that, if you want to pick up Real Player you can but you don't have to. Just use the same command. A hint is to just press up after each package is installed and change the name of the package listed to the next one. With Real Player, you again do not have to worry about the warnings. There are other packages which you could use but we will leave it at that for now.
Step Six: Don't install everything, just what you need
Go through the IPS list of packages. If you don't know what something is, don't worry about it and leave it alone. You want to get things like screen savers, fonts, and other desktop stuff. Once you are done doing that, go back to OpenSolaris.org and click on the more packages link to the left. There you will see a list of other repositories and instructions on how to add them. Do not follow those instructions. Just click file in the IPS and select manage repositories and use the GUI to add repositories. It is no sweat. Besides the repositories you see there, there is also ips.homeunix.com that you should take a look at but be careful. All you really want from this repository is libdvdcss and some of the other lib packages and leave the rest alone. From Blastwave I suggest getting Wesnoth and from SunFreeWare I suggest getting the media codex. Once that is done pick up Wine from Contrib and you are in the good. After that, just look around and see what you want.
Step Seven: Get the PDF reader
To to Adobe's website and look for the PDF reader. It is there and you can download it but do not download the BIN, get the PKG instead. Follow the instructions and you will have your PDF reader from Adobe as well as the one installed from Sun. The BIN for some reason will break the Edit Menus option.
Step Eight: look at compiz
That's right, right click on your screen and choose to alter the desktop appearance. Click visual effects. Go ahead and turn them on. Ooh; wow; they are pretty. Now ask yourself, do you really need or want that stuff turned on all the time. I didn't think so. Compiz is there so that you can sell the idea of using Linux, or in our case OpenSolaris to others but that is all it is really good for. Now turn it off. See, everything is fine. Back to normal. There are a lot of people who do like Compiz and have it running all the time. There is no problem with this if you like it and have a system powerful enough to handle it. For everyday desktop use though it is not really worth the computing power it uses.
