virtual pc 2007

tried Ubuntu 6.08 and found the installer would refuse to work unless you installed in under safe graphics mode.

The same was true of Fedora Core 6. You have to install that using 'linux text' and then once loaded edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and change default pixel depths to 16 from 24. Then change the default runlevel from 3 to 5 by editing /etc/inittab and changing

id:3:initdefault:

to

id:5:initdefault:


Basically it seems that Virtual PC will only work with Linux in 16 bit colour mode.

The other thing I discovered about Linux on Virtual PC. I managed to install WIndows 3.1, 95, 98, ME and 2000 Professional all in a matter of a few hours. Ubuntu took 5 hours!!

I highly recommend the following site for what does and doesn't work with VPC http://vpc.visualwin.com/index.aspx



24-bit color is not implemented on the emulated S3 Trio card even though a real S3 Trio supports 24-bit color. Linux has trouble with this because it doesn't look at the card to see what it actually can support but rather looks it up in a database to see what it should support.

FWIW, SuSE 10.1 works fine under Virtual PC (it defaults to 16-bit color in setup).

Thanks for the note that 'Virtual PC' has some issues with 24 bits graphics. it helped me to figure out a procedure to install ubuntu 6.10 on 'Virtual PC 2007 RC'

On the First bootscreen press F4 and change from VGA to 800x600x16

then select 'Install in text mode'

Follow the complete install procedure until you see the "the install is complete" box

Press ALT+F2 to go to the Ubuntu install console and press enter to activate it
edit the file /target/etc/X11/xorg.conf by typing

nano /target/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Scroll down and find the following lines (modes may contain more or less resolutions)

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x786" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection

Delete those lines then scroll a bit up and find the following line

DefaultDepth 24

and change it to

DefaultDepth 16

then type CTRL+O and then hit ENTER to save and CTRL+X to exit

Now Press ALT+F1 to return to the install screen and click "Continue"