Unable to get X working in Solaris 10 3/05 guest

[mvanle]

I have an old version of Solaris 10 3/05 x86-32.

I noticed that Solaris can load the CDE/JDS GUI quite well when Xorg is not configured (ie. there is no /etc/X11/xorg.conf). In this case VirtualBox's autoprobing happily chooses a default resolution that looks crisp, but unfortunately I have to adjust the Guest window's scrollbars to pan the desktop display (or shift the CDE Front Panel up to a higher position in the desktop to compensate for applications tending to open at the top of the display).

I would like to run xorgconfig to perhaps get a smaller screen size to avoid having to use the Guest window's scrollbars to pan the desktop display. Can this be done ? (I do not want to use Scaled mode because the resolution gets blurred)

How do I get Xorg to work properly ?

I am using VirtualBox 5.1.38 on Windows 7 host and I think none of the Guest Additions are compatible with Solaris 10 3/05 (bootup shows unloadable modules). I tried searching for older VirtualBox 2.x's to see if their Guest Addition ISOs will work but the archives only go back to 4.x (https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Download_Old_Builds).

Please see the attached file for a screenshot ("solaris_cde_desktop_guest_window_panning.jpg").

[paulson]

I think none of the Guest Additions are compatible with Solaris 10 3/05

Yes, according to:

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Guest_OSes

it looks like the Guest Additions for Solaris 10 work starting with S10 5/08.

I don't know an answer here but does experimenting with using Xsun have any better
results? Or perhaps try a newer version of Solaris 10 like 1/13 available here:

https://www.oracle.com/solaris/solaris1 ... loads.html

With Solaris 10 1/13 you should be able to use the latest version of VirtualBox and the
corresponding Guest Additions.

[mvanle]

I don't know an answer here but does experimenting with using Xsun have any better results?

For a long time I could not find a Xsun configuration combination that worked.

One day when experimenting with a Solaris 10 11/06 installation I noticed that it proposed a "Windows System Configuration For Installation" that worked (ie. for a graphical installation).

So on the old Solaris 10 3/05 I decided to try switching to Xsun server with the same settings and it worked !

Here are my steps for resizing the GUI window on Solaris 10 3/05 guest (without using Guest Additions):

1. Only use Oracle VirtualBox 6.0 or below (because it provides the option to enable or disable hardware acceleration (as opposed to versions 6.1.x and above which force-enables hardware acceleration))
2. Disable hardware acceleration (ie. "Paravirtualization Interface" = None; Hardware Virtualization: "Enable VT-x/AMD-V" = Un-checked, "Enable Nested Paging" = Un-checked) (otherwise the installation will crash with a blank screen)
3. If enabling USB, then select "USB 1.1 (OHCI) Controller" (instead of EHCI) (otherwise the installation will crash on incompatible USB driver)
4. Install Solaris 10 3/05 in text-mode
5. Shutdown the server
6. Enable hardware acceleration (ie. "Paravirtualization Interface" = Default; Hardware Virtualization: "Enable VT-x/AMD-V" = Checked, "Enable Nested Paging" = Checked) (this is required for the GUI to work)
7. Boot into Single user mode (ie. specify "b -s -v" at the Boot Parameter menu prompt)
8. Optionally disable dtlogin (ie. "/usr/dt/bin/dtconfig -d")
9. Run kdmconfig
10. Select Xsun server
    Set the following configuration:
    
    

    Code: Select all   Expand viewCollapse view

             Video Device: XF86-VESA VESA-compatible video cards
         Video Driver: XF86-VESA
    Resolution/Colors: 1024x768 - 256 colors @ 70Hz
          Screen Size: 17-inch (43cm)

         Monitor Type: MultiFrequency 56kHz (up to 1280x1024 interlaced)

        Keyboard Type: Generic US-English(104-Key)

      Pointing Device: Built-in PS/2 Mouse (2 Button+ 25ms 3 Button Emulation)


    
    
11. Exit single user mode (ie. type "exit" to return to milestone all and resume boot sequence)
12. The system should autoload the dtlogin GUI (otherwise start it manually with "/usr/dt/bin/dtlogin -daemon")

After performing the above procedure I now have a smaller guest window that fits inside my 21" monitor (without using Guest Additions or Scaled mode).

This was working under VirtualBox 5.1.38, Windows 7 x64 host, Solaris 10 3/05 x86-32bit guest.

Screenshot of Solaris 10 11/06 "Windows System Configuration For Installation" settings:

Solaris 10 11/06 Proposed Windows System Configuration For Installation

solaris_10_2006-11-window_system_configuration_for_installation3.PNG (88.98 KiB) Viewed 3498 times

[paulson]

Here are my steps for resizing the GUI window on Solaris 10 3/05 guest (without using Guest Additions):

Thanks for sharing the steps that got things working for you. I tried them on a Solaris 10 3/05 guest using
VirtualBox 6.1.32 and had similarly successful results. Thanks again!