Problems installing FC4 on Dell Optiplex GX620

[Jeff Vian]

On Sun, 2006-03-19 at 18:12 -0600, Les Mikesell wrote:
> On Sun, 2006-03-19 at 16:42, Bruce Keats wrote:
> > Yes, there is a good reason.  The project I am working on has
> > standardized on FC4 for now.  We will start the port to FC5 once we
> > are through the current cycle.
> >  
> > I will probably give FC5 a shot on the Dell Optiplex GX620 when I get
> > it downloaded.
> 
> Worst case: find something that runs on the box, even the OS
> you paid for when you got it - then run vmware server (now free
> at http://www.vmware.com) with that as the host to run the
> OS(es) that you really want. When it's time for the next version,
> just delete the old virtual machine files.
> 
That is definitely worst case.
Who would want to run an os in a vmware instance when it can be run
native on the machine?  The penalties in performance make that much less
than optimal for most needs.

Of course, there are cases where a vmware instance is useful, but not
for everyday use.  Besides, problems within a vmware window have added
an additional layer of complexity for trouble shooting.  The OS in the
vm is not actually touching the hardware so many things can be hardware
_or_ vm _or_ os problems and it becomes much more difficult to identify
the actual problem.