Actually, there is an alternate solution and it's less CPU demanding.By default, installing Solaris 8 for Intel as a guest OS under VMware Workstation 3.0 limits you to 640x480x8 bit video. This is the result of not having a video driver for VMware Video under Solaris. This is pretty much unusable by my definition. This was the catalyst of my search for alternate video drivers for Solaris 8.x86.
I eventually came upon this site, http://www.xfree86.org , which apparently had ported many more drivers than Sun has for the Intel platform. So, after installing that I have found that even the xfree86 guys doesn't have a driver suitable to my needs.
The search continued, but this time it lead me back to VMware where I found an xfree86 driver, http://www.vmware.com/support/reference/common/guest_linux_xf864.html. Normally, I'd say "Woo hoo!" and use it, but I also found this: http://soldc.sun.com/developer/support/driver/tools/video/video-index.html.
Now, ideally we can use Sun's Solaris XFree86 Video Drivers and Porting Kit on VMware's xfree86 SVGA drivers and then I'd probably be happy. However, I was struck down by mankind's greatest incentive, "laziness", and instead continued the search. Then I found this site, http://www.mostlysoftware.com , where someone had already ported the drivers and even went so far as to tar up a Solaris package!
So, I created a new virtual machine, used this patch and now I can get any video resolution within VMware. I have come upon a few caveats, so here is my recommended method of installing Solaris on a guest OS.
Installation instructions (Not for the weak hearted).
1. On a Linux box, install VMware and then create a virtual machine/disk. Since, VMware doesn't support Solaris, it doesn't matter what OS type but for the sake of good instructions I used "Other." For drive size I selected 10 GB.
Caveat #1: You can not use the Windows version of VMware to create your virtual machine because the host OS, Windows, isn't able to read the entire contents of the Solaris x86 CDs and will crash at an early portion of the install.
Caveat #2: Use a standard CD-ROM for installing Solaris. I use an HP CDRW/DVD player as the installation device, but I was forced to use an old CD-ROM because for some reason Solaris crashed during the Solaris setup.
Caveat #3: I suggest creating at virtual disk that is at least around 4-6 GB because the x86 install of Solaris forces you to have a 1 GB root and a 512MB swap. The Virtual Disks file will only be as large as there is data on the Guest OS. As more data is written to disk, the virtual disk files will expand to the maximum threshold as set by the dive of the virtual disk.
2. Since you require patches 109401-08 and 108653-27 for the Freex86 subsystem. I recommend downloading and installing the latest patch bundle from http://sunsolve.sun.com/pub-cgi/show.pl?target=patches/patch-access , then reboot to enable all the patches.
3. Download Solaris VMware xfree86 drivers, http://mostlysoftware.com/downloads/sunwxf86-vmware.tar.gz
4. Uncompress the file, "gunzip sunwxf86-vmware.tar.gz"
5. Unarchive the file, "tar -xvf sunwxf86-vmware.tar "
6. Install the package "pkgadd -d`pwd`"
Caveat #4: You must install the SUNWxf86u package before you install the SUNWxf86r, otherwise you will have to start the process all the beginning.
7. Reboot and configure Solaris to use the VMware drivers, at this reboot Solaris should prompt you for the root's password so you can properly configure the display drivers. If not, you can use "kdmconfig" at the first opportunity.
Caveat #5: The VMware drivers are way at the bottom of the screen, Press 'V' for VMware. If it doesn't work hit Z, and if you don't see the VMware drivers you did something wrong. Start again.
Caveat #6: Make sure you select the proper resolution of your video card and monitor settings otherwise the system may not be able to display it in a full screen.
Caveat #7: If the testing the VMware driver fails, then it could mean that either you've selected an unsupported resolution or you didn't install the patches in the proper order. Either try another resolution, or start the process over.
8. If you have gotten this far then it probably means you got Solaris to work in a VMware Guest OS.
9. You should have one .vdmk file for every 2GB that you opted for when creating the virtual disk size. If you want to it work in Windows then simply copy the .vdmk files over to Windows machine, and open the main .VMDK file from within the VMware Workstation.
