Ok. So let me break away from the Oracle OpenWorld related side of things, and discuss my new adventure. Because of my long interest/affair with Linux (#307589), I picked up a copy of Oracle Unbreakable Linux and decided to install it on my laptop (HP Compaq 6510b).

Here is a bit of my install experience of what I had to do to get to this point, where I’m ready to install the Oracle Database.

My system is setup (now) for a dual boot between both Windows XP Pro & Oracle Linux. I had to repartition my drive (Paragon Partition Manager worked just dandy), start the Oracle Linux install (which is basically a recompiled version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5), created my Linux partitions, selected the Software Development + Web Server package, and let roll. 15-minutes later it was complete. After a reboot I noticed that the X didn’t start (startx). The problem is that the new /etc/X11/xorg.conf (as of RHES 4x) didn’t discover my laptop’ video/display information. So I hacked my way through it and added/modified the Monitor and Screent sections of the xorg.conf. This is part of how my xorg.conf looks:

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Monitor0″
VendorName “HP Monitor”
ModelName “LCD Panel 1280×800″
HorizSync 31.5-82.00
VertRefresh 58.0-75.0
Option “dpms”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Videocard0″
Driver “vesa”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Screen0″
Device “Videocard0″
Monitor “Monitor0″
DefaultDepth 24
# Modes “1280×800″ “1024×768″ “800×600″
SubSection “Display”
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes “1280×800″ “1024×768″ “800×600″
EndSubSection
EndSection

After updating the xorg.conf, issued a startx and voila! Xwindows (gnome) is up and running… Now, on to getting the database installed …. Cheers.