After ranting about how difficult it was to install Linux on the blade (vs IBM i), I was hoping I’d get some quick resolution. However, the scenario ended up like this:
The VIOS folks tossed it over the wall to the Linux folks.
The Linux folks determined that I did NOT have a support agreement for Linux on the blade. They closed the call.
I reopened the call, arguing that the problem manifested itself when using the terminal window to install Linux but the terminal window, being a part of VIOS (IVM) would be part of a supported product.
Silence.
I then, through trial and error, determined it to be a Firefox issue. I *could* install with IE8 but not with FF. I reported this back to IBM expecting that they would proceed with determining the cause of the incompatibility and get it fixed. Au Contraire! Browser incompatibilities are not part of the mission of IBM support so they closed the call.
I did pick up this tidbit though, and I document it here so I can find it again: You can start the terminal for a given partition in VIOS by issuing the mkvt -ID X command from the command line where X is the number of the partition. To exit the partition terminal use the key combination ENTER, ~, . (period). Whether the VIOS terminal is running in the “Remote Control” window from the AMM or from Telnet or SSH, the commands work. So now I have a workaround.
I was able to finally get the SLES 11 Linux (PPC64) partition running and accessible from VNC using a technique found at the Novell site where I posted. Read it all the way through. The solution is posted at the end of the link in the post: http://forums.novell.com/novell-product-support-forums/suse-linux-enterprise-server-sles/sles-configure-administer/373530-sles-11-vnc-issue-no-desktop-just-gray.html
So that gets Linux (SLES 11 PPC64) running again. Now if I can get WAS 7 going on my i, the software application installation challenges for the week are done.