Setting up a Linux test system

I will digress a little bit and write a few notes about setting up a Linux test system.

Setting up a Linux test system

1. At present this requires setting up a parallel mono development environment with mono 2.11.2

2. There are great instructions  here.

3. Important caveats: if possible avoid using gnome as your window manager. gnome makes heavy use of C# / mono, and you may find that you have to replicate a lot of additional libraries. Actually, avoid using KDE as well, to avoid any potential adverse interactions, use the simplest possible window manager you can find: E.g. openbox, or if you are like me and want your compositing as well, go for Compiz.

4. I found adding the following to the environment setup was necessary:

export MONO_GAC_PREFIX=/opt/mono:/usr

5. Quick description of the Compiz set-up on Arch Linux:

Install the following:

community/ccsm 0.8.4-3
community/compiz-bcop 0.8.8-2
community/compiz-core 0.8.8-3
community/compiz-fusion-plugins-main 0.8.8-2
community/compiz-manager 0.6.0-5
community/compizconfig-python 0.8.4-4
community/emerald 0.8.8-2
community/emerald-themes 0.6.0-4
community/fusion-icon 1:0.1-1
community/libcompizconfig 0.8.8-2

#.xinitrc
exec compiz-alone-session
setxkbmap -layout uk
#if using vmware
vmware-user-suid-wrapper

# ~/.config/compiz/autostart.sh
# This shell script is run before Compiz launches.
# Environment variables set here are passed to the Compiz session.

# Set a background color
BG=""
if which hsetroot >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    BG=hsetroot
else
    if which esetroot >/dev/null 2>&1; then
	BG=esetroot
    else
	if which xsetroot >/dev/null 2>&1; then
	    BG=xsetroot
	fi
    fi
fi
test -z $BG || $BG -solid "#202020"

# D-bus
if which dbus-launch >/dev/null 2>&1 && test -z "$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS"; then
    eval `dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session`
fi

# Run XDG autostart things.  By default don't run anything desktop-specific
# See xdg-autostart --help more info
DESKTOP_ENV="COMPIZ"
if which /usr/bin/xdg-autostart >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  /usr/bin/xdg-autostart $DESKTOP_ENV
fi

xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources
export _JAVA_OPTIONS='-Dawt.useSystemAAFontSettings=lcd'
xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources &
xrandr -s 1280x800 &
thunar --daemon &
emerald --replace &
nitrogen --restore &
cairo-dock &

 PS: On Arch Linux with open-vmware-tools you can set in the VMware machine settings, 3D acceleration to yes, and you will get compositing and more.

You can also add archlinux bashrun, and compiz-boxmenu and compiz-deskmenu - though the menu set-up is slightly buggy: I ended up configuring the menu with the compiz-deskmenu tool, and then using that config file with compiz-boxmenu (using option-alt-m to launch the menu through ccsm commands).

Oh, and I m using a pure 32-bit machine:

[mono] ~ @ uname -a
Linux 3.4.4-2-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jun 24 17:28:37 UTC 2012 i686 GNU/Linux

[mono] ~ @ mono -V
Mono JIT compiler version 2.11.2 (master/a7e01ca Tue Jun 19 21:41:42 BST 2012)
Copyright (C) 2002-2012 Novell, Inc, Xamarin Inc and Contributors. www.mono-project.com
	TLS:           __thread
	SIGSEGV:       altstack
	Notifications: epoll
	Architecture:  x86
	Disabled:      none
	Misc:          softdebug 
	LLVM:          supported, not enabled.
	GC:            Included Boehm (with typed GC and Parallel Mark)