Installing Linux DeepIn 20 on VMware Player

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System Requirements

  • Intel i5 6th Generation or later
  • 8 GB of RAM (4 GB for the Virtual Machine)
  • 250 GB SSD (120 GB for the Virtual Machine)

Installing VMware

Launch the VMware Player setup and accept the User Account Control Prompt:

The Splash logo will display and the setup will begin:

Select Next:

Accept the License Agreement and select Next:

Select Next:

You can optionally opt out of the Customer Experience Program. Select Next:

You can optionally uncheck the Creation of a Desktop icon. Select Next:

Select Install:

Select Finish:

Enabling Virtualization Technologies with your UEFI BIOS

In order to create a DeepIn 20 VM, you will need to enable CPU Virtualisation technologies in your UEFI BIOS Setup. Power up your Dell and press [F2], if using a Lenovo press [F1]:

Look for Virtualization Support. Enable Intel Virtualization Technology:

Enable VT for Direct I/O:

You do not need Trusted Execution (this is only required if using a service like Windows 10 BitLocker in a Windows 10 VM):

Save the changes and exit the UEFI BIOS Setup:

Downloading a DeepIn Linux 20 ISO

The DeepIn ISO can be downloaded from their website.

I recommend selecting ISO Repository:

Then searching for your country:

In this case I will select the University of Kent:

Then the 20 folder on their server:

This gives a direct download link to the ISO:

The ISO Checksum file is also listed:

Checking the ISO Checksums

To check the ISO checksums we will use Rufus.

Accept the User Account Control Prompt:

Select, select:

Select the ISO and select Open:

Check the ISO Checksums:

The SHA256 should match that listed on the download server (if not the ISO download is corrupt and you will need to try again). Select OK:

Creating a Virtual Machine

Select Player → File → New Virtual Machine:

Select Browse:

Then select your DeepIn 20 ISO and select Open:

VMware Workstation Player only recognises a couple of Linux distributions which exclude DeepIn 20. Select Next:

Select Linux and Other Linux 5.x and later kernel 64 Bit and then select Next:

Call the VM DeepIn 20, the Location should automatically update:

Ignore the recommended settings VMware give for their hardware. You will require at least 120 GB free SSD storage space for the VM.

Input 120 GB and select Next:

The default Virtual Hardware is very poor and below the system requirements for DeepIn, select Customize Hardware:

Open up your task manager to check how much RAM your PC is using. In general at least 4 GB of RAM should be reserved for your Windows 10 Host PC at a minimum, in this case 2.7 GB of memory is in use with nothing much really open in the background.

You need at least 4 GB of RAM for the DeepIn 20 VM. If you ave more than 8 GB of RAM installed in your Host PC you can increase this slightly for higher performance:

Next you will want to check how many cores your processor has. In this case this i5-6500T has 4 Cores.

The DeepIn 20 VM requires at least 2 Cores to run but will run better with more. In some cases you may want to reserve some Cores for the Host PC:

You can leave the Network Settings as default:

The USB Controller should be changed to USB 3.1:

The Sound Card can be left at default:

Accelerate 3D Graphics should be selected and the Graphics memory should be set to recommended.

Select Close to exit the Virtualised Hardware Customization screen.

Select Finish:

Installing DeepIn 20 in the VM

Select the DeepIn 20 VM and then select the Play Button:

You will get a dialog box which tells you that you can press [Ctrl] + [ g ] to input to the VM. You can use the keyboard shortcut [Ctrl] + [Alt] to unlock the mouse and keyboard from the VM.

If you have a USB Device attached you will get a notification similar to the one shown, select OK:

Select Install DeepIn 20 with Kernel 5.4 Desktop (it is automatically selected by default and will be selected after a 5 second countdown):

You will see a black screen with some white writing:

Then the DeepIn logo:

The default language is Chinese, select your Language (in my case English):

Then select the License Agreements and select Next:

You will be warned that you may get reduced performance running DeepIn on a VM. Select Next:

Select the Virtual Drive:

Then select Next:

Select Continue:

DeepIn 20 will now install:

You will be prompted to Remove the Media and select Reboot:

To do this press [Ctrl] + [Alt] so your mouse and keyboard escape from the VM. Then select Player → Removable Devices → CD/DVD and then Settings:

Uncheck Connected and Connect at Power On and select OK:

Select Yes:

Select Reboot Now:

In my case, I was presented with a black screen:

Press [Ctrl]+[Alt] to escape from the VM. Then select Player → Power → Restart Guest:

Select Yes:

The VM will restart:

Select DeepIn 20 GNU/Linux (it is automatically selected by default and will be selected after a 5 second countdown):

You will see a black screen with some white writing:

Then the DeepIn logo:

In the next screen you will need to select your Keyboard Layout:

I will change to English (U.K.):

Select your Location on the Map (it will then default to the timezone of the Capital city) and select Next:

Input your username, it has to be all lower case characters. A computer name will be generated from your username but you can change it if you wish. Then input a password and confirm your password. Then select Next.

Note the [↹] key does not work properly when moving from password to repeat password (which is a minor annoyance).

The next screen Configure Network is very limited and appears to be for ethernet only. In my case I am connecting wirelessly so will just select Next:

The setup will spend some time tuning your system (installing the correct device drivers etc):

You will then be taken to the login screen:

Because DeepIn is installed on a Virtual Machine, you will be recommended to use Normal Mode which is less graphics intensive and performs better on a Virtual Machine:

You will be presented with an optional introduction video, you can view it if you want. When ready select Next:

You have the option of either Fashion Mode which has a Central Dock (like Mac OS) or Efficient Mode which has a traditional Taskbar (like Windows):

The Effect Mode (similar to Windows 7 Aero) or Normal Mode (similar to the Windows 10 Taskbar). The Effect Mode is recommended if you are installing on a powerful physical computer but the Normal Mode is recommended if you are installing on lower spec hardware or a Virtual Machine.

You will then be presented with an option of icon themes. Select your Icon theme and select Done. DeepIn 20 is now installed:

You will be connected to the internet (if your host PC is connected to the internet) using a virtual Ethernet adapter.

Drag and Drop

DeepIn 20 contains the necessary drivers for a VMware virtual machine inbuilt.

If you attempt to copy a file from your VM you will however get the following error:

You have attempted to copy one or more symbolic links to a host OS that does not support symbolic links. Canceling the copy operation.

To resolve this select Player → Manage → Virtual Machine Settings:

Then select Options and Shared Folders, change the option to Always Enabled:

Select VMware Tools and check Synchronize guest time with host. Then select OK:

DeepIn Software Update

Unfortunately DeepIn is configured by default to use update servers are based in China and this creates an out of the box issue for international users.

When you select the settings icon from the Dock and select Updates to the left hand side menu and then select Updates:

You are likely to be greeted with an error:

Although there is an Update Settings tab to the top it is very limited and cannot be used to resolve this error.

To see more details behind this error we can open up a terminal:

Type in:sudo apt update

As you are using the super user do command, you will need to input your password to authenticate the action:

You will see one of the update servers is searching for a Chinese only IP and international access to the server is blocked creating the 404 error:

In the terminal type in:

sudo deepin-editor /etc/hosts

Then add the following line to the file:

61.54.25.98 community-packages.deepin.com

Press [Ctrl] + [ s ] to save:

Then Close the Terminal:

You can ignore the errors "Error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown" shown on the terminal:

Now type in:

sudo apt update

There should be no errors:

You should now be able to update:

DeepIn Store Issues

The DeepIn Store has many issues including Network Errors:

Slow loading:

It is also geared towards the Chinese market and even though all the language settings are set to English, several of the names of software applications are presented in Chinese and almost all the software reviews are in Chinese. Automatic language translation should be applied when possible.

One other issue is a multitude of software just outright fails to install for example Chrome and VLC Player:

Other software such as GIMP installs fine:

Installing Software via Terminal

To install Chromium we can use the terminal and the command:

sudo apt install chromium

Because we are using the super user do everything command we will need to authenticate the software install using our password:

Select

Y

To proceed:

Chromium will then install:

You can then right click the Chromium icon and then pin it to the dock:

On My Lenovo ThinkStation P320 I had an issue with the inbuilt media player. This is likely some incompatibility with the NVIDIA driver as it was fine on all other systems I tested. I therefore installed VLC Player using a similar command:

sudo apt install vlc

Select

Y

To proceed:

VLC will then install:

Disable Sound Effects

You may wish to disable the notification sounds as they can be kind of annoying. Select Settings and then Sound and Sound Effects:

Start Menu

By default there is a Windows 7 style Start Menu. It can be expanded to give a Windows 8 style Start Menu:

One can select to view All Categories: