Pear PC - Installation
Filed By: Robert Moir
Pear PC - Installation
Installing the required components.
Start with the TAP-32 Network adapter. This is easiest downloaded as a part of the OpenVPN project, so I'm assuming that is what we're working with.
Run the OpenVPN installer [version used for this project is named OpenVPN-2.0_beta2-install.exe], and a typical install wizard will appear. Work through to the "Choose Components" section of the installer, and at this point you can choose to either install everything so you can have a look at OpenVPN later or you can remove every other install option and just leave the TAP-32 network adapter to install. Continue the installation once you've made your choice and follow the on-screen prompts.
I suggest installing the full package and taking a look at it, as these people have worked hard to put something cool together for free, and I don't think its too much to ask to have a look at the things we're leeching from for our little project here.
Create a target directory to install PearPC into.
You'll need to install PearPC [version used for this project is named pearpc-0.3.1-win32-sdl-jitc.zip] itself here, and you'll need to store the disk image and config files here too. I also suggest storing the .iso files for your operating system CDs here too.
My current recommended configuration is to create a directory called "PearPC", and create two other directories inside it - one named "PearPC_bin" to store the PearPC program and config files, and the other named "PearPC_disk" to store the Virtual hard disk file.
Installing PearPC
Open the PearPC program archive and copy all the contents into the directory you created in the last step for storing the PearPC program and config files.
Congratulations, you've installed PearPC! Now the hard work begins...
Install the Virtual hard drive.
Decompress your archived Virtual hard disk image [pearpc-6gib.img.bz2] into the target folder you created in the previous step. As we're decompressing a file that's a few K in size into a file that's several Gb in size, this will take a while.
Installing the Pear PC Control Panel.
So while you wait for the virtual hard disk to install either go for a cup of tea or install your PearPC configuration file generator/manager of choice. I use the PearPC control panel [SetupPPCCP.zip] and the examples in this guide assume that is being used by everyone, and the install for this is just a case of extracting the contents of the zip file to a temporary folder and running the setup file, clicking 'Next' when asked. I'm going to assume nobody needs much help with that bit!
