tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90981828822061919012024-02-21T02:16:35.684+01:00Know-How by romiznotes, just for me, not to forget how I managed to make something - may be useful for someone elseromizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-7244745348761804202009-07-08T00:00:00.018+02:002009-12-29T23:54:44.834+01:00Installing PalmDesktop and DocumentsToGo under WINE<div style="text-align: justify;">I needed to syncronize (MS)office documents on my PalmOS device with several PCs. Some are Windows based and there is no problem using DocumentsToGo. Some are Linux based and there is (at the moment) no clone for DocumentsToGo. Besides other tricky ways (mostly using an SD card or <a href="http://www.softick.com/ramdrive/">RAMDrive</a> with <a href="http://www.softick.com/cardexport2/">CardExport</a>: no bluetooth or wifi on my Treo 600), the last option was to run DocumentsToGo under WINE, but the <a href="http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=5796&iTestingId=6040">initial report</a> was not encouraging.<br /></div>But merging some experiences from the web and some trial and error, I managed to install it, with reference to:<br /><ul><li>ubuntu 9.04;</li><li>WINE 1.0.1;</li><li>PalmDesktop 4.1;</li><li>DocumentsToGo 8.0.1.</li></ul><br />PalmDesktop is actually not working, but HotSync is (it syncs) and DocumentsToGo also (it converts and syncs). My steps were:<br /><br /><ol><li>download winetricks (<a href="http://wiki.winehq.org/winetricks">Wine Wiki</a>);</li><li>install cabextract via synaptic (same <a href="http://wiki.winehq.org/winetricks">Wine Wiki</a>);</li><li>install Windows Installer 2.0 and Internet Explorer 6 via winetricks (same <a href="http://wiki.winehq.org/winetricks">Wine Wiki</a>);</li><li>configure WINE to behave as "Windows98" (later versions make the installer crash);</li><li>run the PalmDesktop installer (if it stops responding, cancel and then retry);</li><li>run the DocumentsToGo installer (mine gives an "Error 1904", ignore, press OK);</li><li>install pilot-link via synaptic;</li><li>add udev rules for Palm devices (<a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PalmDeviceSetup">Ubuntu Help</a>);</li><li>add module "visor" to <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/modules</span> (same <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PalmDeviceSetup">Ubuntu Help</a>);</li><li>reboot</li><li>configure HotSync on the linux box to use "Network" and select the right (Palm) user under Setup->Network;</li><li>configure HotSync on the Palm device to sync through the network under HotSync->LANSync Prefs.</li></ol>To use it:<br /><br /><ol><li>be sure HotSync is running and press the sync button;</li><li>in a terminal, give the command:<br /><code>pilot-nredir -n -p /dev/pilot</code>;</li></ol><br />For a replacement of the non-working PalmDesktop, look for "Evolution" in the repositories.<br />You may want to install the "gnome-pilot" too. There is <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-1142721.html">bug</a> in the panel applet for ubuntu 9.04, but there is a <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-pilot/+bug/349650/comments/22">fix for the 32bit version</a> and <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-pilot/+bug/349650/comments/30">one for the 64bit version</a>.romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-60887064683533751932009-06-30T22:29:00.028+02:002009-12-29T23:53:49.858+01:00Re-installing EEEbuntu (3.0) on an eeePCThe <a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2009/02/re-installing-eeebuntu-on-eeepc.html">experience with EEEbuntu 2.0</a> was not completely satisfactory. I'm trying now with version 3.0, with the hope for more boot speed and performance.<br />Dual boot configuration with Xandros (which is on <span style="font-style: italic;">/dev/sda2</span>, with "home" partition on <span style="font-style: italic;">/dev/sdb1</span>).<br /><ol><li><a href="http://www.eeebuntu.org/index.php?page=download">get</a> EEEbuntu Base;</li><li>run the eeebuntu ("base" cd version) installer:<span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span class="on down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Link" class="gl_link" border="0" /></span></span><ul><li>install / (root) folder on <span style="font-style: italic;">/dev/sda1</span>;</li><li>install /usr folder on <span style="font-style: italic;">/dev/sdb2</span> (no space left on <span style="font-style: italic;">sda</span>);</li></ul></li><li>reboot (boot time 45 sec.);<br /></li><li>install better network manager "wicd";</li><li>install OpenOffice;</li><li style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of /dev/sda1 and /dev/sdb2 with partimage (record 1);</li><li>install a faster kernel (<a href="http://array.org/ubuntu/setup.html">eeepc-lean</a>) <a href="http://array.org/ubuntu/setup-intrepid.html">from array.org</a>;</li><li>reboot (boot time 33 sec.);</li><li>remove some virtual consoles (tty7 is for X and tty1 is for text, <a href="http://knowledge76.com/index.php/Speed_Up_Boot">Knowledge76 article</a>): <blockquote><code># rm /etc/event.d/tty2<br />..<br /># rm /etc/event.d/tty6</code></blockquote></li><li>add "rootfstype=ext2" to grub boot instructions (avoid kernel very little guessing time, <a href="http://www.debianitalia.org/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=171&page=2">Debian Italia post</a>);</li><li>add "noresume" options to grub boot instructions (if hibernation disabled, avoid kernel looking for resume image <a href="http://www.debianitalia.org/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=171&page=2">Debian Italia post</a>);</li><li>replace the bash shell with the faster (for scripts) dash shell (<a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DashAsBinSh/Spec">Ubuntu wiki</a>): <blockquote><code># apt-get install dash<br /># dpkg-reconfigure dash</code></blockquote></li><li>improve performance by setting "noatime" option (instead of "relatime" or "atime") in fstab entries (same <a href="http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=31275">Debian User forum post</a>);</li><li>remove create_floppy_devices, pcmcia-check-broken-cis, pcmcia-socket-startup from <span style="font-style: italic;">/lib/udev</span>;</li><li>improve boot time by disabling some services (same <a href="http://knowledge76.com/index.php/Speed_Up_Boot">Knowledge76 article</a>);</li><li>reboot (boot time 32 sec.); </li><li>install mc and set it to use the internal editor (mcedit) through Options->Configuration;<br /></li><li>install gimp;</li><li>install totem;<br /></li><li>install moonlight plugin for firefox;</li><li>install Adobe flash player plugin for firefox;</li><li>enable archive.canonical.com ("Third party") repositories</li><li>install acroread<br /></li><li>install Medibuntu repositories and non-free codecs (<a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu">Ubuntu help</a>)<br /></li><li>install wine;</li><li>install exifer (win32);<span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span class="on down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link" onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Link" class="gl_link" border="0" /></span></span></li><li>install xnview (win32);<br /></li><li>update kernel to version 2.6.29-1-netbook;</li><li>reboot (boot time 28 sec.); </li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of /dev/sda1 and /dev/sdb2 with partimage (record 2)</span>;</li><li>install eeepc-laptop-dkms (to make Fn-F2 work again);</li><li>install PalmDesktop (win32) and DocumentsToGo (win32) (<a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2009/07/installing-palmdesktop-and.html">my way</a>, coming soon);<br /></li><li>fix broken "Scroll Lock" (Fn+F12) button (<a href="http://forum.eeebuntu.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1369&start=0">EEEbuntu forum</a>);</li><li>install some plug-in ("Terminal here", "Open as administrator") for nautilus via Synaptic;</li><li>install GDM theme ("Simply Grace");<br /></li><li>configure login windows (users, faces, timed login);<br /></li><li>install AbiWord;</li><li>install TrueCrypt;</li><li>install GnoCHM;</li><li>...<br /></li></ol>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-62669588294056196012009-05-26T23:14:00.005+02:002009-05-26T23:36:12.376+02:00Enabling PalmDesktop for a multi-user Windows installationAccording to <a href="http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=350370&page=5">this post</a>, the synchronization software for PalmOS devices under Windows "needs to be installed with the user logged on. This is a profile specific program". To avoid re-installing the program for each user:<br /><ol><li>login with the user for which the program is currently installed;</li><li>with <span style="font-style: italic;">regedit</span> export the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\US Robotics\ to a file, like <span style="font-style: italic;">palmdesktopenable.reg</span>;</li><li>logout and then login with the user who wants to be enabled;</li><li>run <span style="font-style: italic;">regedit /s path\to\exported\key\palmdesktopenable.reg</span>;</li><li>close and quit HotSync;</li><li>re-run HotSync.</li></ol>Now you can synchronize and use PalmDesktop without getting the error message "Invalid Configuration - Terminating the Palm Desktop".romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-68297200307348720602009-04-19T13:03:00.009+02:002009-04-19T16:18:37.304+02:00Installing Screenlets with composite effects without Compiz<span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);font-size:130%;" >(on an eeePC with EEEbuntu)</span><br /><br /><br />Screenlets also run without Compiz, but if you need composite effects you may opt for a lite composite manager like "Xcompmgr" (<a href="http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xcompmgr">ArchWiki</a>). Install with:<br /><blockquote><code>sudo apt-get install xcompmgr</code><br /></blockquote><br />run with:<blockquote><code>xcompmgr -<span style="font-style: italic;">withsomeoptions</span></code></blockquote>or put in your startup list, (with gnome, go to System > Control center > Sessions > Add):<blockquote><code>/usr/bin/xcompmgr -<span style="font-style: italic;">withsomeoptions &</span></code></blockquote>Install "Screenlets":<blockquote><code>sudo apt-get install screenlets</code></blockquote>Select and place your screenlets, but you will notice soon that when you hit "Show desktop" or "Minimize all windows", all screenlets also become minimized and disappear. To keep them on the desktop (following <a href="https://answers.launchpad.net/screenlets/+question/33930">this post</a>), you have to edit <span style="font-style: italic;">/usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/screenlets/__init__.py</span> at the section below:<blockquote><pre> # set type hint<br /><br /> if str(sensors.sys_get_window_manager()).lower() == 'kwin':<br /> print "WARNING - You are using kwin window manager , screenlets doesnt have full compatibility with this window manager"<br /> #self.window.set_type_hint(gtk.gdk.WINDOW_TYPE_HINT_DOCK)<br /> elif str(sensors.sys_get_window_manager()).lower() == 'sawfish':<br /> print "WARNING - You are using kwin window manager , screenlets doesnt have full compatibility with this window manager"<br /> else:<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">self.window.set_type_hint(gtk.gdk.WINDOW_TYPE_HINT_TOOLBAR)</span><br /> self.window.set_keep_above(True)<br /> self.window.set_skip_taskbar_hint(True)<br /> self.window.set_skip_pager_hint(True)<br /></pre></blockquote>and modify the line in bold, so that it becomes:<br /><blockquote><pre> # set type hint<br /><br /> if str(sensors.sys_get_window_manager()).lower() == 'kwin':<br /> print "WARNING - You are using kwin window manager , screenlets doesnt have full compatibility with this window manager"<br /> #self.window.set_type_hint(gtk.gdk.WINDOW_TYPE_HINT_DOCK)<br /> elif str(sensors.sys_get_window_manager()).lower() == 'sawfish':<br /> print "WARNING - You are using kwin window manager , screenlets doesnt have full compatibility with this window manager"<br /> else:<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">self.window.set_type_hint(gtk.gdk.WINDOW_TYPE_HINT_DOCK)</span><br /> self.window.set_keep_above(True)<br /> self.window.set_skip_taskbar_hint(True)<br /> self.window.set_skip_pager_hint(True)<br /></pre></blockquote><br />and then restart the screenlets. The side effect of this workaround is that the screenlets can not be moved anymore. If you need to move them, you have to revert the changes in the file above, move them to a new place on the desktop, and then re-apply the changes.<br />Tricky but it works.romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-31880775992748053892009-04-05T13:48:00.012+02:002009-04-05T14:51:50.739+02:00Installing Avant Window Navigator (AWN)<span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 0);font-size:130%;" >under "Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment" (<a href="http://lxde.org/">LXDE</a>) and <a href="http://www.compiz-fusion.org/">Compiz</a> with <a href="http://www.eeebuntu.org/">EEEbuntu</a>.</span><br /><blockquote></blockquote>With reference to an eeePC 900 with EEEbuntu base installed, I had some troubles in getting AWN to work nicely, due to some lack of information.<br /><blockquote></blockquote>Compiz is easy to install (<a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompositeManager/CompizFusion#Install%20Compiz%20&%20Compiz%20Fusion%20plugins">Ubuntu Help</a>):<blockquote><code>apt-get install compiz compizconfig-settings-manager</code></blockquote>and also to start automatically, once you figured how to; edit <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/config</span> so that this line says:<br /><blockquote><code>window_manager=compiz</code></blockquote><br />AWN is in the repositories as well:<blockquote><code>apt-get install avant-window-navigator awn-manager</code></blockquote>To start it automatically (after Compiz is running) edit <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE/autostart</span> appending this line:<br /><blockquote><code>@avant-window-navigator</code></blockquote><br /><br />Now restart X by hitting ctrl-alt-bkspc.romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-47706627106022240132009-03-20T21:02:00.004+01:002009-05-05T21:43:01.833+02:00Installing moonlight/silverlight support on an eeePC 900 with default XandrosThere is a <a href="http://www.mono-project.com/Moonlight">moonlight plug-in</a> for Firefox, which should work both with version 2.x and 3.x. It surely works under ubuntu-based distributions (like EEEbuntu), but under the standard Xandros it does not (either with Firefox 2.x or 3.x).<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">With Firefox 2.x</span> (installed by default on Xandros eeePC)<br />The plug-in installs correctly and then Firefox restarts. Once opened a web page with a moonlight/silverlight video content, it asks for a Microsoft codec media pack. Then it downloads the pack, but after a page refresh or Firefox restart it asks again for the pack, endless.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">With Firefox 3.x</span> (installed following <a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installfirefox3">this how-to</a>)<br />The plug-in seems correctly installed, but then when Firefox restarts, it does not crash but it stops.<br />Some files downloaded with the plug-in seem to be compiled against glibc version 2.4, while on the eeePC Xandros glibc is version 2.3.<br />I found no way to compile them against version 2.3, nor to get glibc 2.4 under Xandros, but found <a href="http://svolli.org/software/eeepc/">this page</a> with a small tool to <a href="http://svolli.org/software/eeepc/#flash10patcher">patch the FlashPlayer10</a> (which has the same problem). Thank to the author (SvOlli) the tool it's just a simple binary search and replace, and can be used with other files than the one for which was intended to.<br /><ol><li><a href="http://www.go-mono.com/moonlight">install</a> the plug-in;</li><li><a href="http://svolli.org/download.php/software/eeepc/flash10patcher-0.2.tar.bz2">download</a> the tool;</li><li>extract the <span style="font-style: italic;">flash10patcher</span> executable somewhere, e.g. in <span style="font-style: italic;">/home/user</span> (the file manager opens the .tar.bz2 archives);</li><li>open a terminal;</li><li>enter that directory and become root:<blockquote><code># cd /home/user<br><br /># sudo bash</code><br /></blockquote></li><li>backup to that folder the library file <span style="font-style: italic;">libmoonplugin-ff3bridge.so</span> which is in the profile folder of Firefox, under the subfolder <span style="font-style: italic;">extension/moonlight@novell.com/plugins/moonlight</span>:<blockquote><code># cp /home/user/.mozilla/firefox/<span style="font-style: italic;">some_alfanumeric_string</span>.default/extension/moonlight@novell.com/plugins/moonlight/libmoonplugin-ff3bridge.so libmoonplugin-ff3bridge.so.original</code><br /></blockquote></li><li>copy to that folder the same library file and rename it as <span style="font-style: italic;">libflashplayer.so</span>:<blockquote><code># cp /home/user/.mozilla/firefox/<span style="font-style: italic;">some_alfanumeric_string</span>.default/extension/moonlight@novell.com/plugins/moonlight/libmoonplugin-ff3bridge.so /home/user/libflashplayer.so</code><br /></blockquote></li><li>run the executable:<blockquote><code># /home/user/flash10patcher</code><br /></blockquote></li><li>rename the output like the library file and move it to its right place:<blockquote><code># mv /home/user/patched.libflashplayer.so /home/user/.mozilla/firefox/<span style="font-style: italic;">some_alfanumeric_string</span>.default/extension/moonlight@novell.com/plugins/moonlight/libmoonplugin-ff3bridge.so</code></blockquote></li><li>now the plug-in works; run it, by opening a web page with some moonlight/silverlight video content; download the codec media pack as requested;</li><li>find where the pack is stored:<blockquote><code># find / -name "silverlight-media*.so"</code><br /></blockquote></li><li>backup the media pack file <span style="font-style: italic;">silverlight-media-pack-linux-x86-5-1.so</span> just found:<blockquote><code># cp /<span style="font-style: italic;">path_found</span>/silverlight-media-pack-linux-x86-5-1.so /home/user/silverlight-media-pack-linux-x86-5-1.so.original</code><br /></blockquote></li><li> copy the same media pack file and rename it <span style="font-style: italic;">libflashplayer.so</span>:<blockquote><code># cp /<span style="font-style: italic;">path_found</span>/silverlight-media-pack-linux-x86-5-1.so /home/user/libflashplayer.so</code><br /></blockquote></li><li>run the executable:<blockquote><code># /home/user/flash10patcher</code><br /></blockquote></li><li>rename the output like the media pack file and move it to the lib directory:<blockquote><code># mv /home/user/patched.libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/moonlight/silverlight-media-pack-linux-x86-5-1.so</code></blockquote></li><li>(re)start Firefox.</li></ol><br />Now the moonlight/silverlight video content should be viewable.romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-27473173488421008372009-02-24T22:06:00.013+01:002009-03-22T17:19:59.239+01:00Enabling TuxOnIce hibernation with EEEbuntuEnabling hibernation (suspend to disk) support is a bit tricky, and I never found a good and complete tutorial. Also mine is not, but after several attempts I got hibernation working and now I want to record my steps, to be able to repeat them.<br />On EEEbuntu, hibernation is possible through "swsuspend" which is told to be slower than "<a href="http://www.tuxonice.net/">TuxOnIce</a>" (true) which is told to be faster than normal booting without resuming (true, but not impressive).<br />TuxOnIce needs to be patched into the kernel and compiled, and can completely replace swsuspend without reconfiguration.<br />My steps were (mixing different guides, an <a href="http://forum.eeebuntu.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1698&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=tuxonice&sid=f2883778b25a63569c3d5b500f830e8c">EEEbuntu forum post</a> and <a href="http://wiki.tuxonice.net/DistroAndHardwareSetup/Ubuntu_Gutsy_Gibbon">TuxOnIce wiki</a>):<br /><ol><li>check that <span style="font-style: italic;">swsuspend</span> is working;</li><li>check that the package <span style="font-style: italic;">hibernate</span> is installed;<br /></li><li>open a terminal for the normal user;<br /></li><li><strike>become "root":<blockquote><code># sudo bash</strike><br /></code></blockquote></li><li>install "git-core":<blockquote><code># sudo apt-get install git-core<br /></code></blockquote></li><li>clone the Array kernel for Intrepid:<blockquote><code># git clone git://git.array.org/array/ubuntu-intrepid.git</code></blockquote></li><li value="4">enter the directory:<blockquote><code># cd ubuntu-intrepid</code></blockquote></li><li>join the split config files to a .config for the kernel:<blockquote><code># cat debian/config/i386/config debian/config/i386/config.eeepc > .config</code></blockquote></li><li>check kernel version:<blockquote><code># uname -r</code></blockquote></li><li>download a suitable patch from <a href="http://www.tuxonice.net/downloads/all/">TuxOnIce site</a>;</li><li>apply patches:<blockquote><code># bunzip2 -c path/to/patchname.patch.bz2 | patch -p1</code></blockquote></li><li>choose TuxOnIce options:<blockquote><code># make oldconfig</code></blockquote>(press enter on all, except say Y for IGNORE_LATE_INITCALL);</li><li>install some tools:<blockquote><code># sudo apt-get install kernel-package libncurses5-dev fakeroot</code></blockquote></li><li>choose your config options:<blockquote><code># make menuconfig</code></blockquote></li><li>move config where ubuntu looks for it, and make a backup:<blockquote><code># cp .config debian/config/i386/config.eeepc<br /># cp .config config</code></blockquote></li><li>if you want to change the config later, just do:<blockquote><code># cp config .config<br /># make menuconfig</code><br /></blockquote></li><li>create a file:<blockquote><code># sudo nano /usr/share/initramfs-tools/scripts/local-premount/tuxonice_do_resume</code></blockquote>with the following content:<blockquote><code>#!/bin/sh<br />PREREQ=""<br />prereqs()<br />{<br /> echo "$PREREQ"<br />}<br />case $1 in<br /># get pre-requisites<br />prereqs)<br /> prereqs<br /> exit 0<br /> ;;<br />esac<br />if [ -d /sys/power/tuxonice ]; then<br /> echo 1 > /sys/power/tuxonice/do_resume<br />fi<br /></code></blockquote></li><li>compile:<blockquote><code># fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd --append-to-version=-custom kernel_image kernel_headers</code></blockquote></li><li>in the parent directory there are now two .deb packages to install:<blockquote><code># cd ..<br /># sudo dpkg -i *custom*.deb</code></blockquote></li><li>reboot using the new kernel and the new initrd;<br /></li><li>check the new GRUB entry has the boot kernel option like "resume=swap:/dev/xxx";<br /></li><li>check <span style="font-style: italic;">hibernate</span> is working, by typing in a console:<blockquote><code># sudo hibernate -v3 --no-suspend</code></blockquote></li><li>check that resuming is possible, because some buggy initramfs building scripts fail to include the <span style="font-style: italic;">tuxonice_do_resume</span> file into the new initrd</li><ul><li>inspect the new initrd: <blockquote><code># <a href="http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/linux-kernel/82174-extracting-initrd-image.html#post436274">follow this</a></code></blockquote> </li><li>if not OK, add the file, create an initrd again: <blockquote><code># <a href="http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/linux-kernel/82174-extracting-initrd-image.html#post436289">follow this</a></code></blockquote> </li><li>and replace it;<br /></li></ul><li>check that the hibernate button is visible; if not, use <span style="font-style: italic;">gconf-editor</span> to tick "can_hibernate" property (go to apps -> gnome-power-manager -> can_hibernate);<br /></li><li>test hibernating and resuming.<br /></li></ol>Even if the test succeded, I gave up: too slow. I'll wait for <a href="http://osdir.com/ml/linux.ubuntu.devel.kernel.general/2007-10/msg00042.html">GRUB to boot directly from resume image</a>.romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-14074881389943436162009-02-24T21:41:00.038+01:002009-07-04T17:26:34.508+02:00Re-installing EEEbuntu (2.0) on an eeePC<div>Due to some limitations of the preinstalled Xandros, I'm switching to <a href="http://www.eeebuntu.org/">EEEbuntu</a>. I hope to get this ubuntu-based distribution boot faster with some tweaking. In the meanwhile I'm also keeping Xandros, because I like its 15 sec. boot time. My 900 model has two SSDs, 4GB (faster) and 16GB (slower); so I'm planning to boot both Xandros and EEEbuntu from the first small but faster device: I'll have to split the EEEbuntu installation across two partitions on two different devices.<br /><ol><li><a href="http://www.eeebuntu.org/index.php?page=download">get</a> EEEbuntu Base;</li><li>install in a partition on the 16GB one (let's say <span style="font-style: italic;">/dev/sdb2</span>);</li><li>reboot (boot time 46 sec., from grub menu to welcome sound with autologin);<br /></li><li style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of /dev/sdb2 with partimage (record 1);</li><li>shrink the Xandros partition to make room for an EEEbuntu partition (let's say <span style="font-style: italic;">/dev/sda3</span>);<br /></li><li>move everything except <span style="font-style: italic;">/usr</span> from <span style="font-style: italic;">/dev/sdb2</span> to <span style="font-style: italic;">/dev/sda3</span>;</li><li>on /dev/sdb2, move everything in <span style="font-style: italic;">/usr</span> to the parent directory (/);<br /></li><li>on /dev/sda3, make a new <span style="font-style: italic;">/usr</span> folder;</li><li>on /dev/sda3, edit <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/fstab</span> to mount <span style="font-style: italic;">/dev/sdb2</span> to <span style="font-style: italic;">/usr</span>;</li><li>fix grub boot instructions accordingly (grub root is now "(hd0,2)", kernel option "root=/dev/sda3");</li><li>reboot (boot time 40 sec.);</li><li>if ok, <span style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of /dev/sda3 and /dev/sdb2 with partimage (record 2)</span>;</li><li>install a faster kernel (<a href="http://array.org/ubuntu/setup.html">eeepc-lean</a>) <a href="http://array.org/ubuntu/setup-intrepid.html">from array.org</a>;</li><li>fix grub boot instructions accordingly;</li><li>reboot (boot time 38 sec.);<br /></li><li>fix some hardware (Fn-) keys issues (<a href="http://forum.eeebuntu.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=785&start=3&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=eeecontrol+900">EEEbuntu forum #1</a>) with eee-control installed from synaptic;</li><li>run eee-control tray applet at startup (System -> Control center -> Sessions -> Add, fill with <span style="font-style: italic;">/usr/bin/eee-control-tray</span>);<br /></li><li><strike>install TuxOnIce (<a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2009/02/enabling-tuxonice-hibernation-with.html">my way</a>);</strike></li><li>improve boot time by disabling some services (<a href="http://knowledge76.com/index.php/Speed_Up_Boot">Knowledge76 article</a>):<blockquote>als-utils<br />anacron<br />apmd<br />apparmor<br />apport<br />atd<br />bluetooth<br />bootlogd<br />cron<br />dns-clean<br />pcmciautils<br />ppp-dns<br />rmnologin<br />rsync<br />stop-bootlogd<br />stop-bootlogd-single<br />sysklogd<br />ufw<br />usplash</blockquote></li><li>remove cron, logrotate, sysklogd (<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC/Boot">Debian WiKi</a>):<br /><blockquote><code># apt-get remove cron logrotate sysklogd<br /></code></blockquote></li><li>remove "splash" option from grub boot instructions (usplash service is removed);</li><li>add "rootfstype=ext2" to grub boot instructions (avoid kernel very little guessing time, <a href="http://www.debianitalia.org/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=171&page=2">Debian Italia post</a>);</li><li>add "noresume" options to grub boot instructions (if hibernation disabled, avoid kernel looking for resume image <a href="http://www.debianitalia.org/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=171&page=2">Debian Italia post</a>);<br /></li><li>remove some virtual consoles (tty7 is for X and tty1 is for text, same <a href="http://knowledge76.com/index.php/Speed_Up_Boot">Knowledge76 article</a>):<br /><blockquote><code># rm /etc/event.d/tty2<br />..<br /># rm /etc/event.d/tty6</code></blockquote></li><li>replace the bash shell with the faster (for scripts) dash shell (<a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DashAsBinSh/Spec">Ubuntu wiki</a>):<br /><blockquote><code># apt-get install dash<br /># dpkg-reconfigure dash</code></blockquote></li><li>reorder boot scripts with right dependencies (<a href="http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=31275">Debian User forum post</a>):<br /><blockquote><code># apt-get install insserv<br /># dpkg-reconfigure insserv<br /></code></blockquote></li><li>reboot (boot time 35 sec.);<br /></li><li>remove create_floppy_devices, pcmcia-check-broken-cis, pcmcia-socket-startup from <span style="font-style: italic;">/lib/udev</span>;</li><li><strike>fix hwclock time out (<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianEeePC/TipsAndTricks#Speedupbootprocess">Debian WiKi</a>)</strike>;</li><li>improve performance by setting "noatime" option (instead of "relatime" or "atime") in fstab entries (same <a href="http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?t=31275">Debian User forum post</a>);</li><li>boot once with "profile" option in grub entry, to update the <a href="http://transient-inode.blogspot.com/2009/02/grub-profiling-readahead-preload-and.html">profile for "readahead"</a>;</li><li>reboot (boot time 34 sec.);</li><li>install mc and mcedit;</li><li>set mcedit as default editor for mc, by setting "use internal editor" under Option ->Configuration of mc (<a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mc/+bug/263442">Ubuntu launchpad</a>);</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of /dev/sda3 (record 3)</span>;</li><li>no real benefit from "readahead", remove it by disabling some services (same <a href="http://knowledge76.com/index.php/Speed_Up_Boot">Knowledge76 article</a>): <blockquote>readahead<br />readahead-desktop<br />stop-readahead<br /></blockquote> </li><li>re-run insserv;<br /></li><li>reboot (boot time 33 sec.);</li><li><strike>install LXDE:<br /></strike><blockquote><code><strike># apt-get install lxde</strike></code></blockquote></li><li><strike>make LXDE the default desktop manager instead of GNOME (from login menu, after hitting ctrl-alt-bkspc);</strike></li><li><strike>reboot (boot time 31 sec.);</strike></li><li>prepend "exit" to <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/init.d/hwclock.sh</span> and to <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/init.d/hwclockfirst.sh</span> (the scripts are called but nothing is done);</li><li><strike>install compiz (<a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompositeManager/CompizFusion">Ubuntu Help</a>);</strike></li><li><strike>install avant-window-navigator (AWN);<br /></strike></li><li><strike>fix compiz and AWN startup (<a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2009/04/installing-avant-window-navigator-awn.html">my way</a>);</strike></li><li><strike>set AWN bar position through gconf-editor (<a href="http://dreamlinuxforums.org/index.php?topic=3686.0">this post</a>);<br /></strike></li><li><strike>reboot (boot time sec. 33);</strike></li><li>install xcompmgr and make it autostart;</li><li>install cairo-dock and make it autostart;</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of /dev/sda3 and /dev/sdb2 with partimage (record 4)</span>;</li></ol>The EEEbuntu experience is not completely satifactory: wireless networking troubles, external monitor resolution troubles, slow boot.. I'm leaving..<br />[..]<br />I'm trying now with version <a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2009/06/re-installing-eeebuntu-30-on-eeepc.html">3.0</a>.<br /></div>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-48435176265375147292009-02-06T20:28:00.001+01:002009-02-09T23:28:24.071+01:00Making windows more compact on an eeePC 900 with default XandrosI like the default GUI theme of the stock Xandros on the eeePC 900, and most of all I don't like to make too many (often incoherent) changes, but the screen is never big enough. The title bar of the windows could be shorter, for example.<br />To reduce the height of the bar, we also need to scale down the icon buttons. Therefore it is better to create a new icewm theme:<br /><ol><li>assumed that the <span style="font-style: italic;">.icewm</span> configuration folder exists for the default user "user":<br /><blockquote><pre>cd /home/user/.icewm/themes<br />mkdir AsusSilverCompact<br />cd AsusSilverCompact<br />cp -r /usr/share/icewm/themes/AsusSilver/* .<br />nano default.theme</pre></blockquote></li><br /><li>find the row where "TitleBarHeight" is and change the heigth to "16", then save and exit;</li><br /><li>with your preferred image editor scale down to "32" (preserving the aspect ratio, so no stretching) the height of the icons:<br /><blockquote><pre><br />closeA.xpm maximizeA.xpm menuButtonA.xpm minimizeA.xpm restoreA.xpm<br />closeI.xpm maximizeI.xpm menuButtonI.xpm minimizeI.xpm restoreI.xpm<br />closeO.xpm maximizeO.xpm menuButtonO.xpm minimizeO.xpm restoreO.xpm<br />menusel.xpm<br /></pre></blockquote></li><br /><li>tell icewm to use the new theme:<br /><blockquote><pre>cd ../..<br />nano theme</pre></blockquote>change the current active theme by changing the line to<br /><blockquote><pre>Theme=AsusSilverCompact/default.theme<br /></pre></blockquote>then save and exit;</li><br /><li>restart X</li></ol>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-12487053326566829062009-02-02T11:54:00.004+01:002009-02-02T12:57:37.491+01:00Multi-booting several Windows based OSes<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/kb/217210">Microsoft itself explains</a> how to make coexist different versions of her OSes on the same disk. The key point is that they have to be installed in age order: the youngest last. Quite uncomfortable, particularly if you already have a consolidated setup and want to add an older version.<br />I also tried to install WindowsXP (64bit) after Windows2000 professional (32bit) on two different partitions, but then Windows2000 didn't boot anymore. Even if they are on separate partitions the share the C:\ for the bootloader. I don't believe it's a 32-64 bit issue, but I have no time to investigate.<br />I feel better this way (each OS with its own bootloader):<br /><ol><li>install (or keep installed) Windows "A" in its proper partition (e.g. the first one);</li><li>add a partition to hold Windows "B" (e.g. the second one);</li><li>use the preferred tool (e.g. <span style="font-style: italic;">grub</span>) to hide partition "A";</li><li>install Windows "B";</li><li>install <span style="font-style: italic;">grub</span> on the mbr of the hard drive and make it reading the <span style="font-style: italic;">menu.lst</span> containing:<blockquote><pre>title Windows A<br />unhide (hd0,0)<br />hide (hd0,1)<br />rootnoverify (hd0,0)<br />chainloader +1<br />makeactive<br /><br />title Windows B<br />unhide (hd0,1)<br />hide (hd0,0)<br />rootnoverify (hd0,1)<br />chainloader +1<br />makeactive<br /><br /></pre></blockquote><br /></li></ol>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-31096006978070141092009-01-26T20:25:00.008+01:002009-01-31T10:50:30.507+01:00Installing the Flash player 10 (beta) on an eeePC 900 with default XandrosUpdating the Flash player from version 9 to 10 should be easy but seems to be problematic on Xandros eeePC.<br />It is quite easy, in fact: <a href="http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=428508#p428508">this post</a> on eeeuser.com explains how, but it is not completely exact for a 900 model.<br />For my model it worked this way:<br /><br /><ol><li>open a terminal by pressing CTRL-ALT-T</li><li>type <blockquote><pre>wget <a href="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashplayer10/flashplayer10_install_linux_081108.tar.gz" target="_blank">http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs … 108.tar.gz</a> </pre></blockquote> or download the file via a browser;</li><li>once the file is downloaded, type <blockquote><pre>tar xvzf flashplayer10_install_linux_081108.tar.gz</pre></blockquote></li><li>close any open browser window;</li><li>type <blockquote><pre>cd install_flash_player_10_linux</pre></blockquote></li><li>type </li><li><blockquote><pre>sudo ./flashplayer-installer</pre></blockquote></li><li>hit "Enter";</li><li>type <blockquote><pre>/opt/firefox</pre></blockquote>(instead of /usr/lib/iceweasel)</li><li>type "y"</li><li>type "n"</li><li>open a browser window, and check any flash website, such as YouTube.</li></ol>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-54101357602798807142009-01-18T17:26:00.003+01:002009-01-18T17:49:32.505+01:00Removing the dialog box when pressing the hardware shutdown button (on an eeePC with default Xandros)<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:fastshutdown">This page</a> suggests different ways to remove the shutdown dialog box. It will be removed both when the hardware button is pressed and when the software button on the taskbar is pressed. But I'd like to remove it only for the hardware button and leave the rest unchanged. So I edited <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/acpi/powerbtn.sh</span> (changes are in <span style="font-weight: bold;">bold</span>) to comment out the call to <span style="font-style: italic;">shutdown_dialog</span> and insert the call to <span style="font-style: italic;">fastshutdown.sh</span>, instead:<br /><blockquote><pre>#!/bin/sh<br /># /etc/acpi/powerbtn.sh<br /># Initiates a shutdown when the power putton has been<br /># pressed.<br /><br />if ps -Af | grep -q '[k]desktop' && test -f /usr/bin/dcop<br />then<br /> dcop --all-sessions --all-users ksmserver ksmserver logout 1 2 2 && exit 0<br />elif ps -Af | grep -q 'AsusLauncher'<br />then<br /> if [ ! -f /home/user/.doingLogin ]<br /> then<br /> DISPLAY=:0 su -c /opt/xandros/bin/shutdown_dialog user &<br /> fi<br />else<br /> /bin/kill -SIGUSR2 1<br />fi<br /></pre></blockquote>to become:<br /><blockquote><pre>#!/bin/sh<br /># /etc/acpi/powerbtn.sh<br /># Initiates a shutdown when the power putton has been<br /># pressed.<br /><br />if ps -Af | grep -q '[k]desktop' && test -f /usr/bin/dcop<br />then<br /> dcop --all-sessions --all-users ksmserver ksmserver logout 1 2 2 && exit 0<br />elif ps -Af | grep -q 'AsusLauncher'<br />then<br /> if [ ! -f /home/user/.doingLogin ]<br /> then<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">sudo fastshutdown.sh</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> #</span> DISPLAY=:0 su -c /opt/xandros/bin/shutdown_dialog user &<br /> fi<br />else<br /> /bin/kill -SIGUSR2 1<br />fi<br /></pre></blockquote>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-46068215276430963982009-01-14T19:46:00.061+01:002009-03-21T14:45:18.661+01:00Re-installing Xandros on an eeePCQuick list for a fresh install of stock Xandros (for the 900 model) with some customization (steps to repeat for preparing my eeePC 900):<br /><br /><ol><li>remove unionfs (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:removeunionfs">EeeUser howto#1</a>);</li><li>remove /dev/sda2 and enlarge /dev/sda2 (same <a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:removeunionfs">EeeUser howto#1</a>);</li><li>edit <span style="font-style: italic;">/boot/grub/menu.lst</span>:<ul><li>add boot to console option (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installrescuemode?s=console%20boot">EeeUser howto#2</a>);</li><li>show menu;</li></ul></li><li>change default system language (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:changelanguage">this EeeUser howto</a> seems to lead(?) to some problems, <a href="http://www.eeeuser.net/?p=8">this howto</a> is tested safe);</li><li>add extra repositories and enable "pinning":<ul><li>manual way (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/addingxandrosrepos?s=pinning%20repositories">EeeUser howto#3</a>);</li><li>or using <span style="font-style: italic;">pimpmyeeepc.sh</span> script (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:pimpmyeee.sh">EeeUser howto#4</a>);</li><li>remember to check <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/apt/sources.list</span> for containing both "p701" and "p900" standard repositories (otherwise, possible issues like while enabling "full desktop mode");</li><li>add, but keep disabled (due to some conflict, enable only when needed) xepc repositories, by adding:</li><blockquote><pre># deb http://updates.xepc.org/ p701 main</pre></blockquote>to <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/apt/sources.list</span><span> and </span><blockquote><pre>Package: *<br />Pin: origin updates.xepc.org<br />Pin-Priority: 935<br /></pre></blockquote>to <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/apt/preferences</span>; </ul></li><li>use <span style="font-style: italic;">pimpmyeeepc.sh</span> script (same <a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:pimpmyeee.sh">EeeUser howto#4</a>) to:<ul><li>remove SOS button from bar;</li><li>disable SCIM;</li><li>enable codec support;</li><li>enable "full desktop mode";</li></ul></li><li>fix <span style="font-style: italic;">simpleui.rc</span>:<ul><li>user file missing (<a href="http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=357472#p357472">EeeUser thread</a>, specific for the "900" model):</li><ul><li>make <span style="font-style: italic;">/var/lib/AsusLauncher</span> as a symlink to <span style="font-style: italic;">/home/user/.AsusLauncher</span>;</li><li>make <span style="font-style: italic;">/opt/xandros/share/AsusLauncher/simpleui.rc</span> as a symlink to <span style="font-style: italic;">/home/user/.AsusLauncher/simpleui.rc</span>;</li></ul><li>invalid entries (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:beginners_guide#create_a_working_copy_back_up_and_fix_simpleui.rc">EeeUser howto#5</a>);</li></ul></li><li>download and install some GUI config tools (same <a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:beginners_guide#download_and_install_the_user_created_tools">EeeUser howto#5</a>):<ul><li>install AsusLauncher tools, first;</li><li>fix dependency for "Iconifier" (one of the AsusLauncher tools with <blockquote><pre>sudo aptitude install python-imaging</pre></blockquote></li><li>install Tweakeee:</li><li>install Theeemer;</li><li>install EMeditor (needs menu icon to be set manually);</li></ul></li><li>hide the dialog box when pressing the hardware shutdown button (<a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2009/01/removing-dialog-box-when-pressing.html">my way</a>);</li><li>install the webcam tray control (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:controlcamera?s=webcam%20tray#the_easy_way">EeeUser howto#6</a>);</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of system partition with partimage (record 1)</span><br /></li><li>modify <span style="font-style: italic;">/usr/bin/startsimple.sh</span> to save some RAM (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:save_ram_by_using_exec">EeeUser howto#7</a>);</li><li>install WINE (<a href="http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=325253#p325253">EeeUser thread</a>, specific for the "900" model, xepc repos enabled);</li><li>install Exifer (win32 application);</li><li>install XnView (win32 version);<br /></li><li>install Gimp (xepc repos disabled) and its svg plug-in;</li><li>install Gparted;</li><li>install partimage;</li><li>install iftop;<br /></li><li>change host (computer) name (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:changecomputername">EeeUser howto#8</a>);</li><li>set some keyboard shortcuts (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/mappingkeyboardshortcuts">EeeUser howto#9</a>);</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of system partition with partimage (record 2)</span></li><li>uninstall Firefox2;</li><li>install Firefox3 (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:installfirefox3">EeeUser howto#10</a>, "script" way);</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of system partition with partimage (record 3)</span></li><li>improve wireless connection script (<a href="http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=24876">EeeUser howto#11</a>);</li><li><strike>install Flash player 10 (<a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2009/01/installing-flash-player-10-beta-on.html">my way</a>)</strike> stay with default Flash player 9;</li><li>install Sancho (<a href="http://sancho.awardspace.com/">download</a> autoinstaller script);<br /></li><li>install GnoCHM (via Tweakeee);</li><li>make autofs start at boot by adding the entry "autofs" <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/fastservices</span> (<a href="http://www.voidstar.com/node.php?id=3176">this explanation</a>);</li><li>install curlftpfs and configure it to use autofs (<a href="http://lukaszproszek.blogspot.com/2008/05/automounting-ftpfs-using-curlftpfs-and.html">this guide</a>);</li><li>install finit-mod (<a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2008/09/installing-finit-mod-on-eeepc-with.html">my way</a>);<br /></li><li>maximize screen space (<a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:maximize_screen_space">EeeUser howto#12</a> + <a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2009/02/making-windows-more-compact-on-eeepc.html">my way</a>);<br /></li></ol>At some point, I had to (try to) install <a href="http://www.mono-project.com/Moonlight">Moonlight</a> 1.0, but it didn't work:<br /><ul><li>moonlight plugin crashes Firefox3 (but not Firefox2);</li><li>Flash player 10 does not work anymore;</li><li>uninstalling moonlight still makes Flash player 10 not working.</li></ul><br />Some attempts (installing, uninstalling, reinstalling, compiling from source) to solve the problem made my Xandros setup dirty. I will restart from the last snapshot (record 3), recover configuration steps 26-33, then take a new snapshot;<br /><ol start="34"><br /><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of system partition with partimage (record 4)</span></li><li>save some disk space by:<ul><li>uninstalling unwanted applications:<br /><blockquote><code>apt-get --purge remove akregator firstrunwizard frozen-bubble frozen-bubble-data huaweiaktbbo kbruch khangman knode korganizer kpat ktuberling pidgin pidgin-data planetpenguin-racer planetpenguin-racer-data xandros-frozen-bubble-helper<br /></code></blockquote></li><li>uninstalling localization packages:<br /><blockquote><code>apt-get --purge remove acroread-it asus-i18n-it-it asus-launcher-it-it asus-xnlite-it-it diskutil-it-it display-settings-it-it eeetips-it fixdesktop-it kde-i18n-it keyboardmap-data-it-it keyboardstatus-it-it minimixer-it-it networkmonitor-it-it powermonitor-it-it thunderbird-locale-it usbstorageapplet-it-it wapmonitor-it-it xandros-localedialog-it-it xandros-online-help-it xandros-personalization-it-it xandros-shutdowndialog-it-it xandros-systeminfo-it-it xandros-themedialog-it-it<br /></code></blockquote><br /></li><li>deleting folder <span style="font-style: italic;">/usr/share/doc/xandros-online-help/it_IT</span>:<blockquote><code>rm -r /usr/share/doc/xandros-online-help/it_IT</code></blockquote></li><li>deleting all folders but <span style="font-style: italic;">en_US</span> under <span style="font-style: italic;"> /opt/asusdiag-0.1/help</span>:<blockquote><code>cd /opt/asusdiag-0.1/help<br />ls -d */ |grep -v en_US|xargs rm -r</code><blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></li><li>deleting all folders but <span style="font-style: italic;">en_US</span> under <span style="font-style: italic;">/opt/asusdiag-0.1/images</span><blockquote><code>cd /opt/asusdiag-0.1/images<br />ls -d */ |grep -v en_US|xargs rm -r</code><blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></li><li>deleting all .qm files but those referring to "english", here and there<blockquote><code>cd /<br />find / -name '*.qm'|grep -v en|xargs rm<br /></code></blockquote></li><li>emptying the "Trash" folder</li><li>cleaning the .deb cache:</li><blockquote><pre>apt-get clean</pre></blockquote></ul><br /></li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of system partition with partimage (record 5)</span></li></ol><strike>While waiting for the moonlight issue to be solved,</strike> I'm switching to <a href="http://www.eeebuntu.org/">EEEbuntu</a> (dual boot with Xandros).<br /><ol start="37"><li>install moonlight/silverlight support (<a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2009/03/installing-moonlightsilverlight-support.html">my way</a>);</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">take a snapshot of system partition with partimage (record 6)</span></li></ol>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-71232317506679009712008-12-28T15:38:00.003+01:002008-12-28T17:31:57.332+01:00Multi-booting (automatic way) several Ubuntu based distributionsThere is a <a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2008/10/multi-booting-manual-way-several-ubuntu.html">simple way to boot from different ubuntu</a> .iso images saved on the same media, but a manual intervention is needed in order to rename some files before (re)booting.<br />It is possible to automate it: it's tricky, but it works.<br /><br />Briefly:<br /><ol><li>make an usb stick (or hard disk) FreeDOS bootable;</li><li>put the .iso images on it;</li><li>put the correct pair of <span style="font-style: italic;">kernel</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">initrd</span> which boots the .isos;</li><li>edit <span style="font-style: italic;">(fd)config.sys</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">autoexec.bat</span> in order to make a menu and a batch that renames some files and boots (using Grub4DOS).</li></ol><br />In detail (with the goal of booting the "alternate" distro of <span style="font-style: italic;">kubuntu hardy </span>in either <span style="font-style: italic;">i386 </span>or <span style="font-style: italic;">amd64</span> flavour):<br /><ol><li>make your usb device boot any (in principle) OS capable of file manipulation. The plain old DOS is enaugh (and fast to load) but not free. FreeDOS is a good choice and <a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2008/12/booting-freedos-from-usb-stick.html">making an usb stick FreeDOS bootable</a> is simple;</li><li>make a folder called "hardy" under the root;</li><li><a href="http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/download">download</a> the alternate iso images and put them into the folder "hardy";</li><li>rename them "i386-k.iso" and "amd64-k.iso" for short;</li><li>under the folder "hardy" make two sub-folders "i386" and "amd64";</li><li><a href="http://darkstar.ist.utl.pt/kubuntu/archive/dists/hardy/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/">download</a> the proper (check <a href="http://learn.clemsonlinux.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Install_from_USB_drive">here</a> for details) pair of kernel and initrd of each distro and put them into the corresponding folder;</li><li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/grub4dos">get Grub4DOS</a> and put the dos executable "grub.exe" in the root folder (it will be used to boot the kernel which in turn will run the installer on the .iso image);</li><li>make two configuration files for Grub4DOS to load the proper kernels;<br />the first "i386-k.lst" (add kernel options as needed):<br /><blockquote><pre>default 0<br />timeout 1<br />title i386<br />root (fd0)<br />kernel /hardy/i386/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 noapic<br />initrd /hardy/i386//initrd.gz<br />boot<br /></pre></blockquote><br />the second "amd64-k.lst" (add kernel options as needed):<br /><blockquote><pre>default 0<br />timeout 1<br />title amd64<br />root (fd0)<br />kernel /hardy/amd64/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 noapic<br />initrd /hardy/amd64/initrd.gz<br />boot<br /></pre></blockquote></li><li>in the root folder, make an "fdconfig.sys" file, which acts as menu:<br /><blockquote><pre>switches=/F /N<br />menudefault=0,30<br />menu Kubuntu USB installer<br />menu<br />menu 0 - Exit to FreeDOS<br />menu 1 - Install from kubuntu-8.04.1-alternate-amd64.iso<br />menu 2 - Install from kubuntu-8.04.1-alternate-i386.iso<br />0?rem<br />1?rem<br />2?rem<br /></pre></blockquote></li><li>in the root folder, make an "autoexec.bat" file, which manipulates files and invokes the loader:<blockquote><pre>rem common preparation<br />cd \hardy<br />ren *.iso *.isn<br /><br />rem select distro<br />if "%config%"=="1" ren amd64-k.isn amd64-k.iso<br />if "%config%"=="2" ren i386-k.isn i386-k.iso<br /><br />rem run distro<br />if "%config%"=="1" \grub --config-file=\hardy\amd64-k.lst<br />if "%config%"=="2" \grub --config-file=\hardy\i386-k.lst<br /><br />cd \</pre></blockquote></li></ol><br />unmount the usb device to be sure all get saved and reboot.romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-27873866215273730542008-12-10T09:00:00.001+01:002008-12-10T09:00:00.902+01:00Multi-booting from USB stickWhile still looking for a better way to boot several OS distributions, I'm writing down the one I use with satisfaction.<br />There are a lot of how-tos about the topic on the web: they often contain steps which are distribution-specific, like renaming or moving folders to other locations, in order to avoid conflicts, for example. I dont'like it. I like, instead, a more general, systematic way:<br /><ol><br /><li>suitably partition (FAT filesystem) the usb drive:</li><br /><ul><br /><li>the first primary partition, with the bootable flag set, reserved to hold some shared data (some operating system do recognize only the first one on removable media), and to hold a bootmanager to deal with the multi-boot scheme;</li><br /><li>allocate (generally) one partition per distro to avoid conflicts;</li><br /></ul><br /><li>copy the distro (generally the <span style="font-style: italic;">content</span> of an .iso image) on its devoted partition;</li><br /><li>install syslinux on that partition;</li><br /><li>edit "syslinux.cfg" accordingly; if the distro comes from a bootable .iso, most of the time it's enough to:</li><br /><ul><br /><li>copy the "isolinux" folder over the "syslinux" one;</li><br /><li>in the new folder "syslinux", rename "isolinux.cfg" to "syslinux.cfg";</li><br /></ul><br /><li>install a bootmanager, like <a href="http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Grub4dos_tutorial#Install_GRUB_for_DOS_boot_code_to_MBR">Grub4DOS, to the master boot record</a> of the bootable partition;</li><br /><li>in the bootmanager menu, add an entry for each partition to <a href="http://knowhowbyromiz.blogspot.com/2008/09/grub-chainloads-syslinux-and-back.html">chainload its own syslinux</a>.<br /></li></ol>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-4430840472337247062008-12-03T21:03:00.004+01:002008-12-03T23:06:35.896+01:00More than 80 columns in an Ubuntu console with SVGATextModeFor my server running Ubuntu 8.04 I needed the text console 160 columns wide.<br />I tried some "vga=xxx" settings in the kernel options to <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ConsoleFramebuffer">increase the resolution of the virtual consoles</a>, and to install the <a href="http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/hardy/man8/SVGATextMode.html">SVGATextMode</a> package, but both ones with no success, because during the boot "something" related to the framebuffer was always making the screen revert to 80x25.<br />I can't remember the page where I read that the video card framebuffer driver is sometimes conflicting with the <a href="http://www.benjarvis.org/tech/1280x800-console-framebuffer-in-ubuntu-804-hardy-heron/">framebuffer console</a>, but the info was right. So my steps were (as "root"):<br /><ol><br /><li>look for video card framebuffer driver with:<br /><blockquote><pre>lsmod|grep fb</pre></blockquote>in my case <span style="font-style: italic;">s3fb</span>;</li><br /><li>blacklist that driver to avoid loading it, by appending<br /><blockquote><pre>blacklist s3fb</pre></blockquote>to the file "/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer";</li><br /><li>comment out <span style="font-style: italic;">vesafb</span><span> from "/etc/modules"</span>:<br /><blockquote><pre>#vesafb</pre></blockquote></li><br /><li>install SVGATextMode:<br /><blockquote><pre>apt-get install svgatextmode</pre></blockquote>(note that it rebuilds "initramfs");</li><br /><li>edit "/etc/TextConfig", the configuration file for SVGATextMode, in particular:<br /><ul><br /><li>fitting the video card chip and DAC<br /><blockquote><pre>..<br />ChipSet "S3"<br />..<br />ClockChip "S3Virge"<br /></pre></blockquote></li><li>correcting the "setfont" path<br /><blockquote><pre># Debian defaults for use with kbd again, if you use console-tools<br /># then use consolechars as your FontProg instead.<br />#FontProg "/usr/bin/consolechars -f"<br />FontProg "/bin/setfont"<br />FontPath "/usr/share/consolefonts"<br /></pre></blockquote></li><li>loading a suitable 8bit font (needed to display well on an 160 columns screen)<br /><blockquote><pre>FontSelect "lat1-16" 8x16 9x16 8x15 9x15<br />FontSelect "lat1-14" 8x14 9x14 8x13 9x13<br />FontSelect "lat1-12" 8x12 9x12 8x11 9x11<br />FontSelect "lat1-10" 8x10 9x10 8x9 9x9<br />FontSelect "lat1-08" 8x8 9x8 8x7 9x7<br /></pre></blockquote></li><br /></ul><br /></li><li>edit "/etc/init.d/svgatextmode" by adding the "-x" switch (without it, it did not work: I don't know exactly why) and the text mode desired (bold part)<br /><blockquote><pre> /sbin/SVGATextMode <span style="font-weight: bold;">-x "n160x60"</span> >/dev/null<br /> echo "done."<br /> ;;<br /></pre></blockquote><br />(note that in the "/etc/TextConfig" coming with the package the mode name "160x60" is used for two different text mode, thus only the last one is effective. I renamed one "n160x60" );</li><li>reboot</li></ol>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-66671591784829876752008-12-02T11:38:00.003+01:002008-12-02T12:15:35.535+01:00Booting FreeDOS from USB sticksThese are only my quick notes on how to boot FreeDOS from an usb stick, mainly taken from this <a href="http://wiki.fdos.org/Installation/BootDiskCreateUSB">short and confusing post</a> and from this <a href="http://ben.franske.com/blogs/2007/08/21/booting_dos_from_a_usb_flash_drive">more detailed guide</a>.<br /><ol><li><a href="http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/">get</a> and <a href="http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/SYSLINUX#Creating_a_Bootable_Disk">install</a> syslinux on a FAT32 (or FAT) usb stick;</li><li><a href="http://www.freedos.org/freedos/files/">get</a> a FreeDOS distribution;</li><li>copy the "fat32lba.bin" (or "fat16.bin" in case of FAT), "command.com" and "kernel.sys" files from the FreeDOS distro to the root directory of the stick;</li><li>rename the "*.bin" file as "*.bss";</li><li>edit "syslinux.cfg" to be:</li><blockquote><pre><br />timeout 1<br />default fdos<br />prompt 0<br /><br />label fdos<br /> BSS fat32lba.bss<br /> append -<br /><br /></pre></blockquote><li>if necessary add a suitable <a href="http://home.mnet-online.de/willybilly/fdoshelp/en/hhstndrd/batch/autoexec.htm">autoexec.bat</a> and <a href="http://home.mnet-online.de/willybilly/fdoshelp/en/hhstndrd/cnfigsys/index.htm">config.sys</a>;</li><li>unmount the usb stick and reboot.</li></ol>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-1444132714225792572008-10-27T22:20:00.005+01:002009-01-24T11:14:29.870+01:00File type association on an eeePC with default XandroIn the default Xandros installation of my eeePC, in <span style="font-style: italic;">Easy mode</span>, it is not possible to make a file type association with an application because the system does not save that kind of preference even if the menu commands are enabled and accessible. I don't know why this appens, but there are some workarounds.<br />If you don't have or don't want to have the <span style="font-style: italic;">Advanced mode (Full Desktop)</span> enabled, you could try <a href="http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=11804">this</a> and <a href="http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=38973">this</a>.<br /><strike>If you already have or want to have the <a href="http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:getkde?s=full%20desktop"><span style="font-style: italic;">Advanced mode (Full Desktop)</span> enabled</a>, it's much more simple:<br /></strike><ol><li><strike><strike>switch to "Full desktop";</strike></strike></li><li><strike>launch the file manager;</strike></li><li><strike>right click the file to associate, select "Open with" and then "Other";</strike></li><li><strike>select the application, mark the "Remember application .." checkbox and then "OK";</strike></li><li><strike>switch back to "Easy mode".</strike></li></ol><strike>Now the preferences are saved and used in <span style="font-style: italic;">Easy mode</span> as well.</strike><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Update</span><br />After a fresh reinstallation of Xandros from the recovery DVD, the "switching" trick does not work anymore..romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-7470080111041208302008-10-21T16:50:00.007+02:002008-12-02T11:14:44.190+01:00Multi-booting (manual way) several Ubuntu based distributionsAs for Gentoo distributions, for some reasons I need to carry with me different Ubuntu distributions (x86, amd64, live, alternate, etc.) on the same usb disk and to be able to boot and install from them. You (quite) cannot boot directly from the .iso image (with some other distros you can, i.e. <a href="http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/quantian/howto_lilogrub.html">quantian</a>). You (quite) cannot put them in a single partition because they all share the same directory structure and jailing each one in a sub-directory did not work. The easiest way is to have each distro <a href="http://learn.clemsonlinux.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Install_from_USB_drive">in its own partition</a> and a multi-boot scheme for the usb disk.<br />As stated in the page linked above, it is possible to use a pair of kernel and initrd to load the installer from an .iso image.<br />If you have several .iso images (related to the same version of the distro) in the same partition, you can choose which one to load from, by renaming the other ones with an extension different from ".iso". The boot process automatically loads and installs from the first image it finds.romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-6943747765416970332008-10-21T16:49:00.004+02:002008-12-01T13:29:14.350+01:00Multi-booting several Gentoo distributionsFor some reasons I need to carry with me different Gentoo distributions (x86, amd64, live, minimal, etc.) on the same usb disk and to be able to boot and install from them.<br />You cannot boot directly from the .iso image (with some other distros you can, i.e. <a href="http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/quantian/howto_lilogrub.html">quantian</a>).<br />You cannot put them in a single partition because they all share the same directory structure and jailing each one in a sub-directory did not work.<br />The easiest way is to have each distro <a href="http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/liveusb.xml">in its own partition</a> and a multi-boot scheme for the usb disk.<br />But there's still some problems: it seems that different versions (2006, 2007, 2008..) have a <a href="http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-590705-highlight-cdroot.html">different "usb behaviour"</a>. Furthermore, the boot process of each distro looks for the boot files over all partitions it can see, and it cannot distinguish (until version 2008, at least) among different distros. It happens, that the amd64 distro booted from the second partition finds a set of boot files in the first partition (the x86 one) and tries to use them. It results that the boot process stops or misbehaves.<br />The solution is to pass to the kernel (with grub, lilo, syslinux, etc.) the option <blockquote><pre>cdroot=/dev/therightdevice</pre></blockquote>This solution is easy but unsatisfactory because the device name may change from machine to machine. Unfortunately, the obvious remedy to refer to devices by label (cdroot=LABEL=therightlabel) or by uuid (cdroot=UUID=therightuuid) didn't work.romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-9620510407175093552008-10-05T17:10:00.004+02:002008-10-05T18:25:11.816+02:00Installing CurlFtpFS on Ubuntu Edgy to mount FTP sharesTo mount an FTP share under Ubuntu linux there are at least two choiches: LUFS and ftpFS.<br />After reading <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=42239">this post</a>, I opted for ftpFS, through <a href="http://curlftpfs.sourceforge.net/">CurlFtpFS</a>. The most comprehensive tutorial to install it under Ubuntu Edgy I have found is <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=441126">this one</a>.<br />By purging all comments you get this simple way to install:<br /><ol><br /><li>become root:<br /><blockquote><pre>prompt#: sudo -i</pre></blockquote></li><br /><li>install the necessary libraries:<br /><blockquote><pre>prompt#: apt-get install libc6 libcomerr2 libcurl3 libfuse2<br />libglib2.0-0 libidn11 libkrb53 libssl0.9.8 zlib1g fuse-utils</pre></blockquote></li><br /><li>download backport package for Edgy from here: <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=32534&d=1179099233" target="_blank">curlftpfs-0.9.1-1_edgy.tar.bz2</a>;</li><li>unpack with:<br /><blockquote><pre>prompt#: mkdir curlftps-edgy<br />prompt#: tar xvjf curlftpfs-0.9.1-1_edgy.tar.bz2 -C curlftps-edgy<br /></pre></blockquote></li><br /><li>install .deb package:<br /><blockquote><pre>prompt#: dpkg -i curlftpfs_0.9.1-1_i386.deb</pre></blockquote></li><br /><li>clean up:<br /><blockquote><pre>prompt#: rm -r curlftps-edgy</pre></blockquote></li><br /><li>let mount recognize the filesystem type:<br /><blockquote><pre>prompt#: ln -s /usr/bin/curlftpfs /sbin/mount.curlftpfs </pre></blockquote></li></ol><br />If you need to mount in fstab, add the proper line to fstab itself:<br /><blockquote><pre>ftpusername:ftppassword@ftp.site.address /path/to/mountpoint curlftpfs <br />rw,allow_other,uid=userid,gid=groupid 0 0</pre></blockquote>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-46240096399586507322008-10-03T16:42:00.004+02:002008-10-05T09:07:01.918+02:00Installing kismet on an eeePC with default XandrosThere are hundreds of pages about installing kismet and some pages also about kismet on an eeePC (<a href="http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=23721">1</a>, <a href="http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=22031">2</a>, <a href="http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=8506">3</a>..), messing everything with kismet version, Atheros vs madwifi driver, and maybe some compiling.<br />For a simple installation on an eeePC 900 with default Xandros, my steps were:<br /><ol><li>install kismet package:<br /><blockquote><pre>prompt#: sudo apt-get install kismet</pre></blockquote></li><br /><li>edit "kismet.conf":<br /><blockquote><pre>prompt#: sudo nano /etc/kismet/kismet.conf</pre></blockquote><br />by changing the "source" line (the bold one):<br /><blockquote><pre># Sources are defined as:<br /># source=sourcetype,interface,name[,initialchannel]<br /># Source types and required drivers are listed in the README under the<br /># CAPTURE SOURCES section.<br /># The initial channel is optional, if hopping is not enabled it can be used<br /># to set the channel the interface listens on.<br /># YOU MUST CHANGE THIS TO BE THE SOURCE YOU WANT TO USE<br /><font style="font-weight: bold;">source=madwifi_g,wifi0,kis0</font></pre></blockquote><br />I don't know why, but with a different "name" parameter rather than <font style="font-style: italic;">kis0</font>, it seems not to work. I'm thinking, that leaving all the rest untouched to its default state, kismet creates its own device.</li><br /><br><br /><li>make a little script:<br /><blockquote><pre><br />prompt#: sudo touch /usr/local/sbin/run-kismet<br />prompt#: sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/sbin/run-kismet<br />prompt#: sudo nano /usr/local/sbin/run-kismet<br /></pre></blockquote><br />it gives some commands before and after calling kismet, because some actions are needed to prepare and restore devices for connection properly:<br /><blockquote><pre><br />#!/bin/bash<br />wlanconfig ath0 destroy<br />sleep 2<br />kismet<br />sleep 2<br />wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta<br /></pre></blockquote></li></ol><br />Now you can run kismet:<br /><blockquote><pre>prompt#: sudo run-kismet</pre></blockquote><br />While your using kismet you can not connect to any wireless network; when you're done, you may re-connect as usual.romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-1655523044245563942008-10-03T10:45:00.005+02:002008-10-03T12:18:55.753+02:00Boot and multi-boot related stuffUseful references:<br /><ul><br /><li>boot managers:<br /><ul><br /><li><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/">GRUB</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://grub.enbug.org/CurrentStatus">GRUB2</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Grub4dos_tutorial">GRUB4dos</a> <a href="http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Mr">: tips</a> and <a href="http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/Grub4dos.htm">a good guide</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.supergrubdisk.org/wiki/Main_Page">superGRUB</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Smart_Boot_Manager">SMB</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html">PLoP</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://lilo.go.dyndns.org/">LILO</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/The_SYSLINUX_Project">ISOlinux, SYSlinux, EXTlinux</a></li><br /></ul></li><br /><li>boot from images:<br /><ul><br /><li>direct from ISO, through some parameter in kernel options line, like <a href="http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/booting-of-raw-iso-from-grublilo-though-preferably-grub-367901/"> knoppix</a> and <a href="http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/quantian/howto_lilogrub.html"> quantian</a> </li><br /><li>install distros <a href="http://www.instantfundas.com/2007/08/install-any-linux-distro-directly-from.html">from HD</a></li><br /></ul></li><br /><li>booting tips:<br /><ul><br /><li><a href="http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=144294">Just booting tips</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.howtoforge.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21673">Boot from one kernel to another kernel without rebooting the system</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Mr">for GRUB4dos</a></li><br /></ul></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.allbootdisks.com/download/iso.html">bootable iso images</a></li><br /></ul>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-9491111718217477402008-10-01T09:00:00.000+02:002008-10-01T09:00:01.068+02:00Unsupported versions of Ubuntu - repos and distrosOne of my linux boxes runs on Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft, which is no longer supported. It runs good, the machine is quite old and I have no reason to upgrade, but sometimes I need to (re)install some packages. Unfortunately official repositories are not available anymore, but after googling a lot I came across a <a href="http://www.phoronix.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-3332.html">forum thread</a> that pointed to the right site.<br><br /><br><br />Here is for reference: <a href="http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/">http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/</a><br><br /><br><br />It contains repositories and distributions for all old versions of Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Edubuntu.<br><br /><br><br />Still for reference, "sources.list" in <span style="font-style: italic;">/etc/apt</span> should have lines like :<br /><blockquote><pre><br />deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main restricted<br />deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main restricted<br />deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-updates main restricted<br />deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-updates main restricted<br />deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy universe<br />deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy universe<br />deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-backports main restricted universe<br />deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy-backports main restricted universe<br />deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy-security main restricted<br />deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu edgy-security main restricted<br /></pre></blockquote>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9098182882206191901.post-61208012141164725742008-09-30T23:26:00.008+02:002008-10-02T10:43:08.615+02:00Grub chainloads syslinux and backSome introductory considerations:<br /><ul><li>Booting from an USB device with GRUB is quite easy (<a href="http://wiki.osdev.org/GRUB#Booting_from_USB_with_GRUB">here</a> and <a href="http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151427">there</a>..).</li><li>Booting from an USB device with <span style="font-style: italic;">syslinux </span>is also quite easy (<a href="http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/SYSLINUX">here</a>).</li><li>Chainloading GRUB from <span style="font-style: italic;">syslinux</span> seems not to be possible without tricks: <span style="font-style: italic;">syslinux </span>boots from the boot record and sees its own partition only, thus GRUB should reside on the same partition and be packaged as an "xxxx.bin" file to be passed to <span style="font-style: italic;">syslinux </span>via the "kernel /path_to/xxxx.bin" directive. Never tried and I'll never too, until I'll not find somehow useful.</li><li>Chainloading <span style="font-style: italic;">syslinux</span> from GRUB seems not to be possible without a <a href="http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=230905">patch</a>. I don't know about GRUB2. This could be useful for multi-booting (syslinux-based) partitions.</li><li>Chainloading GRUB4dos from <span style="font-style: italic;">syslinux</span> is possible, because "grub.exe" can reside on the same FAT partition where syslinux is. Only an entry in "syslinux.cfg" with the "kernel /path_to/grub.exe" directive is needed<br /></li><li>Chainloading <span style="font-style: italic;">syslinux</span> from GRUB4dos (on the <span style="font-weight: bold;">same partition</span>) should be possible because GRUB4dos is more flexible than GRUB, but I didn't manage to make it work, even if I tried all combinations of paths, mappings and syntaxes, like <a href="http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/files/map.htm">here</a>.</li><li>Chainloading <span style="font-style: italic;">syslinux</span> from GRUB4dos (on <span style="font-weight: bold;">different partitions</span>) is possible. I managed it through the mapping, explained (again) <a href="http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/files/map.htm">here</a>. It solves some problems in <a href="http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18846">multi-booting usb devices.<br /></a></li></ul><br />To load <span style="font-style: italic;">syslinux</span> (on <span style="font-weight: bold;">different partitions</span>) from GRUB4dos, my steps were:<br /><ol><li>take a partitioned device;</li><li>take the first primary partition, formatted as FAT;</li><li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/grub4dos">get GRUB4dos</a> and <a href="http://grub4dos.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Grub4dos_tutorial">install it</a> on the master boot record of that partition;</li><li><a href="http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/">get syslinux</a> and <a href="http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/SYSLINUX#Creating_a_Bootable_Disk">install it</a> on (some of) the other partitions;</li><li>edit "menu.lst" in the proper grub4dos folder in order to chainload syslinux with the entry:<blockquote><pre><br />title -your entry title-<br />map (hdx,y)+1 (fd0)<br />map --hook<br />root (fd0)<br />chainloader +1<br />boot<br /></pre></blockquote><br />where <span style="font-style: italic;">x</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">y</span> identify the syslinux-based partition in the usual grub-style form.<br />I tried to map the syslinux-based partition to an "hd_" device instead of "fd0", but no success: I don't know why.<br /></li></ol>romizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12523867697307498220noreply@blogger.com