tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14774340632927814742024-03-13T20:34:39.627-08:00AzerblogAdventures in the land of Linux.Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-30424463903904509892011-07-09T11:12:00.000-08:002011-07-09T11:12:02.412-08:00Swamp Ass PSA starring Nathan Fillion<div>This is absolutely great. Our good Captain Reynolds to the rescue. Gamers and Geeks owe him a lifetime debt for this simple solution to one of our most plaguing problems.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OCf9M5GsDSs?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><div><br /></div>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-75249145463043400722011-02-08T12:14:00.003-09:002011-02-08T12:21:44.683-09:00Demotivationals<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9Epa1UHjfuaHGynVA1KDZHnIjE-YzzeUb5RyfUAwf2KvzKij-6hM3qLmBnlsKvMEsWXRwGJfmqe6PpGcnHsfk6ihFQNBu7cTLdwdUsT1N-TJGpnuIiVuaaZZWuunyV9nv0f37aNrsLw/s1600/demotivational-posters-starbucks-in-starbucks1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 389px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9Epa1UHjfuaHGynVA1KDZHnIjE-YzzeUb5RyfUAwf2KvzKij-6hM3qLmBnlsKvMEsWXRwGJfmqe6PpGcnHsfk6ihFQNBu7cTLdwdUsT1N-TJGpnuIiVuaaZZWuunyV9nv0f37aNrsLw/s400/demotivational-posters-starbucks-in-starbucks1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571431933544056834" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9L-u-r0qB_3fohoaPtcQCbjOfn_fIElGkJNe8gGplrd-3fkiziBmlPqVJnuBAWWELM2_WR_jRWtAImNxsdRQHIuzuUrWIf9zMk923pwH-hQ_VfvjMzEbAj5fez_oqYM-dfgJB0AXVnko/s1600/demotivational-posters-starbucks-in-starbucks1.jpg"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiHCzMBEHgV3bpzOEp4htCOpIzRcf9PtyBvxW49LXWX1gcCFA9-dfRewt9Vz6D2i7OT0owcgMVKaqfB1v7MbwtAyaKTq4P1TNkTxtybuuiz-Dw_xau3rXXg74a6Gc7IVu8YONV6GeUc3E/s1600/standards.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiHCzMBEHgV3bpzOEp4htCOpIzRcf9PtyBvxW49LXWX1gcCFA9-dfRewt9Vz6D2i7OT0owcgMVKaqfB1v7MbwtAyaKTq4P1TNkTxtybuuiz-Dw_xau3rXXg74a6Gc7IVu8YONV6GeUc3E/s400/standards.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571430834600591250" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimug0OIV_UUa1Uouvto78HsXlKx1lb9uTD-UMgtGqKVUP6e6bEfwBdt3DWvLO_X4MEERcYQLhpVNtAk1rksBMncWLOvIh8PsRSf-chJBI63TiDJDcFfG8KZ4elLouGXK-XV4f-1ZyRJjY/s1600/shotgun.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 372px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimug0OIV_UUa1Uouvto78HsXlKx1lb9uTD-UMgtGqKVUP6e6bEfwBdt3DWvLO_X4MEERcYQLhpVNtAk1rksBMncWLOvIh8PsRSf-chJBI63TiDJDcFfG8KZ4elLouGXK-XV4f-1ZyRJjY/s400/shotgun.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571430833150648194" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUIFKfjwlXctl47N_wshls_o_dBElK9oslyuMe9FIy77yreJ7rPESA3x7LpaaIKsUoByFoe6KxLsN_aPSNKZg8jimvpur9OwiEOe5qW0e9xR9m0wfMw4Y6bz6ZDnKYR2mCakwec9YAGTE/s1600/palin.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 333px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUIFKfjwlXctl47N_wshls_o_dBElK9oslyuMe9FIy77yreJ7rPESA3x7LpaaIKsUoByFoe6KxLsN_aPSNKZg8jimvpur9OwiEOe5qW0e9xR9m0wfMw4Y6bz6ZDnKYR2mCakwec9YAGTE/s400/palin.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571430824889820850" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZebZu1-e4UJo8aXxfw0e7qTkkwECphQfl3wLyr-eutImQgFaVkSDRWhWHK0wPKbQKhXRzQXQLzAddEN9cKiBRHoHvM39LLurkk_M6UuVgjZMFf84TFMnz8guvYEIzbVjiu8Rfy-9OJ4/s1600/jobs.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 331px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZebZu1-e4UJo8aXxfw0e7qTkkwECphQfl3wLyr-eutImQgFaVkSDRWhWHK0wPKbQKhXRzQXQLzAddEN9cKiBRHoHvM39LLurkk_M6UuVgjZMFf84TFMnz8guvYEIzbVjiu8Rfy-9OJ4/s400/jobs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571430820638948578" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNje4OHNRTFgls4qhNY1EKJJblCIimWtmXHYLsi5FV9wyQjyigyJjxM60tF9AMtAEX6QEAnJLYP-D_cybfAaqZknXa6HHLZkbG7SwFYU89IZCjxBlusEjhFWx9NH8edob4kBUtF9UFZ0k/s1600/geeks.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 367px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNje4OHNRTFgls4qhNY1EKJJblCIimWtmXHYLsi5FV9wyQjyigyJjxM60tF9AMtAEX6QEAnJLYP-D_cybfAaqZknXa6HHLZkbG7SwFYU89IZCjxBlusEjhFWx9NH8edob4kBUtF9UFZ0k/s400/geeks.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5571430819219134066" border="0" /></a><br />Just a few that struck my fancy today:Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-43963444690589034622011-01-02T17:30:00.002-09:002011-01-02T17:46:59.777-09:00The New Year A*****eMy second reaction was to fire myself from #sabayon, with thanks to someone I respect to get me thinking outside my ego. I promptly did so, you can find the thread on the mailing list. Several conversations with the team members and project lead talked me out of removing myself and to chalk it up as a lesson learned. I had to sleep on that one, but decided that if they were still willing to have me I had more to offer.<br /><br />I have no excuses for my reactions and comments, there can be none. What I did was uncalled for and for that I apologize to sje46 and to my team mates at Sabayon. To sje46 I invite you back so that I may apologize to you. Either in #sabayon-social or #sabayon-dev, I am stepping away from #sabayon for awhile to regain some perspective.<br /><br />Sorry you wont find me posting this in the same manner you chose to. Your decision on location to vent your justified frustration is a place I usually wont touch with a ten meter cattle prod. I will hope that through the various internet channels that it will get back to you.<br /><br />nuff said.<br />~Az<br /><br /><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><span class="userattrs"></span>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-8365992200305602182010-12-27T08:44:00.004-09:002010-12-27T08:51:44.115-09:00Free Markets? HAH!!!<span><div id="id_4d18cf599f94c5091792197" class="text_exposed_root text_exposed">I was asked, do I really think we don't have free markets. That it is free market that has landed us where we are now, isnt it?<br /><br />No, since the base of all business has been under federal control for the last 70 years. They have been following the meanderings of Keynesian economics which demand the use of supply side averaging while ignoring 2 major facts. 1: that key<span class="text_exposed_hide"></span><span class="text_exposed_show">nes averaging ignores 40% of the economy in entrepreneurs, and 2: that propping up the supply to await a return of consumer demand. This presupposes that consumer habits will return to the previously wasteful and unsustainable habits of debt loading that were in place before.<br /><br />It also relies on the fact that most will never take the time to understand what inflation actually is. If the Fed controls the printing of money, yet in no public sector do wages track 1:1, where does the difference in actual value go? Not to the people, this is obvious. Not to the businesses, as for them to get it, it must also come from consumers (who didnt already get it). Therefor the difference in actual value must remain with those in charge of printing the money, the difference stays with the government.<br /><br />At the rate of 2% (Bernankes stated wish for stable inflation) we can compound that out to see a doubling of consumer prices over around 35 years. (Reality would show that it is actually much faster), so where does that difference go? Thats right, right back into the government coffers.<br /><br />So in that mess, with the fed on control of every basic aspect and control of trade, from artificially controlling interest rates by fiat, to the rate of inflation, we have had free markets? We have had government setting up a business environment that is conducive to the return of the robber barons, but not free markets. Note that this has been constant regardless of who is in the white house or what party has control of congress.<br /></span></div></span>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-19341188957512819462010-01-13T15:52:00.009-09:002010-01-14T22:10:03.601-09:00Watching TV and LinuxThis all started a couple of weeks ago when I finally got around to putting the tv capture card I had picked up a year or two ago into my computer. Happily like most things in Linux, it just worked, that was a great plus. Sadly the software packages in existence that I ran across were either too much or too little, nothing was just right.<br /><br />What I wanted was to be able to open up a window, tack it to the desktop in always on top mode, and leave it in the corner taking up some but not all of my screen real estate. I also wanted the ability to pause it, so that I could get up, grab a cup of coffee, hit the head, or what ever. Guess what, this falls into the "good luck with that" category of having had someone scratch that particular coding itch.<br /><br />For the watching TV in a window, I found several applications, such as tvtime and xawtv. Both are good and configurable. Excellent for what they were designed for which was simply just watching TV, either in a window or fullscreen. Sadly of all of the light weight applications I played with they all lacked the second critical function, the ability to pause. So while I decided to keep tvtime on my system because it is rather a nice piece of software the search must continue.<br /><br />I decided then to explore mythtv. I had read about it several times over the years and finally had a reason to do more than think about it. I knew that it had the ability to record TV, watch movies, and basically handle being a home theater system. Holy unfriendly overkill batman. By the time I had it compiled (I was doing this on a Funtoo system) I was mildly annoyed at the collection of dependencies that had to be pulled in. That annoyance was nothing compared to trying to configuring it.<br /><br />Between the documentation, complete and utter lack of editable configuration files, a configuration UI that is among the unfriendliest and unintuitive I have ever seen, and an IRC help channel slightly less friendly than the Spanish Inquisition. I think maybe I would prefer to spend a month at a nudist colony with a porcupine infestation than get near that project again.<br /><br />OK, enough of a sideline about mythtv, needless to say I did get it up and running. I then decided that while it was not completely unsuited to that task at hand, it was exactly what I did not want. Not to mention it still didn't do exactly what I wanted. Which was simply a window in the corner that I could play/pause.<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">** It was brought to my attention that mythtv will indeed start in a windowed mode</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">** thanks for correcting my misstatement Dinotrac. Still it's a level of overkill I do not need.</span><br /><br />So I decided to set about doing for myself what I could not find an existing application for. While I had been playing with the capture card and software for it, I found that I could watch TV using mplayer, or record TV using mencoder (part of mplayer). Armed with this dangerous knowledge I figured I could wrap everything up in a script to do what I wanted. I was right too. With one script I can watch TV, play/pause, and as an added bonus, when I close the window I was using to watch TV, it asks me if I want to save the streams I had been watching.<br /><br />There are only two packages that you need for this script, mplayer and xdialog. Actually xdialog is only if you want it to ask you if you want to save the streams and easy file clean up. Alternately you could just change that portion of the script to : <span style="font-style: italic;">rm $location/$filename.avi</span> to have it clean out all the files when you shut mplayer off.<br /><br />So here you go:<br /><a href="http://azerthoth.pastebin.com/f27a537ab">Click here for the script</a><br /><br />UPDATE:<br />Added file rename when save file is selected. Cleaned up spurious text for those using dialog rather than xdialog. Broke up the mencoder command for easier reading and added deinterlacing to it.<br /><br /><a href="http://azerthoth.pastebin.com/f1b94f49d">Version 2 of the script</a><br /><br />Blogspot mangles code snippets, so its in a pastebin. Personally I dropped the script into /usr/bin/ did chmod 755 on it, and use it as I would any other program. So you could make a desktop shortcut, add it to a menu or do what I did. I mapped it to a spare unused key on my keyboard, so now I have TV at the push of one button.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtxvqXNdPrf2LVoBIlto3xPznG_eYwGaKsEBxsppjWTb8Ms7QQeEbG4DIYoAO0qq9pK_JqyUXDwDA9Py4lJY2mWLn3h2LRvl9NyfDs3Cw_O4zLYVJQTMMT_qIWMWKVX71Rs0tnKy1bPzQ/s1600-h/TV.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtxvqXNdPrf2LVoBIlto3xPznG_eYwGaKsEBxsppjWTb8Ms7QQeEbG4DIYoAO0qq9pK_JqyUXDwDA9Py4lJY2mWLn3h2LRvl9NyfDs3Cw_O4zLYVJQTMMT_qIWMWKVX71Rs0tnKy1bPzQ/s320/TV.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426434472835648946" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8xYLDEJSIFv9GwjxzewU03JghGTprpZ338J8gRvskNxdYFXlEEThC1HmlE8T_d1C3rIki3fZOYGgmN-HGlBuEFIpJ1O-tFuHtQbrJBDy9OpBg4oWK3CUzHUhQ9J66uUrYru4V6gWlBo/s1600-h/TV1.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 145px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp8xYLDEJSIFv9GwjxzewU03JghGTprpZ338J8gRvskNxdYFXlEEThC1HmlE8T_d1C3rIki3fZOYGgmN-HGlBuEFIpJ1O-tFuHtQbrJBDy9OpBg4oWK3CUzHUhQ9J66uUrYru4V6gWlBo/s320/TV1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426434506335570802" border="0" /></a>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-74636929978282553082009-08-07T16:51:00.003-08:002009-08-07T16:56:50.631-08:00But its not googleCurious to see what would come up, I entered that search term in both google and bing, the results are curious. Have to wonder why no one trusts MS, because they cant do anything without spinning it in a positive light for themselves.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAi76K1onM5db5dxp7zbGq-KoRKmUJhbkmgqVKXHc358iYc2r6GzEi8qNmoaeau6I8WZ7xz2UrD0-EDgu2Cm0wcxlfh4A2ogI6eFhzlu7CMv7FGeYRvQ1qGO9sBZ9OGGV5kho5aMuwiS8/s1600-h/bing.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAi76K1onM5db5dxp7zbGq-KoRKmUJhbkmgqVKXHc358iYc2r6GzEi8qNmoaeau6I8WZ7xz2UrD0-EDgu2Cm0wcxlfh4A2ogI6eFhzlu7CMv7FGeYRvQ1qGO9sBZ9OGGV5kho5aMuwiS8/s320/bing.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5367389994363557986" /></a><br /><br />Yes I know I posted this from a windows machine. I'm on lunch at work, I account for 3/4 of my wages for being forced to use windows.Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-73374948528584716432009-06-13T12:13:00.008-08:002009-06-15T02:44:36.356-08:00Automated LVM mounting script<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;">After having had enough of walking people through how to mount a LVM from a LiveCD I finally got eternally tired of if. This script was done entirely in self defense, however as it is meant to be run to rescue an installation that was done on LVM, it might be handy for a few others as well as it boils down to just 4 commands ... OK one of them is a chained command, but whose counting.<br /><br />Please note, this script needs to be run with root priveledges and was written to run using LVM2.<br /><br />I hope it helps someone else.<br /><br />p.s. sorry for the text size, but it was the only way to keep the formatting correct.</span></span></span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:78%;" >#! /bin/bash<br />## This script is released under the GPL version 2<br />## copyright (2009) James Cook<br />## Thanks goes to Klaus Knopper who reminded me of something<br />## very simple that I had forgotten at the time, thanks bud.<br />## the author may be contacted at:<br />## azerthoth (at) gmail.com<br /><br />## Check for user is root<br />## Thanks to micia for the suggestion<br />if [ $UID -ne 0 ]; then<br /> echo "You need to be root to run this script!"<br /> exit 1<br />fi<br />## get them all into /dev/mapper<br />modprobe dm-mod 2> /dev/null || :<br />vgscan --ignorelockingfailure --mknodes || :<br />vgchange -aly --ignorelockingfailure || return 2<br />clear<br />mkdir /LVM<br />cd /dev/mapper<br />## Create directories and mount<br />for FILE in *; do<br />test -b "$FILE" && mkdir /LVM/$FILE && mount /dev/mapper/$FILE /LVM/$FILE 2>/dev/null<br />done<br />## List good partitions<br />echo "Cleaning up LVMs that were swap partitions or with unsupported"<br />echo "File Systems from the list. This will not effect those partitions"<br />echo "There is just no need to list or parse them"<br />rmdir /LVM/Vol* 2>/dev/null"<br />echo " "<br />echo "The following LVM(s) were mounted for you and are ready to use"<br />echo " "<br />ls /LVM<br />echo " "<br />echo "You can find them in /LVM"<br /></span><your_lvm_name><your_lvm_name><your_lvm_name><your_lvm_name><br /></your_lvm_name></your_lvm_name></your_lvm_name></your_lvm_name>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-17577770203679973972009-03-27T08:10:00.002-08:002009-03-27T08:43:41.296-08:00Beta TestersWe all know that pre release projects will have bugs, and for as long as they do we will need people to beta test. Beta testing is rather simple, you push on it until it breaks, then you document what you did or what was not working when you got it. You aren't going to be held accountable for fixing what you find ... just pass it on in a documented and usable form. You may be asked to try a few things to see if it fixes the problem, which means again, you need to know what steps you took that put you in the position that your in, if any.<br /><br />The other night, and not for the first time mind you, one of the folks from the beta team came wandering in to the support channel looking for assistance. There isn't a thing wrong with that at all. However ... you knew there was a however coming didn't you ... do not assume you know more than the support folks. Face it, if that were the case, you wouldn't need support in the first place. Don't argue or ask why three hundred times when one of the support crew asks you to run a command. We realize that you want to understand why we are doing something, but our time is valuable too, understanding can come later, or it may come moments after you run the command or do what you are asked to do.<br /><br />Folks, being on the beta team does not abrogate you from the same rules of conduct we expect of anyone else. We expect a little courtesy and a willingness to follow directions so that we can diagnose and hopefully fix your problem (which by the way as a beta tester YOU get to document). If your coming in for support, we do not expect you to be argumentative, we don't ever expect you to be appreciative either, most of us got over that hang up a long time ago. There are some awfully smart folks who volunteer their time to do support. Never assume you know more than they do, because odds are you don't.<br /><br />So for those beta testers who think that their positions allow them to step outside the bounds of civility when seeking support ... think again. We rightfully expect more from beta testers, not less. Work with us and we will work with you, argue with us and we will ignore you. Argue with us to much and we will remove you from channel, and pass on to the boss that we are having issues with you.<br /><br />p.s. who am I to make these demands? absolutely nobody. Just one of the folks who spends time doing support or researching and documenting. So you can take what I say with whatever size grain of salt (and/or tequila) that you choose.Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-69413292904037359282009-03-22T18:18:00.002-08:002009-03-22T18:32:47.542-08:00Funtoo tooWell, I spent the weekend getting Funtoo set up and working, well not the whole weekend. I started puttering after dinner on Saturday, grab the base files and such, chroot in and do the kernel. Went to bed while my first pass world update was processing. Got back around to playing with it again after lunch and spent a few hours tinkering.<br /><br />All done now, or as done as it needs to be for the moment. The urge to add more to it will likely strike many more times. In all though it only took a few hours to get a nice ~amd64 set up going. Very minimal global USE flags, I keep dumping things off to package.use to keep it tight. I'm happy so far, the new system is speedy as I could wish for, no real bells or whistles. Just a Fluxbox desktop and using Slim as the log in GUI. Both being nicely configurable and neither having any of the over the top dependencies that come with KDE/KDM or Gnome/GDM.<br /><br />Still even with all it's lean mean speed, it's not enough to drag me off of using Sabayon as my primary OS. But I wouldn't be a computer geek if I didn't at least play around a little bit, and if your going to play, I might as well play with something that is designed to kick the crap out of any other distro out there.<br /><br />Thanks Daniel for both Gentoo and Funtoo, I would never have learned what my computer was really capable of without them.Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-52933797783389336102009-03-01T15:25:00.008-09:002009-03-08T09:15:18.817-08:00Mounting LVMMounting an LVM may seem a bit intimidating, it's not. In reality, despite the length of this entry, you will only be running a handful of commands, and most of those just to get the needed information. Do not despair, this will be as painless as possible. All of these commands will be run as root from a terminal. Please also remember that your volume names may differ from the guide, please make sure to adjust accordingly.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" > <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"># pvs </span></span><br /><br />This should give you an output similar to<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">sabayonx86 sabayonuser # pvs</span><br /><blockquote style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> PV VG Fmt Attr PSize PFree<br />/dev/sda2 VolGroup00 lvm2 a- 7.88G 32.00M</blockquote>If we look closely we can see that /dev/sda2 holds a lvm that is 7.88 gig in size. In this case, thats the one we want, as it is the only one.<br /><br />So now we want to see what is actually in that lvm<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:courier new;" > <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"># lvdisplay /dev/VolGroup00 </span></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">sabayonx86 sabayonuser # lvdisplay /dev/VolGroup00</span><br /><blockquote style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> --- Logical volume ---</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> VG Name VolGroup00</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> LV UUID SWp2V0-1xPU-0tOP-UnPs-snxF-THUl-pZMKb2</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> LV Write Access read/write</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">LV Status available</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"># open 0</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">LV Size 6.88 GB</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Current LE 220</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Segments 1</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Allocation inherit</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Read ahead sectors auto</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">- currently set to 256</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Block device 251:0</span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">--- Logical volume ---</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">VG Name VolGroup00</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">LV UUID MGBeJP-ohrX-KLju-5V78-iJOi-pP3w-huaOmC</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">LV Write Access read/write</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">LV Status available</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"># open 0</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">LV Size 992.00 MB</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Current LE 31</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Segments 1</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Allocation inherit</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Read ahead sectors auto</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">- currently set to 256</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Block device 251:1</span></blockquote>We are looking for two things out of that list. LV name and LV Size. We have one that is 6.88 GB and one that is 992 MB. We can safely assume that the smaller of the two is /swap so the larger must be our real filesystem. That one is named /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00.<br /><br />So now we have all the information that we need. We need only to make a mount point and actually mount the volume.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-family:courier new;" ># cd /mnt<br /># mkdir lvm<br /># vgscan --mknodes<br /># lvchange -ay /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00<br /># mount /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 /mnt/lvm<span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><br /><br />If all went well then can now get inside and look around, make changes, chroot in, or whatever caused us to want to mount the LVM in the first place.<br /><br />See that wasn't so hard now was it. ~AzAzerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-45991753185348026002009-02-24T07:58:00.003-09:002009-02-24T08:03:30.191-09:00Mr. Stallmans Internet*initially published @ lxer.com*<br /><br />Once more unto the breach my friends, Richard M. Stallman (RMS) has laid another profound thought process out there for us to digest. This man is definitely worth everyones respect. Whether you agree with him or not, he has given the whole planet gifts that it does not even realize for the most part. While not the creator of the concept that the code for software should be free, he is without a doubt the one who codified the concept. He laid out exactly what it means for software to be free, in such a fashion that even most laymen could understand it. This alone should earn him the respect of the planet, however, it does not stop at that point.<br /><br />He is tireless in his campaign to right the wrongs he perceives of the modern technological world, from copyright reform to software patents, from speaking out about Darfur to the oppression of civil rights in any form in any country that he becomes aware of. The man is a machine when it comes to doing his level best to improve the situation of all of humanity, everywhere. There is some debate among the Open Source community as to who is more influential RMS or Linus Torvalds. I think Linus puts it well in that he is just an engineer while RMS is the conductor. However, when all the rest of RMS's goals and accomplishments are laid out, it is no stretch of the imagination to place him on the field of history along with Nicola Tesla, the man who invented the 20th and now 21st century, or Nelson Mandella whose tireless campaign for basic human rights landed him in jail. While RMS, to my knowledge hasn’t been jailed for his beliefs, as he tells it, a run in with the Transportation Safety Authority almost landed him there due to some imprecise language on the part of one of their gestapo agents.<br /><br />With all that said, you would think that I was among those who idolize and indemnify him. I do not. Like the coyote in his never ending chase for the road runner, he through every fault of his own, keeps snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. To keep with the coyote and road runner analogy for a moment longer, the coyote did once catch the speeding bird, and then let it go because the thrill of the chase was better than the catching. RMS too has had a win, and then let it go so as to continue the chase into the sunset. However the debates over that rocket and roller skate chase are legion, and take up enough screen real estate already.<br /><br />Let’s take a look at what has me annoyed with Mr. Stallman this time. In a recent interview with Thomas Nowak, as published on polishlinux.org, RMS dropped this seemingly profound piece of wisdom.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"><i><b><span style="font-family:Nimbus Roman No9 L,Times New Roman;">Tarabaz:</span> How can we stop censoring the internet, and help personally in this fight? </b></i></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"><i><b><span style="font-family:Nimbus Roman No9 L,Times New Roman;">RMS:</span> I have four suggestions: </b></i></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"><i><b>* Keep your wireless networks open, so that you will not become an enforcer for an unjust Internet regime. </b></i></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"><i><b>* Tell politicians you demand they legalize sharing of all published works, and that you will accept no excuse for failing to do this. </b></i></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"><i><b>* Reject all products with Digital Restrictions Management that you don’t have the means to crack, and never make an exception.</b></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0.2in;"><i><b>* Join the DefectiveByDesign.org campaign.</b></i> </p> <p>Full article at http://polishlinux.org/gnu/richard-stallman-on-isp-filtering-and-censorship/<br /><br />Lets take these in reverse order, and save the major sticking point for last.<br /><br />Points 3 and 4, are actually the same thing, and on the face of it make perfect sense to anyone who believes in freedom. The problem I have with it is pretty simple. There are places where I do not want anyone to be able to change the code and leave it a functional piece of equipment such as cruise missiles. Imagine someone getting in and making a change or two that pass undetected. Trust me, I don't want that thing to ever take flight. If someone tampers with the machine that controls an I.V. drip in the hospital, I want that thing to start screaming it's little alarm and turn into a very useless brick. </p> <p><br />Point 2, I actually wrote about some time ago. Not going into detail now, as that article is pretty easy to find. He is in essence trying to destroy the GPL from the inside by removing the only protection and all the teeth that it has. </p> <p><br /></p> <p>The previous points are mentioned only in passing and have little to do with the actual topic at hand.<br /><br />Point 1 is the major problem this time around. It seems benign enough on the surface, even positive and proactive, but let’s break it down for what it really means.<br /><br />* Keep your wireless networks open, so that you will not become an enforcer for an unjust Internet regime.<br /><br />First objection is the keep your wireless networks open part. Nice thought, however, the first failing point is this leaves your IP address open to any malicious hacker, script kiddie, and pervert who want to not have what ever they are doing point back to them. Yes, most routers keep logs of the MAC addresses that connect to them, but I challenge anyone to track that back to a mobile computer or device a month or so after the fact. Let’s also not discount that it is functionally impossible to secure your computers and internal network from outside access. Why make it easier by granting access to the center of your network in the first place? The mentality of the individual involved is sure to make them try and see just how far they can penetrate.<br /><br />There is also the little fact that many in the world live with a bandwidth cap or access charge per whatever time increment is the custom in that area, be it minute, hour, day or so on. This means that the bandwidth and access granted is at that moment my personal possession. I can think of nowhere in the world, where personal freedom and liberty, something that RMS espouses, are paid even basic lip service that would require or even ask me to share my possessions with anyone without my consent. To put it another way, I don't leave my garage door open so that anyone can come in and wander off with my tools without my knowledge. The tools weren't free, nor is the access, and neither is even remotely duplicable by the common person.<br /><br />It's fairly easy now to read that as neither your personal privacy, security nor ownership is of any consequence when it comes to a perceived 'greater good'. This is the first failing point of the comment and just as a start, it is a doozy. The second part, however, fails on an even more epic scale.<br /><br />Second objection is the unjust internet regime portion. This one can be debunked with a few simple facts. Neither you nor I own the copper, satellite, servers, or fiber optic rings that actually carry that data. That belongs to the companies that purchased, launched, or installed them. Next is the misconception that you purchase internet access, when in fact you do not. You lease your internet access. Purchase denotes ownership in perpetuity or until some point that you dispose of it in some manner, at which time you no longer can be said to own it. Leasing it on the other hand, as is what you are actually doing, grants you only access and use. When you lease a space for business, the landlord still actually owns the physical property and lets you use the space, within reason.<br /><br />The same thing applies to the internet. While leasing, you are granted access to what is there, within the restrictions of the folks who actually own the equipment you are using. You own your computer, and are free to do with it what you like. However, your computer and the internet is kind of like your car and the road. You can do lots of things with your car too, but once you put it on a road, you are restricted by laws and regulations that ensure that you do not intentionally or unintentionally damage or destroy anything that does not belong to you. This is called civility. The same can be said about the folks who actually do own the hardware that your computer is driving down. They are well within their rights to say what protocols and ports are open for you to lease and use. Like driving your car at 120 miles per hour, you may want to but there are reasons you cannot. There are protocols and services that do the same thing on the internet, and while you may want to do or use these, it does not give anyone the right to do so. The companies are within their rights, to limit or flat deny such things so as to allow fair and equitable use for all who lease access to the services their hardware provides.<br /><br />In a perfect world, would free, unlimited and unfettered access be a good thing? Yes, of course. However, that is not the case. The reality of it is that there are physical and financial limitations involved that will be there for the foreseeable future. The technology of wireless mesh networking is just now coming to pass, and while that is a step in that direction, it works only within the limitations of a local network. A mesh network is not the internet itself. To get to the internet, one or more of the mesh nodes would still need to lease those services, which of course then fall under the rightful restrictions of those who own that particular chunk of hardware.<br /><br />So I think that the comment has been fully dissected.<br /><br />* Keep your wireless networks open, so that you will not become an enforcer for an unjust Internet regime.<br /><br />The first, you have no rights to, and the second does not exist except in the minds of a few who don't understand why driving 200 miles an hour through a school zone is a bad idea. In the end, the restrictions are not in place to preclude individual freedom and liberty, but precisely because of individual freedom and liberty. Mr. Stallman’s view of how the internet should work is in direct conflict with this concept. Taking liberty from one and giving to another is just a form of theft. Whether for the greater good or not, theft and repression is never justified. Ultimately, there are individuals attached to all the wonderful hardware we use to transfer data, play games, and talk to each other, who actually own it.<br /><br />Nuff said, rant over.</p>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-10291383370236625222008-12-08T12:54:00.003-09:002008-12-08T13:05:44.560-09:00The IntercloudCloud computing, the Internet rave of the hour. Well Virginia I have some problems with it. For a little while now I have been doing some of my work in Google Docs. I'll admit it is handy for what it does, and it's absolutely perfect for what is does not. Mind you I am not a typical person in my computing habits. I move from computer to computer, even inside my own house. I move from OS to OS between work and home and I am liable to be without connectivity for days at a time.<br /><br />I have a single piece of technology that I carry with me everywhere, my PDA. Not a cell phone PDA, just a normal run of the mill embedded windows PDA. I have been know to write articles and short stories using nothing but that. However even giving that a miss, what is truly missing from Google Docs (or atleast I cant find it) is a way to sync between the online version of something to an offline device and then back again. Oh and did I mention that versioning while not a requirement would be really really nice. Until such time as something like that exists, where I can seamlessly move from connected to disconnected and back again without ever actually knowing that I have done so, cloud computing is ever so aptly named, a lot of vapor with no substance.<br /><br />Yes I know, I can just use a thumbdrive and carry my stuff with me as I move from computer to computer and connected states. Thats not the point, you want to sell me on cloud computing, I need to be able to work in the fashion that my life takes me. I like Google Docs, I do, just that for me it's fairly limited in application. I use it now as a place to do Blog articles mostly as I can export directly to my blathering spot. On rare occasion will I use it as a collaborative tool instead of just emailing versions of documents around. Thats it, and for me, thats not enough to be a full fledged functioning killer app, and of the cloud computing hooha, it's the ONLY thing that even remotely interests me.<br /><br />nuff said<br />Have fun<br />Azerthoth.<br /><br />*edit*<br />For Blogging purposes. It's fantastic as I can handle revision control, editing, draft, and research and one touch publish all from a single interface. I thought I would say something nice about it, and that is really nice.<br />*/edit*Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-240436178719734922008-11-26T21:36:00.003-09:002008-11-26T21:40:16.419-09:00FuntooI sit here watching the first emerge --sync go slowly scrolling by in preparation for my second go around with Funtoo. The Funtoo creator Daniel Robbins, the same man who gave us Gentoo, has started a new project for us geeks to play with. My first pass with it was fine, and I still have it going, however while it has a functional X server and environment, it never made it past being a chroot playtoy. This time I'm putting the code to the metal as it were.<br /><br />Setting up a Funtoo system should be old hat to anyone who has ever played with Gentoo, your doing a stage3, either x86_64 or i686 are the prime focus of Funtoo. So if you want/need, grab the handbook and maybe one of Daniels stage3's (normal Gentoo stage3 works just fine too) and get busy. Alternately if you already running Gentoo, switching to Funtoo is so easy it should be illegal. The first thing you'll be happy to know is, emerge --sync is gone, Funtoo and pulling Gentoo repos is done via Git, a much smoother and simpler operation IMHO. Overlays however remain the same as always, being handled via layman. Which is fine, because like it or not, there are some things in the Sabayon overlay that I really like, as well as in a few other overlays. So without a doubt the system will very quickly become uniquely mine.<br /><br />I think thats one of the things that I really like about the group of people that are around Funtoo at the moment. The cross section of people who are working on it for the right reason, fun. There are well known names from the Gentoo community, some from Sabayon, one from Arch Linux and a smattering of interested others. We all seem to get along, in a gun toting, meat eating, beer swilling, redneck kind of way. No one is giving up their other projects really, just adding Funtoo to the list of things to tinker with when time and inclination allows. No pressures, dead lines, or people clamoring for some odd function to be added. Like I said, it's all for the fun of doing it.<br /><br />Funtoo however is very much a solve it on your own project. If you aren't capable of getting into the guts of your system without someone holding your hand and spoon feeding you the commands you will be in over your head with a quickness. If you cant get the same response to any given question out of Google two times out of three, or aren't inclined to spend an hour pouring over Gentoo documentation you may end up being hopelessly lost. Funtoo is exactly that, fun, for geeks. It's perfectly capable of being your daily driver, as it is in a large part still Gentoo. However I remember when I used to refer to Gentoo as the Linux for those with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.<br /><br />If your not scared yet, and want to give something new and challenging a try head over to <a title="Daniel Robbins Projects. Funtoo, Gentoo, OpenVZ" target="_blank" href="http://www.funtoo.org/" id="rs02">http://www.funtoo.org/</a><br /><br />Have fun<br />~AzAzerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-66954367346180678512008-10-16T13:24:00.010-08:002011-09-02T06:37:13.426-08:00Making a Bootable USB from DVD imageOne of the big problems of making a bootable USB is file size. Almost all of the how-to's out there that allow to pass kernel commands during the boot process require the use of syslinux, which uses FAT16/FAT32 formated partitions. This comes with the drawback of limiting your maximum file size to 2 Gigabyte if using FAT32. A DVD release has it's main file, livecd.squashfs that can run up to nearly 4 Gigabyte, twice the maximum allowable size. In other words, Epic Fail. Here is a way around that.
<br />
<br />This How-To will be covering use of a variation of a syslinux bootable USB drive, extlinux. As you might figure from it's name it allows you to use ext2/ext3 to format your partitions, thereby removing the 2 Gigabyte limit and allowing you to fit that monster livecd.squashfs onto your thumbdrive. For this example I will be using a 4 Gigabyte thumbdrive and Sabayon Linux 3.5 32 bit.
<br />
<br />The first step to this is making sure you have syslinux installed. So depending on your distribution, apt-get install, emerge, urpmi -i, equo install ... etc etc etc, syslinux. This, if your distribution is any where near current, will also include extlinux.
<br />
<br />You might as well go root and stay there. Yes, lots of this can be accomplished via GUI apps, and there are a plethora out there that you can use to accomplish a good chunk of these tasks. Command line though brings us to a common point that all your GUI apps are bolted on to anyway. That and because it's my preferance. From here on out I am going to assume that you are root (Ubuntu users this means 'sudo su -').
<br />
<br />The next step to this is formatting the USB drive.
<br />First identify your thumbdrive.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; " >fdisk -l</span>
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<br />If you read the output of this the first line of each device will tell you the size of the device, which makes it pretty easy to see which is a hard drive and which is not.
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<br />In my case /dev/sdb as shown below:
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<br />Disk /dev/sdb: 4016 MB, 4016045568 bytes
<br />255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 488 cylinders
<br />Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
<br />Disk identifier: 0x0004adbb
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);font-size:85%;">Make sure to substitute your device, /dev/sd(?) </span>
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; " >fdisk /dev/sdb</span>
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<br />Command (m for help): <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; " >d</span>
<br />Selected partition <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; " >1</span>
<br />
<br />Command (m for help):<span class="Apple-style-span" > <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">n</span></span>
<br />Command action
<br />e extended
<br />p primary partition (1-4)
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; " >p</span>
<br />Partition number (1-4): <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; " >1</span>
<br />First cylinder (1-16065, default 1):
<br />Using default value <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; " >1</span>
<br />Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-1015, default 1015):
<br />Using default value <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" ><<span>hit enter here for defualt</span>></span>
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<br />Command (m for help):<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; " >t</span>
<br />Partition number (1-4): <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; " >1</span>
<br />Hex code (type L to list codes):<span class="Apple-style-span" > <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">83</span></span>
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<br />Command (m for help): <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; " >a</span>
<br />Partition number (1-4): <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; " >1</span>
<br />
<br />Command (m for help): <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; " >w</span>
<br />The partition table has been altered!
<br />
<br />Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
<br />Syncing disks.
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">
<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >mkfs.ext2 -j /dev/sdb1</span></span>
<br />
<br /><insert>Next is to install the syslinux boot sector, I know we said we were going to be using extlinux, but bear with it for a few. Thumbdrives don't come with a boot sector, so we have to make one and that's what we are doing here.
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">
<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" >dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdb</span></span>
<br />
<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Please note that this is the location of the syslinux mbr.bin for Gentoo and Sabayon, your distribution may hide it somewhere else. The command '<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">find / -name mbr.bin</span>' will pin it down for you, this command will scan your entire hard drive so it is kind of slow. Just substitute the absolute path to mbr.bin in the command above.</span>
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<br />Now we need to make a few mount points and mount the ISO and the thumbdrive, remember to substitute your thumbdrive location for the one in the example.
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<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">mkdir /mnt/iso</span>
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">mkdir /mnt/usb</span>
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb</span>
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">mount -o loop -t iso9660 /path/to/iso /mnt/iso</span></span>
<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">(as an example mount -o loop -t iso9660 /home/jim/Sabayon-Linux-x86-3.5.iso /mnt/iso)</span>
<br />
<br />Now we copy things over that we will need.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; " >cp -rvp /mnt/iso/boot isolinux livecd livecd.squashfs README.txt /mnt/usb</span>
<br />
<br />This could take awhile with a DVD iso image. The livecd.squashfs is a monster. Go get a cup of coffee and check back in a few minutes. After it is finished copying we can continue on by running the following commands which set up the files for use by extlinux and make the needed changes to the boot sector.
<br />
<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">cd /mnt/usb</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">
<br />mv isolinux extlinux</span>
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">mv extlinux/isolinux.cfg extlinux/extlinux.conf</span>
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">rm extlinux/isolinux.bin</span>
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">cd /mnt</span>
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">extlinux -i /mnt/usb/extlinux </span></span>
<br />
<br />Your done, wasn't that easy. The final piece to this is unmounting everything we mounted earlier.
<br />
<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">umount /mnt/usb</span>
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; ">umount /mnt/iso</span></span>
<br />
<br />Now you can reboot into the USB drive by selecting to boot from USB, the ways the various BIOS's handle this though are too numerous to list. Typically there will be an interupt option during the POST to select boot device. If not you'll probably have to go into the BIOS itself and find out where to select it.
<br />
<br />Have Fun
<br />~Az
<br />
<br /></insert>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-20268064933588795962008-07-17T16:06:00.005-08:002008-07-18T09:27:46.053-08:00Where is GNU ?Well, the odds were good, but I know I never actually thought about it. Most people would recognize LAX as the three letter airport identifier for Los Angeles International or ORD for Chicago O'Hare. So what is one of our (computer geek) favorite TLA (three letter anacronym), why GNU of course. In this case, as an airport identifier GNU is Goodnews Bay, Alaska.<br /><br />Here is a box tag from a local airline that services GNU:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDt8BfdMMWReuH276O4oMjDS_a2MTO0W1MpVNY-xBCsj0x-q-xbjf7eWUhtY-zvbbmm7AmrqX4dsVdf71gPKCc1gxc5Eduw314DOTzsUSb6dx9tTfmzKIFksyEMR0fQrrya_YCRxdmVsg/s1600-h/GNU2.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDt8BfdMMWReuH276O4oMjDS_a2MTO0W1MpVNY-xBCsj0x-q-xbjf7eWUhtY-zvbbmm7AmrqX4dsVdf71gPKCc1gxc5Eduw314DOTzsUSb6dx9tTfmzKIFksyEMR0fQrrya_YCRxdmVsg/s320/GNU2.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5224141051517591410" border="0" /></a>I used GIMP to smudge out the airline name and phone number, other than that it's exactly what it looked like when I pulled it out of my pocket and scanned it.<br /><br />From Google maps here is a link to show you where this place actually is.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=goodnews+bay,+Ak&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title">CLICK HERE</a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Okay, enough for now, I found it and thought it was fun. Sharing time is over.<br /><br />~Az<br /><br />p.s. I have landed there and gotten out of the plane, but didn't go looking around. It was a stop on the way to another village I was visiting.<br /></div></div>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-15770639879824457662008-07-11T14:05:00.004-08:002008-07-11T14:23:19.248-08:00Sabayon 3.5It's official, Sabayon 3.5 has been released as stable. It's time to say that it has truly come into it's own now. No longer simply a spin off of Gentoo it has improved upon it's parent by leaps and bounds. Foremost in this is the Entropy package manager, which simply put allows binary distribution of packages, similar to apt-get, pacman, urpmi, etc while still maintaining full compatablity with Gentoo's source based package distribution (Portage).<p></p>While using a binary packager instead of source you loose one key function of Portage, you no longer have the option of tweaking USE flags, so the packages are more generic than system specific. However it does not rule out the possability of using Portage if you need the fine grained control over specific packages or your whole system.<p></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The Entropy method does offer one huge advantage over Portage though, and that is in full system upgrades. No more do you spend days rebuilding modules, python, and packages that need specific options set. If you have ever done a Gentoo world upgrade you know the pain and frustration that it can become. Entropy allows the whole process to be completed using only a single command that happens at the speed of your internet connection. Then if you want or need to, you can recompile the specific packages you want uber control of.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">While the Sabayon crew will tell you, and rightly so, that mixing and matching between Entropy and Portage is dangerous and possibly system destabalizing, I have not yet run into any real issues with it. Mind you I only take fine grained control of specific packages that I use every day, such as wine and firefox.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The speed and stability of Gentoo are still present as well as it's incredible selection of packages and other associated overlays. Now this may sound like this is simply a more user friendly version of Gentoo, but it is so much more. It is one of the most out of the box functional distributions that I have ever experianced. From having Compiz-Fusion active even from the LiveDVD without the need for additional drivers, to the wonderful suprise of finding that my network attached printer had been detected and configured without any interaction from me at all and finding ALL my media immeadiatly playable.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There is also a great dirth of information available for it that is more controlled and professional than other distributions. The level of incorrect or out of date fanboi help and how-to's is minimal. While nearly all of the Gentoo documentation is applicable to Sabayon (and a nod to THE BEST documenation of any Linux goes to the Gentoo folks) there is also Sabayon spefic docs that keep to the high standards that the Gentoo community maintains.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If your interested in having the speed and stability of a Gentoo based system with the improved ease of use and management of modern desktop, perhaps better than most. Also having the Out of the box functionality that so many users crave with little to no mucking about with things after installation, give Sabayon a try.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For those without a DVD drive needed to install Sabayon, there is a CD sized installer that contains a very minimal set of packages, or alternatly you can use the how-to I wrote for <a href="http://azerthoth.blogspot.com/2008/04/want-to-install-dvd-release-of-linux.html">installing the DVD without actually having a DVD</a> drive by booting from the .iso.<br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">~Az<br /></p>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-25899345769403888792008-07-04T09:37:00.004-08:002008-07-04T09:48:27.421-08:00Happy 4th of JulyHappy 4th of July everyone. This has nothing to do with Linux today, rather the condition of the United States. While traditionally this is the day we celebrate our declaration of freedom for the oppressive rule of a foreign monarch, I thought I would post a video as to how well the most basic tenet of how we accomplished this task is holding up.<br /><br /><br /><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-004586113700135508 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/C-yVu8x8oC0&hl=en"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-004586113700135508 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/C-yVu8x8oC0&hl=en"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-004586113700135508 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/C-yVu8x8oC0&hl=en"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 15px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-004586113700135508 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/C-yVu8x8oC0&hl=en"></a><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/C-yVu8x8oC0&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/C-yVu8x8oC0&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="344" width="425"></embed></object><br />If a picture says 1000 words, then this is nearly the library of congress. Lesson learned? If authorities ever come up to you without a warrant and ask if you have weapons ... well I wont say to say no, but use your best discretion. If you want to be able to continue your constitutionally guaranteed right of self defense I'm sure you can pick a proper response.<br /><br />~AzAzerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-27157982334914790282008-06-22T11:53:00.002-08:002008-06-22T11:56:53.610-08:00Awesomebar or Breach of Trust?I just made the transition from Firefox 2 to Firefox 3 and my initial reaction was, well, underwhelmed. On further use though I realized that there is a horrid privacy issue that has existed for some time. It was the Awesomebar that brought this to light, which should be renamed by the way to the annoying bar. Anything that absorbs that much of my screen real estate and is that intrusive should have an easy way to turn it off.<br /><br />That is not the privacy concern though. What really caught my attention was the fact that I have had Firefox set to not remember a thing. No history, flush the cache, cookies ... everything when I close the browser. If I want to revisit a site at a later date I bookmark it. Now with the advent of the Awesomebar I discovered that when I started typing in a URL that even though my history tab is empty that the Awesomebar was still pulling up the sites I had visited even though I had explicitly told it not to. What was more shocking was that I was seeing websites show up in there that I had visited prior to installing Firefox 3.<br /><br />What in the world? There is a reason I dont want my browser to cache this stuff. I do not want anyone who walks up to my computer to be able to take a look at where I have been or what I have been researching. For one thing when I am at work I'm not really supposed to be going to sites like LXer or Groklaw, well, actually I can go there, I'm just not supposed to spend as much time as I do there. Or say I run across an interesting bit of news that sends me off on a knowledge hunt about the how or what of something. I realize that any of the IT folks who monitor network traffic could figure it out really quick, that's not my point though. My browser should NOT be caching this information against my express wishes.<br /><br />Anyone, and I mean anyone with a little knowledge can walk up to your system and pull your history regardless of what you have told the browser to flush or not retain. This is not just breach of privacy, it's a breach of trust. I find it ethically questionable and morally reprehensible. So thanks to the Awesomebar for bringing this to my attention however my reaction after I sat down and thought about it for a few minutes was to start inventing a few new vulgar words to direct at the Firefox team.<br /><br />Make no mistakes, this is not another undocumented "feature". This is a breach of public trust. Your browser is tracking EXACTLY what you have told it not to track or retain. I love using Firefox, but this revelation has set me to taking a serious look at other broswers for personal use, as should anyone who is concerned with personal privacy.<br /><br />This is my call to Firefox. Fix it, and fix it now.<br /><br />~AzAzerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-86012105784847821822008-06-07T12:36:00.004-08:002008-06-07T13:19:52.707-08:00Fun and games.While it's been awhile since I posted anything, the time has hardly been wasted. As with all things learning is a never ending cycle. That is pretty much what has been going on over the last few weeks, finding problems and then beating my head against them until I win.<br /><br />The start of the process was when I decided that the OLPC XO I had picked up needed to do something useful, because to be honest, as it comes to you, it is a really interesting looking lime green brick. Just my opinion of it. Until I had started the process of doing something with it, the most useful thing I had done with it is get onto IRC via irssi. Curiously enough I did that via SSH'ing into the XO and then hitting IRC, that keyboard is too tiny for nearly any adult who doesnt have dwarfism.<br /><br />After running through several iterations of Debian and Ubuntu I finally settled on one that works acceptably. So my XO is now attached to the back of my printer/scanner. It works as a cups/samba print server, a scanner controller via a vnc connection to the rest of the computers on the network using kooka, and a webserver for the network. The scanner drops it's images straight into the webserver to make retrieval easy for everyone on the network. If your curious the version that finally landed on my XO is a customized Ubuntu.<br /><a href="http://sprocket.io/blog/2008/05/ubuntu-hardy-heron-on-the-olpc-xo-1/">http://sprocket.io/blog/2008/05/ubuntu-hardy-heron-on-the-olpc-xo-1/</a><br /><br />Of course part of this whole project required me to completely redesign my network. Which was fine. My old linksys router wouldn't handle static IP's. So I picked up another D-Link configured it to handle static IP's via it handing them out via DHCP. Since everything was static now it meant I could go in and set up the hosts file on all the computers, which was as easy as always, right up until I sat down to do my wifes Vista laptop. After a little research, it wasn't all that difficult, the real trick was finding it and editing it using proper permissions.<br /><br />I also decided to try out a distro I hadn't ever used before, Arch Linux. I found it to be very not newbie friendly, but for anyone with some experience under their belt it was very straight forward to set up. Being touted as light weight, I have to say I have done smaller Debian installs. It weighed in without any X or other niceties at around 650-700 meg, still all things considered not bad. Since I was trying things different I decided to revisit e17 (enlightenment) for my GUI on that install. Setting it up was easy and I have to say I like it enough to keep playing with it.<br /><br />Overall Arch doesn't offer the natural fine grained control over my system that I get using Gentoo/Sabayon. Speed wise it feels very snappy and responsive though and very complete. There will definitely be more playing with it to find the rest of it's weak points and strong points. From the start though, if your not a total noob and you want more control over your system and what is on it than most other distro's offer, Arch seems a really nice solution.<br /><br />Good Computing<br />~AzAzerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-63340071478808948822008-04-27T08:32:00.015-08:002008-10-16T16:45:25.825-08:00CD/DVD install with no CD/DVDWant to install a DVD release of Linux but dont have a DVD drive or recorder? Your CD/DVD drive has died but you still want to install a new or updated version of Linux? You can, and you can do it all from your hard drive without burning a single CD or DVD.<p></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">To start we need to make a partition for the image to reside on. Two bits of advice, put the partition at the very end of the drive so you can recover the HD space later on if you wish. It's easy to add more room to the end of a partition but nearly impossible to add more room at the beginning of a partition. The second bit is, if you have no working CD/DVD drive at all you will need another way to resize your drives, for this I recommend going to <a href="http://www.pendrivelinux.com/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">http://www.pendrivelinux.com</span></a>. They have a great list of thumb drive installs and how-to's, as well as their own version aptly called pendrivelinux which is great. You'll have to install gparted on it but still, very handy and a must have for your toolkit.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Okay, one way or another we now have a way to resize the drive, my personal preference is gparted. For the next step the size of the .iso we will be working with is needed. The one I will be using in this example is 3.9 Gig so I need 3.9 Gig plus a little bit for a fudge factor. A few hundred meg should be sufficient, however in my case I want to also back up some critical data so I bumped it to 5 Gig. You dont have to, but this is a great way to back up things you want to have readily available after you install. The minimum though is .iso size plus a bit, say 10% of .iso size.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">You can use gparted to make this partition ext2 or you can issue the following command to do it. As root:</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"></p><blockquote style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">mkfs -t ext2 /dev/sda4</blockquote><p></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Where /dev/sda4 is the partition you just created, /dev/sda4 was mine. Make sure to change it to the one you actually made.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Next we need to get ready to start putting things together. All of the commands we will be using for this need to be issued as root so you might as well go there and stay there for awhile.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"></p><blockquote style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">mkdir /mnt/iso<br />mkdir /mnt/target<br />mount -t ext2 /dev/sda4 /mnt/target</blockquote><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">(note here, /dev/sda4 needs to changed to the one you made)</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"></p><blockquote style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">mount -o loop -t iso9660 /path/to/image /mnt/iso</blockquote><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">(note here, for me this would be /home/jim/dls/Sabayon-Linux-x86-3.5-Loop2-r2.iso . Yours will differ, adjust accordingly)</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"></p><blockquote style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">cp -rvp /mnt/iso/* /mnt/target</blockquote><p></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Great almost done, but now your going to have to do a little thinking. We have to get what we just did to boot. Since the example I'm using probably wont be the one you will be using I will point out the changes you need to make. Regardless it's fairly straightforward.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">We need to figure out the configuration we need to feed to GRUB to actually fire this up. Luckily 99% of this has already been done for us by whoever released the liveCD/DVD.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ><blockquote>cd /mnt/target<br />ls -l</blockquote></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />look around here for either isolinux.cfg or syslinux.cfg, if it is not in this directory</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >cd isolinux<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >ls -l</span></blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />and look for it in this directory.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Once you have found it:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >cat isolinux.cfg</span> (syslinux.cfg if thats what you have)</blockquote><p></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">You are going to get a lot of stuff here, we are actually only concerned with a little bit. The line LABEL is what we are looking for, the first one usually but read the LABEL to make sure its the one your looking for. In my case:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"></p><blockquote style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">LABEL sabayon<br />menu label ^Start SabayonLinux 3.5 Loop2<br />kernel /boot/sabayon<br />append root=/dev/ram0 initrd=/boot/sabayon.igz aufs init=/linuxrc cdroot looptype=squashfs max_loop=64 loop=/livecd.squashfs splash=silent,theme:sabayon vga=791 CONSOLE=/dev/tty1 quiet music --</blockquote><p></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Is the one I want. When you see the next line that says LABEL, that is a seperate boot entry and you wont need it. Now we need to make a few changes to it, to make it bootable from GRUB.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: arial; font-style: italic;"></p><blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">title sabayon<br />root (hd0,3)<br />kernel /boot/sabayon root=/dev/ram0 aufs init=/linuxrc cdroot=/dev/sda4 looptype=squashfs max_loop=64 loop=/livecd.squashfs splash=silent,theme:sabayon vga=791 CONSOLE=/dev/tty1 music quiet --<br />initrd /boot/sabayon.igz</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">First you'll see I changed it from LABEL to title and removed the menu label line.<br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Second you'll see I added root(hd0,3). You'll need to adjust this to match where you extracted the .iso image. GRUB counts from 0 so drive 1 = 0 and partition 4 = 3. sda3 would be (hd0,2) sdb3 would be (hd1,2) and so on.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Third you will see that I left the kernel line alone.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Fourth you will see that I removed the word append and then moved the whole thing up so it follows the original kernel line. Then moved initrd=/boot/sabayon.igz to it's own line at the very bottom. Following that a bit further you will also find that where it says cdroot I added the actual partition where we extracted the .iso.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Note that while it looks complex, and the one you will be looking at will probably look significantly different your only actually making a small handful of changes. Just make the small edits as described leaving the rest alone and you'll be golden.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Okay, lets say you now have your entry figured out. Now you simply have to edit /boot/grub/grub.conf and add it to the very end of that file. This file has to be edited as root, and make sure you dont over write anything that is in there already.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Save the file, reboot, and you should see the entry for the LiveCD/DVD as an option in your boot menu.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Once your done you can safely remove the partition you made and reclaim the space using gparted again, or leave it in place and have an emergency boot, although you will have to add the lines back into GRUB if you overwrote your last one if/when you installed.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I wish I could take full credit for this, however I cant. I was working on making a USB variant of this, and was almost there but was having a few problems with it when jvj posted an almost line for line how to in the sabayon wiki. I want to thank him for pointing out that cdroot needed to be pointed to the partition, which is where I was stuck at. Since we both use Sabayon and Loop2 is the most current beta at the time of the writing that is why so much of his wiki entry and my how to look so similar.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Anyway, thanks jvj, and to the rest of you, happy computing.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: italic;">~Az</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">*UPDATE*</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> 07July08</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">I'm happy to say that Sabayon 3.5 has officially been released and that the above how-to has been tested against it and it worked perfectly. Here is the grub.conf entry I used to get it working on my laptop.</span><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">title Sabayon 3.5 Install/LiveDVD<br /></p> root (hd0,3)<br />kernel /boot/sabayon root=/dev/ram0 aufs init=/linuxrc cdroot=/dev/sda4 looptype=squashfs max_loop=64 loop=/livecd.squashfs splash=silent,theme:sabayon vga=791 CONSOLE=/dev/tty1 quiet --<br />initrd /boot/sabayon.igz</blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Remember you will have to adjust </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">root (hd0,3)</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> and </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">cdroot=/dev/sda4</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> to reflect your actual system as explained in the above article. Due to formatting issues of the blog I should point out that everything from </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">kernel /boot/sabayon</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> to </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">quiet --</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> is actually one long line.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">**UPDATE**</span> 17Oct08<br />I finally did a write up for how to make a <a href="http://azerthoth.blogspot.com/2008/10/making-bootable-usb-from-dvd-image.html">bootable USB from a DVD image</a>. If you have a 4 Gig or larger thumbdrive handy give it a try.<br />Again, Happy Computing<br />~AzAzerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-90178293225903054632008-04-09T20:59:00.005-08:002008-04-09T22:04:15.631-08:00Linux and Ipod Video Conversion<span style="font-size:130%;">O</span>kay, lets face it, I'm lazy ... really really lazy. When I picked up my new iPod (yes I finally joined the iLemming crowd) it took me only a few minutes to figure out that gtkpod was probably going to be my best bet for my 5G 30 Gig music toy. I promptly spent the following week using all my spare time feeding my computer CD after CD and still coming up with a heck of alot of unused space.<br /><br /> I knew that the wonder toy could do video as well, and that gtkpod could manage the video files as well, just not on the fly conversion to what ever format it wanted to be fed. Thus started my research project and my headache. It can do video, but it is supremely picky about just what it will take as far as bitrate, aspect ratio, and file type.<br /><br /> I started the project thinking to use transcode and command line. After this decision and alot of language that is not ever to be used in the presence of women, children, or fish, I was amazed that I had any hair left. The next step was a little more research and deciding to try it with ffmpeg. 2 days later and some blood, sweat, and more colorful invective, success. I made a (singular) video that my ipod would accept and play, rapidly followed by 2 more that wouldn't.<br /> This was frustrating to say the least. So I attacked google once again and much to my delight I ran across 'convert2videomp4' at kdeapps.org. A simple little utility that adds an encoding option to the KDE menu. Right click on the file you want to convert ... any video file your computer can play and select the final file output you want. The rest happens automagically.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidInIv3JYBdM38ZoHLznVaBqPtg4IeiGVljrWGvQiyZWIbHItWK84sXm04-OtR8GWxvvR5ZgUDy8opFSmLQMnxwyx9jj7DtL2JG2kTFd2d6ywhHBvejEYgF4z8RkKZKm1zarNlpA3nvzY/s1600-h/74959-1.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidInIv3JYBdM38ZoHLznVaBqPtg4IeiGVljrWGvQiyZWIbHItWK84sXm04-OtR8GWxvvR5ZgUDy8opFSmLQMnxwyx9jj7DtL2JG2kTFd2d6ywhHBvejEYgF4z8RkKZKm1zarNlpA3nvzY/s320/74959-1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187482006549971842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjvnxcEMUIiMXLUlGA0TxI8yedgbLPPDGV_z5li78RAlucLi7Pj3q3xuvNr8LhfGaZKz9ZNMS8BdAguamX3gIbczLemxtjl2ZsYhxzhaABCqwA7SVsBzbwAkNZJc33OkOlWc8v9zwiXRk/s1600-h/74959-2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjvnxcEMUIiMXLUlGA0TxI8yedgbLPPDGV_z5li78RAlucLi7Pj3q3xuvNr8LhfGaZKz9ZNMS8BdAguamX3gIbczLemxtjl2ZsYhxzhaABCqwA7SVsBzbwAkNZJc33OkOlWc8v9zwiXRk/s320/74959-2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5187482010844939154" border="0" /></a> <br /> So now with this handy little collection of scripts in an easy to use menu, I can go back to being as lazy as I want to be. Right click, convert, load to iPod. On a side note I highly recommend that you edit the meta tags on these files either before or after you get them onto the iPod. If nothing else set the Genre of it to Movie. The first one I put on I could not take back off because I could not find it using gtkpod for a half an hour or so. Very frustrating, but lesson learned, always always always edit the meta tags the minute you transfer the file. Also if using gtkpod, add the video's one at a time and save the changes between each one, it doesn't seem to like batch transferring movie files.<br /><br /> This little gem can be found at <a href="http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php/Convert+2+Video+MP4+%28+iPod+&+PSP+%29?content=74959">www.kde-apps.org</a>, the instructions for installing are very straight forward and simple, just a little script to be run as a normal user, as long as you have the prerequisite codecs already installed. They are listed on the main page where I linked to.<br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />p.s. Sorry Steve, this isn't the article I was discussing with you, but it is still in the back of my mind.</span>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-38261357904393759852008-01-05T16:44:00.001-09:002008-07-04T09:51:35.462-08:00Destroying the GPL from the insideHonestly I don't think it will be done, but there is a way. Simply put, the GPL is a copyright license which is it's strength and it's achillies heel. For years publishing companies and our friends at the RIAA and MPAA among others have pushed for longer and longer copyright lives so that they can reap the rewards from other people's work for a longer period of time. So why not turn things on their heads a bit? What I am talking about has actually already been proposed, and definitely not my idea.<p></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Step 1: Categorize copyrights. Say into Functional (someone else's term) for things like code. A good name since what the code does is function as a human readable version of what software will do. The second category Non-Functional, for things like books, works of art, movies, etc. In other words things that are nice but in and of themselves do or produce nothing.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Step 2: Remove copyright protection from functional copyrights or set the term on them to some ridiculously short period of time, say two or three years. The media moguls wont object to this as it touches none of their core business. They have the money and the lobbying power to fend off any such attempts to remove their privileges.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Who would benefit from this? At first glance from the proposal I read, it would be open source itself because the code that went into a multitude of projects would land fully in the lap of public domain. Nice thought, but nothing could be further from the truth.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So lets ask again, who would benefit from this? The same people who already have the money and lobbying power to accomplish the deed, Microsoft, Sun, Apple, and any number of other closed source companies. GPL'd code would also land in public domain free and clear of any license encumberments. Everyone's code would be public domain, free to use, modify, and redistribute which has been the goal of the free software movement all along, so it must be a good thing right?</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Wrong.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There is nothing that says that even though the copyright on proprietary code could come to term that any company HAS to release it. As a matter of fact, it would most likely get shoved under the rug as a “Trade Secret” like the recipe for a certain soft drink that comes in a red can with a white swoosh. There is no lifetime on Trade Secrets and even if it got leaked somehow and you got your hands on it, its still illegal to use.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So what do we have now? GPL'd code that is free and clear for any proprietary software company in the world to use. Nothing need be returned or documented, nor would there be any legal recourse to stop the use of or recover the rights to any of that source code. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Wow, that's going to hurt.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">A quick recap: </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">We have a company with associates who actually have the money to pay for a serious run at making it happen. The other major players in the copyright field would not be affected one bit and therefor are not very likely to fight it. Heck, some of those other major players may even toss their hats into the ring for it considering the many connections proprietary software companies have. We would have then lost all our rights and any control to all code covered by any open source license, with nothing to show for it in return. We would still be able to use a lot of code and it would certainly end the debate about the GPL/BSD/MIT/etc licensing rights because they would all be capable of being mixed and matched, but that doesn't do anyone any real good in the end.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Does this seem like a nice little conspiracy theory to you yet? Think I need to be fitted with a tin foil beanie and/or a straight jacket? Well I'm just talking about it, the idea is most certainly not mine. You can find the source for my maunderings here, taken from links I found on the FSF website where you can ask the author yourself why he thinks gutting the GPL is such a good idea.</p>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-8833863245933693822007-10-23T19:54:00.001-08:002008-07-04T09:56:07.073-08:00The Planet is FineHere is a link that I ran across that has alot of "Inconvenient" Truths, sorry Al.<br /><br /><a href="http://z4.invisionfree.com/Popular_Technology/index.php?showtopic=2050">Truths</a><br /><br />To paraphrase, here is George Carlin laying it out for you.<br /><br /><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-040002061237190145 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/eScDfYzMEEw&rel=1"></a><a style="left: 0px ! important; top: 0px ! important;" title="Click here to block this object with Adblock Plus" class="abp-objtab-004586113700135508 visible ontop" href="http://www.youtube.com/v/eScDfYzMEEw&rel=1"></a><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eScDfYzMEEw&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eScDfYzMEEw&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object>Azerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-65852375846224414192007-10-11T02:58:00.001-08:002008-07-04T09:56:40.039-08:00Insecure by DefaultGuess what, I can walk up to your Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Debian, etc desktop installation and take complete control over it without needing a single password. Thats right, root access simply by sitting down at your computer. Why is it nearly every single distro by default leaves this gaping security hole open? Seriously, it is possible to fix the problem during installation, my personal favorite, Sabayon, asks if you want to password GRUB as part of the installation.<br /><br />What am I talking about? One simple word 'single', thats it. You walk up to nearly every default desktop installation, reboot it then break the boot cycle when GRUB fires up. If GRUB is not passworded, and the default for almost all installations is that it isn't, you now have the option to grant yourself root access.<br /><br />On single or multi boot systems, select the installation you want and instead of hitting enter to boot, enter 'e' to edit. Select the boot line with all the kernel options, typically the second, and hit 'e' again. Scroll all the way to the end of the line and add the word 'single'. Hit enter and press 'b' for boot.<br /><br />The system will now start booting up in what appears to be normal fashion. With one exception, instead of dropping you into the GUI it will drop you into CLI with root access automagically granted. From that point on the system is mine. I can change passwords, add users, add background processes such as ftp access or ssh access for myself. Maybe add a hidden user account not so hidden if you know what you are looking for in /etc/passwd, but you have to know to look at it. In other words, anything.<br /><br />So I ask again, why with security being such an assumed when running Linux is this hole left open? It is possible to close this after the fact, and it is not difficult at all. Directions on how to accomplish this simple security measure can be found:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cs.wcupa.edu/%7Erkline/Linux/grub.html">http://www.cs.wcupa.edu/~rkline/Linux/grub.html</a><br />or<br /><a href="http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/security/security-handbook.xml?part=1&chap=2">http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/security/security-handbook.xml?part=1&chap=2</a><br />(that one includes securing LILO as well)<br />or<br /><a href="http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/how-do-i-secure-grub-boot-loader.html">http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/how-do-i-secure-grub-boot-loader.html</a><br /><br />Also if you happen to screw it up and need to recover from locking your GRUB you'll need a LiveCD and the directions here, or a little common sense.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/howto-recovering-grub-boot-loader-password.html">http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/howto-recovering-grub-boot-loader-password.html</a><br /><br />So now, what is your excuse for not securing your bootloader from me? How often do you actually have to go in and mess with it or even look at it? Isn't five minutes of your time worth knowing that no one is going to access your system when your back is turned?<br /><br />Oh did I mention that Sabayon gives you the option to do this as part of the install routine? I did, but this is a good place for a shameless plug for my distro of choice.<br /><br />~AzAzerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1477434063292781474.post-39608007612469471462007-09-28T21:15:00.000-08:002007-09-28T21:47:33.642-08:009/29 what a weekBeen a really interesting week for me. So a quick recap:<br /><br />1: I wont be doing any more opinion pieces on this blog. I have been offered and after a little discussion and thought, accepted a place to put my opinions. My next opinion piece which I am working on right now will be appearing at thenixedreport.com. I would like to thank the editor of that site for offering this position, especially considering the rocky start we got off to when I publicly called him on the carpet for one of the pieces he wrote.<br /><br />It takes a great person to be able to take a person who has called you out and then turn around with no rancor at all and offer to give them a place to vent their views points. I am really looking forward to working with him and am grateful for the opportunity he has offered me. I may not be a journalist, but boy howdy do I have some opinions.<br /><br />2: My old reliable laptop has finally started to give up the ghost. A Compaq Presario R3000, a AMD 3000+ (1600 Mhz) with 512 on board, 40 gig HD and a 32 meg video card. It has been my traveling companion for these last few years and has logged around 40,000 miles with me. The cooling fan died and I didn't notice. It is rather silent to start with and it was sitting next to my desktop which is anything but quiet.<br /><br />Since I run Sabayon I tend to have to compile software that I use. This jams the CPU to 100% load and leaves it there, sometimes for a long stretch. It did in this case at a time when I started the job and walked away. Too late I checked on it's progress and noticed that the case was insanely hot. While I did manage to get it turned off in time, there was some noticeable damage done. If I lock the CPU down to around 800 Mhz it will function fine as long as I dont stress it too much, but it's days as a work horse are over.<br /><br />Which brings me to my happy news. I had to get a new laptop. A sparkly HP dv6000t, which has for the first time since my P166 so many years ago, an Intel processor, dual core even. Hi Def wide screen, 2 Ghz, 2 Gig onboard, DVD R/W, and a 256 meg nVidia video card. All for less than $850.00 including shipping via 2nd day air. Too bad I am in bush Alaska and 2nd day air actually means sometime next week, with luck. So it is a race now, to see if the new laptop gets to me before I leave the state for 5 weeks. If not my wife has agreed to ship it to me in Kansas City, but being offline for more than a few days is pure hell for me. Just have to play it by ear I guess.<br /><br />Did I mention that the thing is being shipped with Vista on it? So for the first time ever I get to try my hand at getting the Windows Tax Refund. That should be interesting and different, however I have my Sabayon install disc all set and ready for it the day I get it. More on that experiance later. Until then ...<br /><br />Have Fun<br />~AzAzerthothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10776213910488684665noreply@blogger.com0