We have moved to the blog around the corner..

I am no longer maintaining this blog. All posts from this blog have been merged with my main blog gwyneth.blogspot.com. See you there!

In search of a NAS OS

So there's FreeNAS (http://www.freenas.org/). But you need to format the partitions to a BSD format. I'm not comfortable with that. What I was looking for was a Linux or Windows based NAS that I could control via a web interface. Windows Home Server was a no-no coz I didn't want to end up with Trojan infested torrent.

So I decided to give up and install a full blown Ubuntu with Samba and SWAT. Lucky for me, while I filled every geek ear with my NAS woes, a colleague Ryan told me about Webmin. It's got a neat bunch of tools that allow you to administer your OS via a web interface. You can add shares, users, monitor disk usage and a whole lot more!

http://www.webmin.com/

To install on Hardy Heron Ubuntu:

1. sudo apt-get install perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl libmd5-perl
2. wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.420_all.deb [ change version to newest ]
3. sudo dpkg -i webmin_1.420_all.deb

Thats it! Now visit https://localhost:10000/

If you have firefox3 beta it will complain about the certificate being invalid. That's coz the beta has a problem with self-signed certificated. Just add the site to your exceptions list and you'll be good to go!

Installing and Configuring the Citrix Client on Ubuntu

After a long long long time I've finally managed to get the Citrix client working on Ubuntu, Gutsy Gibbon 7.10.

While there are lots of how-tos for i386 machines, there are barely any that mention getting the client to work on the x86 arch.

Follow all the steps here:[ https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CitrixICAClientHowTo ]
In brief:
sudo aptitude install libmotif3
sudo aptitude install libxaw7
sudo tar xvfz en.linuxx86.tar.gz [the linux client from the citrix website]
sudo ./setupwfc
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/ICAClient/wfica /usr/local/bin/wfica
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/ICAClient/wfcmgr /usr/local/bin/wfcmgr

At this point if you run: /usr/lib/ICAClient/wfcmgr &
you might see this error:
wfcmgr: error while loading shared libraries: libXm.so.3: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Try creating a softlink: sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libXm.so.3 /usr/lib32/libXm.so.3

If you still get the error then it due to an architecture conflict.
The tips from this post helps: [ http://backports.ubuntuforums.com/showthread.php?t=39556 ]
- Download the 32 bit libmotif3_2.2.3-2_i386.deb from http://packages.ubuntu.com/gutsy/i386/libmotif3/download
- Install it with: sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture libmotif3_2.2.3-2_i386.deb
- Create a softlink with: sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libXm.so.3 /usr/lib32/libXm.so.3

Now try: /usr/lib/ICAClient/wfcmgr &
It should work!


Now to setup the connection.

When I ran my .ica file:
/usr/lib/ICAClient/wfcmgr ~/Desktop/desktop.ica
I kept getting an error:
Cannot get address for application "Desktop"

After a while of tweaking I managed to get things working by manualy adding settings from my desktop.ica file into /home//.ICAClient/appsrv.ini and changing the settings in the client GUI.. To compare to your situation here's my deskop.ica and my modified appsrv.ini.

Additional Reference:

• CTX107102 - ICA Program Neighborhood Client, ini file reference


• CTX331178 - Appsrv.ini Parameters Deciphered


• CTX145271 - PN.ini Parameters Deciphered

Note: In the course of changing things at one point I managed to get to the login screen but when I tried to login the server would reject me saying that I needed to be added to a group. That was because my #InitialProgram was set to an IP address in the appsrv.ini. When I changed it to #Desktop I managed to get in.


desktop.ica
-----------------
[WFClient]

Version=2
TcpBrowserAddress=123.123.12.12
UseAlternateAddress=1

[ApplicationServers]
Desktop=

[Desktop]
Address=Desktop
InitialProgram=#Desktop
ClientAudio=Off
Compress=Off
ScreenPercent=99
DesiredColor=2
TransportDriver=TCP/IP
WinStationDriver=ICA 3.0


appsrv.ini
-------------------
[WFClient]
Version=1
TcpBrowserAddress=123.123.12.12
UseAlternateAddress=1

[ApplicationServers]
Desktop=

[Desktop]
WinStationDriver=ICA 3.0
TransportDriver=TCP/IP
DisableCtrlAltDel=On
DoNotUseDefaultCSL=On
LocHttpBrowserAddress=123.123.12.12
EncryptionLevelSession=Basic
Compress=Off
TransportReconnectDefault=True
UseAlternateAddress=0
ProxyUseDefault=On
EnableAudioInput=No
AudioBandwidthLimit=1
ClientAudio=On
MouseSendsControlV=Off
CDMAllowed=On
UseDefaultSettingForColormap=Yes
ZLMouseMode=2
ZLKeyboardMode=0
InitialProgram=#Desktop
Address=123.123.12.12
Launcher=Custom

OneAndOneIs2 - Why doesn't Linux need defragmenting?

Really Simple and easy explanation!!

OneAndOneIs2 - Why doesn't Linux need defragmenting?

Access Samba shares from the Terminal

Useful when you want to use PuTTy to access your machine at home from work and you want to connect to another machine on your home network!..

To view your Samba Shares:

smbtree

If your share requires authorization: (enter the password when it prompts you)

smbtree -U=administrator

To connect to the share:

smbclient //bastille/ToyBox

If your share requires authorization: (enter the password when it prompts you)

smbclient //bastille/ToyBox -U administrator

Now you can use FTP commands. Some important ones:
Change to a 'local' directory

lcd /home/wraith/temp

Copy a remote file to the 'local' directory

get myremotefile.txt

More commands:
FTP, File Transfer Protocol - Summary of Commands

Parted: How To Resize a Partition

Usually you'd use GParted Live CD to make life easier, but just incase you ever need to use the command line for partitioning..

If /dev/hda1 is the device on which to resize the partition:
parted /dev/hda1

View the current partition table to determine the minor number of the partition to resize as well as the start and end points for the partition:
print

To resize the partition, use the resize command followed by the minor number for the partition, the starting place in megabytes, and the end place in megabytes. For example:

resize 3 1024 2048

NOTE: Some systems will display the information as :

NUMBER    START         END             AND SO ON...
10        32kB          40GB            HFS+

In this case, (to resize from 40GB to 20GB) type:
resize 10 32kB 20GB

After resizing the partition, use the print command to confirm that the partition has been resized correctly, is the correct partition type, and is the correct file system type.

After rebooting the system into normal mode, use the command df to make sure the partition was mounted and is recognized with the new size.

NOTE: NTFS gives an error message
No Implementation: Support for opening ntfs file systems is not implemented yet.
Sorry, I haven't discovered a solution to this yet.


Ref: http://linuxpoison.blogspot.com/2008/03/howto-resize-partition.html

World Of Warcraft on Ubuntu

This was much simpler than I anticipated. Much!
I followed some simple steps.

Installing Wine and WoW:

- Ensure that direct rendering: Yes

glxinfo | grep rendering

- Add the WINE Repository (Gutsy Gibbon)

sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list
wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wine

- Install WINE from Synaptic: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WorldofWarcraft

- Run winecfg

• Choose ALSA Audio
• Choose Emulate Virtual Desktop and specify a size

- Download the WoW Installer and run it

• wine path/to/warcraft/installation/Install.exe

- Add these lines to the WoW config.WTF

• sudo gedit path/to/warcraft/installation/WTF/config.WTF
• Add these lines:

SET SoundOutputSystem “1″
SET SoundBufferSize “100″
SET gxApi “OpenGL”

- Run WoW:

• cd path/to/warcraft/installation
• wine WoW.exe

Sound Not Working?

I ran around in circles before i figured out the SIMPLE fix. I tried changing audio to OSS. Tried installing the alsa-oss wrapper. But all is was is 'Change Directories to where the executable is located and THEN run the exe'
Sample:
cd path/to/warcraft/installation
wine WoW.exe


Some Resources Used:
http://wiki.winehq.org/UsefulRegistryKeys
http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2006/12/19/how-to-install-play-world-of-warcraft-ubuntu-510-6061-610/
http://gaming.gwos.org/doku.php/wine:winestuff

Gutsy: Existing RAID Partitions

As a follow up to : http://tuxgurl.blogspot.com/2007/06/raid-1-setup.html

If you have existing raid partitions. Here's how to set em up.

I messed up again and installed Ubuntu first and then had the partitions detected. On my next install Ill try installing with RAID outright.

- Install mdadm: sudo apt-get install mdadm
- Reboot

Thats it..

- Create mount directories: sudo mkdir audio

- Add the drives to fstab: sudo gedit /etc/fstab

/dev/md0 /home ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/md1 /audio ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/md2 /neuro ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/md3 /video ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/md3 /virtuo ext3 defaults 0 0

- Mount the file-systems: sudo mount -a

- Give the directories user privileges (recurses directories): sudo chown -hR wraith /audio

Done!

Ubuntu 7.10: Gutsy Gibbon [Guide]

Ah, the Guide.. Most of the basics can be found here.
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Gutsy

Gutsy: NVIDIA GeForce 6600

With the sorceress spiraling out of control with no attention from me, I finally decided to give it some much deserved attention. With the release of Gutsy Gibbon (Ubuntu 7.10) i ran a distro upgrade and X crashed on the reboot. So i decided to install from scratch.

After the install. I needed to get my DVI working.

sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-generic

After that's done, go to System > Administration > Restricted Drivers Manager and turn on the driver. Restart and that should work.

Yahoo Launch on Linux

pkLaunch | Codes | Pooya Karimian

Setup Skype on Ubuntu x64

If you've tried to install the Skype 1.4.0.74 deb package on a 64bit architecture machine you probably got: Error: Wrong Architecture 'i386'

Edit: According to oleg_t this works for Skype 2.0.0.63 too. Change skype-1.4.0.74.deb to the version you are trying to install.

You could try:
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture skype-1.4.0.74.deb
linux32 skype
but that didnt work for me coz skype was still expecting the i386 libraries of some files.

Finally what did work was a solution from Ubuntu Forums

sudo apt-get install --yes ia32-libs* lib32asound2
cd ~
mkdir skypebetainstall
cd skypebetainstall
wget http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-ubuntu
wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/q/qt4-x11/libqt4-core_4.2.3-0ubuntu3_i386.deb
wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/q/qt4-x11/libqt4-gui_4.2.3-0ubuntu3_i386.deb
wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/libs/libsigc++-2.0/libsigc++-2.0-0c2a_2.0.17-2build1_i386.deb
wget http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/d/dbus/libdbus-1-3_1.0.2-1ubuntu3_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -x libqt4-core_4.2.3-0ubuntu3_i386.deb libqt
sudo dpkg -x libqt4-gui_4.2.3-0ubuntu3_i386.deb libqt
sudo dpkg -x libsigc++-2.0-0c2a_2.0.17-2build1_i386.deb libqt
sudo dpkg -x libdbus-1-3_1.0.2-1ubuntu3_i386.deb libqt
sudo cp libqt/usr/lib/* /usr/lib32/
sudo ln -s /usr/lib32/libdbus-1.so.3 /usr/lib32/libdbus-1.so.2
sudo ldconfig /usr/lib32
sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture skype-1.4.0.74.deb
sudo rm -rf ~/skypebetainstall

Basically, my understanding is that, it installs the 32bit libraries that skype needs into /usr/lib32/ and then installs skype.

To run skype just go to Menu > Internet > Skype

Ubuntu Zine: Full Circle Magazine

Check out the Full Circle Magazine and get your dose of Ubuntu...

Remote Desktop Sharing in Ubuntu with Vino

Ubuntu and Vino setup for Remote Desktop (VNC):
Remote Desktop Sharing in Ubuntu -- Debian Admin

Vibe Streamer

Something I found for windows while searching for gnump3d stuff...
Vibe Streamer - Free MP3 streaming server - Play your music anywhere!

How to open files as root user via right-click in Nautilus

Take from Ubuntu:Feisty Wiki:
How to open files as root user via right-click in Nautilus

- In the console type:

gedit $HOME/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/Open\ as\ root

- Insert the following lines into the new file:

for uri in $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_URIS; do
 gksudo 'gnome-open $uri' &
done

- Save the edited file

chmod +x $HOME/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/Open\ as\ root

- Open up nautilius and right click on any file -> Scripts -> Open as root

Connect By Phone

Get jaxtr | Login

Quake 3 - Revisited

Long ago, when the sorceress ran on SuSe and a 32bit processor, my quake 3 problems were solved with this solution
Now, with a brand spanking new 64bit beast and a sweet OS, the Quake problem was revisited.

Installing Quake wasnt as easy as expected. The Point release wouldnt install since this is a 64bit and the proggy is 32bit. A little googling solved that:

sudo linux32 sh linuxq3apoint-1.32b-3.x86.run

Quake runs smooth, but no audio. A lot of googling and I still haven't found a solution. Guess Ill have to post around to find a solution.

Will update when I find a solution..

Raid 1 Setup

I've always hated backing up data. YOu make a DVD backup and two days later you have another 2 Gig that you want to backup.. Its impossible to keep upto date with backups if you dont have a sophisticated system.

After my OS course 2 semesters ago I finally decided that RAID could be my solution. Implement RAID 1 which basically mirrors the drives and voilia Backup!

So after my machine died on me I decided to go shopping. Alomg with a snazzy 22" LCD monitor I decided to put in some dollars for 2 320 GB SATA HDDS.

The idea was to keep my old IDE 40GB drive as root (/) and have my /home and other partitions on the SATA RAID drives. This works great coz I hear that setting a RAID drive as the boot drive causes problems with GRUB since it doesnt know how to read RAID since the module isn't loaded at that point.

So heres the map of things:

* hda1 = 40 GB IDE Drive
* sda and sdb = 320 GB (detects 299 GB) SATA Drives

/ - 40GB /dev/hda1
/home - RAID ARRAY 1 [ 60GB /dev/sda1 & 60GB /dev/sdb1 ]
/audio - RAID ARRAY 2 [ 60GB /dev/sda5 & 60GB /dev/sdb5 ]
/neuro - RAID ARRAY 3 [ 60GB /dev/sda6 & 60GB /dev/sdb6 ]
/virtuo - RAID ARRAY 4 [ 60GB /dev/sda7 & 60GB /dev/sdb7 ]
/video - RAID ARRAY 5 [ 59GB /dev/sda8 & 60GB /dev/sdb8 ]


While I went though a slightly messy setup since I didn't really know what I was doing at the time, in retrospect things are a lot clearer now. So here's instruction for setting up RAID POST installation...

IMHO I think a PRE install setup shouldn't be too different. Setup the mdadm arrays and then run the install and ubuntu will detect the partitions or you can modify the fstab to mount the partitions manually. But don't take my word for it, check out the links at the bottom of this post.

---- BOOT FROM LIVE CD ----
We need mdadm to enable RAID. (mdadm -manage MD devices aka Linux Software Raid.) The standard LIVE CD doesnt have mdadm available, so lets install it:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mdadm

During the installation I answered:
mdadm md arrays needed for the root filesystem: none
start MD arrays automatically: yes

NOTE: If you are going to boot from a RAID partition your answers will be different.


---- SETUP PARTITIONS ----
Create identical partitions (ext3) on the individual drives. In my scenario I had 5 partitions of ~60GB on each drive. You can use the GParted GUI tool under System > Administration.

Now to make these partitions RAID. Ensure you know the names of each partition, you can check them in GParted.

What happens now is that we create RAID arrays and tell mdadm which partitions are going to be in each array. Since I planned for 5 partitions I have 5 RAID Arrays which all are RAID-1.

sudo mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sd[ab]1
sudo mdadm --create /dev/md1 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sd[ab]5
sudo mdadm --create /dev/md2 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sd[ab]6
sudo mdadm --create /dev/md3 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sd[ab]7
sudo mdadm --create /dev/md4 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/sd[ab]8

A quick explination of the above command: Create /dev/md0 as a RAID1 array consisting of /dev/hda1 and /dev/hdb1.

Now although mdadm will start automatically on boot and detect these arrays we still need to tell fstab to mount these partitions. Since we've booted from a live cd our drives are not mounted.
Mount your / (root) partition with:
sudo mount /dev/hda /somefolderthatexists

Now navigate to and modify your fstab (/somefolderthatexists/etc/fstab) to mount each array. Here's my fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/hda1
UUID=f3bbc342-67c3-43f1-adbf-8051783b5972 none swap sw 0 0
# /dev/hda2
UUID=0f193453-21ce-430a-a31e-774750e9043f / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
/dev/md0 /home ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/md1 /audio ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/md2 /neuro ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/md3 /video ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/md3 /virtuo ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0
/dev/fd0 /media/floppy0 auto rw,user,noauto 0 0

And we're done!

You can reboot or mount the drives now with: sudo mount -a which mounts all filesystems listed in /etc/fstab.

Also, mdadm is (re)syncing the partitions in the background. You can check the status/progress with: cat /proc/mdstat

You dont have to wait to use your drives, you can use them immediately and mdadm will sync them in the background..

Hope this helps, if not here's what helped me:
http://man-wiki.net/index.php/8:mdadm
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=408461
http://advosys.ca/viewpoints/2007/04/setting-up-software-raid-in-ubuntu-server/

The New et Improved: Sorceress

Heres the upgrade listing:

OS : Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 2.6.20-16-generic x86_64 GNU/Linux

CPU : AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Socket 939 CPU
MoBo : MachSpeed MSNV-939 NVIDIA Socket 939 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / 10/100 Ethernet LAN / USB 2.0 / Serial ATA
Memory : Ultra 1024MB PC3200 DDR 400MHz Memory
GFX : BFG GeForce 6600 GT OC / 128MB GDDR3 / SLI / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card
DVD-RW : Lite-On LH-20A1L-06 SuperAllwrite / 20x DVD±R Burn / 16x DVD±R Read / 8x DVD+RW / 6x DVD-RW / 8x DVD±R DL / 12x DVD-RAM / 48x32x CD-R/RW / Black / SATA / DVD Burner with Lightscribe
HDD 1 : Seagate 320GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G
HDD 2 : Seagate 320GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB/SATA-3G
SMPS : Ultra / X-Finity / 500-Watt / ATX / 120mm Fan / SATA-Ready / SLI-Ready / Black / Power Supply
LCD : Megavision MV220 / 22" Widescreen / 5ms / 1000:1 / WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 / DVI·VGA·Component Video / Black / Widescreen / LCD Monitor


rawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!
Beryl.. here i come!!!