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A UNIX-like operating system.

Ubuntu kernel panics after partition re-assignments solved!

By on August 19, 2007 in Linux, OpenSource, Technology

Last weekend I upgraded my T40 from the 30 Gb drive it came with to an 80 Gb drive, as I was running out of space and needed to run WinXP under VMWare on my Fedora Core 6 installation. I used partimage to make snapshots of the existing NTFS partition, the WinXP the machine came with, and three ext3 partitions, the FC6 and an Ubuntu boot and root partitions.

I have to grudgingly admit the NTFS was the easiest to move and resize, using nothing but Linux tools. How weird is that? Using Knoppix to capture and rewrite the master boot record, WinXP booted, complained about the size, run CHDSK, fixed itself, and rebooted. Ext3 is a little tougher: it’s a simple but obscure set of commands to drop the journal from the filesystem, turning it into an ext2 system, resizing, and then applying a new journal to the result.

A little fiddling with the grub.conf added the proper menu items, pointing to the new partitions (several had to get renamed to support more partitions, extended partitions, and all that), and Fedora Core 6 came right up. I wasn’t so lucky with Ubuntu.

Ubuntu threw a kernel panic when starting up, and it took a bit of detective work to figure out that the mkinitramfs-tools were the problem. These tools figure out where the swap partition is, and determine if there’s an image there to restore from. The problem was that the old swap partition (/dev/hda4) was now the container holding all of the extended paritions and would throw an error when there was an attempt to read the partition. In the file /etc/mkinitramfs/initramfs.conf or the subsidiary file /etc/mkinitramfs/conf.d/restore.conf, you’ll find a line RESTORE=/dev/xxxx. Change that to the location of your new swap file and presto! You’re back in business!

Hentzenwerke Moving from Windows to Linux

By on August 14, 2007 in FoxPro, Home Page, LAMP, Linux, MySQL, OpenSource, Technology

MySQL-VFP book cover Followers of the Hentzenwerke Publishing empire know that Whil Hentzen has the largest catalog of Visual FoxPro books and an impressive collection of books bridging the gap from the Windows world into the Linux/Free/Open Source world. Whil’s been working for quite some time to put together a book on working with VFP and back-end data servers other than SQL Server. I was one of the many community members who contributed comments, criticisms and ideas to the book, and was honored when Whil chose to designate me as technical editor. Whil Hentzen announces, MySQL Client-Server Applications with Visual FoxPro now on sale:

After far too long a wait, the eagerly awaited companion to our Client/Server Apps with VFP and SQL Server book from years ago is here. The brand new 414 page MySQL Client-Server Applications with Visual FoxPro covers Client-Server apps from the perspective of the hugely popular open-source SQL database, MySQL. Learn how to install, configure MySQL and then connect specifically with VFP. Then get your hands dirty bringing data – both flat files and DBFs – into MySQL databases. Build a variety of user interfaces. Learn about development and deployment scenarios with this multi-platform backend. Each step of the way, real world problems (‘What if the connection fails?’) and potential solutions will be discussed.

The book is on sale only for a short period. Get your copy now!

Seacoast LUG, 13-August-2007: Panda3D

By on August 13, 2007 in Linux, Microsoft, OpenSource, Python, Technology

Ben Scott reminds folks about the Seacoast LUG meeting happening tonight:

For the August 2007 SLUG/Seacoast/UNH/Durham meeting, there will be a presentation on the Panda3D 3D engine.

=== About Panda3D ===

Panda3D is an Open Source “3D engine” — software that lets you model a “world”, and then render it in real-time on a graphics display. Think “Doom” or “Half-Life”. It was originally developed by Disney for their massively multi-player online game, Toontown, so it’s got real capabilities. They released it as Free Software in 2002. Carnegie Mellon University and Disney now manage the project jointly. The project emphasizes “a short learning curve and rapid development”.

Panda3D supports the C++ and Python languages, runs on Linux and Windows, and comes with models and artwork to get you started. There is also a library of documentation, sample code, and full projects online, along with what appears to be a reasonably active web forum.

=== About SLUG ===

SLUG is the Seacoast Linux User Group, and is a chapter of GNHLUG, the Greater NH Linux User Group. Rob Anderson is the SLUG coordinator. SLUG meets the second Monday of every month, same time, same place. You can find out more about SLUG and GNHLUG at their respective websites.

Meetings take place starting at 7:00 PM. Meetings are open to all. The meeting proper ends around 9ish, but it’s not uncommon to find hangers-on there until 10 or later. They take place in Room 301 (the third floor conference room), of Morse Hall, at the University of New Hampshire, in Durham.

SCO owns nothing!

By on August 10, 2007 in Linux, Microsoft, OpenSource, Technology

From Groklaw: http://www.groklaw.net/ Friday, August 10 2007 @ 04:52 PM EDT

Hot off the presses: Judge Dale Kimball has issued a 102-page ruling [PDF] on the numerous summary judgment motions in SCO v. Novell. Here is what matters most:

[T]he court concludes that Novell is the owner of the UNIX and UnixWare Copyrights.

That’s Aaaaall, Folks!

I, for one, welcome our new overlords, the Novell UNIX-owners. It will be interesting to see what happens next!

Running Windows within VMWare on FC6

By on July 25, 2007 in Home Page, Linux, Microsoft, Technology

One of my current client projects requires me to VPN into their establishment. Rather than have a second machine running Windows, I thought I’d try running VMWare using a dual-boot (WinXPPro/Fedora Core 6) machine. A recent Linux Magazine article by Jason Perlow, “Run Your Windows with VMWare” pointed out that VMWare can read a Windows installation off disk and run it as if it were a virtual image, a feature I wasn’t aware of. You get the benefits of both having a VM and being able to dual-boot. Cool! So, I set about the process of installing such beast.

VMWare offers several versions for free (as in price, not as in speech) downloads. Their main install scripts (written in Perl) are pretty slick, detecting problems, coaching you for the correct actions, and advising about where more information can be found. Several cycles of script, run, error, re-configure, install, repeat got me to a working VMWare install. Extra clues were found in “How to Install VMWare Server on A Fedora Core 6 Desktop” and “Run Existing Windows Installation with VMWare Player.” Some obscure permission errors (VMWare reports that it can’t open the image or some related file) were fixed by adding my login to the ‘disk’ group so VMWare could read the raw disk, and giving the /dev/hda device group-read-write access (sudo chmod g+rw /dev/hda – there’s a way to do this permanently…). I confirmed VMWare was installed correctly by downloading and running one of the many VMs that can be found at the VMWare Virtual Appliance Marketplace. After a few tweaks to the settings in the Windows-from-disk virtual machine configuration file windows.vmdk and generating a separate file for the MBR from the disk, booting into the VM produced by startup GRUB menu! Selecting a Linux partition started Linux, but selecting the Windows partition just hung after the message “chainloader +1”.

It’s progress. Now to Google around and see what the next tweak needs to be…

What I’m listening to…

By on July 25, 2007 in Home Page, LAMP, Linux, Microsoft, OpenSource, Technology

July has found me working out more often and more consistently. One of the big challenges with staying on an exercise machine is the tedium. It is boring. I’ve found audiocasts have helped me pass the time, occupy my mind and make me feel the time spent is more worthwhile. This month and last, I’ve listened to:

  • The keynote presentations from the RedHat Summit 2007
  • Nearly all the videos from the RedHat site
  • Several weekly Technometria audiocasts
  • David Weinberger on ‘Everything is Miscellaneous‘
  • Chris Lydon interview David Weinberger
  • David Weinberger interviewed Cory Doctorow
  • Several Boston PHP meetings
  • The Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council’s Open Source Summit presentations (thanks Dan Bricklin!), including discussions on GPL3, the OLPC, Lightning Presentations, and more.

I’ll plug them any chance I get: the GigaVox network has some of the best, most interesting, high-quality audiocasts for techies on the web. I’m a contributing member and I encourage you to do the same.

Developers Increasingly Targeting non-Windows Platforms

By on July 5, 2007 in LAMP, Linux, Microsoft, Technology

“Windows dominance on the client is cracking, according to the latest release of Evans Data Corp’s North American Development Survey. Targeting of the Windows OS has declined by 12% from a year ago, continuing a two-year gradual decline. Currently 64.8% of North American developers are targeting some version of Windows, as opposed to 74% last year and this is expected to drop another 2% in the coming year. Although Windows remains the largest market segment, Linux targeting has increased by 34% from 8.8% a year ago to 11.8% today.”

Source: http://www.evansdata.com/n2/pr/releases/WindowsInDecline2007.shtml

Via: http://holdenweb.blogspot.com/2007/07/developers-migrating-away-from-windows.html

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The BFC Computing Weblog : Ditching Linux

By on July 3, 2007 in Linux, OpenSource, Technology

In the The BFC Computing Weblog, Bill McGonigle explains how Ditching Linux is actually a good case study for why Free/Open Source Software is better than proprietary software. In a word: standards. Bill swaps Linux for BSD, Mac OS for Linux and OpenSolaris for Linux and everything still works.

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