Search results matching tag 'linux'

new machine (hopefully low power)

pdk — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:47:12 GMT

It just so happens that I'm in the market for a new computer. It's been a while since I've built one so I figured I should ask around. I spent about an hour looking on newegg for parts, and realized that I was in a bit over my head.

My goal is a quiet, efficient low power machine with decent performance. I don't do a whole lot of intense gaming (some), but I do program a fair amount. I have a wish list here (should be public) for people to peruse and make suggestions, and a few specific questions:

- Is onboard video enough to drive the monitor (1920 x 1200)? Will it have hardware graphics acceleration? If not, is there a motherboard that can or will I just have to shell out for a graphics card?

- I haven't picked a case. I'm toying with the idea of a MicroATX motherboard/case or something similar. Any recommendations, namely on power draw or cooling?

- Especially on the noise front, will stock fans and heatsinks be adequate, or should I look at

I'm not wed to the exact parts I've chosen, I'm open to alternatives.

I'm going to be primarily running Linux on this machine, in case that makes a difference.

Cheers, and thanks.

VIdeo Card for Dell GX270 compatible w/Ubuntu

kokomoto — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:39:36 GMT

Compiz desktop effects? Have Dell GX270 small mini tower with onboard intel video and cannot activate desktop effects in Ubuntu Linux. Need PCI video card I guess. Which is the cheapest I can by with that will allow desktop effects like Cube and Wiggle Windows, etc? Don't need too fancy a cards as the Dell is only a 2.6 Ghz P4 and no PCI Express slots.

Forum newbie needs direction on where to post

PenguinatorII — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:27:43 GMT

Hi, and thanks for having this forum, and can someone help me with where I should post my first question:

I bought a Genius SF-600 scanner from newegg about a month ago. It was with the idea that I could use it when I switch over to Linux -- even though the OS wasn't in newegg's specs.

Now, on the product page, the most recent review is from a fellow/gal named 'did' who says it works great on Linux, but only mentions doing something with the 'firmware," which doesn't sound just right. There's no 'did' on the forum, so I can't PM him or her, and a search for <SF600> on the whole forum brings up nothing.

I am trying to post another review that will appear right above 'did's, asking for more specifics, but if 'did' doesn't come back, it will never be seen.

Is there anyway I can find out exactly what steps 'did' to get it working? He or she is obviously a newegg customer, as you can't post reviews anonymously. I'm sure the answer isn't on the docs inside the box, since the officially-listed compatibility is only with MS OS's and Macs. .

Thanks!

Re: Green and Powerful Build Suggestions

mrhealthpatriot — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:05:48 GMT

The Potential System is listed below. Does everything check out OK?

Linux "distros" vs. "linuxes"

adem3311 — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:56:00 GMT

The controversy of whether many linux operating systems should be called "linuxes" or "distros". Both terms are used a lot.

Linuxes:

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8823760499.html

http://www.ncsu.edu/it/mirror/ldp/LDP/Mobile-Guide/html/mobile-guide-a4-survey-micro-linuxes.html

http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/more-specialty-linuxes-rescue-794

Distros:

http://distrowatch.com/

http://www.lcic.org/distros.html

Which do you think is better?

Runbook:Linux.Sharing in a LAN using Samba

root — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:53:15 GMT

Last Edited: 6/10/2009 @ 12:29 CST

As requested, here is a runbook on how to share linux files via samba. I highly recommend reading my post on NFS first.

Requirements

A single subnet'ed LAN
Debian based Linux "server" already configured for the LAN (most distro's these days do this during the installation)
Debian based Linux or Windows client machines, also already connected to the LAN

Assumptions

Server's IP address: 192.168.100.11
Linux client IP address: 192.168.100.22
Window's client IP address: 192.168.100.33

Introduction
As some of you read the post about sharing linux files using NFS, there is another--more robust--way called Samba. There are hundreds of tutorials out there on how to set it up but this is the one that worked for me. I prefer NFS when it comes to connecting from a Linux computer, but when it comes to connecting a Windows one it's a coin toss for me. Coin toss because it can be a pain in the A to set up but when it works it works--and you can lock it down a lot more than NFS which is insecure by design.

Setting up the server

I'm going to assume you read NFS article so I won't disect the commands as I did before (making this a significantly shorter runbook). There are two ways going about this, the GUI and the CLI way. A good GUI tool is SWAT.This section will cover installing/configuring SWAT but scroll down to next section if you want to do it via terminal (recommened). I use Kubuntu 9.04 so some of these steps might not be necessary for you (Read: xinetd part). To find your version, type cat /etc/issue. Now for the long winded way to get SWAT working.

Open up your trusty terminal screen (hey, you didn't think I was going to go COMPLETELY GUI did you?)

sudo apt-get install samba samba-common smbfs swat xinetd [enter]

Type 'yes' when prompted.

Next up is configuring xinetd. What is it exactly? It's basically a tricked out version of inetd--which is like Microsoft's WinInet for internet services. Type man xinetd for a more detailed description. This is going to allow you to connect to SWAT via a browser. Now let's configure it!

Confirm that xinetd has SWAT listed as an available inetd service.

sudo cat /etc/inetd.conf [enter]

You should see a line like this:

swat stream tcp nowait.400 root /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/swat

Just make sure there isn't a # infront of that line (if there is then sudo nano -w /etc/inetd.conf it.

Next type this:

sudo nano -w /etc/xinetd.d/swat [enter]

Copy and paste this in there:

# description: SAMBA SWAT
service swat
{
disable = no
socket_type = stream
protocol = tcp
#should use a more limited user here
user = root
wait = no
server = /usr/sbin/swat
}

CTRL+X to save. Type Y when prompt.

NOW we can use the GUI management for it. Open up any browser on the LAN that your server is on--it can be the server itself. Type in the url: 192.168.100.11:901

Remember the assumption is that 192.168.100.11 is the server's IP address, so replace it with your server's IP address. You'll be prompted for a login. Use root.

If you want to make this simple and easy...

Click on 'Shares' button at the top
In the field next to 'create share' type NAS (can be any name).
Click 'create share' button.
Click on 'advance view'
Under Path field, type in the folder you wish to share... I use /mnt/NAS but the folder NAS has to exist under the mnt folder.
Click on 'Commit Changes' near the top
If you are conencting a windows host...

Click on 'Status' button towards the top
Click on 'start smbd'

Click on 'Wizard' button towards the top
Click on 'commit'

You should now be able to access this share from any machine, assuming you did step 7 and you have a login on the server you just configured (it will be prompted for user/password when you attempt to connect to it).

Skip next session to learn how to connect to it.

Setting up the server (CLI)

Here is the quick and dirty.

sudo apt-get install samba samba-common smbfs [enter]

Then we'll go and configure the smb.conf file (which SWAT does).

sudo nano -w /etc/samba/smb.conf [enter]

In the new window, copy and paste this in--assuming you are sharing /mnt/NAS as 'NAS'

[NAS]
        comment = NAS Share
        path = /mnt/NAS
        available = Yes

CTRL + X out and type Y when prompted to save it.

This assumes a lot of defaults. To see the full list of available options (there are a LOT), type man smb.conf

If Windows will be connecting to this, type:

sudo smbd -D [enter]

Now, just for grins, let's restart the samba service

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

Done |o.O|

Connecting Windows to the share

Click on Start/Run and type in:

\\192.168.100.11\NAS

You should be prompted for username/password--which is same as the one on your server. 'NAS' is a share, or an alias, for /mnt/NAS (the Path). If you did this via terminal, the [NAS] part of the smb.conf is the share name and the 'path = ' part is the path, obviously. You can also hard mount the volume via the network mapping option in My Computer/Computer place. But it will NOT come back up when you reboot.

Connecting Linux to the share

Just as easy. Open your trusty filemanager -- Konqure (KDE) or Nautilus (GNOME) -- and type in:

smb://192.168.100.10/NAS

You can also mount it to a folder or add it to your fstab.

Troubleshooting

Sometimes you have to enable the user--depending on what the defaults are. In SWAT this can be found under 'Password' button at the top. Type in the username/password and 'Add'. By default, as done able, should be any user that has an account on the server and this shouldn't be required. If doing it via terminal, the command smbpasswd -a username will add/enable username and give that person permission. See smbpasswd --help for a quick refrence. If you decide to lock it down with permissioning is maskings, I'd HIGHLY recommend reading the smb.conf man page via man smb.conf command.

Ending Notes

As I've hinted before, this can be a real pain to get up and running so feel free to post up any problems you have with the above runbook... or, even better, if it was successful.

Happy keyboard pounding.

Setting up a Radius Server, with Freeradius

XTremdreamer — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:37:47 GMT

there is some funny stuff that got inserted in the post;

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

was not part of the error, but a copy error in the html I guess.......

Runbook: Linux.Start/Stop Applications

root — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:07:01 GMT

Last Modified: 6/11/09 @ 10:11 CST

Since this is a simple one, I won't go through with the normal runbook layout.

Starting Applications

First you have to know who can run the application. There are two types of applications out there, ones that are designed for any normal user to use and those designed for only root to use. When you know who the application was meant for, then you have a general idea as to where it is. In a typical linux system, there are four places to look for all aplications.

/bin
/sbin
/usr/bin
/usr/sbin

Any 'bin' folder will hold the normal bin(aries)--aka .exe files for you windows users. Any 'sbin' folder will hold all the superuser (root) bin files--ala sbin.

So let's assume you want to start amarok 2, which is a music player (among other things) app. Fire up your trusty terminal screen. You should see a prompt similar to this:

username@computername:~$

A quick disect of this. ~ is short hand for your home directory (/home/username) and $ is short hand for 'normal user'. If you see # symbol, that's only when you are logged in as 'root'. Now typically you have the 'bin' type folders in your PATH environmental variable so you should be able to just type 'amarok' and it will launch the player. But let's say you don't have the bin folder sin your PATH. Well, first, what is PATH? Type this:

echo $PATH

An output similar to this should come back:

/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games

That's a pretty basic PATH. This means that any executable files in those particular folders (each folder is separated by a colon) can be executed by just typing in the executable name and there is no need to type out the full path. Which leads us back to the assumption that '/usr/bin' isn't in your PATH (hint: amarok is found in /usr/bin folder), then you would type:

/usr/bin/amarok [enter]

As long as you have a GUI session running, amarok should start.

"But root, it hangs up my terminal screen and outputs random stuff"

This is because you are running the program (aka 'job') in the foreground. When you see this, you can type 'Ctrl + Z' to stop the application. This will get you back to your $ prompt. Now type

jobs [enter]

Should say something like...

[1]+ Stopped amarok

This the [1] says it's the first job on your list and it's currently stopped. To resume it, we need to resume it either in the foreground (taking up your screen) or the background (hidden away to complete the job). Let's start it up in the background:

bg 1

This 'background' command is telling job number one to start up in the background. You can also run commands immediately in the background without having to CTRL Z it every time by adding a & at the end of the command:

amarok & [enter]

To learn more on jobs, I'd recommend this site.

Stopping applications

This isn't always obvious. Whenever in doubt, I use the equivilant of Window's Task Manager's 'End Task'. For those of you who aren't familiar with this technique, know that it's not the ideal way to close an application because you could be losing unsaved data. It's always recommend to NOT close applications this way. But sometimes you are forced to. It requires two steps.

Say amarok is running and we want to close it, but for whatever reason it isn't responding and won't close. Type:

ps aux | grep amarok [enter]

This command uses ps ( process snapshot ) with a few parameters (aux) and pipe it ( | ) to the grep application which will search for the keyword 'amarok'. The output should be similar to this:

username 25560 2.1 3.4 224516 71896 ? Sl 00:55 0:04 /usr/bin/amarok
username 25589 0.0 0.0 3336 804 pts/2 S+ 00:58 0:00 grep amarok

Since we are using 'grep', it will show up in this list but in reality the second line is no longer there after you see the ouput--which leaves us with '/usr/bin/amarok'. What you want to take from this output is the PID (process ID) which is the first number (25560 in this case). The PID is a unique, random number that's assigned to every running process. Since it's random, it won't be the same number every time so your PID for amarok won't be the same as mine in this example. Take that number and use it in the following command:

kill 11 25560 [enter]

This will 'end task' or 'kill' PID 25560--aka 'amarok' in this particular example. If it doesn't work, then it didn't like the 11 signal (SEGV)--which is a cleaner way to exit a program than actually killing it. Which leads us to signal 9, aka KILL. So replace 11 in the above command with 9 and that will definitely kill it.

Again, you most likely won't see '25560' and will use something else. Now when you run the ps command you will see:

username 26036 0.0 0.0 3336 792 pts/2 R+ 01:02 0:00 grep amarok

And look at that, the PID of the 'grep' command changed. Again, the grep command closes itself after completing, which it does shortly after it gives you the output.

If you don't like ps command, and want something more 'clean', you can use this command:

pgrep -l amarok

It will return all processes that contain 'amarok' and it's PID--excluding the 'grep' command unlike the ps command.

And there you have it. You now know how to start and stop applications.

Testing the Linux Waters

Sparticus5828 — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:13:03 GMT

I am currently a Windows user on my primary laptop but am getting a Acer Aspire One Netbook with a 160 GB HDD Hardrive and the Intel Atom 1.6 Ghz Processor that uses the Windows XP OS, and am intrigued by Linux because it is free and open source, but it seems like there is a lot to understand such as the partitioning and knowing code (of which i know none). I was looking at the newer release of Ubuntu, but i would like to know more before starting a foray into another OS that i have minimal knowledge of even though Ubuntu seems easy to work with.

One Question would be would it be optimal to have 2 OS's (due to linux not being able to support games albeit the only ones i would put on the netbook are older such as Starcraft, Diablo 2, Red Alert) Usually i only plan on using it for Word processing , Excel sheets, Powerpoints, and internet browsing/ music storage for my ipod. Another thing i would want to know is if there is an Itunes like program or if itunes can be loaded onto a linux os so that i can still synch my ipod.

Any and all help or opinions would be greatly appreciated

Unable to reclaim hard drive space

hobo531 — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:43:41 GMT

I recently created partitions to dual boot vista and fedora. I screwed up when installing fedora and i installed it in the largest space on the hard drive. Having deleted all partitions, I was about to try it again but am unable to reclaim the space. When trying to format the "free space" as vista calls it, i get a 0x8004240f error code.

Currently using 50.2 gb and the so called free space takes up 545.97 gb, so if anyone could help, I would gladly appreciate it.

Hard drive WD640gb