Simple Geek

This week I started configuring my new netbook to my personal liking but it was a lot more time consuming than it should have been.

The first thing I did was update the bios to the latest release.  I always like to this asap as the laptop is still in warranty and the new version is likely to fix and potential problem.  The bios version shipped was September 09 and I installed the latest which was March 2010.

Once the bios had been flashed from Windows it was time to say goodbye to Windows.  I use windows at work and home but also like using Linux for its superb customization and vast amount of free software.

My distribution of choice was Ubuntu 9.10 as I wanted a full version and something which works without too much extra configuration.  I would have used the Ubuntu 10.04 beta release but this currently doesn’t support the Intel GMA 500 chipset.

Once installed I immediately noticed a fuzzy sound coming from the netbook even without playing anything.  I managed to fix this by updating the ALSA sound drivers using the steps below.

1. Download the ALSA upgrade script (requires forum registration).
2. Open a terminal.
3. Navigate to the directory that you saved the .tar file in.
4. Perform the following commands:

tar xvf AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.tar
sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh –d
sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh –c
sudo ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.22.1-2.sh -i

My next step was to install the GMA500 Chipset so I could get my native resolution of 1366 x 768 (16:9).  After some googling I found this guide and decided to just try it.  To my suprise it worked first time.

Steps taken from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1378746

1. Add the following repositories (/etc/apt/source.list) and install the their keys:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/lucazade/gma500/ubuntu/ karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/lucazade/gma500/ubuntu/ karmic main
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mobile/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mobile/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates/ubuntu karmic main #X-Updates PPA
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates/ubuntu karmic main #X-Updates PPA

sudo apt-key adv –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys 6699F3D9
sudo apt-key adv –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys C6598A30
sudo apt-key adv –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com AF1CDFA9
sudo apt-key adv –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 6AF0E1940624A220

2. Update system:

sudo apt-get -y update
sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade

3. Install the following packages:

sudo aptitude -y install psb-kernel-headers psb-kernel-source psb-modules xpsb-glx libdrm-poulsbo1 poulsbo-config psb-firmware

4. Download and install the following package:

wget http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mobile/ppa/ubuntu/pool/main/x/xserver-xorg-video-psb/xserver-xorg-video-psb_0.31.0-0ubuntu1~904um1_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i xserver-xorg-video-psb_0.31.0-0ubuntu1~904um1_i386.deb

5. Add packages 2D and 3D:

sudo aptitude -y install poulsbo-driver-2d poulsbo-driver-3d

6. Create or edit the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf leaving you with the following configuration:

Section “ServerFlags”
Option “DontZap” “False”
EndSection

Section “Device”
Identifier “Configured Video Device”
Option “IgnoreACPI”
Option “AccelMethod” “uxa”
Option “MigrationHeuristic” “greedy”
Option “NoDDC”
Option “DRI” “on”
Option “Tiling” “true” # i8xx users: see note in guide
Driver “psb”
EndSection

Section “DRI”
Mode 0666
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Configured Monitor”
EndSection

Section “Screen” Identifier “Default Screen”
Monitor “Configured Monitor”
Device “Configured Video Device”
EndSection

#Added for mouse pad
Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Mouse0″
Driver “synaptics”
Option “Protocol” “auto”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/mouse0″
Option “ZAxisMapping” “4 5 6 7″
Option “CorePointer”
Option “HorizEdgeScroll” “1″
EndSection

7. Add “psb” to the file /usr/bin/compiz in the following line:

WHITELIST=”nvidia intel ati radeon radeonhd i810 fglrx”, leaving it as follows: WHITELIST=”psb nvidia intel ati radeon radeonhd i810 fglrx”

8. Install additional packages of compiz if you want to use the extra features:

sudo aptitude -y install compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-fusion-plugins-extra

9. When the player alternated between video modes “window”, “full screen” and again “window”, the videos began to give “jumps”. So I decided to remove the compiz, significantly reducing this problem. Who wants to choose to do the same to run:

sudo apt-get remove compiz-core compiz-wrapper libdecoration0

I have not found this problem when I switched only mode “window” to “full screen”.

10. Add “enable_mtrr_cleanup mtrr_spare_reg_nr=1 mem=1984mb” to call your kernel in the grub2, leaving the parameter GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT of file /etc/default/grub as follows:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash enable_mtrr_cleanup mtrr_spare_reg_nr=1 mem=1984mb”

For earlier version of grub edit file /boot/grub/menu.lst leaving the parameter defoptions as follows:

#defoptions=quiet splash enable_mtrr_cleanup mtrr_spare_reg_nr=1 mem=1984mb
Do not remove # the previous line (not a comment).

11. Validate the previous amendment:

sudo update-grub
Restart the system.

12. References

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s…el/+bug/370552
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne (To Fix Choppy Video Playback With Intel Video)
http://gadgetmix.com/index/new-gma-5…-karmic-koala/
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne/AO751h
http://ubuntuforum-br.org/index.php?topic=58947.0 (Grub2)

This week I ordered a refurbished Acer Aspire One AO751 from the argos clearance ebay store for £199. I decided on this one as my maximum budget was £200 and I really wanted something with a bigger than average netbook screen. This was the only netbook I could find at this price with a 11.6inch screen but I had to sacrifice on processor power. This model comes with a Intel Atom Z52O which is only a 1.33GHz chip. I plan to remove Windows XP and put something more lightweight like Arch linux or Xbuntu. I will probably upgrade the ram as well but it depends on the performance.

Check back soon as I plan to post a short review and my system setup.

Acer Aspire One 751 Netbook PC

• Intel Atom (Z520) 1.33GHz Processor with 512KB L2 Cache 533MHz Front Side Bus
• 1024MB 667/800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
• 160GB Hard Drive
• Mobile Intel US15W Express Chipset
• 11.6 inch WXGA (HD) TFT LCD
• Intergrated Graphics
• Intergrated CrystalEye Webcam
• Acer InviLink 802.11b/g WiFi Certified network connection,
• supporting Acer SignalUp wireless technology WLAN
• 10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet LAN
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Just upgraded my wordpress site to the lastest version following the guide from here. It was quick and painless.

How to manually upgrade Wordpress

1. Perform a complete backup of both your database and directory structure (in case something goes wrong)
2. Login to your WordPress administration panel and deactivate all active plugins
3. Download and extract the latest STABLE WordPresss version to a folder on your computer
4. Upload the extracted files to your WordPress server directory with the exception of the following:

* wp-content folder and it’s content

* wp-includes/languages if you are using a custom language file

5. To perform the upgrade, navigate to http://yoursitename/wp-admin/upgrade.php and follow the on screen steps
6. Login to the administration panel and reactivate your plugins one by one to ensure that they still work with the new version of WordPress.

This is a follow up of my Ubuntu Server upgrade and it appears not everything was working after my dist upgrade.  VMWare was far from working and has taken me quite some time to to fix.  This post shows the steps I had to go through to get up and running again.  I think the problem with VMWare was due to the Linux Kernal build files been different so I resolved this with the below commands.  I realized this after running the config command again

Steps

First I tried to reconfigure VMWare by running the below command.

sudo /usr/bin/vmware-config.pl

I soon encounted problems on this line:

What is the location of the directory of C header files that match your running
kernel? [/usr/src/linux/include]

To fix.

Enter /lib/modules/{your current kernel version 2.6xxxxxx}/build/include

If that does not work the kernel headers might need removing:

sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential

And then reinstalling again:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential

This got my VMWare install usable again although I still have problems with the Website dropping out.  I haven’t had time to troubleshoot this but to get things running again I stop and start the Web services again.

sudo /etc/init.d/vmware-mgmt stop

sudo /etc/init.d/vmware-mgmt start

The status command can also be useful.

sudo /etc/init.d/vmware status

Today I decided to have a play with Hyper-V on a HP Desktop but getting things running took longer than expected. To do this you will need a CPU and Bios capable of Hyper-V which can be tricky to find out.

You can find out if the processor is capable by checking on the manufacturers website or by using one of the below tools. You will then need a bios of capable of Hyper-V and have it enabled to. To enable Hyper-V on the HP Desktops capable goto the Bios > Security > OS Security and set to enabled.

Please note I have found the Intel/AMD tools to not be 100% reliable and it may be worth trying to use Hyper-V just in case.

AMD Hyper-V System Compatibility Check Utility
Intel Processor Identification Utility

Today I attended the McAfee Access All Areas conference and was amazed at just how much work goes into protecting the Web.  The conference was not sales based and provided many useful tips for the products while also explaining the constant battle they face with hackers.   I have made 18 pages of notes and will post some of them here over the next few days.

I really do appreciate the daily dat files I used to take for granted.

Today I decided to upgrade my Ubuntu 9.04 Server to 9.10.   I think I was to tired to make a sensible decision after attending a McAfee Access All Areas conference today.  I have also done this through SSH which isnt recommended or taken any backups…Maybe I have to much confidence in the guys/girls at Ubuntu.

The server has the below products running on there.

SSH
Mediatomb
Firefly Media Server
Php Sysinfo
VMware Server
Samba

I will hopefully post good news tomorrow. The upgrade is currently running.

I performed the below steps to start the upgrade.

sudo apt-get install update-manager-core

sudo do-release-upgrade

Follow on screen instructions.

Edit…

Well my upgrade worked and everything appears to be working as before.  I did have one remaining quibble with Webmin still displaying the Ubuntu version as 9.04.  I decided to post this issue of the Linux forums and I was informed Webmin doesn’t have a so called “Autodetect” option for the operating system.  If you would like to update Webmin to display the correct version I am informed this can be done by going to Webmin > Webmin Configuration > Operating System and Environment.

I also have PhpSysInfo installed and this does correctly display Ubuntu as 9.10.  

A couple of months ago I attended a Microsoft Virtualisation and Management Seminar and just found a copy of my notes.  Rather than losing it this time I have decided to type this up in my own time and post here for others to see.  There will be very little structure but does provide a few good memory jogs.

Server 2008 Core

This is the headless version of Microsoft Server 2008.

Advantages

• Less patching (Things like IE & Media player not included)
• DNS
• DHCP
• Infrastructure Services

Disadvantages

• No SQL
• No Exchange
• Command Line Controlled
• Cannot upgrade to full
• Same cost

Server 2008

This some the new features included with server 2008, I think the improved network latency between clients will be particularly good for a company with many remote sites.

• More Secure
• Remote sites only store cached credentials of local users
• This means the whole of AD is not comprised
• Read Only DCs
• 400% improvement on File Save on WANS between Windows 7 and Server 2008.
• Improved replication speeds

Disadvantages

• Any 2008 servers on the network will mean all users require 08 cals.

I have more to add another time..

I was reading about Windows Server 2008 earlier and decided to save this for future reference.  Its particularly useful for Server Core as this has no GUI.

netsh int ip set address “local area connection” static 192.168.0.1

Moving from Windows there is a lot of simple things I don’t know in Linux so this is a list of some of the most useful commands I have used so far.   I would expect these commands to work on other distributions but cannot be sure.  Feel free to leave comment confirming it works on others.

You just type these commands into the terminal and hit enter.

Display Available Memory

cat /proc/meminfo

Display a list of recent terminal commands

history

Display disk usage

du–s

Realtime Log View

tail -f /pathtofile/logfile.log

Create Directory

mkdir Foldername

Delete Directory

rm –rf foldername

Present Working Directory

pwd

I plan to add more details and commands as I learn Linux.