The Penguin Bar

[Ned Slider]

You're not booting off of a live CD when you test that are you?

Nope - just ran the command as root with nothing else running. I did do 3 runs and post the best, but there was virtually no difference between them so it's pretty bog standard.

The laptop is: http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Laptops/Dell/XPS_M1330

The HD is a 2.5" 160GB SATA disk running off the AHCI kernel driver (btw, I've had 2 Samsung 160GB SATA disks in laptops, and both have died).

[Ned Slider]

Here is a really nice 30min movie on the absurdity of software patents:

http://patentabsurdity.com/watch.html

[Ned Slider]

Dang, I've been using UNIX of one flavour or another for 15 years, and Linux for nearly 10 years, and today I learned one of the most simple cli tricks ever...

Ever wanted to switch back to the previous directory you were just working in? Simple:

cd -

I use 'cd ..' all the time to cd up one level, but have never come across 'cd -' until today. Brilliant!

One of the reasons I love Linux so much is that it presents you with infinite possibilities for learning, even when you've been doing it for years

Anyone who likes all things command line should probably check out this site during their lunch break:

http://www.commandlinefu.com

[Meridian]

Is there a command for: "Go the the directory I'm thinking about now"? Now that would be a useful switch.


M

[ssemel]

Been using ubuntu since last summer. I made the switch from WinXP because I didn't want to deal with the change to Vista then to Win7 to who-knows-what's-next. Best computer move I've ever made. No crashes, no malware problems, no spending cash for upgrades just because Microsoft changes their platform. I have since fiddled with other linux flavors and enjoy PuppyLinux and knoppix. And the user help forums have been a lifesaver when problems do arise: much friendlier than calling MS tech support. I used Windows only when working for others in their offices. Can't wait to return home each night.

[Jackal]

Been using ubuntu since last summer. I made the switch from WinXP because I didn't want to deal with the change to Vista then to Win7 to who-knows-what's-next. Best computer move I've ever made. No crashes, no malware problems, no spending cash for upgrades just because Microsoft changes their platform. I have since fiddled with other linux flavors and enjoy PuppyLinux and knoppix. And the user help forums have been a lifesaver when problems do arise: much friendlier than calling MS tech support. I used Windows only when working for others in their offices. Can't wait to return home each night.

Amen! My Gentoo server mobo crashed a while back, and it was nforce 2 with Athlon XP, so a complete platform upgrade was necessary!

What would have been catastrophic on windows, simply took some time, and removal of some cobwebs in the brain (things I haven't had to do in a LONG time), and it's back running better than ever!

Of course, the help in the forums is ......well, what is understood, needn't be discussed !

[Ned Slider]

Been using ubuntu since last summer...

Welcome to the Linux forum ssemel

[Spankin Partier]

Did some playing around with my Gentoo server at home yesterday. I've recently added a Windows computer to my network (the blasphemy!) as I am now forced to use it for work purposes. But I never liked adding a virus scanner to as it adds to the unnecessary overhead. But I still need to access the Net occasionally to look up stuff as I work. So I can't simply disconnect it from the network.

So the other day I found an artical on an application called HAVP: HTTP Anti Virus Proxy. Basically it runs on a server and it filters all your internet data through one or more virus scanners before passing it along. I popped it in and chained it along with Squid and Bind (for caching) and now my Gentoo server is babysitting my Windows box.

HAVP isn't the end all for internet virus security. Its limited to non-encrypted channels. And you'll now have to watch to make sure your server automatically updates its virus database. Seeing as its not on your current machine, it's a bit harder to watch. But that's what logs are for and why a good system admin always checks his logs.

[Ned Slider]

Hi Spanky,

These days I tend to run any needed Windows instances in a VM (vmware is still popular, and kvm is a great native choice too). Saving work off to a networked drive on the host allows the guest to be reset at will so one really doesn't need to worry about such stuff. TBH though I have such little need for Windows that it's just not worth running a dedicated box or dual boot.

I currently have a Win2k instance running under VMware Server that acts as my print server for my Canon copier/printer (hmm, unsupported under Linux but I can print to it as a shared printer on Windows) - best part is that the Win2K guest runs very happily with just 64MB RAM and boots in 15 secs

[Spankin Partier]

Yeah, I wouldn't even use Windows for my Canon printer. Its just that have to use it for some Autodesk software which gets very 'personal' with the hardware. It doesn't even play nice with some virus scanners. They used to recommend disabling all virus scanners prior to starting up their application. Maybe they stopped recommending on their current products, but I'm not sure. So I've effectively moved my virus scanner off of that computer.

Its still far from being an ideal solution. But I've been surprised that its already caught a few viruses when I've been surfing around on sites that I wouldn't have expected to find them on.

[Spankin Partier]

Hey Ned, you had me thinking tonight....(uh-oh...not a good thing! )

I want to set up Kontact to handle my e-mail, but I'm currently dual booting and I'm going to need to access my e-mail in Windows as well. Since I'm running Kubuntu 10.04, could I not run VMware in XP and install a second copy of Kubuntu there. Then (this is the tricky part) mount my home directory from my normal Kubuntu under onto my Kubuntu running in VMware?

Its my understanding that VMware creates a file to act as the guest OS's hard drive. Can the guest OS see any real drives at all?

[Spankin Partier]

Well I got it working!

Although I didn't use VMWare. Not sure which version to download without needing to pay for it. So I downloaded Oracle's VM VirtualBox. Got a virtual machine running and installed Kubuntu in it. Then I installed the same applications on this Kubuntu as I use in my main Kubuntu. After that I shut down the virtual machine so I could configure it to have access to my real Kubuntu partition. Booted the virtual Kubuntu back up, configured it to automatically mount the real Kubuntu partition in the /mnt/realkubuntu directory each time it starts up. When that was all set I deleted my home directory on the virtual machine, and created a link to my home directory on my real Kubuntu partition. Works like a charm!

[Spankin Partier]

I've been using VirtualBox for a few days now, and Man am I ever impressed!

Definitely have improved things over the early days when VMWare was first released. I can intermix both OS's using special shares, the clipboard works across both client/guest. This has been really fun play and learn.

[Spankin Partier]

Well, I had enough of trying to watch my shows with the Vshear and poor decoder issues on Ubuntu and switched back to Gentoo. Dang I forgot how much better the video was under Gentoo.

Should have done this months ago. At least I did it now before all the snow melts. For as soon as spring hits, I doubt I'd touch it till the fall. Spring & Summer are too short to spend inside.

[wolfen69]

Yeah, I wouldn't even use Windows for my Canon printer. Its just that have to use it for some Autodesk software which gets very 'personal' with the hardware. It doesn't even play nice with some virus scanners. They used to recommend disabling all virus scanners prior to starting up their application.

That reminds of a job I was doing for a friend. I tried and tried to get an HP printer installed on XP all to no avail. Turns out that after I disabled AVG, it went smooth as butter. Live and learn.