Linux Owners Group In Newcastle

James McDonald: ESXi 4 VM Backup using unsupport SSH login and ftpput

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:47:30 +0000

I got the skeleton of this script from another post. DISCLAIMER: Use this at your own risk. I am not responsible for any data corruption or loss that may occur if you decide to use this without first making sure it works for you. After playing around with it for hours I have made some [...]

James McDonald: Gnome 3 has option ninjas hiding in plain site

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:12:20 +0000

In Gnome 3 you have to press ALT while clicking the System Settings menu (the menu accessed by clicking your username on the top right of the screen) to get the Shutdown (Poweroff) option.

James McDonald: Copy file from ESXi Server to your Windows Computer using PuTTY’s pscp

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:38:31 +0000

You need to enable the unsupported SSH server on the ESXi box Then using the pscp utility that comes with PuTTY add -scp to the command line because the default sftp doesn’t work. Here is an example of copying a file off the ESXi server from the command line of a Windows 7 box C:\Users\rupert>pscp [...]

James McDonald: Before you throw away your workstations shred your disks

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:53:42 +0000

I did this with a Ubuntu 9.04 bootable Live CD. Boot from the CD Choose to try Ubuntu without installing Start a command prompt (Applications ==> Terminal) # get root sudo su - # find your harddisks root@ubuntu:~# fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders Units [...]

David M. Williams: Does your sysadmin or desktop environment pass Van Halen’s M&M test?

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:29:07 +0000

iTWire: even rock star sysadmins need quality checking.

Gabriel Noronha: Getting ClearOS to work with Atheros Communications AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:17:07 +0000

ClearOS formally Clarkconnect based of Centos…

Start by enabling the Tim S repo

To install the repo first install the public key (yes all RPM’s will now be signed)
rpm --import ftp://timburgess.net/RPM-GPG-KEY-TimB.txt

Then install the release RPM (by default the ‘timb’ and ‘timb-testing’ repo’s will be disabled)

wget ftp://timburgess.net/repo/clearos/5.2/os/timb-release-1-0.noarch.rpm rpm -Kv timb-release-1-0.noarch.rpm rpm -Uvh timb-release-1-0.noarch.rpm

ref http://www.clearfoundation.com/docs/howtos/adding_tim_s_repo

yum --enablerepo=timb install kmod-atl1e

ref http://www.clearfoundation.com/component/option,com_kunena/Itemid,232/catid,28/func,view/id,24438/limit,10/limitstart,50/

last you need to edit the /etc/modprobe.conf
it need to contain an alias for every network card in my case I have a TP-link installed as well so

alias eth0 r8169 alias eth1 atl1e

if you fail to get this to work ifconfig -a will have a odd tmp interface.

James McDonald: SOTD: Software of the Day

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:19:32 +0000

I’ve just virtualized a windows XP workstation using VMWare Convertor and thought as a final pre wipe and rebuild excercise I would take a Ghost Image of the physical workstation. I have a Ghost.iso file with Windows PE and Ghost on it and I was trying to transfer it across to a 8GB USB Drive [...]

James McDonald: Using nmap to scan a subnet for a specific open port

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:02:15 +0000

Today I booted up a box and it’s DHCP assigend IP Address had moved so I had to find it again using this helpful Use nmap to scan for ssh servers blog post. After downloading the command line nmap for Windows from http://nmap.org/download.html. I ran: # locate ssh servers # for a range of hosts [...]

James McDonald: Windows 7 – Setting Proxy Configuration from the command line

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:16:49 +0000

Was working from memory today and found that proxycfg.exe doesn’t exist in Windows 7 and it’s been replaced by netsh. You can do it all from the netsh command line but it’s quite easy to first set it up under your Internet Options and then Import the settings as follows: Enter your proxy address and [...]

David M. Williams: Microsoft Windows Intune review

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:07:23 +0000

iTWire: Microsoft’s new enterprise grade security system learns a lot from Security Essentials.

David M. Williams: What your IT department wish you knew about requesting support

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:05:09 +0000

iTWire: On the one hand, requesting help desk support should be a walk in the park. On the other hand, so many users are so bad at it yet wonder why they aren’t receiving support?

David M. Williams: Business finance for the IT professional

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:03:29 +0000

iTWire: You may be the technical guy but at the end of the day business is all about the bottom line.

David M. Williams: All-in-one Linux computer and phone so near, so far

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:02:13 +0000

iTWire: I am so disappointed that the hype and expectation of the Motorola Atrix was not met with its reality.

David M. Williams: Could Ubuntu Linux 12.04 turn Canonical into the new Apple?

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:59:33 +0000

iTWire: Mark Shuttleworth proposes a new imagining of the traditional WIMP user interface, focusing on user intent rather than a hierarchy of menu items.

James McDonald: rsnapshot Backup to External USB Drive Gotcha

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:26:38 +0000

I am using rsnapshot to make hourly, daily and weekly snapshots of my home workstation data. This is on Fedora 16. In /etc/rsnapshot.conf there are two commands that specify the root directory you want to create your backups in and whether or not to create it if it doesn’t exist already ########################### # SNAPSHOT ROOT [...]

James McDonald: DIY Websites

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:15:44 +0000

Keep getting asked “Where can I build a site on the internet” preferably for free or low cost OK so here are some links to templated DIY site building websites: Google Sites Wix Website Builder Squarespace So to get started on the Internets for eCommerce what do you need? Commitment to spend money to get [...]

LOGIN Wiki Changelog: makerspace:home - grammar, spelling and punctuation

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:24:03 +0000

Please sign up the mailing list below if you're interested in becoming a member of the Newcastle hackerspace/makerspace. University of Newcastle Makerspace Location: Building: EE Room: EE102 Access is by request to the president of the makerspace, Luke Simmons. Once this is done you will be required to pass the EE general access quiz and the EE unsupervised access quiz, in Blackboard.

LOGIN Wiki Changelog: playground:playground

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:38:00 +0000

Home

James McDonald: rdesktop Printer Redirection FTW

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:21:19 +0000

This is really basic but well hey, spinning shiney things intrigue me. rdesktop -f -r printer:HP-Officejet-Pro-8500-a909n 192.168.22.5 Basically the above says connect to the remote desktop on 192.168.22.5 and go full screen, make the local “HP-Officejet-Pro-8500-a909n” printer available to the remote desktop session. I tried this and over a slow Wireless Broadband link, printing from [...]

James McDonald: Installing NX Server (neatx-server) on Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:41:32 +0000

Here is a well laid out explanation of how to do it: http://blog.philippklaus.de/2011/11/install-nx-server-neatx-on-ubuntu-11-10/ I am a bit disappointed with the result though. I don’t seem to be able to connect and disconnect cleanly. The neatx server leaves sessions behind and then tries to re-attach to them causing an error.

James McDonald: Using Linux Screen

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:05:28 +0000

Recently I have got caught out by leaving a terminal running while remotely connected to a Linux server and the connection has failed leaving the remote process unfinished & terminated. The Linux screen command allows you to run programs and disconnect. Rather than re-inventing the wheel I’m simply going to link to an article that [...]

LOGIN Wiki Changelog: home

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:39:07 +0000

Welcome to LOGIN, the Linux Owners Group in Newcastle. We are a LUG for people in the Newcastle and Hunter region of NSW Australia. The main focus of the group is Linux and FOSS. Do you want to help promote our Linux club then please feel free to pass on the flyer or better still print a couple & place them on a noticeboard in your local area.

James McDonald: Goodbye Dear Home Line I Paid for you Well

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:43:07 +0000

Telstra provides a costly service. There isn’t enough competition to get the prices down especially in a regional area. They do have the best coverage on the mobile network though and it would be unfair not to mention our low population and enormous cabling distances to provide some sort of counter-point to the first sentence. [...]

James McDonald: A Link to an Article on Creating Searchable PDF on Linux

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:03:51 +0000

http://tfischernet.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/searchable-pdfs-with-linux/ PDF Copy of blog post in case they stop blogging and leave the internet

James McDonald: Windows 7, Office 2003 with Latest Office 20xx Compatibility Pack won’t open xlsx

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:20:55 +0000

I’m trying to open an xlsx document in Windows 7 Pro 32bit with Office 2003 SBE and the latest Office Compatibility Pack and it doesn’t recognize the xlsx file. I have found the problem/s: The immediate problem: The version of Office 2003 didn’t have Service Pack 3 installed. Once I installed it the xlsx opened [...]

James McDonald: VMWare Convertor – A file I/O error occurred while accessing

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:47:51 +0000

Just got this error when running vmware convertor on Windows 7 to transfer an XP image to ESXi 4. Looks like VMWare Convertor can’t find the files. Opening the Virtual PC’s settings and you find that it is referencing a `Parent Disk’. Copy the this file to the same directory: You should now be able [...]

James McDonald: Windows `AT’ Command Weekday Abbreviations

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:21:40 +0000

I want to schedule a defrag for every day at 5:30PM. This is on an old Windows XP Pro laptop. I can never remember what the abbreviations used to denote the names of the weekdays are for the `at’ command so here is an example: at 18:30 /every:M,T,W,Th,F,S,Su c:\windows\system32\defrag.exe c: -v

James McDonald: Stop Senseless Repitition Virtualize Your Admin Tools

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:00:28 +0000

At work I have a range of admin tools that I install on every new workstation that I get and after 10 and more years of clicking next and watching progress bars I think I would like to reduce the number of times I have to install stuff. It’s counter productive to spend 2 days [...]

James McDonald: Power Fail Fail

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:22:44 +0000

Saturday very early in the morning we had a electricity substation blow nearby. It caused a power outage not only at my home but 6kms away at work. The outage was for long enough that the UPS’s didn’t hold the servers up, and some of them didn’t come up again cleanly. So I went in [...]

LOGIN Wiki Changelog: ideas

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:17:15 +0000

Meeting Ideas Page If there is something you want to know more about, or any other ideas for meetings will go on this page. Talks in Planning You don't have to do a talk by yourself, joint talks are fine, 30 mins talks to supplement larger talks are good as well, please say if your talk is a main talk or a minor talk. (minor talks about 30 mins main talks 2 hours approx)

Craig Ross: Autono-mow – The DIY Autonomous Lawnmower – Day 2

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 07:40:27 +0000

Day 2 of robot lawnmower resulted in the second drive motor and wheel being added and “Better” electrical on/off system implemented.

This new electrical system allowed Forward/Off control of each motor.

The following video shows a test run without any extra weight.

Download Video: MP4

Download Day2-UnloadedMP4

The following video shows a similar test run with a calibrated weight added to represent the extra load that will be imposed on the mower with cutting drive, battery, etc.

Download Video: MP4

Download Day2-LoadedMP4

Craig Ross: Autono-mow – The DIY Autonomous Lawnmower – Day 1

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 07:30:15 +0000

Work began today on my Autonomous robotic lawnmower.

The intention is that this robot should be able to mow the lawn in my back yard without major human interaction.

The mechanical works began today with an old Rover mower having the back wheels removed and new rear drive wheel added. Driven by EK Ford Falcon windscreen wiper motors.

The Mower for Modification

The video below shows only one wheel added and being powered by a 12v sealed lead acid motorbike battery. As can be seen in the video the battery is connected directly to the motor terminals.

Download Video: MP4

Download Video – Day1-Bump Test

James McDonald: Cross Platform 2D CAD Program

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:33:00 +0000

If you are after an easy to use 2D CAD program for Windows / Linux. Try QCAD from http://www.ribbonsoft.com. Currently at version 2.2.x but a newer version QCAD 3 is in release candidate phase. At under 100$ AUD for a license it’s good value. And with modest CAD skills you can do useful stuff with [...]

James McDonald: Fedora 16 Screen Flicker

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:13:58 +0000

After the last updates on Fedora 16 (x64) I have been suffering from really bad screen flicker. My PC has these specs. Specifically a “ASUS GeForce GTS 450 Direct CU Overclocked 1GB” Graphics card driving a BenQ T2200HD. The symptoms are that when I alt+tabbed between windows the screen corrupted(Black artifacts) and flickered. I think [...]

James McDonald: How many bags of cement do I need to make 1 cubic metre of concrete?

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:29:30 +0000

Currently doing fence posts and some small concrete pads around the house so I need to self mix the concrete I keep searching for this type of thing on the internet: Here is a good example of what is required from Boral’s Site From my learnings: 1 Cement 2 Sand 3 Aggregate (gravel) is too [...]

James McDonald: Cisco SSL VPN using openconnect demonstration video

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:54:54 +0000

The openconnect package summarizes itself as the “Open client for Cisco AnyConnect VPN”. Here is a youtube video showing an openconnect session being started from the command line: I tried creating a connection via the NetworkManager software but it exited without giving me good feedback. When running openconnect (as root) via the command line I [...]

James McDonald: Generate Custom XML with Perl CGI.pm

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:40:13 +0000

I want to output custom XML without any HTML or DTD tags using CGI.pm Here is my hack to get what I’m after: #!/usr/bin/perl use strict; use CGI qw(:standard -any); # use the -any option to turn on custom tags # e.g. I can use $r->item("Item Content") to create # <item>Item Content</item> # or [...]

James McDonald: Running around Headless with VirtualBox (Oracle Edition)

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:37:21 +0000

This is a script I use to start up a headless instance of virtualbox Run as root but it fires the vm up as the user you use virtualbox as. #!/bin/sh # Output of "vboxmanage list vms" # #"Windows XP Pro" {5998c1ff-f354-4d7d-b36d-987090351cb6} #"JMITS LSMB" {ac08587f-b1d4-4767-a736-51adcb6f3f08} #"Maps Dev - Debian 6.0.2.1" {9bb244ea-486b-471f-ad14-9df47c8c0157} VM=9bb244ea-486b-471f-ad14-9df47c8c0157 [...]

James McDonald: Cisco SSL VPN on Windows XP SP3 – Remove Microsoft JVM and Joyous Shouting Results

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:32:05 +0000

I have a Windows XP Pro SP3 Virtualbox VM that I have been using to test connectivity to a Cisco ASA 5510 SSL VPN. Problem: Using Internet Explorer 8 and trying to launch an RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) session. It created a memory error and then Internet Explorer told me that DEP had stomped on [...]

James McDonald: Accessing Cisco Clientless SSL VPN from Linux

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:24:26 +0000

At home I run Linux pretty much exclusively so anything I do at work tends to run the cross platform compatible path. When configuring a ‘clientless’ VPN on the ASA you install Cisco provided java plugins for Remote Desktop, ICA (Citrix), VNC and SSH/Telnet access which allows a browser connecting to the ASA to access [...]