Geoff's Blog

Wubi Install – Ubuntu – Changing boot sequence

January 15, 2012 | Author: admin

When Wubi installs Ubuntu on to your hard drive it makes windows the default operating system on boot up. As part of the install on boot up of the computer you are shown a screen where you have the option of booting in windows (default) or booting in Ubuntu.

The Computer will pause on this screen until input is made by the user, or it will wait for a short period time and automatically load the default operating system.

To change to settings in Windows XP or Vista go to Control Panel > System > Advanced Startup and Recovery and edit the “Default Operating System”

Wubi Install – Ubuntu – Resizing the Virtual Disk

January 15, 2012 | Author: admin

The standard Wubi install of Ubuntu comes with a 256 megabyte swap file, the swap file lets the computer pretend that you have more RAM memory than you actually have. The example below creates a 2 gigabyte swap file.

You will need to open Teminal to proceed with the following commands. To open “Terminal” in Ubuntu 11.10 click on the dash home button and type in Terminal, the icon will appear which can be clicked to open the programme.

The first section of code logs you in as the root user, turn the swap file off, changes the directory so you can make a back up of the current swap file.

sudo su
swapoff -a
cd /host/ubuntu/disks/
mv swap.disk swap.disk.bak

This part of the code creates the new swap file and initiates the new larger swap file. “free -m” checks that you have created the larger swap file.

dd if=/dev/zero of=swap.disk bs=1024 count=2097152
mkswap swap.disk
swapon -a
free -m

If all is working fine, then use the following to delete the smaller old swap file.

dd if=/dev/zero of=swap.disk bs=1024 count=2097152
mkswap swap.disk
swapon -a
free -m

Wubi Install – Ubuntu – Resizing the Virtual Disk

January 14, 2012 | Author: admin

I discussed in the initial post of installing Ubuntu on your computer to choose the largest “Installation Size” possible. If you still need a larger install then the following information may be beneficial.

As part of the Wubi install, a file is created that is used as a virtual disk to install the Ubuntu operating system. To increase the size of the virtual disk a back up is made, a new file created and the contents of the old file are transferred to the new file. The available disk space on the computer must be greater than the new re-sized file. So if you are increasing the Ubuntu installation size from 20gb to 50gb you will need at least 50gb of available space.

A automated re-size can be found on the Ubuntu Forums, I tried this but unfortunately it didn’t work for me so I proceeded with the manual install.

The first line logs you in as the root user, and the second shows what disk space is available so you can work out how big to make your install.

sudo -i
df -h /host

You are now changing to the directory that holds the virtual disk file, and then on the second line creating that disk. I have “ count=50000″ which equals 50 gb.

cd /host/ubuntu/disks
dd if=/dev/zero of=new.disk bs=1MB count=50000

Now to format the new virtual disk.

mkfs.ext4 -F new.disk

and the information copied from the current virtual disk to the new virtual disk. At this stage you have 2 virtual disks, the current root.disk and the new.disk

mkdir -p /media/newdisk
mount -o loop new.disk /media/newdisk
rsync -av --exclude '/sys/*' --exclude '/proc/*' --exclude '/host/*' --exclude '/mnt/*' --exclude '/media/*/*' --exclude '/tmp/*' --exclude '/home/*/.gvfs' --exclude '/root/.gvfs' --exclude '/var/lib/lightdm/.gvfs' / /media/newdisk
umount /media/newdisk
exit

The next step is to log out of Ubuntu and reboot into windows where in the Ubuntu directory you will find the files root.disk and new.disk. Rename root.disk to oldroot.disk (don’t delete just yet) and rename the new.disk to root.disk. Reboot back into Ubuntu and make sure all is working fine. If all is working fine then the oldroot.disk can be deleted.

Wubi – Ubuntu – Creating a root account

December 19, 2011 | Author: admin

Ubuntu as a default does not let you use the Root user. The Root user has complete control and quite possibly you could type a command incorrectly and destroy the system. Most of the time your regular user account can be used to perform most tasks.

To create the root user account you will need to open “Terminal” and copy and paste the following commands. Terminal is an application which gives you a command-line interface in Linux. To open “Terminal” in Ubuntu 11.10 click on the dash home button and type in Terminal, the icon will appear which can be clicked to open the programme.

sudo -i

Then type in or cut and paste the following, you will be prompted to enter the root’s password and then to re-enter the root’s password to make sure it is correct.

sudo passwd root

Simple as that, you have created a root user and password.

Ubuntu 11.10 Install on Windows Vista PC

December 18, 2011 | Author: admin

For a while now I have wanted to covert my Toshiba Satellite Pro laptop from a Windows Vista operating system to a Linux based operating system. I have tried on several occasion over the last couple of years to switch to a Linux based system, but always had troubles getting the wireless network to work properly. I am not sure whether it was the problem of the Linux based software or it was my total lack of understanding.

I thought I would try again, as I have used a Linux based operating systems before on a desktop PC. I did a quick search and found Ubuntu to be the most popular Linux operating system, so I researched more to find out what was needed to load the system on to my laptop.

Ubuntu has a Windows installer called Wubi that very easily installs Ubuntu on your Windows based computer. Wubi lets you install Ubuntu on your computer, try it out and if it isn’t to your liking it can be easily uninstalled. The biggest tip I can give you during the installation of Wubi is to select the largest “Installation Size” possible. I initially set the size to 20gb and soon found that I needed more space, thankfully I was able to increase the size of the disk space allocated to the Ubuntu install.

I have made several changes to the Ubuntu install and will continue with more detail in future posts.

WTF No Organic Fish in the Ocean

February 26, 2011 | Author: admin

Most of us have heard of the Trash Vortex, the Garbage Patch Gyre in the North Pacific Ocean, which mainly consists of plastic that has been carelessly thrown away by us humans.

So what does this have to do with the certifiable organic status of fish? Plastic, as we all know, is an oil based product and has been made to last for ever. In fact, every single piece of plastic ever made still exists on the planet today.

Plastic does degrade, that is to say it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, however, it never actually completely disappears.

Back to the fish. As plastic continues to break down into increasingly smaller pieces it is ingested by sea life. We humans do not discriminate about where we discard our plastic, all oceans have huge amounts of plastic floating about them and in turn all fish have ingested some plastic.

Part of being organically certifiable means that the product (fish) needs to have been fed organically. If however, it has ingested plastic, then it can not possibly be certifiable.

Refuse, Reuse, Reduce and Recycle Plastic.

JVC Enverio HD digital Video Camera bundled Software

January 27, 2011 | Author: admin

Cool, I have recently bought a new JVC Enverio Hi-Definition digital Video Camera, and have started to use some of it great features. Time lapse movies, I have used this option a few times. The camera takes great video in low light conditions and have been experimenting with the manual settings of the camera to give the videos a different feel.

Unfortunately the software supplied is not the as great as the video camera, my biggest concern was that if wish to make a Hi-Definition file that came from your Hi-Definition camera the only option available is to burn the file to a Blue-ray disk… Copy to a DVD and you movie will be standard definition, or create a file for YouTube the quality of the video decrease accordingly.

Hang on, I would like to put my Hi-Def movie on a hard drive so I can play through my Western Digital Media Player to my Hi-Def TV. The only option is to create a video for the web to watch on the HD TV, not quite the experience I expected from the Hi-Definition video camera

Yes, I know the software is free and is part of the kit and isn’t going to be a fully featured software suite. Buy a 20 mega-pixel 5D Canon DSLR, the software would allow you to edit and look at your file in all its pixelated glory. I don’t think I am a complete geek, but at this point of time to download to a disk as the only option, well, is a tad dated.

After trying to produce my first home movie I realised that if I was to be able to view a Hi-Definition movie on my HD TV then the packed software must go to be replace with a viable solution.

A Google search later AVS Video editor was found, trialed and bought and my first HI-Definition video file produced to be viewed on my HD TV.

Tragedy in Pakistan

August 28, 2010 | Author: admin

I was at work on Friday, when I recieved a phone call from my wife Marion. She had been listening to the local radio station and had just heard that up to 20 Million people had been affected by the floods in Pakistan.

We both asked the same question of ourselves, how did we not realise it was so terrible, were we that busy with our own lives that we had just missed how enormous it is? We both agreed that it was likely the recent elections here had overshadowed the impact of this disaster as there had been relatively little news coverage about it that we noticed.

Here are some upleasant statistics;

62,000 square miles have been flooded — an area larger than England.
The United Nations estimates that more than twenty million people are injured or homeless as a result of the flooding, exceeding the combined total of individuals affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
20 Million peolpe! If you are an Australian, that equates to our entire population.
The facts are that the people affected do not have clean drinking water or basic sanitation which, if not dealt with immediately, will cause another wave of vicims through dysentery and disease.

The flood has also wiped out 17 million acre of Pakistan’s agricultural land.

I am hoping that I will never know what it’s like to go from having a home, a job, a stable life to be in a position where all of my even most basic needs have been swept away.

Last night when I got home I went to the red cross website and made a donation, the money we donated, in comparison to the need currently in Pakistan, won’t make a substantial difference to my own way of living…. I am hoping the combined donations will make a difference to the people affected in Pakistan.

RedCross

Oxfam

2010_Pakistan_floods

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

August 15, 2010 | Author: admin

The statement “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” which is article 1 in of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The declaration was adopted and proclaimed on 10th December 1948 by the general assembly of the United Nations.

62 years ago, 30 Articles were written about the rights of every one with out distinction to race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions. About the right not to be enslaved, tortured, degraded or traded.

62 years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights spoke about being able to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution, that everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association and Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

62 years ago the Declaration covered 30 points to protect the rights of ALL humans.

62 years later, where are we in regards to minority groups, different religions and colour of a persons skin.

62 years later, do we only see illegal immigrants as some one of a different race or religion.

62 years later, do we not treat a person of a different race and religion with disrespect.

62 years later, are people detained because of their race.

62 years later, do people have restricted access to education and social rights due to their race.

62 years later, I am hoping that we can look at the statement “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” and understand what that means.

View a presentation by Geoffrey Robertson QC in regards to the History of Human Rights.

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Oil Addiction

August 1, 2010 | Author: admin

The dictionary meaning of Addiction: Habitual psychological and physiological dependence on a substance or practice beyond one’s voluntary control.

Do we have that habitual dependence, both psychological and physiological on oil. YES

I am going to run you through a typical morning routine just to demonstrate how dependent we are on oil and the products made from oil. The alarm sounds, wake up and get out of bed, have breakfast and enjoy a cup of coffee. Shower, wash hair, shave, brush teeth, get dressed for work, jump in the car and head to work. I am guessing this is a fairly typical morning for most.

For most I will go through the list of products that are oil based that we encounter during the morning ritual. That blasted digital alarm, mattress, pillows, bed clothes and furniture.
Making breakfast there will be utensils, fridges, containers, cabinets and bench tops. Sitting down having breakfast it could be your chair, table, placemats.
Into the bathroom and there is the sink, bath, towels, toothbrushes, tooth paste, shaving cream (I am a male, worse for females with cosmetics), shampoo, soap, body wash and razors.

As you can see just in that morning ritual we have used a copious amounts of oil products. Just recently we have watched 92 Million Gallons (348 Million Litres) of oil spew into the Gulf of Mexico, a huge environmental disaster. We need to feel anger at BP for letting one of the worlds worst oil spills happen.

Unfortunately BP are supplying the world a product for which there is a colossal demand, I would be surprised if a single human could live a day without using directly or indirectly a product which has been made from oil.

If you were saddened by the effects of the Gulf Oil Spill, don’t just blame BP, take time and examine your own contribution to the Gulf Oil Spill. We all know what we should do, but are we being accountable for our own actions?

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Wubi Install – Ubuntu – Changing boot sequence

Wubi Install – Ubuntu – Resizing the Virtual Disk

Wubi Install – Ubuntu – Resizing the Virtual Disk

Wubi – Ubuntu – Creating a root account

Ubuntu 11.10 Install on Windows Vista PC

WTF No Organic Fish in the Ocean

JVC Enverio HD digital Video Camera bundled Software

Tragedy in Pakistan

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Oil Addiction

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