Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Download Manager For Linux

I've tested a lot of download manager for linux,
aria, d4x, Multiget and the firefox downthemall,

my best experience is Orbit download manager+WINE, can be downloaded from here.

Works great. No worries!!!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Proftpd Anonymous Configuration

Although i recently installed gproftpd which provides a graphical interface to manage proftpd, the following configuration is for the proftpd

First make a user which maps to the anonymous, (this is needed because the files being written/uploaded to the server needs an owner and we thus create the user and its alais anonymous.

sudo adduser ftpuser, or through Gnome/KDE's GUI interface.

This should create the skeleton directory and stuffs. We will share /home/ftpuser/ftpshared folder as a public folder, make sure its writable.

Put the following code at the bottom of proftpd.conf, in xampp it can be found in /opt/lampp/etc/proftpd.conf

<Anonymous /home/ftpuser/ftpshared>
User ftpuser
Group ftpuser
UserAlias anonymous ftpuser
AllowOverwrite off
AuthUsingAlias On
AnonRequirePassword Off
<Limit STOR CWD XCWD CDUP MKD READ WRITE DIRS>
AllowAll
</Limit>
<Limit DELE>
DenyAll
</Limit>
<Limit LOGIN>
AllowAll
</Limit>
DisplayLogin /home/ftpuser/ftpshared/welcome.msg
</Anonymous>

The allowed methods are written in caps within the Limit tag as attributes, the configuration i've done is greedy configuration, ie it allows to read and write but doesnot allow to delete any of the files or folders.

Also create a file /home/ftpuser/ftpshared/welcome.msg and put your welcome message inside it. We're done!!

Cheers!!

Mount a folder inside another folder (Binding)

I'll show you how to mount a folder residing somewhere in a filesystem to another folder.

Its a line command,
sudo mount -o bind /sourcefolderurl /destinationfolderurl

Done! Now where is it useful?
I ran into this problem during my ftp server setup,
ftp://myserver mapped to file system /media/sda7/ftpshared, ie ftp://myserver/a.mp3 mapped to /media/sda7/ftpshared/a.mp3.

But i also had to share /opt/cache/apt/archives (all the .deb files) within the ftp server, creating symbolic links wasn't working since proftpd worked in a chrooted environment, thus this was a good solution.

sudo mount -o bind /opt/cache/apt/archives/ /media/sda7/ftpshared/archives

To automatically mount the folder, make an entry in /etc/fstab file at the very end,
/var/cache/apt/archives /media/sda7/ftpshared/archives auto bind,gid=46,defaults 0 0

And on every boot, the folder is automatically mounted.

Cheers!!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Edubuntu Setup Tips and Tricks

Update: We new have a separate LTSP related blog for Nepali Deployments, check it out here

A)

The usplash was giving resolution problem.
It was fixed by changing the /etc/usplash.conf file and setting
cat /etc/usplash.conf
xres=640
yres=480

Nice!!

B)
Now originally the client were successfully logging in, but after sometime they stopped working, it was strange but after debugging and following links below, i found that edubuntu and sabayon (gnomes configuration editor, or sth...)

The discussion links have been posted here
exactly my problem
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edubuntu-users/2007-June/001199.html

then it forwarded to sth ssh related, update ltsp ssh keys
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edubuntu-users/2007-June/001202.html

in the last link, there was option to simply remove sabayon and well guess what? it worked perfectly!!!
sudo aptitude remove sabayon

I was glad that there wasn't much dependencies related with sabayon.

B.1)HowEVER!!
I reinstalled sabayon watching so many cool stuffs about it on the net. All i needed to do was to add the users/client to the profile and done!!

C)
The server was giving problems with bad gdm login screen, was fixed easily by reconfiguring the x-server
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

D) Local USB Mount missing!!
Asked about it in #edubuntu in freenode.net and got this link
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ltsp/+bug/160420
and scanning for the fix, got to this place,
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.terminal-server.general/22270

The modifications i made as mentioned in the mailing list above are
a) comment out
env['DISPLAY'] = 'localhost:10.0' to # env['DISPLAY'] = 'localhost:10.0' in
/usr/sbin/ltspfsmounter


b) in file /opt/ltsp/i386/usr/share/ldm/rc.d/S10-delayed-mounter,
add a -X line to ssh connection string like this
ssh -X -S ${LDM_SOCKET} ${LDM_SERVER} "/usr/sbin/ltspfsmounter ${DIR} add"

c) finally update the ltsp image by executing
sudo ltsp-update-image

Friday, December 7, 2007

Recover Grub using Ubuntu Live CD

If you have lost grub after install Windows and cannot boot Linux then this tip will help you restore grub and the boot Linux.

What we need?
Ubuntu Live CD

Steps
a) boot from Ubuntu Live CD
b) Open terminal
Applications > Accessories > Terminal

c) You will see the gnome terminal,Now we need to enter grub. In the terminal type
sudo grub

d) Now you will see a different prompt called grub>
Everycommand below will be typed in the grub> menu.
We need to find the root device, that contains the GRUB's first and second boot files
grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
(hd0,0)

Note that your output might be different depending upon the partition where u install linux, example say (hd0,6) or (hd1,5). When (hd0,0) is mentioned below, replace it with the output that u see here.

e) grub> root (hd0,0)

f) grub> setup (hd0)

g) now restart your computer and you should see your old grub screen, and your linux should work as well.

Cheers
Reference:
1) LINUX COOKBOOK by Carla Schroder

Monday, November 26, 2007

Alternative Ways to login to gmail

Besides the normal way of logging in to gmail, there are alternative ways to sign in.

The ones i know of are html view and mobile view. Why this is necessary is during peak hours in college or when u are at home and just want to check ur email quickly, this is extremely useful.

To access the html version of gmail, use this link.

http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html

To access the mobile version of gmail, use this link.

http://m.gmail.com

They are extremely fast way to access gmail, but feature wize, its no match to gmail's ajax interface.

Do check them out.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Minimal Installation of Ubuntu

I like ubuntu because the best part of it is the availability of applications on the main, universe and multiverse repos and the ease at which you can install them. Also applications just work!! in Ubuntu.

But since i own a P3 700mHz PC, a whole gnome desktop or kde desktop would cripple the system unable to run eclipse(my fav ide) and other dev stuffs.

For this i use Openbox+fbpanel, which makes a great combination.
I also install Ubuntu the commandline way, which gives me very much flexibility withouth the whole ubuntu default packages.

Here is how i do it usually

a) put the DVD version of the kubuntu and boot from it.
b) select install a command line system
c) go on with the installer until we have a good commandline system working.
d) now its time to pull up custom picked packages from the dvd. The following packages should be enough to have xserver working
1) sudo apt-cdrom add
This will add ur dvd to apt
2) sudo aptitude install kdm
3) sudo aptitude install ttf-indic language-pack-ne firefox xorg upsplash kwin konqueror kdecore kubuntu-default-settings kubuntu-artwork-usplash amarok pidgin kaffeine libxine1-ffmpeg sun-java krusader msttcorefonts gnome-icon-theme k3b kpdf gwenview openbox openbox-themes fbpanel kde-systemsettings kmix kate

Will take some time to install, i wonder if ur video card driver is installed, should be install, paitience

kdm should load fine and u can select openbox as ur default session.

initally u will only see a blank screen possibly with kubuntu wallpaper, right click and u will see openbox menu. No to integrate fbpanel into it, we will write 2 linex in openbox config

4) Right click and exit, load a session in kde and check ur home
bibek@monster:~$ cd ~/.config/openbox/

5) if there is a file called autostart.sh modify it else create it
bibek@monster:~$ kate ~/.config/openbox/autostart.sh
inside autostart.sh, i have these 2 lines

(sleep 2 && fbpanel) &
(sleep 2 && kmix) &

Save and exit
this will run fbpanel and kmix after ur openbox, logout of ur kde session and log in in openbox session, there should be fbpanel and kmix both.

To make ur work even easier, u can define openbox short cuts as i've defined them,
Inside /home/username/.config/openbox u should see a rc.xml file which has configurations for openbox. Open the file for editing and search for
Now before paste the following code. Read the code the understand what they will do, makes my day to day life much easier.

<!-- custom shortcuts -->
<keybind key="W-F12">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>firefox</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-F11">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>xterm</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-F10">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>pidgin</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-F9">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>/home/bibek/bin/eclipse/eclipse</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-F8">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>krusader</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-F7">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>amarok</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<keybind key="W-F6">
<action name="Execute">
<execute>kaffeine</execute>
</action>
</keybind>
<!-- end of custom shortcuts -->
Cheers

HOWTO Install Counter Strike Source in Linux

This post is to help you install counter strike (cracked one which we get in copied cds) in linux. It will also serve as a reference for me for later installations.

I have installed ubuntu gusty gibbon and the wine package that comes with it. do not install the new package from wine's dev repo coz that wasted my 2hrs of debugging time.

Steps
a) install wine in linux
bibek@monster:~$ sudo aptitude install wine

b) create urself a wine folder
bibek@monster:~$ winecfg

this will openup a configuration window. Close it up and everything should be alright

c) Install cs bu runnig the installer
bibek@monster:~$ cd cs
bibek@monster:~/cs$ wine setup.exe

After the installation is finished, we need to install gecko, which is required by cs to run

d) Run this in command line and it will download the gecko for wine,
bibek@monster:~/cs$ wine iexplore http://www.google.com

When u do this for the first time, it will download the gecko engine, after installations u should see google.com, next time u do this, i till directly load www.google.com
Gecko is used to load HTML components through wine, google on it 4 more info

e) We also need the mfc42.dll file from windows installation,
bibek@monster:~/cs$ cp /media/sda1/windows/system32/mfc42.dll /home/bibek/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/

f) Finally we need the tahoma font, copy tahoma.ttf from windowsdrive\windows\fonts\tahoma.ttf to /home/usernamehere/.wine/drive_c/windows/fonts/tahoma.ttf
bibek@monster:~/cs$ cp /media/sda1/windows/Fonts/tahoma.ttf /home/bibek/.wine/drive_c/windows/fonts/

g) reboot wine
bibek@monster:~/cs$ wineboot

h) now we're ready to run cs
bibek@monster:~/cs$ cd ~/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files/Valve/Counter\ Strike\ Source\ Final/
bibek@monster:~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Valve/Counter Strike Source Final$ wine hl2.exe -steam -console -game cstrike

And ur game should run without any problems.

NOTE
Running hl2.exe directly through wine will give error so make sure to pass the additional arguements as mentioned above in step g)
Following error is given
Unable to get IFileSystem interface from filesystem factory
Bugs please put in comments.