Going from Linux to XP – i often find myself stupefied as to why XP only has 1 desktop…
Since I often spend time away from my main computer, we’re going to see if Digsby can save me time having to goto & login to everything when I sit down.
I have a 2003 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. As many of you who are familiar with this make/model/year of car you know the LCM is a weak link, often failing at frustratingly random times. Rather then swap the LCM out (which costs upwards of 400$) there is another option: Wiring Relay Kit. This kit eases the strain on your failing LCM and wires your lights up directly to your battery.
Thanks to the guys at SUVlights who have a kit that requires no tool to install: here. For CVPI owners, you will want to order the 9007/HB5 size.
I just installed mine and will report back after a through road test where I will tempt my LCM to fail again while approaching a police officer.
Green Arrow #1: Where the 9007 plugs into the factory wiring
Green Arrow #2: Where the cable connects to the battery
Green Arrow #3: The new wiring ran over to the light. The old harness is left dangling.
Including a re-skin of the current theme. No more dodgy maroon!
Edit 2/17:
+Maybe 50% complete.
+Missing a few key elements
+Colours inspired by a picture:
Eli took a long nap today, so I used the idle time to install a copy of OpenBSD (4.4) in VirtualBox.
I opted for the ISO install (I will try the network one later) which I downloaded somewhere – I can’t remember, but its all over – like here for instance.
Like all the other ones it was a matter of setting it up in VirtualBox, mounting the CD ISO and booting…
Unlike the other OS’s we’ve installed here Open BSD has a rudimentary text-based installer.
Just like those *nix’s of old – I got hung up on the partitioning (mainly how to exit once I had set it up), and decided to cut my losses early and go to the FAQ. The FAQ is layed out well and should answer most questions about installing.
Once we got past the partitions it was a matter of hitting enter a dozen times, setting some passwords, ignoring some segmentation faults, and rebooting!
Odd errors…I thought I configured that already…
Oh well, let’s try to login…
No Xwindow – segmentation faults…hmm…lynx?
Looks like the network is up – thats a good thing for when it comes time to fix X Server.
This is as far as I got before it was time to eat a late lunch with Eli – in part 3.5 we try to get X Server up…
So I pulled the old Fullslack server, aka “superfly”, out of mothballs this afternoon.
I can’t believe I only ran 128mb of ram in her for over a year! She was always up and running, and I was low on time – hay, if it works, right? Either way, I took the opportunity to give her another 128 from the boneyard. Dusted her off and started the shakedown.
(Above: Ready to launch for Sea Trials)
NB: Say what you will about commodity hardware & servers – I’ve got “iron” in the next room. Why use more resources then you need? Besides, the electricity bill gets a bit much if I run it 24/7)
She sprang to life – the motherboard recognised the new ram – but alas I was the weak link. It had been so long I forgot the login information! I tried the various combination’s i used to use but none worked. I hunted around the case looking for the note I made when I changed it months ago – no luck. I rebooted my main main machine into Linux and checked the encrypted password list I keep – no entry! It came down to me having to hack my password. Fortunately, my GRUB was not password protected (inb4 security experts- if someone had physical access to her I have bigger problems – besides my biggest fear was my son turning her off) and I was able to use the method outlined here to make quick work of them.
After that jaunt she loaded fine, was able to log in proper (and changed my password). Everything seemed in order and no errors were reported on the HD. I have a stunning lack of mice so no GUI, but I’ve almost completed backing up most important files (the ones needed for the KB proof-of-concept).
(Above: Look Ma, No Swap}
To be continued in Pt. 2
Installing OpenSolaris was Eli and I’s project for the afternoon.
Why OpenSolaris?
Well at work its all SCO OpenServer (which I have never used before, because its 700$+) so in an effort to see what Unix is all about (and NOT in the mood to buy OpenServer or UnixWare) we chose OpenSolaris (*BSD is a different post).
Headed over to OpenSolaris and downloaded the iso.
Booted up just fine in VirtualBox (note:i would sure hope so!)
Installed in a few clicks of the “next” button. I never would have thought installing *nix type systems would be so easy.
It took a while to install, so we had a bite to eat. ( Thanks for the sandwiches & banana bread Stacey!). When it was done, I rebooted, and it again took its sweet time. We took the opportunity to fill up the humidifier.
After a while we were greeted with a familiar login screen. I logged in and poof – Gnome. Where was I again?
There really wasn’t much for screenshots – it booted like a typical LiveCD so you had desktop straight away. Here is the post-install screenshot:
Above: Eli takes his turn trying to break it
I can’t say I have anything breathtaking to reveal about OpenSolaris (other then, its remarkably like Ubuntu, but with less software). The GUI’s icons were slick – but thats just eye candy. Eli & I will report in, in “VirtualBox : Part 2.5 – More Solaris” Soon!
Going down the short list of places I have lived, it hit me that at least two are names of programming languages:
Apparently, FARGO (Fourteen-o-one Automatic Report Generation Operation) is an old-school IBM language from the 60’s (of which I cannot find samples or any other information on). Worth noting it might be making an apperance as a sort of layout tool? (and the only relation being the name Fargo).
The other, is
Ada.
In a dramatic twist, FARGO is dead, and Ada is still around.
Check your cities HERE
Note: When looking for pictures of Ada programming books, I stumbled across an Ada page featuring the “Adventures of Ada Boy”. circa 1997. Eh?
Worth Pointing out:
Ha! Classic enduro cars!
He’s parking the wrong way (that road does not have diagonal parking)
Stacey was having issues with Qemu so for fun I decided to try VirtualBox.
Install was (mostly) easy – the version that installs via add/remove in Ubuntu doesn’t seem to automatically detect & install the right kernel modules. After a bit of faffing about in synaptic (and a few reboots later) I managed to add a bs entry into GRUB* (don’t ask how) but otherwise manage to get it to work.
inb4 elitists, yes I know the one from add/remove is out of date**
Tips:
Side note: If you choose to install windows xp like I did, you will want to make sure your DirectX is sort-of up to date with the Re-dist HERE
Achieved: Sound, 3D Acceleration, among other small victories.
What’s Left: Drive & Folder mapping between Guest & Host
Anyone who has used VirutalPC / VMware / Qemu/ etc.. will be familiar.
Sequence:
*
GRUB was easily fixed, and I can’t confirm if the system always did that (as I had never rebooted that machine before) or if its related to VirtualBox
**
The update went smooth too (i did an uninstall of the older version).
My lone day off (Feb 7th) this week will not be as productive as I would like, however as always – I will endeavor.
Order of the day (so far) in no particular order:
Edit: Feb 9th
Download: HERE (.zip – 1.5mb)
