Tag: GNU+Linux

Posts tagged with GNU+Linux, GNU/Linux or GNU-Linux relate to the GNU operating system, managed primarily through the Free Software Foundation, and the Linux kernel, managed by the Linux Foundation.  GNU/Linux is the basis of most free software operating systems in use today.

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As a Debian user, you may choose to adopt the distro-managed rebuild of the world’s greatest web browser.  But, by doing so, you may not be able to use G+.  Don’t worry, the answer is at hand.

Visit the Firefox add-on page for User Agent Switcher:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/user–agent–switcher/

Install the add-on and restart your browser.

Now, go to Tools > User Agent Switcher > User Agent Switcher > Options…

Add a new User Agent, call it Firefox 11.

Add the following text in the fields:

  • Description: Firefox 11
  • User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:11.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/11.0
  • App Code Name: Mozilla
  • App Name: Netscape
  • App Version: 5.0 (X11
  • Platform: Linux i686

If you’re running an amd64 build, plonk that in the Platform field instead (it’ll probably already be populated).

Make sure there is no reference to Iceweasel in the User Agent field.

Make sure this user agent is active, and then browse to Google+.

Have fun! 🙂

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Minimalism & Debian

Less is more, as the saying goes.

While I love using Fedora in my daily work, sometimes when I want to relax I find using an alternative distribution is good therapy.  Fedora is fabulous with its GNOME Shell finery, but occasionally I hanker for something simpler and more lightweight.  It’s also good to see how the other half lives 🙂

So, I decided to put Debian on my netbook.  With no GUI.  Everything I do on it must be by the command line, including web research.  Compared to Fedora, Debian‘s system requirements are practically non-existent, which is especially good if you want your system to still run nice and quick.

First steps…

  1. Firstly, I had of course to grab the distribution.  I’m not over-fussed about running cutting edge stuff on this machine.  For me, the most important thing is a low-maintenance base where I don’ t need to think much about the distribution changing every 6 months.

    I visited the Debian Mirror List and grabbed a NetInst CD image.

  2. Next off, I plugged in the USB CD/DVD drive and installed the software, making sure I didn’t overwrite my XP partition.  Well, you need a reminder every so often how awful life used to be.. 😉
  3. I won’t go into the installation process here – there’s plenty of documentation elsewhere which covers that.  So, once installed, I really wanted to keep the installed software as trim as possible.  That is, with one or two exceptions…
     
  1. Firstly, I have tried and tried it again but I just can’t/don’t/won’t do vi, vim or anything similar.  It’s just not my bag.  It’s emacs for me.  I also want to keep my mail inside emacs, so it’s goodbye to mutt – even if it does suck less, apparently 😉
  2. Also, Exim4.  The servers I manage don’t use it (generally it’s Postfix or QMail) and I already have a tiny smattering of Sendmail knowledge – so I have no desire to pick up on this.  I’m sure it’s a fine MTA and undoubtedly there are many technical reasons why I should keep it on my netbook… but even so, no thanks.

    Therefore, my software changes are:

    $ sudo aptitude remove exim4 exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light vi mutt

    $ sudo aptitude install emacs w3m-el sendmail

  • So far so good.  However, I was still stuck with a chunky 80×25 character screen when booting up, which is real ugly.  Through much searching and grub configuration editing, I found that my answer was actually to install the intel video package.

    $ sudo aptitude install xserver-xorg-video-intel

    You’re on to a winner here, because Debian Squeeze is already set up for Kernel Mode Setting.  In other words, as soon as your system starts booting up, the video drivers get loaded and the optimal video mode is enabled (or, at least, that’s the intention).

    Whether or not it’s worth specifying screenmode in grub is open for debate.  FWIW, I put this in /etc/default/grub:

    GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x600
    GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD=1024x600x16

    … And in /etc/grub.d/40_custom:

    set gfxpayload=1024x600x16

    Then, I simply updated grub with the new config:

    $ sudo update-grub

    Please note that this step relates to my Intel-based netbook.  Yours may vary.

  • The only significant piece of the puzzle remaining was to get wireless sorted out and connect to my server:

    $ sudo aptitude install wireless-tools iw wpasupplicant autofs nfs-common

    ** PLEASE NOTE: this step assumes your wireless network device doesn’t require firmware or that you already have the firmware installed in /lib/firmware. **

    Once done, you need to uncomment the /net line in /etc/auto.master and restart autofs:

    $ service restart autofs

    If you want to refer to server by hostname and are not running a DNS server, add the hostname to /etc/hosts (somewhere below the localhost lines):

    111.222.333.444      myserver.mydomain.com  myserver

    At this point, assuming all went well, you can cd to /net/ in either the shell or a file manager such as nautilus (if running a GUI).

    So, this takes care of a basic local network configuration, but we still need to actually get connected to it on wifi.  So, there is, in my /etc/network/interfaces:

    # The loopback network interface
    auto lo
    iface lo inet loopback

    # The primary network interface
    allow-hotplug eth0
    iface eth0 inet dhcp

    # Wireless
    auto wlan0
    iface wlan_mynet inet dhcp
    wpa_ssid my-network-ssid
    wpa-psk  my-network-key

    Once done, save this file and change the permissions for extra security:

    $ sudo chmod 0600 /etc/network/interfaces

    – and connect up, like this:

    $ sudo ifup wlan0=wlan_mynet

    • Voila!  With luck, maybe a little patience, and possibly an extra step or two (which you can hopefully figure out, if needed) these are the key set up steps which will make your netbook/laptop nice and lean, and perhaps more fun to play with.

    Next time, I’ll go through a few tools I use for ‘net stuff.

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    *Getting into Getting Things GNOME!*

    (Edit: this is an old draft, now published for testing purposes)

    This is the beginning of what I hope will become a multi-part journal of my adventure into contributing free software.  I thought I’d share my education, FWIW! 🙂

    Part 1: Read The Flipping Manual(s)!

    As a user of a great amount of free software, I often wondered what was involved in producing it.  I was aware of the basic process – or at least I thought, but not really much of the details.

    Here’s how I kinda reckoned the basic process works:

    My take on the basic process of Free/Open Source software projects

    1. Some people (usually one person) would start a project off, following their interest in some way.
    2. He/She would set up somewhere for software code to live (a repository) which would be available to anyone to download.  This, the source of the project’s code, would be what’s often referred to as “upstream”.  It’s where the goodness flows from.
    3. Other people interested in this software could also join up and contribute changes to the code.
    4. At some point, someone involved with a distributor/vendor like Red Hat or Debian would “notice” the project and be interested in packaging up the software.
    5. The upstream software would get duly packaged up and released into the distributor’s/vendor’s “downstream” repository.  Users could then install and use it at-will.

    This only really covers the basic of software creation though.  What about bugs?  Even the best software has the odd bug or two.  What happens then?

    There are two main places for bugs to be recorded:

    1. On a downstream bug reporting/management system.
    2. On an upstream bug reporting/management system.

    Typically, users of the distributor’s packaged version of the software will report bugs with it on the distributor’s (downstream) system.  Why not on the upstream one?  Mainly because a distro (distribution) will contain an older version of the software that may, upstream, now be fixed of that bug.

    When a distro user reports a bug, he/she is reporting against the distribution’s version of that software, not against that software in general.

    Doesn’t this create a duplication of bug reports?

    In a nutshell, yes.  But it’s better that the same bug is reported twice, than not at all.  Quite often duplicates relating to the same issue are recorded, even on the same system.  They are simply marked as such, with one bug record being the “master”, to which the others are link for reference.

    Getting involved upstream

    The project I chose to get involved with is Getting Things Gnome! – a Getting Things Done-inspired task manager application for the GNOME desktop.

    My motivations to get involved were:

    • I like the GTD methodology – it helps bring focus and organisation to my working day;
    • I want to learn how to program in Python – a well respected and widely utilised programming language;
    • I want to see the gtg tool develop so I can use it more effectively; and
    • I want to contribute something back to the free/open source software community.

     

    Expressing (and progressing) an interest

    The first thing to do was to express my interest with a project leader.  From doing this, I received very supportive and constructive emails relating to ways in which I could contribute which suited both the project and me.  (a hat-tip to Izidor Matušov for enormous support and coaching in the early days).

    Secondly, after receiving such great support, the thing I soon realised is that the responsibility to check things out really rests with me.  I want to be involved, so I should be the person reading the mailing list posts, reading related blog posts, reading the web site, reading the manual for hackers… You get the idea.  If you’re considering joining a software project, you need to read a lot to learn what it’s all about!

    Finally, be prepared.  Prepare your computer to work in the best way possible.  Prepare your mind to be opened up to learning new programming techniques.  And prepare your attitude – you will be rewarded and pleasantly surprised by the capability and maturity of others who are already contributing to the project.

    Getting involved in free/open source software is educating, inspiring, liberating and, most importantly … (I hope he doesn’t mind me stealing this line from his first email), “Don’t forget, hacking opensource should be about having fun!”

    And it is.

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    It takes a long time to ditch those applications with which you’re intimately familiar.

    It starts, quite often, with your Office Suite.  No, I’m not talking about desk and chair, but rather Microsoft Office.  Excel is an excellent spreadsheet tool, there’s no doubt of that.  But quite often, people like to work differently to the prescribed “norm”, and Libre Office allows just that.  It’s not the only open source office suite, of course: there’s also KOffice, the Abiword/Gnumeric combiniation and so on.

    Recently I’ve ditched other proprietary applications which I have worked with for years.  Why?  Well, for one I believe that switching applications is good, because it challenges you to think differently.  You have to learn new ways of doing old things, and this can help you think of new, better things to do.

    Secondly, you get no love with proprietary applications.  Time and again, you pay your money and end up getting no support.  So, really, what is the point?  I’m not just talking about Microsoft, either; many proprietary software vendors are only able to make a profit by re-packaging open source software and selling access to it from within a proprietary system. Parallels, I’m thinking of you here.

    The only way to beat companies is to not buy their products. It’s this simple.  Here are the ways I have ditched proprietary software:

    • Operating System: was Microsoft Windows XP, is now Fedora (16, currently)
    • Email:  was Microsoft Outlook, is now Mozilla Thunderbird
    • Office: was Microsoft Office, is now Libre Office
    • Web Browser: was always Firefox 😉
    • ..the list goes on…

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    Here’s the deal:

    1)You have no time and you want to try the latest Fedora release because it looks pretty darn good.
    2) You accept the default disk partitioning scheme which the kind people at Red Hat / Fedora project set up for you, because they only have your best interests at heart, right?
    3) While using this cutting-edge release, something nasty happens like, ooh, perhaps a sound driver locks up the entire system and you have to hard-reset the machine (that is, switch it off by the power switch because nothing responds to input).

    What next? If, like me (on one occassion) you try to boot up the machine and get no further than the recovery console, you’d feel a bit aggravated. But there is an alternative – do a disk check. You may have read my verbose coverage for How to do a disk check in Linux before. This takes it one step further – how to check your logical volume when it’s encrypted and formatted using the latest ext4 filesystem.

    Instead of the method used before, this time I booted from a Live CD. You can find one to download at the Fedora project. Ensure that this CD matches the release of the version you are trying to recover. In this case, that’s Fedora 10.
    Once you have booted the offending machine up with the Live CD, open up a terminal by pointing to Applications > System Tools > Terminal. Once in the terminal window, just type:

    # su

    …to become the root user. This is essential to using all the disk tools.
    You may be tempted to check for volume groups first:

    # vgscan

    .. but this would return nothing.
    What’s happening here is that the Volume Group, located on that partition, is itself encrypted. Once unlocked, you can then gain access to both of the Logical Volumes – the swap volume and the root (/) volume.
    To unlock the encrypted Volume Group, first you need to establish which partition it resides on:

    # fdisk /dev/sda
    The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 12161.
    There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
    and could in certain setups cause problems with:
    1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
    2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
    (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

    Hit p to print the partitions on your primary disk:

    Command (m for help): p
    Disk /dev/sda: 100.0 GB, 100030242816 bytes
    255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 12161 cylinders
    Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
    Disk identifier: 0xb07eb07e
    Device     Boot  Start End    Blocks   Id System
    /dev/sda1    *       1 5377 43190721 7 HPFS/NTFS
    /dev/sda2         5378 5402    200812+ 83 Linux
    /dev/sda3         5403 12161 54291667+ 8e Linux LVM

    So the partiton of type “Linux LVM” (Logical Volume Managed) is the baby we’re after.
    To unlock the encrypted Volume Group, use the following:

    # cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sda3 mydisk


    This sets up the encryption/decryption kernel subroutines to allow access to device /dev/sda3, mapped to a device node called “mydisk” in /dev/mapper/ . We’ll not actually need to use this device node, but it could be handy to know if you needed to perform further diagnostics.
    You will be prompted to enter the encryption key which is stored in one of eight “slots” on the disk. If the key you enter matches a key in any slot, your disk will become unlocked. Assuming that it is, you can then scan once again for Volume Groups:

    # vgscan
    Reading all physical volumes. This may take a while...
    Found volume group "VolGroup00" using metadata type lvm2


    Now we’re getting somewhere. Let’s activate the VG and display the LVs (Logical Volumes) it contains:

    # vgchange -a y
    2 logical volume(s) in volume group "VolGroup00" now active
    # lvdisplay
    --- Logical volume ---
    LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
    VG Name VolGroup00
    LV UUID RE7t2h-nIy9-dWZ9-xt26-Fgq4-gFd8-34E3f2
    LV Write Access read/write
    LV Status available
    # open 0
    LV Size 47.81 GB
    Current LE 1530
    Segments 1
    Allocation inherit
    Read ahead sectors auto
    - currently set to 256
    Block device 253:3
    --- Logical volume ---
    LV Name /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
    VG Name VolGroup00
    LV UUID B7XJzD-9sS0-3iHx-AWBE-W9qN-TvRb-vCdYZF
    LV Write Access read/write
    LV Status available
    # open 0
    LV Size 3.91 GB
    Current LE 125
    Segments 1
    Allocation inherit
    Read ahead sectors auto
    - currently set to 256
    Block device 253:4

    We can deduce from the sizes of these two volumes that the first of the two is the root (/) volume, and the second is the swap volume.
    As the purpose is to FIX the filesystem on it, which may have become corrupt through the hard-reset performed earlier, we do not want to mount this volume. Instead, as we now have a device node for this activated volume, at /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00, we can simply perform a disk check straight on it.
    To check which extn file system checking tools are on the system, you can tab-complete at the command line:

    # fsck. (hit tab)
    fsck.cramfs fsck.ext3 fsck.ext4dev fsck.vfat
    fsck.ext2 fsck.ext4 fsck.msdos


    As this was formatted an ext4 volume, that’s what we use:

    # fsck.ext4 /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
    esfsck 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
    /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00: recovering journal
    Clearing orphaned inode 730 (uid=0, gid=500, mode=0100600, size 2263160)
    Clearing orphaned inode 187182 (uid=500, gid=500, mode=0100600, size 4096)
    ... and so on until ...
    /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00: clean, 190926/3137536 files, 2016683/12533760 blocks

    Now there are two more steps to perform: de-activate the volume group, and lock the encryption of the drive.

    # vgchange -a n
    0 logical volume(s) in volume group "VolGroup00" now active
    # cryptsetup luksClose mydisk

    The second command returns nothing, which means it did not error (the disk is now encrypted and not writable-to without unlocking again).
    I hope that helps someone with a sense for adventure but not enough time on their hands for when things go somewhat awry!

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    We’re all used to doing a disk check in Windows XP.  It’s easy.  Just double-click on “My Computer”, then select the drive you want to run the check on.  Right-click, Properties, Tools tab, then select “Check Now…” in the Error-checking section.  In almost every instance you’ll be told that the check will be done upon the next reboot.  Easy.

    So how does one go about it on Linux?  Well… as you may have guessed, it’s not quite so straightforward.  Linux, by default, does actually have an intelligent disk-checking system already in place. By all accounts, you generally needn’t worry.  But if you have a reason to believe your disk may be slowly dying, and nothing is reporting in the SMART status of your drive, perhaps it’s worth checking the file system instead.

    That’s where File System Check comes in (duh!).  Like all Linux tools, it’s painfully abbreviated to simply “fsck”.  Terse, to say the least.  Now the warning:

    DO NOT.  I REPEAT, DO NOT EVER EVER EVER RUN THIS COMMAND WHILE YOUR DRIVE IS MOUNTED (I.E. IN USE).  I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA THAT YOU MAY CAUSE BY FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTIONS.

    To unmount your root (/) volume, follow these easy steps:

    1. Boot from a Live CD. Your root volume will not be mounted by default.
    2. Open a terminal and type:# dmesg | grep sda If you see output relating to your “SCSI” device, then this will identify that your hard disk, in all likelihood, contains your root partition. For example, amongst other output, I see this:
      sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
      sda: sda1 sda2
      sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk

    3. In the example above, we see that SCSI disk 2 (2:0:0:0:) the Linux kernel registers it as the first logical drive (“sda”) in the system.  We can also see it has only 2 partitions, sda1 and sda2.  If this is the only physical drive in the machine, we should strongly suspect that it uses one partition as /boot (formatted with ext4) and the other as a Logical Volume containing both root (/) and swap. Furthermore, it’s foregone conculsion that the smallest partition will be /boot and the larger one will contain our swap and / partitions, so let’s proceed with accessing them.
    4. So, how do we access a “Logical Volume” within an equally mystical “Volume Group”?  Luckily, Linux LVM comes with a plethora of useful tools to make the job easy.

      # /sbin/vgscan
      Reading all physical volumes. This may take a while...
      Found volume group "VolGroup00" using metadata type lvm2       Great. We have identified the volume group.  But before we can identify the logical volumes it contains, we need access it.
      # /sbin/vgchange -a y
      2 logical volume(s) in volume group "VolGroup00" now active
      Here, the -a flag indicates that we want to change the “active” status of the volume group, and the y means “yes”.
      # /sbin/lvdisplay
      --- Logical volume ---
      LV Name                /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
      VG Name                VolGroup00
      LV UUID                DG2WxJ-sKa5-20mg-NtjW-CsPW-t99V-Egqlja
      LV Write Access        read/write
      LV Status              available
      # open                 0
      LV Size                7.25 GB
      Current LE             232
      Segments               1
      Allocation             inherit
      Read ahead sectors     auto
      - currently set to     256
      Block device           253:2
      --- Logical volume ---
      LV Name                /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01
      VG Name                VolGroup00
      LV UUID                HqKozT-16PQ-HUaT-Yyc7-lMCO-007m-Xcc2c8
      LV Write Access        read/write
      LV Status              available
      # open                 1
      LV Size                512.00 MB
      Current LE             16
      Segments               1
      Allocation             inherit
      Read ahead sectors     auto
      - currently set to     256
      Block device           253:3
      We can now see two partitions contained within the volume group. The first partition, although small by today’s standards, looks a lot larger than the second.  We can also see that each logical volume has a device node (/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01, for example).

      As we want to perform the disk check without the parition being mounted, we do not issue any mount command here.  However, if you wanted to double-check that this is the partition to check, mount it and have a quick look around.  The following step is only offered to help in this case – skip this if you wish to perform a disk check.

      # mkdir /tmp/lv0

      For me, the first logical volume (the 7.5GB one) would be the one to test.
      # mount -t ext4 /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 /tmp/lv0
      # cd /tmp/lv0
      # ls
      bin  boot  dev  etc  home  lib  lib64  lost+found  media  mnt  opt  proc  root  sbin  selinux  srv  sys  tmp  usr  var

      Ok, that looks like the root partition, so let’s get out of it and unmount it before running the file system check on it.
      # cd /
      # umount /tmp/lv0

    5. An alternative to the above steps, if you have already booted into your main system, is to investigate /etc/fstab to see which is your / volume.  All you do is open a terminal and issue: # cat /etc/fstab On my CentOS 5 system, I see this:

      /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 /                      ext4    defaults        1 1
      LABEL=/boot1            /boot                   ext4    defaults        1 2
      tmpfs                   /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
      devpts                  /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
      sysfs                   /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
      proc                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
      LABEL=SWAP-sdb1         swap                    swap    defaults        0 0

      So, /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 is my root volume.

    So, now that that’s out of the way, what next?  Well, assuming you now know which is your root partition, the most sensible thing to do would be to boot from a Live CD of some distribution (Ubuntu, Fedora, etc) if you haven’t done so, and then perform the disk check from that.

    Once in the LiveCD desktop, we’ll need to fire up a Terminal window.
    If you know your filesystem type, e.g. if it’s Ext4, which is the default on the most common distributions, you can run a modified version of the fsck command specifically for that file system.  Here’s what I run for a thorough disk check:


    # fsck.ext4 -c -D -f -P -v /dev/    VolGroup00/LogVol00
    Alternatively, if your partition structure is slightly older and only contains physical paritions (not Logical Volumes), it may just be a case of finding the partition directly – by checking /etc/fstab on the system when running. In that case, your command may look more like this (when / is unmounted!!):
    # fsck.ext4 -c -D -f -P -v /dev/sda2


    Here’s what the flags do:
    -c  – forces a bad block scan.  Although bad blocks are remapped dynamically by the file system, if the file system or its journal are corrupt, this may not work correctly.
    -D  – performs a directory check and optimisation.  Doesn’t hurt, and can speed up directory listings of a large number of files.
    -f  – forces the check itself to actually run.  As mentioned previously, the file system maintains itself quite well, and if you don’t force the check, fsck may look at the last check interval and decide a check is not required.
    -P  – perform all file system fixes automatically.  This is usually a safe flag, but if your file system is potentially very corrupt, this may not be advisable.  In this situation, contact an expert – or restore your back-up… ;-)
    -v   – verbose output. See what’s going on.
    /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 or /dev/sda2 – this is the partition I want to perform the disk check on.

    This little guide doesn’t explain how to perform a check on an encrypted logical volume… That one’s coming. :-)

    Updated from post originally put here: http://onecool1.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/how-to-do-a-disk-check-in-linux/

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    Fedora 16 is here.  With all GNU/Linux distributions, newer versions generally mean better hardware support, usability and so on.  Unfortunately, for users of netbooks, laptops and basically any hardware that contains Realtek’s 8192e wireless chip, things can still be problematic.

    I posted, previously, a rather kludgy solution to fixing this in Fedora 14.  Then 15 came along, and the fix I was using then no longer worked.  This is because my previous solution installed the Linux kernel staging drivers for a kernel version very similar to that running in Fedora 14 (but actually built for Ubuntu).

    Now that we are 2 versions of Fedora down the road (12 months, then), is the situation better for the humble RTL8192e_PCI ?  Sadly, no.  The main problem is that the 8192e driver is still in the Linux driver staging tree rather than in the main code line.  In the respected opinion of the Linux kernel developers and testers, this means the code isn’t good enough to be enabled by default.  Quite when it will be “ready” to hit the trunk, I’m not sure. 

    In the meantime, this means you have to install the kernel’s development modules (staging drivers).

    This is quite simple in Fedora:

    1. Enable the RPMFusion repository by following instructions here:
      http://rpmfusion.org/Configuration
    2. Then, as root, install the kmod-staging package:
      # yum install kmod-staging

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    This problem has been reported for other systems – Jayway covers 64-bit Ubuntu, which is where I derived most of the info I needed (thanks guys!).

    If you are developing Android apps using Eclipse, especially on 64-bit Fedora 16, then you too may have come across the error message:

    Failed to get the adb version: Cannot run program "/home/[user]/[path]/android/[sdk]/tools/adb": java.io.IOException: error=2, No such file or directory

    I did.

    To fix it, you need to install 32-bit compatibility libraries.  On Ubuntu (and probably Debian) you can use the getlibs tools.  For Fedora users, it requires installing a few bits and pieces.  Easily accomplished with this:

    su -
    yum install libstdc++.i686 ncurses-libs.i686
     compat-libstdc++-33.i686

    Yum will pull in the necessary dependencies.

    Restart Eclipse and the error should disappear.

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    ThinkPad T420.  Shiny and new.

    It is with incredible reserve that I discuss my new Lenovo ThinkPad T420, such is my excitement.  As a natural born geek, software developer and sysadmin, there is something about a ThinkPad which is “just right”.

    The lure of a ThinkPad is unquestionable.  It’s the promise of your best bit of code ever.  It’s the idea that it’ll be with you for years; your faithful companion.  It’s the reassurance of industry-leading build quality and top-spec engineering, using high quality components.  But it’s more than that too.  It’s an identity, a bit like that of Apple users – but thankfully in more self-respecting way.  You have a ThinkPad, you join an elite.  It’s everything you want.

    You want this so badly that it comes as a bit of a surprise when all is not quite what it seems.

    Branded accessories – one of those indulgences.

    Better the devil?

    As Lenovo only offer such spiffing hardware bundled with a throwaway operating system, you must suffer the wasted hours and ridiculous horseplay that ensues from such choices being made for you.  We are all too familiar with this scenario… so, I’ll continue!

    Here is my experience, abridged:

    • Unbox, connect battery, plug in power, switch on.  It switches itself off.  And then back on – phew! 
    • Windows 7 starts up and completes its install process.  You are prompted to answer a few questions along the way:

    • Do you wish to use Norton to protect your PC?  I choose No.  
    • It prompts again: “Are you really, really sure you don’t want to use Norton???”.  I really, really confirm that yes, I don’t want to use Norton, thanks all the same.  
  • Further into the installer, you are prompted to accept the Windows EULA (end user licence agreement).  At the same point, you are also prompted to accept the Lenovo warranty terms.  You cannot proceed if you choose only one.  I imagine that this is another Microsoft “initiative”, a bit like Restricted Boot, which attempts to force people (through fear, usually) into sticking with Windows.
  • Finally, it finishes setting up Win7 and loads up the desktop.  On the offchance that there is a warranty issue, I decide to make a backup using Windows Backup.  Unbelievably, the Windows partition (C drive) contains 26.39GB of data.  WHAT??!!  This is a freshly installed operating system.  How on earth can it consist of so much… bloat?!  There is also a system partition (1.6GB, of which 900MB or so is used) and a Lenovo recovery partition (17GB, of which 9GB is used).  So, I have 36GB of disk space used up for a fresh install of Win7, plus some Lenovo utilities and Google Chrome (installed by default – the only good software choice made by Lenovo so far).   Hesitantly, I begin the backup process to Verbatim DVD+R discs.
  • 3 hours later, now on the 4th disc, the back-up process fails.  The error given is unspecific.  I now have a collection of 4 shiny new drinks coasters.
  • I dig into the Lenovo software and find that I can install “Rescue and Recovery” software, presumably from the Lenovo recovery partition into Win7.  I install it, which takes about 4-5 mins on this core i7 2640 machine.
  • Oh, wait a sec, what’s that?  Some pop-up just appeared above the clock in the right hand corner.  Something about Norton doing something, was that?  Oh, it’s gone.  So, despite being really, really clear that I did NOT want Norton installed on my machine, er, there it is.  Installed on my machine.  Poor Lenovo, poor.  And it gets better.
    • Creating recovery media fails.  Classic.
  • I fire up R and R and find the option: Create Recovery Media.  This looks more promising.  I fire it up, stick in a DVD+R (still have 6 left, hopefully that’s enough..).  It starts off, “extracting files”.  And then stops, and fails.  Apparently, in this instance, I may be able to expect Lenovo to ship me out some recovery CDs.







    • Not to be

    So far, any reasonable, sane person would not feel very confident using Win7 on this machine.  The dream probably wouldn’t be shattered, but clearly the software configuration is dysfunctional, ignoring user preferences and showing some worrying reliability issues out of the box.

    Luckily, being part of an elite means that you don’t follow the masses.  The throwaway software, bundled with the machine, is designed for people who don’t, won’t or can’t think.  It’s also designed for those who blythely accept it, probably “because it’s safer”.  Well, luckily for Windows users it must be a lot safer now that Norton is installed, regardless of your wishes!  Phew!

    To be

    Fedora 16 live CD, running on this T420.

    The alternative, as always, is to not accept what you are given.  Instead, seek a better solution that you can feel confident in.  For this ThinkPad T420, the better solution is GNU/Linux, Fedora 16 flavour.

    Here is how easy Fedora is:

    • You download a live CD, burn it to disc and restart the computer.
    • The CD boots up into a “live desktop” (this doesn’t affect any data on the hard drive).
    • From the live desktop, you run software (e.g. Firefox) as if it were installed on your computer.  On the ThinkPad, all hardware is automatically recognised and usable immediately.
    • From the live desktop, you have the option to install this software to your hard disc.  How refreshing: choice.

    But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself.

    If, that is, you have the mind to.

    Posted on
    by
    Tux, as originally drawn by Larry Ewing 
    Tux – your faithful free-software friend

    It might seem a long way off, but Saturday 5 April 2014 represents your best, last opportunity to ditch that ageing Windows XP and upgrade to a modern, capable, free and secure operating system: GNU/Linux.

    Microsoft are dropping support of Windows XP on Tuesday 8 April 2014.  After then, the numerous security issues that XP will face will go un-patched.  Anti-virus vendors, firewall software writers… basically everyone in the proprietary software world will no longer support Windows XP.

    In the meantime, Microsoft is doing its best to urge businesses to migrate to a newer version of Windows(1).  Note that the term used is “migrate”, not “upgrade”.

    It is claimed(2) that Windows 7 has overtaken XP as the most widely used Microsoft desktop operating system.  Whether this is credible or not, Microsoft is not one to pass up an opportunity to tell companies on XP not to wait for Windows 8(3).

    This is perhaps the best advice they have given:  there are so many freely available secure operating systems available right now, which will run eficiently on current PC hardware, that there really is little point waiting for anything.  There is, of course, an enormouse number of free applications to run on them too, of which here is a highlight.

    Of course, you would wait until Saturday 5 April 2014 to update your computer software but, actually, why wait at all?  You can install Linux alongside Windows to dip your toes in before committing fully.  All you need to do is visit one of these and follow the installation documentation:

    Don’t worry – Microsoft is far more afraid of you getting your feet wet than you are.   If you have any questions, there are loads of resources available to help.  Try a Linux User Group (usalug.com / lug.org.uk), or maybe start on a forum (www.linuxforums.org, www.linuxquestions.org, www.linux.com/community/forums).  Of course, as a business user you may want to opt for enterprise support.  You can find that here: Red Hat Enterprise Linux – and here: Ubuntu for Business.

    Choosing to upgrade from a proprietary operating system to a free operating system can seem hazardous, but rest assured – you are not the first to try!  Millions have gone before you, and millions will come after.  With open source software, there is strength in numbers and these numbers increase daily.

    Come and join in – and try not to have a lot of fun! 😉

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