Installing Ubuntu When CD doesn’t work properly February 15, 2009
Posted by foxpacific in Techno-babble.add a comment
So, I’m delving into this world of Ubuntu Linux, more specifically, Linux Mint. I read in a lot of places that Linux is prime for installing on older/weaker computers. So I said great and started trying to bring back to life computers that were headed for the scrap heap.
I downloaded the iso and burned the CD. Inserted and boot from the CD. I got the Live CD session and clicked the “Install” icon and was given a bunch of prompts to complete installation. You know, location, partitioning, time zone, blah blah. I filled all that out and it was off. Then…. crap at somewhere around 60%. I did all the things I was supposed to do, download again, burn another copy, even on different branded CDs. Nothing seemed to work. I tried it on another older computer and same thing at the same place. Now I’m searching the internet and people have various forms of the same problem. It seems Ubuntu derivatives are plaqued with this problem on certain machines. I look at the system logs and notice it goes out when it seems the installation wants to do some kind of mount to the CD drive.
I search the internet more and try other approaches, like network installs and the like but can’t seem to get any of them quite right. No matter how easy the uber-geeks in the forums make it sound. So weeks of searching and piecing things together and in the end…. a solution that worked for me.
I found a program called UNetBootIn. This utility lets you create a boot image on a thumb drive which you can use to install Linux. It is simple to use and worked like a charm. You just create the install thumb drive, place it in a USB port and tell the BIOS to boot from the USB device.
That worked for one of the computers I was trying to install on. When I tried it with the other I noticed that the BIOS did not include and option to boot from a USB device…. dammit! Back to searching the internet. It wasn’t very long, though, until I found another great utility. Enter the PLoP Bootmanager. This will create a boot CD that will allow you to boot off a USB device, even if you’re BIOS doesn’t support it. This too worked just as explained in the sites instructions.
So, if you are having trouble installing Linux perhaps this information could be of service. Addiionally, if you want to install Linux without waisting CDs this will also be of use.
Aloha!!!
Setting up an Ubuntu FTP Server February 9, 2009
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Today’s project was setting up an FTP Server. I had a request to setup an FTP server that transmitted data using encryption. I opted to setup a virtual machine using VirtualBox and installed Ubuntu Server 8.10. I then followed the instructions in this instructional to setup the FTP using TLS encryption. I connected to the FTP server using Filezilla. Apparently when setting this up behind a router there are a couple extra steps you must take.
I guess it is recommended to use Passive mode, however when you do this the server replies with the actual server IP address and not the IP address of the external server, which is what is should do. This had me hunting the internet for a while and finally I came up with the following:
Add the following lines to the /etc/vsftpd.conf file:
pasv_enable=YES
pasv_address=xx.xx.xx.xx <= this is the external ip address of your router
pasv_min_port=12000
pasv_max_port=12100
Restarted the FTP server with
sudo /etc/init.d/vsftpd restart
Then I had to forward a range of ports (12000 – 12100) to the internal IP address of the FTP server. Ofcourse this was in addition to forwarding the standard FTP ports (20 & 21) as well.
After this I was able to connect to the server using Filezilla with the servertype set to FTPES – FTP Over Explicit TLS/SSL.
Aloha!!!!
First blog entry ever February 9, 2009
Posted by foxpacific in Uncategorized.add a comment
So, I’ve seen it and heard about it forever and now after years and years I’m finally gonna start doing it. Why? I’ve just started looking into the open source movement and am very impressed with the progress the community has made.
See, I have been a Microsoft fan boy since forever. I loved the fact that you install their operating system and their applications and they, for the most part, just work. Interoperable applications file formats that move across applications easily, and they have FoxPro which is the best data manipulation environment ever. I’ve looked into Linux and stuff before and tried to do dual boot systems a very long time ago. It wasn’t anywhere near ready to go at that point. You had to hunt down drivers and do these, seemingly, complicated configurations. I wasn’t having it, I like just install and run, like Microsoft products. I’ve also been able to find and use cracked and hacked versions of Microsoft products for a long time so price wasn’t an issue especially when my company started paying our Microsoft Tax (MSDN Universal subscriptions).
Open source revisited. I’ve recently come across OpenOffice and noticed it worked on Windows, so I installed it to see how far along the open source products have come. WOW, it does everything I, and quite possibly everyone I know, needs to do with a word processor. From this experience I thought maybe I should give Linux a try again. I’ve been hearing a lot about Ubuntu so i downloaded it and gave it a try in a Virtual Machine and it just installed and worked, just the way I like it. The Debian based OS also uses deb packages which makes the installs super easy, even easier than Windows, just the way I like it. The products are actual alternatives to Microsoft products and they have come of age. Microsoft may be in some deep trouble.
Back to why, I’m starting this blog. I’ve spent the past month or more downloading, searching and figuring out the ways of Linux and have learned a lot, though I know there is a whole lot more. However, I would not have been able to get anywhere if not for people who blog and write tutorials and instructional. So, here I go, maybe if I share my experiences then I might be able to help someone else as much as the rest of the community has helped me.
In the posts to come I hope to share my findings and ways around troubled Linux installation, virtual machine configurations and installation and document my migration from a Windows environment with Linux in a virtual machine to a Linux environment with Windows in a virtual machine.
I hope I can share knowledge and help as many people as I can.
Aloha!!!
