VMWare Fusion 4: Easier Boot to BIOS

I found this cool method to quickly boot to bios, especially useful for unattended operations.
Adding this line into the .vmx file will boot the virtual machine into BIOS on the next power-up.

bios.forceSetupOnce = "TRUE"

VMWare Fusion 4: Unable to Add Hard Disk

After removing the original hard disk from an existing Virtual Machine, I was unable to re-add the existing hard disk back to the same Virtual Machine.  I went through the proper procedure but the apply button did not work.  When selecting "Show All" to go back, I was then asked if I wanted to add the device.  Naturally, I said yes, but that did not work either.  There was no errors or indication why this would not work.

I did manage to get it working by manually editing the  vmx file.

Step 1
Power off the virtual machine and remove from the library.

Step 2
Change the following:
scsi0:0.present = "FALSE"
to
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"

Add the following line:
scsi0:0.fileName = "{Name of VMDK}.vmdk"

Step 3
Add the virtual machine back to the library and review settings to see if the change worked.

Sstep 4
Power up and enjoy!

CIFS Share Mount as non-root

Trying to run smbmount as a non-root I received the error:

mount.cifs: permission denied: no match for...

Option 1 - Permanent:

Set this up in fstab would be a permanent solution on every boot.
Add a line like this to your fstab file.

Open Share:

//server/path/to/share /mount/point cifs dir_mode=0775,guid=1000 0 0

Protected Share:

//server/path/to/share /mount/point cifs credentials=/root/.smbpass,dir_mode=0775,guid=1000 0 0

For a protected share, create the file /root/.smbpass Add these lines to the file.

username={username of server}

password={password}

 

Option 2 - Temporary:

For me, my laptop moves around in many server environments so I use a more flexible method that does not auto-mount on boot.

If using Ubuntu you can use the "Connect to Server" under "Places" but I prefer using the following command.  I find it is simpler and quicker.  Either method you choose, once connected you can create a bookmark in nautilus allowing easier re-mount by selecting the bookmark.  You only need to decide whether to permanently store the share password or ask for it on each mount.

Open or Protected Shared:

gvfs-mount smb://server/path/to/share

If the share is protected you will be asked for:
User [localuser]: {username of server}
Domain [WORKGROUP]: {server domain of user account}
Password: {password}

This will add the share and allow you to unmount it without using root.


Additional Information:


Shares goto ~/.gvfs by default but you can always map them to another area if needed.

Ubuntu 9.10 "Do Nothing" Laptop Lid Closed

For anyone wondering how to force Ubuntu to "Do Nothing" when closing the lid of a laptop.

The option does not exist in Power Management Preferences.

So...

In a terminal (Applications-->Accessories-->Terminal), type: gconf-editor

Navigate to apps-->gnome-power-manager-->buttons and set lid_ac and/or lid_battery to "nothing" (without the quotes).

Stopping pop-up asking to "Unlock the default keyring"

A nice benefit when installing a GNU/Linux distro is to setup a separate partition to mount the Home directory.  This is nice because you can re-install an OS (or install a different distro) without effecting your documents, music, configuration and such.

Although you can sometimes run into a situation where your keyring has a password mismatch.   If you know the original keyring password you can change it.  If you do not there is no way to reset it but you can rebuild it.

What is a Keyring?  A keyring is database that contains all your passwords (wpa key included). For other application to use your keys/password in your keyring they will ask your keyring for them, if your keyring is locked you will be requested to unlock it.

How do you rebuild the keyring?
Pull up a terminal window, and type these command

rm -rf ~/.gnome2/keyrings
rm -rf /tmp/keyring-*
rm -rf /tmp/orbit-$USER

reboot your system (restarting X would do but this is easier)

When you are back in gnome you will be ask enter a password to lock your
keyring. enter a password and remember it.  This password can be the same as your login.

Part 1 - 8 Monitor Project - Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty and ATI/FGLRX

I have spent a considerable amount of time setting up the first 4 monitors on Ubuntu Jaunty with Catalyst 9.9. I can honestly say, depending what you want to do, it is not an easy feat. My ultimate goal is to have 8 running.

Video Cards: HSI IceQ4 HD Radeon 4850, 512MB

Part 1: Initial Setup

Comming Soon!

Important References

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Jaunty_Installation_Guide
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=301941&highlight=radeon+4850+big+desktop
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=301951&highlight=radeon+4850+big+desktop

Video on using Clonezilla

I found this fascinating quote today:

Clonezilla is an open source disk imaging, cloning and backup software. It supports ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, xfs, jfs of GNU/Linux, FAT, NTFS of MS Windows, and HFS+ of Mac OS. You can use it to clone single or multiple machines. It is more feature-rich than commercial Norton Ghost. In this video tutorial, I will show you how to create an image of a hard drive using Clonezilla live CD which you can download from clonezilla.org. I assume that you have downloaded and burnt the CD. So let’s get started.Amjad, Creating and restoring an image of hard disk with Clonezilla

You should read the whole article.