VirtualBox – convert RAW image to VDI and otherwise

Kwiecień 29th, 2012 Brak komentarzy

Let’s assume that we have raw image of the sdb device:

# dd if=/dev/sdb of=./sdb.raw

To use it with VirtualBox we need to convert it:

$ VBoxManage convertdd sdb.raw sdb.vdi --format VDI

To get back raw image ater modifications we need to perform two steps as there is no buitin direct conversion. Convert image to VMDK format first:

$ VBoxManage clonehd sdb.vdi sdb.vmdk --format VMDK

Then we need to use command from qemu package so we can finally convert VMDK to raw image:

$ qemu-img convert -f vmdk sdb.vmdk -O raw sdb.raw

Now we can write image to the device:

# dd if=./sdb.raw of=/dev/sdb
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Ubiquiti AirOS 5.5 – How to set management VLAN

Kwiecień 20th, 2012 Brak komentarzy

First step
Login to device as an administrator user.



Second step
Select Network tab.



Third step
Change Configuration mode from Simple to Advanced.



Click Change button.



Fourth step
Add desired VLAN to LAN and WLAN interfaces.



Click Change button.



Fifth step
Create new bridge and add earlier defined VLAN interfaces to it.



Click Change button.



Sixth step
Change Management Interface to earlier created bridge and adjust network settings.



Click Change button.



Seventh step
Apply or test changes on the top of the page.

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Dell Inspiron 14z – Shortcut buttons

Marzec 7th, 2012 Brak komentarzy

Dell Inspiron 14z (N411z) has three small shortcut buttons above the keyboard.

First button

First one with small gears on it can be used out of the box in KDE or GNOME.

xev output:

KeyPress event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x6000001,
    root 0xb1, subw 0x0, time 137282557, (-94,112), root:(1047,135),
    state 0x0, keycode 133 (keysym 0xffeb, Super_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False
 
KeyPress event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x6000001,
    root 0xb1, subw 0x0, time 137282558, (-94,112), root:(1047,135),
    state 0x40, keycode 53 (keysym 0x78, x), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (78) "x"
    XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (78) "x"
    XFilterEvent returns: False
 
KeyRelease event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x6000001,
    root 0xb1, subw 0x0, time 137282560, (-94,112), root:(1047,135),
    state 0x40, keycode 53 (keysym 0x78, x), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (78) "x"
    XFilterEvent returns: False
 
KeyRelease event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x6000001,
    root 0xb1, subw 0x0, time 137282563, (-94,112), root:(1047,135),
    state 0x40, keycode 133 (keysym 0xffeb, Super_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

Second button

Second button with a small wrench on it does not work.
I tried xev, showkey, evtest and messed around with the source code but without any success.
I lost all hope here.

Third button – this is where adventure begins

Third one with a small star on it needs a little work to be usable.

dmesg output shows:

atkbd serio0: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x60 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd serio0: Use 'setkeycodes 60 <keycode>' to make it known.

Execute as root in console (use /etc/rc.local file for persistent change):

# setkeycodes 60 222

Now showkey shows key press:

# showkey
kb mode was UNICODE
[ if you are trying this under X, it might not work
since the X server is also reading /dev/console ]
 
press any key (program terminates 10s after last keypress)...
keycode  28 release
keycode 222 press

evtest shows value 1 after pressing it first time, value 2 afterwards:

Event: time 1331065738.017054, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1331065748.872962, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 60
Event: time 1331065748.872988, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 222 (KEY_ALTERASE), value 1
Event: time 1331065748.872990, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1331065750.573239, type 4 (EV_MSC), code 4 (MSC_SCAN), value 60
Event: time 1331065750.573260, type 1 (EV_KEY), code 222 (KEY_ALTERASE), value 2
Event: time 1331065750.573262, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------

To use this button you need to modify xserver-xorg-input-evdev package so create build directory and grab the source code:

$ mkdir ~/build
$ cd ~/build
$ apt-get source xserver-xorg-input-evdev

Directory listing:

$ ls
xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0  
xserver-xorg-input-evdev_2.6.0-1ubuntu13.diff.gz  
xserver-xorg-input-evdev_2.6.0-1ubuntu13.dsc  
xserver-xorg-input-evdev_2.6.0.orig.tar.gz

Directory xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0 can be safely deleted:

$ rm -rf xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0

Now save patch as evdev.patch file:

--- xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0.orig/src/evdev.c
+++ xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0/src/evdev.c
@@ -908,6 +908,18 @@
 
 }
 
+
+static void
+EvdevEmulateKey(InputInfoPtr pInfo, struct input_event *ev, int key, int state)
+{
+  ev->type = EV_KEY;
+  ev->code = key;
+  ev->value = state;
+  EvdevQueueKbdEvent(pInfo, ev, state);
+}
+
+
+
 /**
  * Process the events from the device; nothing is actually posted to the server
  * until an EV_SYN event is received.
@@ -923,7 +935,14 @@
             EvdevProcessAbsoluteMotionEvent(pInfo, ev);
             break;
         case EV_KEY:
-            EvdevProcessKeyEvent(pInfo, ev);
+           if (ev->code == 222) {
+               EvdevEmulateKey(pInfo, ev, KEY_LEFTCTRL, 1);
+               EvdevEmulateKey(pInfo, ev, KEY_O, 1);
+               EvdevEmulateKey(pInfo, ev, KEY_O, 0);
+               EvdevEmulateKey(pInfo, ev, KEY_LEFTCTRL, 0);
+           } else {
+               EvdevProcessKeyEvent(pInfo, ev);
+           }
             break;
         case EV_SYN:
             EvdevProcessSyncEvent(pInfo, ev);

This solution is directly taken from maxter-plus-linux (Patched evdev driver supporting Elmak Maxter Plus remote control) by dgolda.

I used CTRL+O as an emulated shortcut after pressing button so it is clear how to define own key presses and releases.

Compress it and add to other patches (as an alternative you can check xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0/debian/patches/ directory as it looks like better idea):

$ gzip evdev.patch
$ cat evdev.patch.gz >> xserver-xorg-input-evdev_2.6.0-1ubuntu13.diff.gz

Prepare source code:

$ dpkg-source --no-check -x xserver-xorg-input-evdev_2.6.0-1ubuntu13.dsc 
dpkg-source: info: extracting xserver-xorg-input-evdev in xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0
dpkg-source: info: unpacking xserver-xorg-input-evdev_2.6.0.orig.tar.gz
dpkg-source: info: applying xserver-xorg-input-evdev_2.6.0-1ubuntu13.diff.gz
dpkg-source: info: upstream files that have been modified: 
 xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0/autogen.sh
 xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0/src/evdev.c

Enter xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0 directory:

$ cd xserver-xorg-input-evdev-2.6.0

Build package:

$ dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot

Install package:

$ cd ..
$ ls *.deb
xserver-xorg-input-evdev_2.6.0-1ubuntu13_amd64.deb  
xserver-xorg-input-evdev-dev_2.6.0-1ubuntu13_all.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i xserver-xorg-input-evdev_2.6.0-1ubuntu13_amd64.deb

Restart X server and check button. For testing purposes it is good idea to use xf86Msg function and monitor Xorg log in realtime.

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How to use recent version of Wine in Ubuntu

Marzec 5th, 2012 Brak komentarzy

From time to time I use Wine to play some Good Old Games but I experienced annoying problems while using touchpad when tried to play on notebook. Solution was to install recent version from Latest official WineHQ releases.

To do this add PPA repository and update package index:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update

Check for package name:

$ aptitude search "?origin(LP-PPA-ubuntu-wine)"
p   wine1.3       - Microsoft Windows Compatibility Layer (Binary Emulator and Library)
p   wine1.3-dbg   - Microsoft Windows Compatibility Layer (debugging symbols)        
p   wine1.3-dev   - Microsoft Windows Compatibility Layer (Development files)        
p   wine1.3-gecko - Microsoft Windows Compatibility Layer (Web Browser)

Install it using command:

$ sudo apt-get install wine1.3
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Collabtive – web-based project management software

Luty 26th, 2012 4 comments

Couple days ago installed Collabtive to manage my small projects in one place.

It is a PHP based solution with nice user interface that ideally fits my needs as it offers:

  • Multiple projects
  • Milestones
  • Task lists
  • File management
  • Time tracker
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How to quickly download or upload directory tree over FTP

Luty 26th, 2012 Brak komentarzy

The fastest way to download or upload directory tree over FTP using just plain console is to execute lftp command.

lftp is a sophisticated file transfer program which supports protocols like ftp/s, http/s, hftp, fish, sftp and torrent. It is a good idea to install this tool as it can be very handy at times.

To upload local directory local_dir to remote remote_dir on hostname execute:

$ lftp -u username,password -e "mirror -R local_dir /remote_dir;quit" ftp://hostname
Total: 1 directory, 3 files, 0 symlinks
New: 3 files, 0 symlinks
20071573 bytes transferred in 162 seconds (121.8K/s)

To see contents of remote directory remote_dir on hostname execute:

$ lftp -u username,password -e "ls /remote_dir;quit" ftp://hostname
total 19612
-rw-r--r--  1 nobody  nogroup  15568717 Feb 25 23:29 eGroupware.zip
-rw-r--r--  1 nobody  nogroup    113942 Feb 25 23:29 eGroupware-egw-pear.zip
-rw-r--r--  1 nobody  nogroup   4388914 Feb 25 23:30 wordpress.zip

To download remote directory remote_dir on hostname to local local_dir execute:

$ lftp -u username,password -e "mirror /remote_dir local_dir;quit" ftp://hostname
Total: 1 directory, 3 files, 0 symlinks
New: 3 files, 0 symlinks
20071573 bytes transferred in 20 seconds (981.0K/s)

Don’t forget to read manual as there are couple of useful options (like downloading/uploading files in parallel).

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Write your own book online using Booktype

Luty 25th, 2012 Brak komentarzy

I recently read an article about Booktype, got interested and tried software myself.

Booktype is developed by Sourcefabric, a non profit organization that provides couple of other interesting solutions like Airtime (radio automation), Newscoop (content management system) and Superdesk which combines Airtime with Newscoop as a suite for independent media.

Booktype uses Django web framework. Software is easy to install but you can’t forget about Objavi 2 (FLOSS Manuals book exporter) to save your work in any of the available format.

Interface is simple and readable built with collaboration in mind. Each book has its own history, custom versions and permissions. Books are written in HTML using TinyMCE editor and can be exported to PDF, ODT, EPUB and MOBI format.

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How to integrate Roundcube Webmail with ISPConfig 3

Luty 24th, 2012 Brak komentarzy

To integrate Roundcube with ISPConfig 3 read requirements and follow installation instructions.

Procedure is quick and simple as it contains following steps:

  • Create remote user
  • Install plugins
  • Configure account plugin
  • Activate desired plugins in Roundcube

For full details visit bugs.web-wack.at

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Ubuntu and recent problems related to PHP

Luty 24th, 2012 Brak komentarzy

Recently I run into small problems related to PHP.

Problem A – sqlite.so

First one was PHP warning:

PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/lib/php5/20090626/sqlite.so' - /usr/lib/php5/20090626/sqlite.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory in Unknown on line 0

PHP tried to load sqlite.so from /etc/php5/conf.d/sqlite.ini (php5-sqlite package).

$ dpkg -L php5-sqlite
/.
/etc
/etc/php5
/etc/php5/conf.d
/etc/php5/conf.d/sqlite3.ini
/etc/php5/conf.d/pdo_sqlite.ini
/etc/php5/conf.d/sqlite.ini
/usr
/usr/share
/usr/share/doc
/usr/lib
/usr/lib/php5
/usr/lib/php5/20090626
/usr/lib/php5/20090626/pdo_sqlite.so
/usr/lib/php5/20090626/sqlite3.so
/usr/share/doc/php5-sqlite

As suspected there was sqlite3.so file.

$ ls /usr/lib/php5/20090626/
curl.so  gd.so  mysqli.so  mysql.so  pdo_mysql.so  pdo.so  pdo_sqlite.so  sqlite3.so

To solve this problem just delete /etc/php5/conf.d/sqlite.ini file.

$ sudo rm /etc/php5/conf.d/sqlite.ini

Problem B – fuser process

Second problem was more serious. Thousands of fuser zombie processes and funny CPU usage.

Hopefully there is a bug report #876387 so for solution look at fourth comment. Don’t forget to identify and kill already running find processes.

In short this problem can be quickly recognized by thousands of fuser zombie processes:

$ ps ax | awk '{if ($3=="Z" && $5~/fuser/) s++}; END {print s}'
21613

It was created by php cron job /etc/cron.d/php5 (php5-common package):

$ dpkg -S /etc/cron.d/php5 
php5-common: /etc/cron.d/php5

Source of this problem in /etc/cron.d/php5 file:

09,39 * * * * root [ -x /usr/lib/php5/maxlifetime ] && [ -d /var/lib/php5 ] && find /var/lib/php5/ -depth -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type f -cmin +$(/usr/lib/php5/maxlifetime) ! -execdir fuser -s {} 2>/dev/null \; -delete

To solve it replace this line with one given below:

09,39 * * * * root [ -x /usr/lib/php5/maxlifetime ] && [ -d /var/lib/php5 ] && find /var/lib/php5/ -depth -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type f -cmin +$(/usr/lib/php5/maxlifetime) -delete

Don’t forget to kill running find processes:

# ps ax | grep "find /var/lib/php" | grep fuser | awk '{print $1}' | xargs kill
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Your own search engine software

Luty 23rd, 2012 Brak komentarzy

If you are looking for search engine software then try Yioop!.
It is PHP based and Open Source so it is very easy to deploy it on Intranet or remote dedicated server. You can try it directly at yioop.com

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