How To Create a List of Installed Packages in Ubuntu, and Re-Install Them in A Fresh Setup

How many times have to re-imaged or re-installed your laptop or desktop computer? Maybe you were sick of what was on there previously. Maybe you just decided to start over. Who knows? Who cares really? If you are like me you probably re-build your computers all the time because you are fiddling with new stuff, or tinkering with the latest and greatest Ubuntu build.

I once wrote about a free tool for Windows that will help you automatically download and install all the software you normally use in one convenient application. Well I found something similar for Linux while perusing the Ubuntu forums, and it's built in! Sweet damn I love the Linux terminal! You can do anything!

If you want to backup all of the applications you are currently running in your Ubuntu install all you have to do is run the following from the terminal:

sudo dpkg --get-selections > installed-software

That creates a file called installed-software. You can take that file and save it someplace safe for use later. Now if you ever re-install Ubuntu, you can restore all your favorite programs by saving your installed-software file on your new computer and running the following:

sudo dpkg --set-selections < installed-software
sudo dselect

Pretty easy right? I think this can go very well for my Ubuntu Minimal install the next time I build Bauer-Puntu.

[Via Cynical]

del.icio.us tags: how to, backup, create list, packages, applications, installed, ubuntu, linux,debian, restore, transport, transfer, clean, install

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How To Mount Disks and Partitions to Folders in Windows Like You Do in Linux

I would like to preface this post by saying that I can’t think of a good reason for doing this. I learned about this in my early IT days because we had these desktop computers we supported that had an internal media card reader. Windows would assign all the different slots as drive letters, and rather clutter up “My Computer”. My Help Desk supervisor got it in her head that the best way to take care of it was with the mount drive to folder trick.

Not long after that I started getting into Linux, and as Linux users know, that is just how stuff is done in Linux. Drives and partitions are mounted to folders. Simple right? Well, you can do it in Windows too.

To mount a disk/partition to a folder in Windows do the following:

• Create a folder where you want to mount your disk or partition. I created a folder in the root of C: called Mount:

• Next open up Disk Management right-click on the disk or partition you want to mount and select Change Drive Letters and Paths.

• Select Remove, and click OK when you see the warning.
• Now right-click it again and select Change Drive Letters and Paths.
• Click Add
• Click the radio button that says Mount in The Following Empty NTFS Folder.
• Click Browse and browse to the folder you created in the first step then click OK.

• Now if you go back to your C: drive you will see the folder you created looks a little different…

Pretty cool right? Once again, I have never found a good use for this, but it’s interesting to know you can do it. Especially if you prefer to do things the Linux way.

Do you do this on your Windows machines? Why do you do it? Got a really good reason to mount disks or partitions to a folder instead of assigning it a drive letter? Let us know in the comments.

del.icio.us Tags: how to,mount,disk,drive,partition,to folder,windows

 

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Redneck Language Option in Red Hat Linux? Yep! A Least in Version 5.1!

I was Stumbling around the net yesterday and came across something rather odd, yet pretty funny in my opnion. I guess I find it funny due to my redneck upbringing in Colorado being the son of an old farmer's daughter with lots of family roots in places like Arkansas and Oklahoma. Hell, my mom is so redneck, that her family actually had a friggin' outhouse growning up, and had to fetch water using a hand pump and a bucket! I'm talking 1800's type redneck shit.

Anyway, me being the half-hick that I am, yet completely into geeky stuff like computers I found this little discovery humourous. Apparently Red Hat Linux used to have an install language option back in version 5.1 for redneck! Yes, like Jeff Foxworthy redneck! Check out these screen shots:

According to Bartosz Forczak on Google+ during a Google search as to the origin of the redneck language option, the reason for the option was because Redneck is:

...a dialect of American English spoken by Red Hat Software's Donnie Barnes, and was used as a test case during the addition of internationalization support to the installation program. It is included solely for entertainment value (and to illustrate how difficult it is actually talking to Donnie).

Makes sense now doesn't it? For more screen shots, take a look at NineSys.com.

del.icio.us tags: red hat, redhat, linux, 5.1, internationalization, redneck, red, neck, language,option

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Simple Scheduled Backups For Desktop Linux

Have you ever heard the expression, "He who laughs last had a good backup?" I heard that from one of my teachers when I went to school and it stuck with me. Backups are very important, and can seriously save your butt in the event of a disaster, or a mistake. I mean Backups aren't just for peace of mind, they are often needed. Disasters are not a matter of if, but when.

If you are using Windows, there has been a fairly simple backup program packaged in since I can remember. NTBackup for Windows 2000 and XP, and now Windows Backup for Vista and 7. What about us Ubuntu desktop users though? Hell, any flavor of Linux desktop? I've got a solution for you. It's called Simple Backup, or SBackup for short!

From their project page:

The sbackup suite, short for simple backup, is a backup solution for Gnome desktop. All configuration is accessable via Gnome interface. File and paths can be included and excluded directly or by regex, local and remote backups supported. Very simple configuration and zero maintenance.

sbackup is basically using the same technology that Unix administrators have been used for decades but it adds some some intelligence for interaction with users within a graphical interface. This means dumps of files were created using the good old TAR but the usage is much more convenient than from a command line.

Noteable features are handling of log files, a plug-in framework and status indication. All the time compatibility between nssbackup and sbackup was, and will, preserved.

Here are some screen shots:

Installing from Ubuntu is as simple as running sudo apt-get install sbackup from the terminal, or from a quick search in the Ubuntu Software Center.

Do you use SBackup in Ubuntu or your favorite flavor of Linux? If not, what do you like to use? Let us know in the comments.

del.icio.us Tags: free,backup,software,ubuntu,linux,gui,desktop,simple,gnome,sbackup

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How To Speed Up Performance On Windows 2003/XP VMs in XenServer

Greetings all. I’m sorry I couldn’t get this out sooner, but there was a slight power outage yesterday in my neck of the woods. In fact, it wasn’t slight at all. It was friggin’ huge and spanned from Mexico to Orange County, and from the coast to Arizona. Also, it was caused by one jack ass in Yuma.

Anyhoo, now that the power is back up thanks to the hard work of SDG&E workers, I am able to get this post out to you. Which is a handy one if you are a XenServer admin like myself.

So we have these few Windows XP VMs running in XenServer for our offshore developers to use. They used to be physical, but I P2V’d them so I could retire the old equipment they were on. After I got them up and running on XenServer the offshore guys started complaining about performance.

When I would log into those machines it was unbearable how slow it was, so I started investigating. It turns out that there is a known issue with Windows 2003 type VMs in XenServer and their virtual NICs. All you have to do to boost performance is simply disable Large Send Offload in the driver properties for the Citrix PV Ethernet Adapter. To do that follow these simple steps:

• Click Start > Run and type in devmgmt.msc and press Enter
• Expand Network adapters, right click on Citrix PV Ethernet Adapter and select Properties

• On the Advanced tab, click on Large Send Offload, and set the drop down to Disabled then click OK.

• Now reboot the VM, and you should see a significant difference!

I am fairly new to the XenServer seen. So far I am really happy with it. I am a VMware VCP, so I have more experience in vSphere than I do in XenCenter. If you know of any other helpful XenServer tips, hook a brutha up in the comments!

del.icio.us Tags: how to,speed,boost,up,performance,windows,2003,xp,xenserver

 

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Free Alternative To Magic Jack With Google Voice

Some of the most popular articles on Bauer-Power are those realted to my series on hacking a Magic Jack. Lots of people go out and buy a Magic Jack to replace their home phone service for something cheaper. Magic Jack costs around $40 for the USB adapter, and the first year of service. After that it's only $20 per year. If you don't hack it using my tutorials, then you get a fairly reliable service for making phone calls from your computer.

If you don't mind being tethered to your computer for phone calls, then why waste your money on Magic Jack? With Google Voice, phone calls are free for all calls within the US and Canada at least until 2012! Now, you may know that you can make outbound calls from Google Voice using either Gtalk, or the plugin in Gmail, but did you know you can receive calls too?

In order to receive calls, all you have to do is go into your Google Voice account and click on your phone number in the upper right, and check the box next to Google Chat.



Now inbound calls to your Google Voice number will get routed to your Google Chat client as well. All you need now is a USB headset or a USB phone, and you can make and receive calls via Google Voice! Only one caviat though, Google voice does not support E911. If you only need a land line for calls because your cell service sucks in your house (like me) then this solution might be good for you.

del.icio.us tags: how to, make, receive, calls, google, voice, gtalk

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How To Deploy The Fog Service Client From GPO

At my last two companies, and my current company I have implemented probably the best open source OS and software deployment platform ever created. It's called Fog, and I have blogged about it in the past. It's free, and completely awesome. With it you can boot to PXE, re-image workstations, wipe drives, blank passwords, deploy software packages, and remap printers. It really is great!

The only issue with it is it requires a client service to run on computers you wish to manage. Once installed, everything in your life gets easier. The trick is to get that service on workstations silently, in mass quantities, and have it configured correctly! I have yet to find a tutorial on how to do this, so here you go.

In order to do this correctly, you will need to re-package the MSI file for the Fog Client Service installation. You can do that with a free tool called Winstall LE.

• Open Winstall LE, right click on Windows Installer Packages and select Import Package
• Browse to the Fog Client MSI, and give it a description of Fog Silent
• Right click Fog Slient and Select Decompress...
• At the Expand dialog, click Expand

• Expand the Fog Silent tree, and delete the following components because you don't need them:

{7A0D8B0C-D68A-E7BE-76B6-8D70577B4F38}

{A4389213-D1C5-59F6-260E-D84F4D4BE41A}

• Now browse to \\localhost\WinINSTALL\Packages\fog silent\etc
• Edit the config.ini file so it has the IP address or FQDN of your fog server under ipaddress= then save it
• Go back to Winstall LE, right click on Fog Silent and select Compress, then press the Compress button

• Now browse to \\localhost\WinINSTALL\Packages\fog silent\ and your FOG Service Installer.msi file is ready to deploy!
• Place the new FOG Service Installer.msi and the original setup.exe in a fileshare that is accessible by everyone. I created a deploy Samba share on my Fog server.
• Now open Group Policy Management on your domain controller and create a new Group Policy Object called something clever like Fog Deploy
• Right click on Fog Deploy and select Edit
• Navigate to Computer Configuration > Policies > Software Settings > Software Installation
• Right click on Software Installation and select New > Package
• Browse to your file share, and select your custom Fog Service Installer.msi file and select Open
• Leave the Assigned radio button checked and click OK

• Now link your new GPO to the OU where you keep the workstations you want to manage with Fog, and you're good to go!
• Users will get the install the next time they reboot, and even better it will be automatically configured!

For some reason Fog doesn't talk about how to do a custom deploy of their client in their documentation. They do say you can do a silent install using the setup.exe package which is nice, but it doesn't have switches for autoconfiguration, and it puts an annoying tray icon that is pretty much useless in the users system tray. My method makes Fog completely transparent, and it is pre-configured at install. Plus, since it uses the MSI file, we can deploy it using Active Directory!

del.icio.us tags: how to, deploy, fog, client, msi, custom, winstall le, gpo, group policy, activedirectory

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