Vista (install and UAC) problems

• On installation: Windows could not determine if this computer contains a valid system volume This can occur if you have a USB drive in your machine on installation - see here for details.
• Turn off Windows needs your permission to continue (known as UAC) - Basically it can be done in a variety of ways (see this handy blog) - like using the user account control panel, msconfig or TweakUAC.
  

Ubuntu upgrading

Using graphical interface:
gksu "update-manager -c"

Or on the command line:

sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

On Ubuntu server:

sudo aptitude install update-manager-core
sudo do-release-upgrade

For more info see the Ubuntu Guide.

What Linux (Ubuntu) version am I running?

To display the version of the Ubuntu you're running - run this on the command/cmd line (Or check the contents of /etc/lsb-release):
lsb_release -a

An example response should look like:
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 7.04
Release: 7.04
Codename: feisty

In theory it should work on any LSB (Linux Standard Base) distro...

TheMobileOutlet suck

If you're looking for a review or rating of the mobile outlet then I would recommend that you do NOT touch these guys with a barge pole - they try every way possible to get out of paying cashback. I read and reread their T&C's and sent them all they asked for but they tried to bullshit me at the first hurdle - they ask you include the 'original' cover note with your first cashback claim (original bills included) - They tried to claim the one I'd sent 'em wasn't the original - how do they prove that?? I got some great help from the excellent Reestit Mutton site and things happened - for a while. They've now stalled again after sending only a couple out of the 5 cheques....

Never use them again (they are too good to be true). There are plenty more out there - see this handy Motley Fool article.

oprofile on Ubuntu problem

I tried to run oprofile 0.9.2 on gutsy and it comes up with and error:

sudo opcontrol --event=default
the following lines occur:

/usr/bin/opcontrol: 1: arith: syntax error: "NR_CHOSEN - 1"
/usr/bin/opcontrol: 1: arith: syntax error: "NR_CHOSEN - 1"
No events given.

ophelp --get-default-event gives the following
CPU_CLK_UNHALTED:100000:0:1:1

According to this bug report - Here's how to fix it: Replace /bin/sh with /bin/bash in the first line of /usr/bin/opcontrol

Found Big bug in Firefox - Helper apps inherit ALL open file descriptors

After some more investigations I've concluded that the Evince problem I've been seeing is actually due to a bug in Firefox - basically it does not close all file descriptors (as it should) when launching external helper apps hence evince inherits the open sound device and hangs onto it after firefox is closed. I've reported the bug on Ubuntu's launchpad - it could also be a nasty security vulnerability.

News flash: It seems that this bug was reported a while ago on the Firefox bugzilla but it _still_ hasn't been fixed??!!

Why does Evince seem to lock the audio?

Well actually it doesn't! It would appear that the gnome PDF/PS document viewer on Ubuntu (Gutsy 7.10) opens and blocks the ALSA/OSS audio (so other apps like realplayer etc can't do audio) - its being tracked as a bug on ubuntu launchpad and gnome. You can see its attached to audio using: lsof or fuser /dev/snd/pcm*

Using another app (such as xpdf - to get it on Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install xpdf-reader) won't help - the same thing happens.

It turns out that this only happens when Evince/Xpdf is started from Firefox - which is probably how alot of people start evince. It seems that this only happens if Firefox has already opened the audio device (e.g. after playing some flash content). So it's actually an issue with Firefox..... Darn. I suspect this may happen with any app spawned by Firefox... Firefox isn't very good with letting go of audio devices once it's done with them - or maybe it's Flash being crap....

It's a particular bummer when you restart firefox whilst leaving evince running 'cos then you're stuck with evince attached to the audio and the pesky thing won't play anything anymore. You'll have to restart evince as well in that case.

Manage vmware services on osx

VMware fusion starts up stuff but you may not want it started at all. To control its startup you need to edit the file:
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vmware.launchd.vmware.plist

Using something like Launchd Editor or Apple's Property list editor (which comes with their dev package - (you'll need to run 'em using sudo) or just a text editor (e.g. sudo vim /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vmware.launchd.vmware.plist). Basically if you want to disable the services then a add a new key:
<key>Disabled</key>
<true/>

0871/0870 call cost pricing

The cost depends on who your telephone provider is. To call 0871 on BT is around 8-10p per minute. For full details see BT's pricing and for more details their full price list.

Whilst 0870 is currently 6ppm before 6pm and 1.5ppm afterwards (weekends included!) - see here.

AppleMobileDeviceService.exe

So it appears that this is the Windows service that supports the iPhone (why didn't they just call it iPhone Service?? - maybe they've got more gadgets up their sleeve...) - It adds more crud to one's creaking windows system (that unless you own one of said shiny objects). It can safely be disabled (along with the iPod service) if you want to save a few cycles.

For more info on which services can be forsaken check out the delightful Black Viper's site.

Skype: Error: Invalid argument to date encode

Since Skype 3.5.202-3.5.239 (Windoze) I've been seeing these Error messages: "Invalid argument to date encode" when I click on the tray icon or the User interface. It can be fixed (as mentioned in the Skype forums) by going into "Edit you profile..." and changing "Show my time:" to your Time Zone (e.g. GMT for UK, Lisbon etc) as opposed to leaving it set as "My Computer's".

Even cooler Linux MacBook

When running Linux the MacBook it gets pretty warm (that's just NOT Cool) - so one thing that Ekiga's Damien Sandras recommends is to use this utility to control the speed of the ATI graphics card - It can save around 8 Watts (The graphics don't need to run in 3D capable mode at all times).

Also there's the Mactel Linux site that's working on enhancing Linux on the Mac - they've got a bunch of patches for the kernel - some of these patches also provide for coolin' down...

(Switch off) vmware fusion services in OSX

So you installed the latest vmware fusion - which is pretty nice - but it now leaves a load of crud running all the time. You can stop this stuff by running:

$ sudo "/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/boot.sh" --stop

There's also a bunch of handy stuff in that directory....Things like vmware-rawdiskCreator can be used to create virtual disks to link to existing partitions for booting physically (i.e. those bootable by rEFIt or Boot Camp ) installed operating systems like Linux or Windows.

MacBook temperature monitor

To get temperature info from your MacBook's temperature (SMC) monitor on the command line go get InCrew's speedit kernel extension. From the Terminal go the downloaded directory and run their install program:

% sudo sh install.sh

It should say:

kextload: speedit.kext loaded successfully

To read out the temperatures from the loaded kernel extension use the systctl command:

$ sysctl kern.cpu_temp
kern.cpu_temp: 52

or to read all speedit monitored info try:

$ sysctl speedit
speedit.currentfreq: 1000
speedit.minfreq: 1000
speedit.maxfreq: 2000
speedit.temp_is_valid: 1
speedit.temp: 52

ssh key verification failed: how to check your fingerprints

So you ssh to a usual machine and get:

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@    WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED!     @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY!
Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)!
It is also possible that the RSA host key has just been changed.
The fingerprint for the RSA key sent by the remote host is
3f:d6:e7:72:9a:ab:4e:e1:21:91:3a:88:6b:78:83:ce.
Please contact your system administrator.
Add correct host key in /Users/username/.ssh/known_hosts to get rid of this message.
Offending key in /Users/username/.ssh/known_hosts:73
RSA host key for localhost has changed and you have requested strict checking.
Host key verification failed.

It's worrying.... Has someone hacked my machine (again!?). Or am I being paranoid for the 13th time this week?
This error is due to a mismatch between the RSA key that you already have stored on your machine in the /Users/username/.ssh/known_hosts file, and the one that ssh has just obtained over the network on this login attempt. Note: newer versions of ssh now store hashes of hostnames (see: ssh-keygen -H) in the known_hosts file to maintain privacy. Either the ssh server key has been changed legitimately (by you or some admin) or it's been hacked. It's also possible that someone on has set up a machine on the same IP address as the server you're trying to contact then you'll find you can't login - in which case you (or some admin) needs to track down the rogue machine.
To check the key is correct login to the machine in question - preferably on the console, but if you're connecting via ssh then you'll have to ignore the warnings above. Then you can directly print your server's key's fingerprint. There are a few types of keys: RSA, DSA, ECDSA (for SSHv2), and RSA for SSHv1. If your on a 'standard' Linux box then it's probably at: /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub (or for DSA /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub). If you're on a Mac OSX it is in: /etc/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub (or /etc/ssh_host_key.pub or /etc/ssh_host_dsa_key.pub). e.g. So on a Mac OSX box try:
% ssh-keygen -l -f /etc/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub
2048 3f:d6:e7:72:9a:ab:4e:e1:21:91:3a:88:6b:78:83:ce. /etc/ssh_host_key.pub
The key fingerprint (of the corresponding key type - in this case RSA) should match the one shown above. If these don't match then something fishy is going on....
Also just for info you can list all the fingerprints of all your stored host keys
% ssh-keygen -l -f .ssh/known_hosts
Instead you can just compare the public keys stored on your client in ~/.ssh/known_hosts with the keys on the server in /etc/ssh/ssh_host_*.pub

It is also possible that if you've upgraded your version of ssh (or altered your ssh-agent setup), and your machine has previously stored an RSA key in your ~/.ssh/known_hosts file but it is now getting an ECDSA key from the server which obviously won't match but may still be a valid key for that machine. It seems that ssh could work out this problem for itself without any lack of security but currently can lead to such warnings.

[22jan16: Updated to simplify and include ECDSA keys]

Rotten Neighbor (neighbour)

I classic site where you can look up your dodgy neighbors - Yeah that's your American ones for now - I'm sure something like this will surface this side of the water.... What with all those triffic reality shows about your neighbour from hell.

Google Sky (aka Google Universe, Google Space, Google Space, etc)

Google has announced their Google Sky extension to Google Earth - you just need to download their latest version of Google Earth. To see the sky above your current point on the earth click the Sky button or go to the 'View ' menu option. Have fun! Though I reckon Stellarium isn't bad for checking out what's up in the sky.

Getting ssh-agent going on Mac OSX

It seems irritating that OSX doesn't have an easy way to get ssh-agent running for a login session. However it can be done using launchd and a bit of scripting.

Before you start you'll need to have an /Users/username/.ssh directory (where username is your username) - or alter the scripts appropriately below. Create file /Users/username/Library/LaunchAgents/ssh-agent.plist containing:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.ssh.ssh-agent</string>
<key>OnDemand</key>
<false/>
<key>Program</key>
<string>/Users/username/.ssh/ssh-agent.sh</string>
<key>RunAtLoad </key>
<true/>
<key>ServiceDescription</key>
<string>Launch ssh-agent</string>
</dict></plist>

Then create a file /Users/username/.ssh/ssh-agent.sh containing:
#!/bin/sh
rm /Users/username/.ssh/ssh-agent.pipe
exec /usr/bin/ssh-agent -a /Users/username/.ssh/ssh-agent.pipe -d

Note: ssh-agent has to be started using -d option as launchd doesn't like processes to fork off into 'daemons'...probably why a few people don't like it.

Make the script executable:
$ chmod +x /Users/username/.ssh/ssh-agent.sh

Then ssh-agent will get started next time you login by launchd, or you can start it immediately by running:
$ launchctl start com.ssh.ssh-agent

Now you need to set the following environment variable (you can use RCEnvironment to set ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist) - probably easiest to add the following line to your /Users/username/.profile:
export SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/Users/username/.ssh/ssh-agent.pipe

You can then add your keys (assuming you've set 'em up using ssh-keygen or whatever) to the agent using:
$ ssh-add

Private searching

You don't want all your searching habits tracked then try scroogle (was black box but they evaporated) search, or if you're using Firefox check these search extensions.

Can't compile code using g2c.h (libg2c) on gcc4

I ran into this in trying to compile nettimer. If you're seeing compile (when using gcc-4.1) errors like:
/usr/include/g2c.h:21: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘integer’
Then, as suggested here, just add the missing typedefs to your code (then it _should_ work in gcc4.1):

// Typedefs to keep g2c.h happy
typedef int __g77_integer;
typedef unsigned int __g77_uinteger;
typedef long int __g77_longint;
typedef unsigned long int __g77_ulongint;

#include <g2c.h>

The alternative is just to use gcc-3.4 which apparently 'just works'.

gcc version switching

So you need something to switch between gcc versions (e.g. 3.4 and 4.1). There's not a generally accepted gcc version switcher out there. It seems that gcc-config is Gentoo specific. On Ubuntu there appears to be a package ccontrol which allows one to switch gcc versions and also control use of distcc, ccache etc. There's one catch though - it seems to bomb when I try it. Oh well - just use export CC=/usr/bin/gcc-3.4 instead.

Post number one

Okey Dokey here we go......

What happened to my nvidia driver and where did it come from anyway?

Which package does nvidia.ko come from on debian Ubuntu (7.04) - as no package claims ownership when running dkpg -L . How to I regenerate/recreate nvidia.ko ?? I get errors in dmesg: nvidia.ko not found

It is generated by the lrm subsystem - linux-restricted-modules-2.* (Note: the module creation is controlled at bootup by /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common - make sure you haven't messed that filei - the modules created by /sbin/lrm-manager into a ramfs and mounted onto /lib/modules/2.6.XX-XX-generic/volatile) - why doesn't dpkg know??? (I guess since they're dynamic dpkg would need some more dynamic DB of such files...)

The nvidia.ko, nvidia_new.ko, nvidia_legacy.ko are loaded by the shell script /sbin/lrm-video (called from /etc/modprobe.d/lrm-video) based on [dot]trigger files in /lib/linux-restricted-modules/ e.g. .nvidia_new_installed

How to enable syntax highlighting in vim on Ubuntu

Uncomment (i.e. remove " at line start) containing:
"syntax on

Using your favourite editor as root e.g:
sudo vi /etc/vim/vimrc

Where are all these 'random' shares coming from in my Windows explorer under My Network Places ???

They are automatically culled from your network neighbourhood by the 'netcrawl' functionality of explorer - see: M$ KB, though the article isn't quite correct on reg path it is actually on WindowsXP: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\WorkgroupCrawler\Shares. Also intriguingly enough Explorer stashes all previously encountered machines at: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComputerDescriptions