NNU Computer Whiz

Run OS X in Linux with qemu

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:57:13 +0000

It is possible without too much difficulty to get OS X Leopard running as a guest in a virtual machine with Linux as the host without too much difficulty. It is illegal as far as I know unless you have Linux running on real Apple hardware and don’t want to reboot just to use OS X but if you’re in this boat you can also use Virtual Box which officially supports OSX guests on Apple hardware. If you don’t have Apple hardware you’re only option is qemu and now it’s possible with having to manually patch qemu.

Configuration:

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx
Qemu 0.12.3
AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 20 Processor
4GB Ram
iPC OSx86 10.5.6 Universal PPF (Final)

Requirements:

An ISO of OS X

Recent version of Qemu.

A processor with virtualization technology, AMD-V or Intel VT-x capable. I’m not sure if it is technically required but it certainly helps.

Lots of Ram and disk space.

Getting OSX 10.5.6 Leopard:

iPC is one of many “distributions” of OS X for non-Apple computers. Check the iPC site for more information on using it. You won’t find any download there though, you’ll have to find a more creative source.

Installation:

First create an image file to hold the installation.

$ qemu-img create osx.img 20GB

This creates a 20 GB image file osx.img in raw format. Specify more GBs if you will want more space but I wouldn’t do any less then 10GB.

Start Qemu with the new image file and your installation ISO.

qemu-system-x86_64 -hda osx.img -vga std -m 2048 -soundhw ac97 -cdrom iPC\ OSx86\ 10.5.6\ Universal\ PPF5\ \(Final\).iso  -boot d

This will start qemu in 64 bit mode. “-hda osx.img” should be the name of the image file you created above. “-cdrom iPC\ OSx86\ 10.5.6\ Universal\ PPF5\ $Final$.iso” should be the full path to your installation iso. “-m 2048″ is how many megabytes of memory you want to make available to the system. “-soundhw ac97″ is used to emulate the ac97 sound card which is supported by OSX. “-boot d” is used to tell the system to boot of the cdrom first.

If all goes well you should see this message:

Pressing any kill should bring up the language selection menu:

If you don’t and it just stalls at the Apple logo. Try using F8 and then -v to startup with diagnostic messages. That might give you some clues as to what’s going on.

Click next and continue. Then accept the software agreement. Then it asks, “Where do you want to install Mac OS X?” and gives you a blank list of possible installation locations. This is because the image file has not yet been formated. Choose “Utilities” from the top and “Disk Utility”.

Select “QEMU HARDDISK”, choose “erase” from the top and click the “erase” button twice.

The disk image is now formatted so close the Disk Utility. You should not have a destination avaliable to install OS X too. Select it and click “continue”. It is very important that you customize the installation on the next screen so you can install the proper drivers.

It’s very important that you select the 9.5.0 Voodoo Kernel or you will be unable to boot your new system. You will need the LegacyAppleIntelPIIXATA under chipset drivers or your hard drive will not work.

For audio drivers select AC97 Audio which is under Other Audio Drivers. For Ethernet select PCGENRTL8139. If you want to try to get usb to work you will need the Patched USB drivers. Also the responsiveness of the mouse and keyboard can be improved by selecting the PS/2 Keyboard FIX under the fixes section.

Click “Done” and “Install”. Then in about 20 minutes you should have a working OS X installation.

Upon reboot you get a welcome screen asking for the region your in. The rest of the setup is pretty straight forward. You don’t have to register with Apple. Be sure to choose DHCP for network setup. Upon completion you’ll see the beautiful Leopard desktop.

Getting Networking to work

Networking in OS X on qemu has been rather tricky to do but following these directions makes it pretty simple. Close QEMU by shutting down OS X. Modify the qemu command to this:

qemu-system-x86_64 -hda osx.img -vga std -m 2048 -net nic,model=rtl8139 -net user  -no-kvm-irqchip -smb $HOME -soundhw ac97

The magic here is the “-no-kvm-irqchip” which disables a certain accelleration function that causes problems with networking being very slow in OS X. “model=rtl8139″ is chosen because that’s what we selected during installation. “-smb $HOME” is used to allow file transfers between the host and guest operating system.
To share files open finder. Choose Connect to Server… from the “go” menu. Enter “smb://10.0.2.2” in the server address. Choose “Connect as Guest”. Choose a volume and then it should mount it on the left side of the finder.

Getting Sound

If sound doesn’t work try installing the following updated driver.
Qemu ICH AC97 Audio Driver

Other Tweaks

If you want to take advantage multiple cores you can use the option “-smp 3″ which tells qemu to make 3 cores available to the guest machine.

Known Issues

Occasionally the system crashes. It seems to happen most often when I’m downloading large files such as Xcode.

Serial Barcode Scanner in Linux

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:45:21 +0000

I had a very difficult time finding a way to get a simple serial barcode scanner to work in Linux. USB barcode scanners are a cinch because they are basically like usb keyboards. However with a serial device there has to be something to direct the input from /dev/ttyS0 to the keyboard buffer.

I knew my scanner was working fine because cat /dev/ttyS0 would output the barcode I scanned. I knew I needed a way to direct the output to the keyboard but I didn’t want to write the little program to do it, so I searched and searched and searched. After trying a few outdated programs I finally found Softwedge. It’s very simple and easy to compile but if you don’t even want to go that far there is deb files for 32 bit and 64 bit Debian/Ubuntu.

Just run:

softwedge -c /dev/ttyWhatever

to start capturing all your barcodes from your barcode scanner. It worke perfectly on an old IBM Surepos system.

Hopefully this will help someone who is looking to do the same thing.

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Downloads Disappear

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:48:17 +0000

Do files you download disappear before you ever get a chance to open them? This can happen in Internet Explorer 6, 7, and 8 as well as all versions of Firefox.

Downloads keep Disappearing?

Usually it is the result of an improperly installed Anti-virus program. Often it is AVG that was not entirely uninstalled. What happens is whenever the browser downloads a file once it is finished it runs the systems Anti-virus program to scan the file. If the program is not working properly the browser fails to run it and thinks something screwy is going on so it deletes the file.

Clean up Anti-Virus programs

Usually this can be fix by running the clean up tool for your anti virus product. For AVG 8 or 9 run AVG Remover . For Norton run the Norton Removal tool . For McAfee run McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool. Once the clean up is done your downloads should work fine. If not keep reading.

How to disable virus scanning of downloads in Firefox

Usually this is only necessary if FireFox stalls at “Scanning for Viruses.” Go to about:config then search for “scanWhenDone“. Click on it so it says false. Your downloads should now work fine.

Unfortunately there really is no way to disable scanning for IE so you might have to reinstall windows if things are really screwed up.

Install Adobe Flash Player 10.1

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:13:20 +0000

Flash Player 10.1 beta is out and it makes huge performance improvements over 10. Windows users get the use of graphics acceleration which drastically reduces CPU usage when watching videos and playing games. Linux and Mac version also have a speed increase. In one benchmark on my Linux system my score doubled over 10. For the most part it’s pretty stable so if you’re tired of slow flash performance I’d recommend you update. You can download it from Adobe Labs.

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The Wizard Vs the Basty

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:32:39 +0000

This is a little video my sister made. It is pretty weird but pretty funny. She was complaining it was not getting enough views so I put it here for her.

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11 Good WordPress Plugins

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:29:58 +0000

I just updated my site to use wordpress instead of Etomite and I must say it’s a huge improvement. WordPress has such a large database of plugins you can make it do just about anything you can think of. If you are setting up a wordpress blog I’ll share my list of plugins so you won’t have to do the research to find the good ones:

All in One SEO Pack – Great SEO plugin does just about everything automatically but will let you tune things for those that want complete control.
Custom Page Extensions – I used this to add the “.html” extension to my pages to preserve the same urls I used with Etomite.
Exclude Pages from Navigation – This plugin lets you specify pages that don’t appear in the top navigation. Useful because I needed to migrate several pages but didn’t want them to clutter up my top navigation.
Google Analyticator – Quickly add Google Analytics code to the site. Easy to setup.
Google XML Sitemaps – Creates a site map. Easy as clicking install.
NoFollow Free – Removes the nofollow attribute from the link backs in comments. Encourages people to comment on your blog.
Post-to-Post Links II – easily link pages and posts together. Truthfully this should be built into WordPress.
Quick Adsense – Quickly add adsense to your blog posts and in the sidebar. I chose this one because it’s easy and it actually randomly chooses the ad format so people are less prone to ad blindness.
Really Simple Sitemap – Creates an HTML sitemap so people can easily see your whole site.
Sociable – Adds the share javascript to the bottom of each post so people can easily share your blog on social media.
Yet Another Related Posts Plugin – A good plugin that adds links to related post after each post so your visitors will be more likely to read more of your blog.

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What to do with a cursed computer

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:48:04 +0000

What to do with a cursed computer

There’s all kinds of fun things broken computers are good for. Below is what I would consider the top 10:

Throw the computer off of a high point. At least 3 or 4 stories high would be good. I’ve done this before and it tends to be anti-climatic. If you choose on doing this be sure you’re the one throwing it, it’s more fun that way.
Sell you computer on ebay. If you have a recent computer this might be viable option. There are several people that sell their computers “as-is” and make a small amount of change.
Plug your computer’s power connector in backwards and let the sparks fly. This is much easier to do with older computers like 386′s than the new models. With old atx style motherboards you can switch the two power connectors on the motherboard and let the system fry itself. Some 486′s even let you plug the CPU in incorrectly which made a fun amount of smoke. With new computer’s one can try overclocking them to extreme levels and then removing the heatsink to provide a similar effect.
Burn it’s body, throw the bones through a wood chipper, mix it with cement and throw it in the ocean or a nearby lake.
Leave it in your unlocked car and hope someone takes it. Better yet, find someone else’s unlocked car and leave it there.
Do your civic duty and take it to a computer recycling center. Really, they do exist try looking in the phone book.
Decorate your apartment with it’s dead parts or better yet use them for body piercings.
Just take it out back and shoot it. Or go lethal on it Office Space style.
Donate it to a charity. You’ll have a better chance of them accepting it if you just leave it at their doorstep. Don’t even think about taking it off your taxes.
Have a white elephant party.
Keep it on your desk and use it as a perpetual excuse why you can’t do things like, your homework, the dishes and paying bills.

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Simple Computer

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:54:09 +0000

Simple Computer

If your are looking for a computer for someone you know without all the
complicated bells and whistles that come with most computers, then you
have come to the right place.

Here you will find the results of my Spring research project. A simple
computer that anybody could use, to browse the Internet, check e-mail,
manage pictures or write documents. Take a look at the below
screenshots to see how simple it really is:

The system is well suited for those elderly folks you know that still
want to be a part of the information age but don’t want spend a lot of
time learning how to use a computer.

Download and Installation

There are currently two recommended ways of using the simple computer.
One is through a Virtual Machine and the other is by downloading a
regular installation ISO. Using a virtual machine you can try out
Simple Computer within your current operating system. If you download
the ISO by default it erases your entire hard drive so it would destroy
your current operating system. Choose the installation system you
prefere for more information:

Installing with a virtual machine image

You will need:

The virtual image simple-computer-R1.zip
The VirtualBox from virtualbox.org

First download and extract the virtual machine image. Put
it in a
folder of it’s own like c:/simple computer/simple-computer.vid
Then
download and install virtual box. It’s a rather straight forward
process.
Once VirtualBox is installed start VboxManager which is
found on the start menu.
Then click new to create a new virtual machine for the
simple computer.
Enter “Simple Computer” for it’s name and select Linux
2.6.
Use the slider bar to select how much RAM you wish to use.
128Mb is good enough but if your machine has less than 512Mb of
physical RAM I would use 64Mb
Click “Existing” when prompted for a hard drive image
Click “Add” when the Virtual Disk Manager appears. And then
find and open the virtual disk image you downloaded. (eg c:/simple
computer/simple-computer.vdi) Be sure to extract it first. (it can have
a .zip)
Select the image you just added and click “Next” Click
Finished and you’re done setting up the virtual machine.
Click “Start” and Enjoy.

Installation Guide using ISO image

Click the link below to download the ISO CD-ROM Image:
simple-computer.iso

To use the ISO it must first be burned to a blank CD. This can be done
many different ways but in most operating systems it’s as simple as
right-clicking the file and choosing burn to CD.
Specific instructions can be found at the how
to burn a iso image page.

Once the CD is created installing the installing the simple computer is
as easy as placing the CD in your tray and configuring your BIOS to
boot of the CD-ROM. This will start the Debian installer. When greeted
with the installation screen simply pressing ENTER will start the
installation process. From then on everything is automated except the
confirmation to format your hard drive.

When the installation is complete you’re ready to use the simple
computer.

If you wish to tinker with any of the internals you’ll need
to know the root password which is r00tme.
Enjoy!

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Day 1 of Job Hunt

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:52:42 +0000

Day 1, Feb 18.

Yesterday I update my resume on Monster and Dice and wouldn’t you know it today I got an e-mail from a recruiter. Senior System Administrator needed in Cambridge, MA! Heck yes, I’m interested. Job description looks good http://www.maxhire.net/cp/JobPrintPreview.aspx?jobid=407 Basically keep a bunch of Debian servers running for a research group. I can do that. I don’t exactly have 5 years experience but I think it’s ok since the recruiter contacted me. I replied with my resume and they said they sent it on up the chain for review, nice.

Next up HP, a local tech company for me which I just noticed has several internships on their job board. Since I still have 3 credits left to go to complete my BS they are still fair game for me. I applied for all 8 of them. All of them are local for me so I feel as I have a pretty good chance. HP’s job site is pretty nice it lets you create a profile save your resume and everything and then submit it as many times as you want to. Unfortunately they have this tendency to repeat the same job over and over again once for each vacancy it seems. There’s an EDS call center I used to work at and there’s about 10 vacancies all for the same job and it’s repeated on the job list 10 times. Rather inconvenient.

Next Google. Everyone wants to work there and for good reason. I’ve applied to Google before but never got past the phone interview. But that was then this is now and I’ve learned all sorts of things that will impress their socks. I applied for two jobs there an intership job and an recent grad job. Not sure if that was a good idea but I though it wouldn’t hurt to do both.

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Finding Device Drivers

admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:50:46 +0000

Device Driver Installation Guide

Windows in notorious for needing Device drivers for each and every piece of hardware a system has. Sometime it can use generic drivers but to get the most out of your hardware you need the driver that were written by the hardware manufacturer.

If you are lucky you know the model number of the device you need a driver for and you know the manufacturer. If this is the can you can usually go to the manufacturer’s website and find the drivers in the support section. A good example would be an HP Printer. HP printers always have their model number printed on the outside and HP’s website is pretty easy to navigate. Just go to HP.com and click on the “Software and Driver Downloads” link near the bottom left, than enter your model number (let’s say you have a deskjet 932c. A list of search results will come up, click on Deskject 932c, select your operating system and then click the file you want to download. In this case we will probably want the full feature driver. That’s all you have to do, installation should be as simple as running the executable.

Unfortunately, things aren’t always that easy. Sometimes you’re not sure what the model number is, or who the manufacturer is. If this is the case I have some tips that will help you find the right driver.

Finding the manufacturer

In a perfect world this will always be printed clearly on the piece of hardware. But we don’t live in a perfect world, Adam sinned and now manufacturers don’t want to claim their hardware. For addon cards such as a PCI modem or a PCI ethernet card, it is usually possible to look at the main chip on the card to determine the manufacturer. Sometimes the chip doesn’t tell you the manufacturer but it tells you what chipset the card uses. This can actually be more useful. For instance there are many manufacturers of video cards that use the Nvidia chipset but you can download a driver that will work with all those video cards. Let’s look at a few examples. I have a sound card that has one large chip on it. The first line has the line ENSONIQ. It is pretty obvious that this is the manufacture because it has the little tm symbol by the word. In this the model number is directly below it, ES1370. Let’s look at another example, I have a network card that has one main chip on it. The chip has a sticker covering it, fortunately it is pretty easy to peel off. Under the sticker I see a logo that means nothing to me and several lines of what looks like random alphanumeric characters. The first line is RTL8029AS. If you googled this number you would quickly discover that it is the name of a chipset made by Realtek, specifically RTL8029, Finding the drivers would be easy once you know this.

Searching the Internet for your driver

Ok, so hopefully you’ve determined your manufacturer by now, now you need to find the driver on the Internet. The best place to find the driver is your manufacture’s website. Type the manufacture’s name into google and you’ll be able to find them pretty quick. But what if the manufacturer is out of business, or they don’t support the hardware anymore? There is hope. If you go to Driverguide.com you can find almost any driver for every device ever made. Free registration is required but it is well worth the 2 minutes that it takes. I have used driverguide for finding tons of different drivers, it is an invaluable resource. In addition to drivers it has a comprehensive list of manufacturers and their websites!

Installing the driver

Most drivers come in zip format so you will need a program such as Winzip to open them, unless you have windows xp which has built in support for reading zip files. (Although it is really slow.) Once you get the file extracted from the zip file (I usually put them in C:\drivers) look for an exe file like setup.exe or install.exe. If it has one run it. Most newer driver come with an auto installation program like this that installs the driver for. If it doesn’t or if it fails to automatically install we’ll have to do it manually. Go to the control panel and click on the “System” icon. Click on the Hardware tab than click Device Manager. You should see a yellow exclamation mark by the device that needs a driver. Double click the device then click reinstall driver. A wizard will start up. Select specify location then enter C:\driver (or where your driver is located) the wizard should find the driver and install the necessary files. If it doesn’t you’ve probably downloaded the wrong driver.

More help on finding the model number

If the device is integrated in the motherboard it is a bit more challenging. Most motherboard have a model listed on them and you can sometimes go to the motherboard manufacturer’s website to download the driver. Motherboards need many different drivers. Most require a sound card driver, a video card driver, and maybe a VGA driver and IDE driver. You’re computer will work fine with out any of these driver but if you want sound you will need to find the sound card driver. That can usually be found on the manufacturer’s website or Driverguide. If your motherboard does not have it’s manufacturer printed on it, it may be possible to determine the manufacturer by looking at the post screen when your computer boots up.

Still can’t find the model?

You probably should be using Linux anyway, but if you want to find out your model number you can boot off of a Linux boot disk such as Damn Small Linux open a terminal and type “lspci” (or lsusb if you have a usb device). You will receive output like the following:

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
0000:00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 81)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01)
0000:00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 01)
0000:02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev 01)
0000:02:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4309 802.11a/b/g (rev 03)
0000:02:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1510 PC card Cardbus Controller

That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know but lets say for example I wanted to know the model of the network card on my motherboard I can look at this list and see that it is a Broadcom BCM4401. I hope you have found this Windows Driver installation Guide helpful. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any positive or negative feedback.

SL-modem in Linux