48K and counting!

Two weeks and a day to jump another thousand.
Music is all around :P

20,000 Days On Earth

Saw it last night, I liked it a lot, even though Cave's career it isn't at his best (IMHO) right now, and the documentary tends to focus quite a bit on his current "incarnation".
But, nevertheless, if you are a Bad Seeds fan, this one is for you.

The Worst Is Yet To Come

And of course, summer haven't even started.
It is gonna be a humongous piece of crap.

The WBR-2310 Is Dead, Long Live The WBR-2310!

Well, the D-Link WBR-2310 has died...
No matter the "trick" I pulled on it, if you can call that a trick, I did the other day, the poor little bastard passed away this morning.
WiFi, wired, you name it... Nothing delivered.
It has been working almost non stop since January 2012...
For the moment, went back to the DIR-601, which, at least so far -been using it the whole day- seems to be working Ok.

The Crap Has Begun

Close everything and pray the thing goes around us...
May the summer, which haven't actually started, ends quick.

Skype + Cinnamon: Mouse Cursor Shape Shenanigans

Cinnamon's own mouse pointer theme, accessed thru System Settings > Themes > Other settings > Mouse Pointer, it is the de facto way of setting those the way that you want it.
No matter if you edit the file:

/usr/share/icons/default/index.theme

If you fail to set the mouse pointer theme thru the Settings GUI, you are screwed.

That is why, after setting up the mouse pointer theme I like (basic-goofy-black+, of course!), I've noticed that, even tho the mouse shape was the correct ones all over the place, Skype simply didn't honoured the mouse pointer theme.
It changed it to something else, not the default, the white one, but a black version...
So, to correct that, and the theme all across the board, the way it should be, I had to edit the index.theme file mentioned above, and then logout and back in, and presto, problem solved.

UNIX for the masses

The best video I've seen on UNIX history, or at least, on part of the UNIX history.
From the Carl Sagan wanna be host (look at the jacket and the turtle neck) to the simply amazing terminals and keyboards.

Eat Or Be Eaten

Haven't posted one of these in a long while...
Still eating the same crap.

Thursday 16-10-2014

Super Dynamic G WiFi Spot

Last night my house WiFi router (a D-Link WBR-2310) decided to stop working.
So, connected to it via Ethernet cable everything seemed to work A Ok, just the WiFi went South.
Switched the Super G Mode to Dynamic With Turbo, and presto, the WiFi popped to life and has been working great ever since...

The xorg.conf (bug) remains the same

Strange thing I've noticed after Monday's upgrade to LM17, the NVIDIA bug (or is it a Thinkpad one? Not sure) that prevents adjusting the brightness still goes on...
I've been dragging that one since 2011, as I see on previous posts on the same problem (used the exact same xorg.conf file copied and pasted, from the old post to fix things up on the lappie)

• Usul's xorg.conf

• Usul's xorg.conf, another go... 

47K and counting!

And the thousands keep piling up and up and up...

Updating LM17 & Encryption FUBAR

A holiday around here, summer is coming, winter is dead.
Ideal time to upgrade Linux Mint on the T410, from LM13 to LM17, both the Cinnamon edition.

Of course, the damn lappie gave a "fan error" message, so I had to disassembly it force a bit of motion onto the god damn fan.

While doing so, and before closing it up, tested the whole thing... It runs, as the picture shows.

After that, a normal installation on the 128 GB SSD HD, updates plus all the shit I normally use on my boxes...

Only problem, and the first time I had one of these, was that after finishing the installation, I've changed my password, as I always do, but, somehow the sync between the password file and the encryption key of my $HOME lost sync, so I wasn't able to login via X Window/ Desktop, after I type my username/ password, and a 15/20 seconds delay, I got the error message:

Could not update ICEauthority file

So, I've tried login in thru a virtual console, no problem there, but got a warning message:

Signature not found in user keyring

If then I type:

ecryptfs-mount-private

Typing my old password, BTW... And then switch back to the X Window login console, I was albe to login without any problem at all.
But it was a major PITA.
Solution, reboot then switch to a virtual console and type:

ecryptfs-rewrap-passphrase /home/.ecryptfs/$USER/.ecryptfs/wrapped-passphrase

It'll ask the old password, and then new (the actual you are using!!!) twice.
After that, everything went A Ok.

Saturday 11-10-2014

MDM configuration (linuxmint theme)

Another instalment of the MDM customization.
Specifically on the Linux Mint theme (/usr/share/mdm/themes/linuxmint/), which IMHO, is the best one.
As I already posted before, I hate, truly hate, when the wallpaper I'm using is not globally set, that is, when there is a different wallpaper on the login screen than the one I use on my own session.
So, this is what I'm doing:

cd /usr/share/mdm/themes/linuxmint/

And make a backup of the original file:

sudo mv  background.jpg background.jpg.ORIG

And then link to the image you want:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/backgrounds/linuxmint-qiana/mattbuck007_8263284303.jpg\
background.jpg

The current Linux Mint desktop

Couldn't stand the previous one... It was cool, flat, squarish & modern, but a bit too warm for my taste.
Had to move to something more traditional.
And again, the Moka icons, (as well as Faba, Faba Colors & Faba Mono Icons) save the day.

Kernel Upgrade FUBAR

There is always a first time...
Even for a kernel panic...
Ever since I administer Linux boxes, about a decade ago, I've never had a critical kernel panic (with a new kernel, upon rebooting, on a remote server).
So, this have been a pretty rough days, to say the least.
Luckily, this wasn't a production box, and luckily, the hosting company (an Argentine one) offers bundled with the server, DRAC access to it.
And here is where the problems started.
After the reboot, remotely via SSH, and seeing that the server did not come back, opened ticket requesting that support to take a look at it, hoping for the pretty obvious, the tech gut will se the kernel crash upon booting, reboot the server and select another kernel from the GRUB menu and be done with.
Error.
Tech support doesn't do that, meaning that they reboot, they do take a look, but they don't act... Go figure.
So they report back that there is a problem with the kernel, and that they don't do shit about that, because it is something not typical, and that I should contact the sales exec that we have assigned, so they can get another tech guy who will take care of this...
Needless to say, this was ridiculous.
Second stop, using DRAC to access the console, and then select another kernel and finish this crap.
Thing is, in order to get to the DRAC, I have to connect to a VPN, using a Windows only client, and then access a webfront.
So I fire up the Windows 7 install on the mighty T43, and using Internet Explore, connected to the DRAC and then the console.
First problem, once connected, I couldn't type shit, only use the built-in macros I've been able to stop the GRUB menu, but I wasn't able to select a kernel using only the macros.
Second problem, while Googling for this error (not atypical) I got locked out of the DRAC's webfront.
No matter what I wasn't able to login.
Another ticket with support follows...
It turns out that it is mandatory to use Internet Explorer 10, I was using 9 with no problem, and all of the sudden, you have to upgrade...
There is no chance in hell I could upgrade to Internet Explorer 10 without installing Service Pack 1.
So, it was time to test Chrome.
The thing worked A Ok, I was able to connect to the webfront, but the console wasn't working, at all.
Instead of executing the Java applet, it simply d'loaded the script.
Solution, install Java, and try again.
Same error, after more Googling, and more tests, the solution!
Execute, open, the downloaded script with javaws.
Presto, the console worked perfectly, even the keyboard at first try.
Selected another kernel, booted with it and the rest is (happy) history.

An exhausting week...

Since Friday September the 26th things have been tough.
Yes, the damn Shellshock...
I guess I haven't updated/ patched as fast and as much in my entire life...
Perhaps, maybe the only thing that compares with the Shellshock thing has been the OpenSSL disaster earlier this year, but even that one didn't have that many updates pushed as Shellshock.