FreeBSD 10.2 - Accessing the DVD drive

16 Oct 2015

v 0.2

 

One thing I've found with the Internet - the information you seek is out there, it just requires patience to find it.  So it is with the use of the DVD drive on your FreeBSD installation.  I have a desktop FreeBSD 10.2 installation and until today have not really been able to use the DVD drive.  I knew it was largely a matter of permissions, and had been playing with the " fstab " file to see if I could remedy that.

 

Playing with the " fstab " file is NOT the way to use the DVD.

 

Edit these files to add these lines, assuming your DVD is device cd0:

rc.conf

hald_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"

devfs.conf

# Commonly used by many ports

link    cd0    cdrom

link    cd0    dvd

# permissions to allow cd use by normal user

perm    /dev/cd0    0666

perm    /dev/xpt0    0666

perm    /dev/pass0    0666

 

 

I have Gnome as my desktop, and as soon as I did this .. well ... 

Violas, I had a string section.

.......... later

Linux, BSD Unix - Some of what I've Learned.

v0.3

04 Oct 15

You have a superseded desktop or laptop gathering dust.  Perhaps you have an itch, or you have a somewhat energetic and inquisitive young one who you would love to see entertained.

First off, if you just want to have a desktop with all the bells and whistles provided, then Linux Mint or Ubuntu are for you.

http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

If, however you want to dig a bit deeper then I have a story for you.  Navigating the Linux and BSD maze is a little like an adventure game, full of treading in cow-pats and "oh-wow" moments - and if you are caught off guard, full of career opportunities.

Before I start though, go to Wikipedia and look at the "Unix", "Linux", "Debian", "Slackware" and "FreeBSD"pages.  Having a look at "Distrowatch" wouldn't hurt either...

 So, what is the difference?  Which one to choose?  Here are a few random thoughts I have jotted down that you might find useful.

BSD and Linux

The first thing is that the "BSD" systems are direct descendants of the original Bell Labs UNIX.  If you want to run a Unix system, then choose one of these.  BSD Unicies are developed by a dedicated team to ensure everything works together.  Linux or more correctly GNU / Linux is a  collection of software pieces that together approximates a Unix-like system.  Whilst a person experienced in Linux would find a BSD system familiar, there are distinct differences.

Debian and Slackware

For many years, I ran both Debian and Slackware on various machines at home.  They are each excellent Linux distributions being the two oldest, and the basis for so many other Linux flavours.  One significant thing is that support for desktop features is far stronger in Linux than BSD.  Skype and Flash are two examples, although that "support" is not exactly strong.

Slackware is a KDE desktop-centric distro with no native support for Gnome or dependency checking.  It needs some tweaking of text configuration files - somewhat like Unix.  Debian is Gnome-centric and has excellent administrative tools with extensive dependency checking.

PC-BSD and FreeBSD

Even though I have a lot of respect for these Linux flavours, I now use FreeBSD - so how did that come about?

I moved from Slackware to Debian to get the admin tools and their integrated development cycle, but then gradually I started peeking at PC-BSD for its easy intallation and powerful ZFS file system.  Then Linux changed with many distros going for a new initialisation system called "systemd" which did concern me a little.  I thought of going back to Slackware but then tried PC-BSD for a bit and fell in love with Jails and ZFS.

Two things destroyed my PC-BSD experience.  Upgrades between versions were problematical, though I suspect that has been largely fixed.  The real killer was that it started mis-behaving after a graphic card replacement and then just plain refused to install.  FreeBSD installed fine, which was puzzling since PC-BSD is simply FreeBSD with lovely desktop polish and ease-of-use.

FreeBSD

Why do I like FreeBSD?

Unlike Linux, FreeBSD has a simple base installation.  It is a complete text environment with the Kernel and Userland (utilities) to allow you to use it as a C development platform.

All packages added by you the user are added under " /usr/local ".  I love this for two reasons.

• This allows sensible partitioning which I have used on an Asus eeepc to install a graphical environment.
• Updates are easy to understand and perform.  "freebsd-update" updates the base system and "pkg update" updates the user installed packages.

In order to make the most of the power of FreeBSD then the 64 bit version is preferred as the ZFS file system is not as stable on the 32 bit version and so the standard UFS file system is preferred on 32 bit.

ZFS - what is that?  Magic.  Pure Magic.

And for "Steak Knives" you get Jails.  A jail is a type of virtualisation with shared resources - those of you who know about jails will cringe at this but to get the idea across, that will do.

Don't expect to be up and running with FreeBSD in an instant.  Do some reading and watch some Youtube videos.  It is not hard to configure (there are two really important config files - /boot/loader.conf and /etc/rc.conf) and once you get the "zen" of it all it flows easily.

I really like FreeBSD for its stability and consistency - the more I use it the more I love it.



Later ...

Debian, PulseAudio and Skype

20 June 2014

v0.2

As I said in my previous post, I've upgraded my Father's computer to Debian Jessie, and in the process had a few problems with desktops, Skype and Audio (btw pulseaudio and Skype are also a problem in Wheezy).  I found many people having a problem getting sound on Skype and it was to do with PulseAudio.

However

Some research and thinking has somewhat cleared the mists for me.  PulseAudio presents itself as .. itself to sound device settings, rather than the individual device.  For example, you cannot tell which microphone you have selected in Skype when using PulseAudio.  Initially I found that Gnome 3 was the only desktop that enabled you to select the microphone input device and all was well.

But

Checking in the Debian package repository, there are several PulseAudio controllers, one of which is the PulseAudio System Tray .. pasystray.  THIS application lets you do the selections and it retains the selection across reboots, though only on the same desktop.  I've only tried it on lxde so far and have it as a startup application which appears as a dark speaker icon in the taskbar.  I'd suggest that it is just a matter of adapting it to whichever desktop environment you wish to use ....


Later....

Dad's Debian Install

June 18 2014

v 0.2

Of Windows, Skype and Printers

My Father has had a Pentium 4 3.2 gig IBM computer for a few years now.  It has 1 gig of memory and came with Windows XP installed.  Of course he never did software updates and it has not helped that I live on the opposite side of the Continent to him so I have forever been reminding him that Windows XP is the devil and that it will bit him if he is not careful.  I've had limited success training him NOT to use it for sensitive work.  My preferred option is for him to update, however he is adamant that this machine is fine and he does not want a new piece of hardware.

Well about a year ago, I installed Debian Wheezy in a dual-boot configuration and eventually convinced him to at least only do his banking and other critical work using Linux.  It has been unfortunate that Skype has not been functioning - no microphone detection and I was unable to help fix the problem, so he used Skype from the Windows side.  The other major problem was the old Epson printer / scanner just wouldn't speak to Linux.  It said it had installed, but just refused to function.

I've been visiting for the last week and one of the tasks I set myself was to get him set up safely so that he'd be less tempted to use Windows XP - he finally realised there were no more security updates, however like most people just does not understand how he can be badly burnt by malware.  The two major things I needed to do were to get Skype functioning and the Printer / Scanner on-line.

My starting point was Debian 7 Wheezy with Gnome 3.4 classic.  (I find this a very pleasing setup by the way ... elegant and fast)

Skype

When first sitting down to use Skype on Wheezy, I found everything worked except the microphone (combined with a logitech webcam which WAS detected).  Skype was at version 4.2 for me.  When I checked the sound options, I found that pulseaudio was the only microphone option I had.  I googled and found various recommendations for configuration file edits, but none worked.  I subsequently found that there is a bug in Skype that needs these edits, however this did not work for me.

Of course there was a simple fix.  The Gnome 3 settings have a "sound" icon where you can select the input device.  VICTORY! Gnome is the only desktop / manager that I've found that allows you to do this and Skype has ONLY worked for me in Gnome 3.

Printer / Scanner

I figured I'd just go and replace his old printer.  They are cheap and much improved on a few years ago.  I figured on an HP 8600 which I have found to be really great - particularly for scanning where you can scan double sided multiple sheets into a pdf file.  You can also save the scans/pdf to a memory card/stick, which is particularly simple.  This was not to be and I arrived home with an HP Deskjet 1510 having purchased it for the princely sum of $28.  "Nothing can go wrong now!"

Why did I go for an HP?  There is a linux support package called HPLIP that I have found makes integrating HP printers a breeze.  I simply went with what I know.

But of course there is a catch.  The version of HPLIP with Wheezy is too old for this printer.  Backports?  Nope.  I DID get the printer installed with the Gnome 3 setup though and it worked like a bought one.  The scanner though was not detected.  Sigh.

Distribution Upgrade

After some thought and looking at the HP support site, I thought that maybe it was time to bite the bullet and put the next Debian version Jessie (current testing branch) on and go from there.  This was more than I'd intended, but I figured I was probably going to have to do it eventually.  After backing up the files in the appropriate directories, I thought I'd give the in-place upgrade a whirl.  It was only partially successful and in retrospect I probably should have un-installed all but essential packages before progressing, however I took it as part of the learning experience.

Upgrading with Jessie DVD / CD ... 64 / 32

As luck would have it, I had a Jessie DVD with me and thought that would be perfect to use to upgrade, so off I went blowing away the old clagged installation.  Everything was going smoothly as I've found Debian installs generally go when one part of the installing packages caught my eye.  I was installing an amd64 Debian onto an i386 machine!!!  Bother.  But .... why was it installing then?  My initial urge to cancel and work out another plan gave way to curiosity so I let the install complete, reboot, and ... well .... well.... it works beautifully.  I had a smoothly working 64 bit Debian install on a Pentium 4 machine.  I'm left wondering if this was owing to the Debian "multiarch" characteristics I've read about or if the chip was secretly 64 bit.  Installing Skype proved a challenge however achievable (skype is only 32 bit and needs 32 bit support activated in 64 bit Debian), although the dependencies became too much of a bother for me so .. once again I decided to install it properly with a 32 bit version.  I downloaded and burnt a 32 bit Netinstall CD on another machine and tried again.

In trying to get both the HP printer/scanner and Skype working on the setup, I was getting driven nuts as things just weren't working.  After a few hours and somewhat dejected after trying various desktops I gave up for the evening.  Not happy.  (I subsequently found I was easily able to sort things after a night of my brain mulling over the problems).

Final Configuration

Whilst the default desktop for Debian Jessie is now Xfce, I have found that the ONLY desktop that conveniently does what I want this machine to do is Gnome 3 (3.8).  I did try putting some icons on the desktop for home and trash etc, however this killed the wallpaper, so I went back to the default settings.

Of course, how do you install Gnome3?  You can look in "Synaptic" however using the command line, it is simply:

# aptitude install gnome

Here is what I have and I am quite happy with it - it took a while to discover however there is nothing difficult about my setup:

Debian Jessie 3.8
GDM3 login manager
HPLIP and HPLIP GUI installed
HPLIP GUI made visible using the Main Menu editor
Skype works fine with the microphone selected in the Gnome Settings.
Printer installed
Scanner works fine - detected by scanning programs.


It works.
I am happy.

Debian Wheezy - Virtualbox Shared Folders

v 0.2

8th Jun 2013

One thing I've never found very satisfactory is the method of organising shared folders between a Linux guest and the Host systems in Virtualbox.  The instructions I've read have never seen to be satisfactory.  Until now.  In this example, I'll use a Windows host and a Debian Wheezy guest system, however it works exactly the same on my Macbook for OSX.

• First, add a shared folder to the Virtualbox manager for the VM.  I added "C:/Users/geoff/share" .  Make sure "automount" and "make permanent" are ticked and "read only" NOT ticked for bi-directional sharing.
• Within the Wheezy guest, install the package " gnome-system-tools ".  This gives you additional administration tools, such as group management.
• Open "Applications | System tools | Administration | Users and Groups"
• Manage Groups
• Scroll down till you find the group " vboxsf "
• Highlight it and click "Properties"
• You will see a list of usernames in the box "Group Members" - tick the users you wish to be able to use the shared folder.  Authenticate the action with the root password.
• Close the programs and Reboot.
• Log in, and open Nautilus - navigate to the " /Media " directory.  You will see a directory named (in my case)  " sf_share ".  (the directory is always named " sf_ ...... " ) .  Any file you now place in that directory in Host, will be shown when you open the directory in Guest.

Done!!


Later.

PC-BSD 9.1 - An Initial Look, Packages and Jails

 v 0.2

29 Jan 13

I think I've found the system I want to use on my computers, and the basis for servers.  The more I look into what I can do with PC-BSD, the more I like it.   This time, I'm having an initial look around my PC-BSD installation, and then talking about a few issues and concepts I've had to get my head around.  Don't forget, of course, to refer to the PC-BSD forumns, wiki and handbook.  I've found the handbook very helpful, though wrong in the case of the Grub2 bootloader.

After logging in, and looking at your preferred desktop (mine is Gnome2 in this case) it is time to see just what we have been able to install.

• First place for me to look is in the "Internet" menu.  Depending on your initial selections, you will have up to four web browsers installed, email client, graphical "wget", newsreader, rss aggregator and a bittorrent application.  Firing up Konqueror and going to Youtube, you find that the Adobe Flash plugin is already there and that playing of videos and sound works well.  I plugged in USB headsets and they worked fine.  There are a number of tools in the "Development" menu, the Education section has the normal KDE applications, including the KStars planetarium and the Marble virtual globe.  The Games section has an extensive array of different games, even some Strategy games.  There are several more extensive games available for download.
• Graphics has an extensive suite of tools, from Painting, Scanning, Viewing, Photo Albums and up to Panorama and the Hugin 360 deg immersive Panorama maker.
• Multimedia covers Audio and Video players, an audio recorder and Burners.
• The Office section has the Calligra suite, the KDE PIM, email, calendar, pdf viewers, Planning and many more.

All I can say, is explore and have fun.  There is a lot of stuff here.


Flash Blue

The Adobe Flash plug-in has a known issue in web browsers.  We have an attack of the Smurfs.  People are BLUE!!!  Turns out that this is a "feature" of this Flash plugin when combined with the nVidia 3d acceleration.  Right click on the video, go to "Settings" and uncheck the hardware acceleration box.  Fixed!!


PBI - the Push Button Installer

As you may, or may not know, the traditional BSD package management is via "Ports" where you download the source and compile it on your system.  For the average user, this can be a little challenging - certainly until you understand the process.  Instead, PC-BSD has developed a system whereby installing packages onto the system is more in line with what you would expect if you used a Windows system.  AppCafe allows you to scan the contents of a "PBI" repository and then install what you want with the click of a button.

So, how do you make a "PBI" ? .. The EasyPBI application allows you to create a "PBI" package from a "Port".  The downside is that you need to know a little bit more than just how to push a button.  The advantage of this is, though, that as people create PBI packages from Ports, the number of packages in the PC-BSD package repository increases.


Ports and PC-BSD

Yes, you can still use the Ports system in PC-BSD - after all, it is just FreeBSD under the hood.  BUT.  Should you install a Port onto your system, you run the risk of having it deleted during a system upgrade.  The answer is to use a "Ports Jail".  Install your Ports into such a "Jail" and you can transparently use your ports and keep them secure.


Jails

The Jail is in my view the "Killer Feature" of BSD.  A Jail is a semi-virtualised sandbox that lets you run a separate instance of BSD or Linux at what is effectively native speed.  You can have a "Ports Jail" where you run your Ports on their own protected BSD system, a BSD Jail where you can install a server (or even multiple BSD Jails for separate servers), or a "Linux Jail" where you can run a Linux system and the appropriate applications.  All with their own IP addresses and userspace.

What happens if an attacker compromises a server or system within a Jail?  That is why it is called a Jail.  The attacker is corralled within that userspace.  Neat.

Finally, given that the "Jail" feature is incorporated into BSD, you can use it knowing that a company such as Oracle or VMWare do not hold you at their mercy.  Next time, I want to explore Jails in more detail and learn how to use them - I already have several tasks I want to achieve with them and I'm keen to find out more.

Package Observation ..

In closing - the ONLY package system that is guaranteed immune from deletion during a system upgrade is the PC-BSD "PBI" package system.  Both the normal BSD packages and ports should be installed using a Ports Jail.


Later...

Debian Wheezy in VirtualBox - Part 3

v0.2

I finished the previous part having just booted into a nice shiny Gnome 3 desktop in Virtualbox.  It certainly was a change to what I was used to.

Before I get started though, what the Guest Additions do for you are that they allow seamless mouse movement between Guest and Host, and the ability to re-size the Guest desktop.  Just drag and it all works.  Three other features I'll mention in passing here are the ability to mount a DVD drive or ISO image, the ability to use a USB memory stick (after you have introduced it to Virtualbox in the USB section) and the ability to set up a shared folder between the two operating systems.

Gnome 3

I have to say that my initial experience was somewhat jarring.  I sort-of worked out some of the functionality, however it still largely felt like a bad visit to cartoonland.  I think I shall have to let it sit for a while, see if I can find a straightforward set of documentation and then re-visit.

Despite my reservations, I can perhaps see the point of the developers in that new users MAY find it a good experience, though I still wonder.

Xfce

Whilst I had used Xfce a little in the past, I was keen to see how it had developed in the latest incarnation. Those who are used to Debian being associated with "old" software have obviously never visited the "Testing" branch.

I re-did the Netinstall and put Xfce as the desktop of choice so as to see what came with it.  I found the log-in screen a little different to what I was used to (I use gdm and I assume this was different) however it went fine.  I don't care for the Debian starry wallpaper and need to do some reading to see how to replace it for the bootup and login.  The Xfce desktop came up very nicely and I had a great feeling about it right away - I can understand Linus's comments now about abandoning Gnome for Xfce.  I checked the "About" menu option and found it was Xfce 4.8, the latest version.

About now would be a good time for a screenshot, but I won't.  Instead I shall use the wonder of text to describe it (you'll thank me for not exposing you to the starry paper background).

Debian has Xfce set up with three bands by default.

• Of course there is the desktop in the centre which has three icons at the top left for "Home", "Filesystem" and "Trash".  Right click the mouse and a menu allowing you to create desktop icons or select properties or applications, appears.  
• Along the top is a panel reminiscent of the Gnome 2 setup.  On the left is a main dropdown menu of applications, then a shutdown button next to it.  On the right at the top are the icons for the default 4 workspaces, the time and the network status.
• At the bottom is a panel in the centre that works a little like the OSX "Dock".  There are six icons by default.  Minimise Windows, Terminal, File Manager, Web Browser, Find Applications, and an icon that allows you to open any folder in your home folder in either the file manager or terminal.

It is rather pointless talking about standard applications that come with Debian because it is easy to simply use the package manager and install those you like and eliminate those you don't.  I will say though that those that stood out to me were Iceweasel v9.0 (ie the running latest release of firefox) and LibreOffice.  I also like the lack of some of the major applications that come with Gnome by default that I just don't use.

So in contrast with my initial impression of the latest Gnome, I rather like Xfce.  I'll leave this post here (and get back to what I should be doing) and next time I'll talk about some initial customisations I have done to make things just that bit better.


Later ..............

Debian Wheezy in VirtualBox - Part 2

v 0.2

In Part 1 of this post, I talked generally about the requirements for setting up a Wheezy Gnome VM in Virtualbox.  I shall assume that you have the Machine specified, but not installed yet.  I shall also be rash and write these notes from memory.

Installation

• Start the VM.  If you are using a Windows host, it will politely ask you to tell it where the installation iso is, otherwise, you will need to let it fail, then use the "Device" menu at the top to select the CD netinstall iso image and restart.
• The standard Debian installer screen is your first port of call.  If you want a Gnome desktop, just continue.  I never bother with the graphical install since it is just a more complex version of the standard text interface.  But then, I like the Slackware installer as well ......
• To install a desktop OTHER than Gnome, go to "Advanced" and you will find links to a number of alternatives including KDE, Xfce and Lxde.
• Now you need to simply proceed through the standard Debian installation routine for what you want.  There is an EXCELLENT Debian installation guide at "Howtoforge" entitled "The Perfect Desktop Debian Squeeze" which I strongly recommend.

Installing Guest Additions

If you are using the Gnome 3 desktop,  the initial log-in will be slow while it works out that it cannot use the standard Gnome and will fall back to the "classic" look (which you could also select on log-in the first time).  The steps I followed to get the guest additions installed and Gnome 3 running (I also described the guest additions with Debian in another post - read it and you can tell me where I differ to it):

• Open a "root" terminal.  I'll describe the commands to type in between the "  " ....
• "  aptitude install synaptic "   Synaptic is a nice graphical package manager that has its uses.
• "  aptitude install module-assistant  "   Module assistant is the key to installing guest additions
• "  m-a prepare "     This gets module assistant to load the dependencies for the guest additions
• Start Synaptic, search (there is a magnifying glass button for search) for " virtualbox " and mark any installed virtualbox package for removal (they will be marked as guest additions), then " Apply "
• The tricky bit is coming up
• You need to mount the "guest additions iso" which is located in the installation directory for virtualbox.  You can either select "install guest additions" from the "device" menu on the VM or you can use the " device " menu and CD/DVD selection to search for the guest additions iso.  In either case, you should make sure it is mounted.  It will appear mounted under " /media/cdrom0 "
• Once you have it mounted, use the root terminal to "  cd /media/cdrom0 " and to execute the "VBoxLinuxAdditions.run"  as shown in the next part
• "  bash ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run "   using the root terminal after changing to the iso.   You need to have the "  ./  " in front of the Vbox..etc because it explicitly tells Linux where the file is.  (ie a period and forward slash).
• At some stage, it will complain that there are already Guest Additions installed - ignore it because you just deleted them and it has detected the remnants.
• Once this is completed, reboot the VM and you will now have an accelerated Gnome 3 desktop.

That's it for the moment.

As always, corrections or additions welcome.


Later ................

Debian Wheezy in VirtualBox - Part 1

v 0.2

 This post has grown significantly since I started, so I've had to split it up ...... here goes ..

I'm a fan of Debian Linux.  Whilst Ubuntu is fine, Debian just sits right with me.  Same with Virtualbox.  I have had a Debian Squeeze virtual machine on my laptop and desktop for some time and thought I'd explore a bit further. 

One thing I did recently was to explore the concept of using a Debian VM as an encrypted volume.  Whilst there are some other means of encrypting files and partitions, I've found it is quite effective to install a Debian encrypted VM and use that.  It is quite straight-forward, as I described in an earlier post installing to an old laptop. Free and neat.

What I have been thinking of recently, though, is exploring Wheezy (Debian Testing) and the new Gnome.  I'd been hearing a few things about it that disturbed me, and I have been eager to explore a bit, since I have shown a few people Debian recently, and they love it.  Gnome in Squeeze is quite easy for them and I've been wondering how they would fare.


Wheezy Netinstall

First, how do you find an ISO to install?  Easy - search on "debian installer" and it will take you to the page from which to download a "netinstall" image.

http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/daily/arch-latest/i386/iso-cd/

You can see from this that this is the link to the "i386" image.

http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/daily-builds/daily/arch-latest/i386/iso-cd/debian-testing-i386-netinst.iso

Now, what is a "Netinstall" iso image?  It is a Debian Installer cd image that will install a base Linux system onto your computer from which it then connects to a Debian Repository to download the remaining files to produce a complete system.  Note, you need to be connected to the Internet when you use the Netinstall image - I guess that is .. er .. why it is called "Netinstall".

Virtualbox

Given that Virtualbox is free and available for all common platforms, I've found it most useful.  I can run a copy of the same Linux VM on both my Windows desktop and my Mac Laptop. 

For those who don't know, Virtualbox started as a private, open-source project many years ago before being bought by Sun, who continued developing it, before in turn being bought by Oracle who have thankfully kept the project going.  The latest can be downloaded from http://virtualbox.org  .  You will need both the version for your platform, and the guest additions (which install into virtualbox easily).

Preparing Virtualbox for Gnome 3

I have two Wheezy VMs - one for Gnome and one for Xfce desktops, to see what is available and how best to tailor Wheezy for what I want, however I used the same recipie for both VMs.  It is pretty straight forward to prepare a VM in Virtualbox, and you can always read the documentation or Google for some pointers, so I'll only cover the particulars of my install.

• I started the new Gnome VM by calling it WheezyGnome - Virtualbox immediately figured it was going to be a Linux VM.  
• I created an expanding volume, max 15 gig
• In the Display section, I gave it 128 meg of video memory and ticked the 3d acceleration

Gnome 3 needs 3d acceleration to give you the best "experience" otherwise it starts in a fall-back mode.  When you first install any Linux distro with Gnome 3, you will need to start the fall-back mode until you have installed the "Guest Additions" to the VM.

Next ...

Next I'll talk about how I got Gnome 3 up and running in Wheezy ...



Later .....