fak3r

UPDATE: thanks to a comment below from Ted, we now have a solution to have this option persist across kernel updates.  In grub, “…at the end of this new menu item add it as an argument to the line:

defoptions=quiet splash irqpoll

I knew there had to be a way, thanks for the post Ted!

There’s a known bug in Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty) with some ata detection routine that causes the system to take over 2 minutes to boot. Since this has happened to me more than once I’m documenting it here for me, and for other desperate souls that may find their way here. If your system is very slow to boot, and you see error messages in your dmesg (`dmesg | grep ata`) such as this:

[ 34.122465] ata1.00: qc timeout (cmd 0xef)
[ 34.122519] ata1.00: failed to set xfermode (err_mask=0x4)
[ 34.122565] ata1: failed to recover some devices, retrying in 5 secs
[ 46.260055] ata1: port is slow to respond, please be patient (Status 0x90)
[ 69.218482] ata1: port failed to respond (30 secs, Status 0x90)

You just need to ad `irqpoll` to your grub line. So in so in /boot/grub/menu.lst I added irqpoll to the kernel line:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=48c5a348-eb39-4171-8531-671a49fdb75b ro quiet splash irqpoll

and it fixes the issue. Probably a work around, but since this resets every time you install a new kernel you’ll realize when it’s broken and when it’s fixed. Oh, and my system boots in 21 seconds now…is it geeky that I know that, and I tweaked the system to make it boot faster than the 27 seconds it was booting in? I guess we’ll never know!

So the only thing I don’t love about my new job is the same old thing; you have to run Windows XP on the desktop. Yeah, I’ll give it a bit more time before I really start pushing to run Linux on the desktop, so until then it’s my ongoing struggle to get XP to work the way I want it to (ie- more like Linux). One simple way is to install the excellent Jimmac mouse cursor theme that’s the default for the majority of Linux distributions. Jakub Steiner (aka Jimmac) is the famous designer of this set, and with a 3rd party app called CursorXP , it’s a snap to get them into XP. First grab the Jimmac theme created to work with CursorXP, then Download and install CursorXP and get into its config menu, which is a new tab under Settings > Mouse. From the drop down list choose <Broswe>, point it to the theme and you’re done. You wouldn’t think a change of mouse cursors would change the feel of a system so much, but these do; I feel more at home. Even if you’ve never used Linux you’ll still love this cursor set, try it, it’s all free.

It’s rewarding when you work at a company that seems universally recognized as a great place to work. I’ve only found this out recently, since my current employer, Edward Jones, always makes the ‘best of’ lists. Today it was ranked on Computerworld’s list of 100 Best Places to Work in IT at number 52. Meanwhile Jones has been on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies To Work For for years, and they’re currently ranked at 29. That’s awesome, it really says something about the company if internal and external forces are agreeing on things. I’m happy since I get too play in Linux while avoiding the stress of support. /me ahhh…

There’s been plenty of talk of late about Google getting more behind Linux, but theories abound as to what role they would play.  Some of this may be answered soon, judging by some back room dealings going on over there in conjunction with The Linux Foundation, the group that “offers programs to promote standardization and technical collaboration” for Linux, as well as sponsoring Linus Torvalds so he can continue to work fulltime on the Linux kernel. First we heard from Google’s Chris DiBona about how Linux graphic drivers provided by nVidia and ATI should be open source. (why would they bring this up?) Then, last week, Google sponsored the first-ever Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit.

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One of my favorite things about being a Linux admin is the ability to specify how things are going to be executed on the servers. I’ve been running the Apache web server for over 10 years now (1997), so setting up a new environment is no big deal, but I wanted to take it farther and cut as much out of a base install as possible, which still having it do what I need. I started with a Google search and a blank file for my httpd.conf, and went from there. Some background, since this is a work project I have a few restraints. First, we’re running on Red Hat Enterprise Server 4 with some pretty beefy hardware. Also, currently we ARE NOT building from source (something I usually do on my own Apache instances) since we’re still working out support options, which limits what we can do down to the almighty httpd.conf. I’ve trimmed down my conf at home, but since we have a smaller and more specific set of tasks for Apache here, I wanted to trim it down to the bone. So far I’ve gone through the Apache Security site, where I found their chapter on Installation and configuration especially helpful. I followed their suggestion of starting httpd.conf as a blank file. Later I ran my newly created conf through an Apache 2.0 Hardening Guide, and even combed through the Apache HTTP Server Module guide to be sure I wasn’t using anything extraneous. Now I’m being a bit idealistic with this config I know, but again, it’s for a specific purpose, and I don’t need to worry about many other factors that would cloud the waters as far as providing more options. I’ve taken out any specific modules that need to be loaded as part of my work so as not to confuse things, but I’ve left in our token variables (those that start with a T_) that get substituted just before install, so the question is, is there anything else I could cut back on? Also, is there anything missing that could lock things down further that don’t need to be installed separately? (ie- I’m not going to be installing mod_security…yet, but I’d like to). Read on to see my current ‘locked down’ config, all suggestions and (constructive?) criticisms appreciated.

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When you’re running a ton of termial windows or tabs, it helps to have the title of the box name, along with some environment values, easily available to keep you orientated. Here’s a quick script I created to do this automatically when called via your .profile file in your home directory.

#!/bin/bash
HOST_NAME=`hostname -f`
if [ `id -u` = 0 ]; then
OPT="`uname` (`uname -a | cut -f12 -d' ' -`) - ROOT USER"
else
OPT="`uname` (`uname -a | cut -f12 -d' ' -`)"
fi
REPLACE="${HOST_NAME} - ${OPT}"
echo -n -e "\033]0; $REPLACE \007 "
echo "${REPLACE}"
exit 0

When I run this script in my term here at work, the title or tab becomes:

nldg-8 (Linux / x86_64)

Drop this into a bin directory your user can hit - I always put on in my home directory and append ~/bin to my PATH in my .profile. For Solaris fans/users, it needs to be done a bit differently:

#!/usr/local/bin/bash
HOST_NAME=`uname -a | cut -f2 -d' ' -`
OPT="(`uname -a | cut -f1 -d' ' -` / `uname -a | cut -f6 -d' '`)"
REPLACE="${HOST_NAME} - ${OPT}"
echo -n -e "\033]0; $REPLACE \007 "
echo "${REPLACE}"
exit 0

foo

I’ve had a 12″ G3 iBook since ~2002, and I’ve really liked it. Of course me being me, I’ve run Linux on it for almost the whole time, even running a dual boot of OS X and Gentoo Linux back when I used this puppy on the job. The only thing I (and likely millions of other customers) didn’t like is the systemic “logic board” failure. Yes, the logic board, which is just Apple’s name for the motherboard, would fail, prompting a call to Apple, followed by about a one week turnaround on the repair, which was all covered under warranty. The only thing is, this only reset your iBook back to the original state, after using the iBook for so long, this issue would occur again, leaving you with a shinny door stop. Mine had come and gone 3 times, so this final failure fell far outside of even the extended program to cover the fix. Fast forward to last week, I had resigned from my gig at Mastercard, thus turning in my work laptop, leaving with no convent way (I can go downstairs to my desktop, but…) to work on a system and check my email. I got the iBook out of the drawer and started looking around for info online to solve this from a DIY angle. One interesting way was to burn a tea light directly on the video chip, eventually making it hot enough to resolder itself to the board! I was going to do this, when I found a lower tech, less risky, fix, with perhaps even more permanent results. You open the iBook, put some sort of shim just underneath the video chip forcing it to stay in contact with the logic board; that’s it! There are plenty of sites out there now talking about this, but this one seemed the most direct. So I opened the iBook, found that little square you see in the pictures, duct taped a penny topped by a quarter to the metal, and all of a sudden had a revived laptop. It’s fun when things are so easy. Oh, and Ubuntu Linux Feisty (7.04) for the PowerPC runs very, nicely on the iBook! So much more power saving features, and the promise of Gnash to cover all the flash sites makes it a great laptop.

Microsoft is set to phase out Windows XP by the end of this year, even though the majority of businesses have no reason or desire to update to Vista, since most of those updates would require new hardware. It’s just another example of Microsoft not listening to their customers, just to their shareholders. “Computer makers have been told they’ll no longer be able to get Windows XP OEM by the end of this year, despite consumer resistance to Vista and its compatibility problems. By early 2008, Microsoft’s contracts with computer makers will require companies to only sell Vista-loaded machines. “The OEM version of XP Professional goes next January,” said Frank Luburic, senior ThinkPad product manager for Lenovo. “At that point, they’ll have no choice.” Sure, I can throw in my “let’s hope for a major Linux migration”, but I won’t. It won’t happen on the scale it should, but still, some companies are going to start waking up; it has to happen. Hell, if I have to get a job at some small company where I’m tasked with supporting a network of Linux workstations and servers, I’ll do it. It can be done, companies will save money; it’s just a matter of hiring a competent employee that really knows his stuff. (paper MCSE admins, I’m looking at you)

While it seems every year someone proclaims *this* will be the year of Linux on the desktop, there are always a steady stream of those who ‘get it’ and are reaping the benifits of freeing themselves from the upgrade and licencing cycle, making it feel as if a tipping point is indeed at hand. Here’s a roundup of some very interesting news in that regard from this week. First up, a California school district aims 5,000 desktops at Linux. “Windsor, Calif. School District IT administrator Heather Carver is migrating most of the district’s 70 servers and most of its 5,000 desktop machines from a mostly-Windows environment that is quickly becoming obsolete to a new mixed environment that includes PCs running SUSE Linux, Wyse Linux thin-client terminals, and a smattering of Mac and Windows machines. When all the phasing-in is completed sometime next year, the district will be operating about 2,000 SUSE Linux desktops, 50 SUSE Linux servers, 2,700 Linux thin clients, and a few hundred Mac and Windows machines for special purposes, Carver said. Additionally, she expects to save thousands of dollars each year in hardware and software costs by doing it. “One key to all this is that we’re using Citrix (as the bridge) to run Windows apps on thin-client terminals — which the adults are most used to — on the new SUSE Linux 10.1 servers,” Carver told DesktopLinux.com. “The kids, well, they adjust to new operating systems and applications very quickly, so a changeover to Linux is no big deal.”

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A really nice site, Ecogeek (now linked to here) has a great article about ewaste (see my previous post on the topic), and how Windows new OS, Vista, will contribute to it greatly. It’s something I was talking to my Pops about just last weekend, and I threw in that people really didn’t *need* faster computers, and that if they just ran Linux, they would get a speed increase over anything they’re running Windows XP on; and it would contain all the software they’d need. Ok, perhaps not all, but I’d say over 95% - people that say, “I’d switch if I could just do $TASK on it” or “..if Linux only ran this $WINDOWS_APP” just don’t know what software is out there for Linux, for free. So I stick by my contention that while people may *want* Windows, they don’t *need* Windows to be online, send email and do whatever they do, thus they don’t need to trash a perfectly good machine when Linux can give their machine a new life, and free them from the upgrade cycle. Ecogeek’s comments echo mine perfectly. “Vista is almost certainly going to result in a mass dumping of perfectly good computers. For an operating system that, basically, offers two new features, this is certainly unfortunate. But what can be done? Well, A report from the government of the United Kingdom discussing the benefits of open source software indicates that Linux could certainly alleviate this problem. “A typical hardware refresh period for Microsoft Windows is 3-4 years. A major UK manufacturing organisation quotes its hardware refresh period for Linux systems as 6-8 years.” A significant difference…a doubling even, of the lifetime of a computer. Thus, a world using Linux would be a world with half the computer waste (and, admittedly, halved sales for Dell and the rest.) A widespread switch to Linux could prevent millions of tons of waste from going into landfills. Every computer not needed would prevent the use of 240 kg of fossil fuels. Spread that out over the 17.5 million computers that wouldn’t be going obsolete every year and Linux could deliver the world a much more sustainable future.” Ah, and in looking for a good image for this story I found the cartoon you see, and pasted on a small Tux (Linux’s mascot) for comedic effect. I like it!