Howto boot ISO images via grub2 with ubuntu

Moin

I am using Ubuntu “Daily builds” for some time inside Suns VirtualBox. Unfortunately the daily builds are not longer booting inside VirtualBox for more then 2 weeks now. Christian told me about a new feature of Grub2. You can boot ISO images directly from your hard disk without burning them on CD or USB. Awesome feature and I had to try it today. Here is the description on how to do it with Ubuntu 9.10.

First I am using this tiny script to update all daily builds with the zsync tool. It transfers only the changed parts of the ISO so you and the Ubuntu teams save a lot of traffic.

zsync http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/lucid-desktop-i386.iso.zsync
cd kubuntu
zsync http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/daily-live/current/lucid-desktop-i386.iso.zsync
cd ../netbook
zsync http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-netbook/daily-live/current/lucid-netbook-i386.iso.zsync
cd ../xubunutu
zsync http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/daily-live/current/lucid-desktop-i386.iso.zsync
cd ..
rm `find ./ -name "*.zs-old" `

This script keeps all my daily builds up to date.

Next Step is to enable the grub menu. In Ubuntu it can be done in “/etc/default/grub“. Change the following lines

GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false

With this change you will see a 10 seconds count down when booting up. With the shift-key you get access to the grub boot menu. Next is to add the ISO images to the grub menu. Change to the “/etc/grub.d” dir.

Here you can find the grub menu entries and configuration files. Add your ISO images starting with 50 here. For example my entry for the normal Ubuntu ISO image (50_ubuntu) looks like this:

echo "Adding $(egrep menu[e]ntry $0 | cut -d'"' -f2)" >&2
 cat << EOF
menuentry "Ubuntu 10.04 Daily Build" {
       loopback loop (hd0,3)/ansi/software_and_config/ISOs/ubuntu/lucid-desktop-i386.iso
       linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/ansi/software_and_config/ISOs/ubuntu/lucid-desktop-i386.iso file=(loop)/preseed/ubuntu.seed quiet splash bootkbd=sg --
       initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

My ISO files are stored on sda3 under /ansi/software_and_config/ISOs/ubuntu/. In order to change it for your needs there are 3 elements to change. The loopback line contains your hard disk in grub style (hdx,y  x=0->sda x=1->sdb aso) and the path. The third element to change is in the linux line. Store this file as “50_ubuntu” in “/etc/grub.d“, make it executable with “chmod a+x 50_ubuntu” and activate the changes with “ubdate-grub“. After a reboot you should be able to activate the grub menu with the shift-key and select the new entry. Have fun.

I found some pages on this topic but the description there was not working for me so I changed it. But take a look on your own:

• http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/lucid-lynx-ohne-cd-brennen-auf-realem-system-/#post-2326751
• http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/GRUB_2/Konfiguration

Posted in System, Tools | 9 Comments »

Chrome extentions

Moin

I just run through several Chrome Extensions and here is my list of extensions I can recommend. Please write some comments if you have additional  recommendations.

• Read It Later, very usefull to store webpages for later reading: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/bkikpncfbjndhfkipijhdoddiadaipaa
• Gmail Notification: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/mihcahmgecmbnbcchbopgniflfhgnkff
• Use Gmail as default mailer: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/pgphcomnlaojlmmcjmiddhdapjpbgeoc
• Forecastfox: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ihffmkcfkejomlfnilnmkokcpgclhfeg
• Delicious: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/anlkjppofaicbdanhhpbbogknfodfhfm
• Last.fm: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nbjfhhdfhoccglhllgdfcknjgjbifcjk
• TwitterBar: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/pbadgdglepgngpoeijdgicjccomadekm
• Page reload: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/njoipeaphfnaplplihpbgndfojhdhmjo
• Google Latitude: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/bhencimpdjidjlgopdgofmkeojbiacie
• Remember the milk: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/chieodlkhimccchlojdmiondhiggkhmf
• Youtube with HTML5 instead of flash: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/kchoimdlcbapmcdnheaahjcdpdjdpfco
• Beautify Facebook: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/ipnenhkngeiigfbhacdhadcnjjklhblm
• Facebook Extention: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/hfdhelbngglkahnmlggcbjlkbddhkffm
• RapidShare Download Remover: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/iciefpkfldmhehakpkphbclofdhiojih

Posted in System, Tools, Web2.0 | 1 Comment »

HTC Hero earphone jack problem and howto solve

Moin
Last week I had some problems with my HTC Hero Android phone. The mobile is awesome no question about that, but there is one funny “feature” which I don’t need at all and what caused me some trouble. The Hero (maybe other mobiles too) has the nice feature to switch from build-in loudspeakers to external earphones (via the jack on top) via software switch and not like other devices via hardware switch. This causes a problem when the process is not responding when you plug in the earphone. First impression is “hardware error” and you want to send back your phone to the repair center. But wait. This is a software bug (although the T-Mobile stores are not aware of that). Thanks to the Androidforum ere are two solutions for that.

1. The easy but not always working way
   1. Turn off the phone by holding down the Hangup button for some time.
   2. Plug in your earphones
   3. Turn on the phone (if you see the earphone symbol everything is fine now)
2. The not so easy but always working way
   1. Download the APKatcher App from the Market (market://search?q=pname:nEx.software.Apps.APKatcher) 
   2. Enable 3rd party apps on your mobile in order to accept apps from other locations then the market
   3. Get the toggleheadset application from google code.
   4. Send the app to your phone via email
   5. Install the app
   6. Add the toggleheadset widget to your phone desktop

After that you can toggle between your earphones and the internal loudspeaker.

Posted in Gadget, Mobile | 3 Comments »

APRS igate running xastir

Moin

I just played a little bit with APRS igate on Linux. There are some igate software available on Linux but the most supported package (javAPRESSrvr) is not available today because of an error on Yahoogroups where the files are hosted.

Therefore I installed xastir from Sourceforge and connected the the local running instance with the APRS-IS network. Now DM1AS is visible on FINDU.

Nice side effect on this, the server generates an Google Maps page every 5 minutes with APRS stations around my home. Maybe tomorrow I connect my radio to the igate and there will be more local stations available.

So far you can see the map here:http://tinyurl.com/nacc5k

View Larger Map

Posted in GPS, HAM, System | No Comments »

Server update to Ubuntu Server 9.04

Moin

My blog will be offline on sunday for some time because I will reinstall the server with new HD and Ubuntu 9.04.

Posted in System | No Comments »

Unboxing Aquarium equipment

Moin

Normally people publishing unboxing pictures of their iPhone or other cool apple equipment. Here are my unboxing pictures of Aquarium equipment and some pictures from installation.

Posted in Aquarium | 7 Comments »

Howto set up your own twitter

So first serious blog entry. I try to install my own instance of identi.ca what is microblogging system. Its based on Laconica. Lets see how to install this system on Ubuntu Server Edition. l.m.orchard has compiled an outstanding description see DECAFBAD.

Additionally a changed something so here are the description for the latest greatest version. I do not repeat his description only point out the changes.

There is a new version of the xmpPHP library available at least a new release candidate.

http://xmpphp.googlecode.com/files/xmpphp-0.1beta-r50.tar.gz

Beside

 cp xmpphp/*.php ../extlib/

also

cp -R xmpphp/XMPPHP ../extlib/

to copy the necessary libraries.
In order to convince apache2 to accept the rewrite it is neccessary to activate the rewrite module with

a2enmod rewrite

/etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload

The XMPP Part is still not running but I try this tomorrow.

Posted in System | No Comments »