Archive for April, 2010

Change Ubuntu Default ‘ls’ Command Alias…….

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

Change Default Ubuntu Aliases

By default Ubuntu (plus several others) change the ‘ls’ command to be an alias that colour codes the output. While I’m sure this is great for many people, I don’t like it :o(

I like back background, lime green text, directories indicated with a ‘/’ character at the end, and hidden files to be shown.

To change the default, you need to make the same change in a couple of places…….

Firstly, in your home directory. Edit the hidden file ‘.bashrc’. Find the line that reads alias ls=’ls –color=auto’ and comment it out with a ‘#‘ at the start.

Then add a new line (above or below, does not matter) with the following

ls=’ls -aF’ (in this case, ‘a’ shows all files including hidden ones, ‘F’ indicated a directory by adding a trailing forwardslash ‘/’ after the directory name

This will change your login only. If you also want to change the root ls alias you will need to follow the same steps for the file /root/.bashrc, but you will need to either use sudo with your edit command, or su to root and then edit.

The last place you may wish to edit is the skeleton template file used for all new users. This is located at /etc/skel/.bashrc. Again, eidt the file with the changes above, and all newly added users will recieve a copy of the file and have their ls command alias set to your formatting (if you so wish).

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Posted in unix | 2 Comments »

Over Zealous Registry Editing…….Damn !

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

The company where I work produces a web site. In order to make sure it looks ok on as many browsers as possible, we have to keep a few machines around with older OS and broswers versions installed.

Last week, the machine used to test IE6 (now dead and unsupported by Microsoft, but unfortunately while it’s use has stedily been declining since January 2010, there are still over 8% of people using it, so we have to test to make sure it will look right) got infected with the XP Malware 2010 virus.

The virus itself has been well written with a very sincere and genuine looking application interface (see here for pictures etc.). Normally for most computer viri I simply remove their entries from the /Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Run registry section, delete the binaries and reboot.

But this one went a little further (some do unfortunately). It actually modifies the registry entries that deal with how windows launches .exe binaries. It essentially modified the default open shell open entry to launch itself, with the program you wanted to open as an argument. So if you tried to run notepad.exe, AV.EXE would get launched instead, but AV.EXE would know to run notepad.exe after itself.

I followed to instructions on the site, but not to the letter. I was in a rush and sort of deleted the .exe entries completely. Result, I could no longer launch apps that ended in .exe :o(

I didn’t fancy trying to manually put the correct entried back in, so I had a quick search on google for ‘XP .exe file association’ and found this page.

The whole site is pretty cool with a lot of utils, tips and fixes. Admittedley it seems to all be for XP, but I’m sure some of it could be of use for later Windows versions, or at least provide a starting point.

Doug Knox, I thank you for saving me from having to rebuild an old XP system (hours alone in just trying to find the OS istall disks !!)

;o)

Genuine looking interface :o(

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Posted in microsoft, security, xp | No Comments »

Low Life Scum…….

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

To the low life scum who stole my wallet from my back pocket on Sunday night, *THERE WAS NO MONEY IN IT* !!

You could have at least had the decency to drop it when you found it devoid of cash (I use cards muppet, I’m a child of the digital age) somewhere near by so it could be found and handed in.

I’ve had to cancel all my cards (done about 5mins aftr you lifted it) and get a new keys arranged for home and work.

You inconsiderate twat, hope you break a leg. Nuff said.

p.s. If anyone in the Vauxhall area finds a grey Converse canvas wallet please hand in to the police station or at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.

Thanks

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Posted in meh ! | No Comments »

Congratulations Giovanni and Pawel

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

Big congratulations to Gio and Paw who tied the knot today at their Civil Ceremony in Marylebone.

You look great together guys :-)

Here’s to many happy years (with a few more Wii bowling and Wii Olympic sessions thrown in ;-)

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WDS Deploying Windows 7…….The Wrong Way…….

Friday, April 16th, 2010

The 2nd Microsoft UK Techday I attended was on the subject of deploying Windows 7 within the organisation using WDS. This was the one I had really been waiting for as:

a) I’m pretty sure the way I am using WDS to deploy Vista is wrong, even though it works

b) Chris Jackson was presenting

Bit of history. One of the earlier tasks when I joined my current job was to replace the mix of XP and Vista desktops that were in use. I installed WDS and set about trying to figure out all the bells and whistles, but there are so many of them.

There is a ton of doc to read through, and walk through scenarios, but they are somewhat basic in that they only deal with creating and distributing a single image/buld to the desktop.

Here’s my problem, I have a mix of HP and Dell desktops. I also have different software requirements for different groups of people. Everyone needs Windows Vista and Office 2007. Devs need Visual Studio. Designers need the Adobe CS suite. I could not work out how to use a single boot and install image to achieve this.

So, I created multiple install images. Essentially, I setup each PC exactly as I wanted it for the desktop, then sysprep’d it with an answer file and capture it to an image. Then for each install image, I created a corresponding boot image and edit the startnet.cmd to wipe and prepare the disk, and then use imagex to apply the correct install image file to the machine.

So I have a ‘HP7900-install.wim’ and a ‘HP7900-boot.wim’. I also have a ‘HP7800-install.wim’ and a ‘HP7800-boot.wim’. Adding each xxx-boot.wim file to WDS lists it as an option on the PXE WDS boot menu, and when you select either boot image, the ‘startnet.cmd’ batch file will use imagex to apply the corresponding xxx-install.wim file.

I am fairly certain this is not how WDS was supposed to be used ?! There are currently x8 boot and x8 install images sitting on my WDS server.

The Windows 7 deployment demo at the UK Techday event unfrotunately has not cleared this up for me any further. The demo simply showed how to use a stock boot.wim and install.wim with an answer file to remove the prompts that occur during install. This much I had already figured out, what I hoped to discover was how to create a relationship between a boot.wim file and an install.wim file so I did not have to edit the startnet.cmd file each time.

I’ve just downloaded the WAIK 2010 and MDT 2010 applications and am going to install them and take a look at the new and improved documentation and scenarios and see if the answers lay within.

Anything I find out I will of course post here.

One thing I do already know is that if you are using a x64 bit version of Windows (7 or Vista) you have to install the x64 bit version of the WAIK. The x64 bit version cannot work on x86 (32bit) images !??? However, the x86 (32bit) version of WAIK can work on both formats. So when creating your build administration workstation, I would use x86 versions to ensure maximum flexibility.

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Posted in imaging, microsoft, wds, windows 7 | No Comments »

Sharepoint 2010, Now We’re Getting Somewhere…….

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

So today I went along to one of the Microsoft UK Techdays (I missed Mondays presentation on Virtulisation due to illness). Todays subject was Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010, and I have to say that I am now starting to see the case for Sharepoint in the organisation.

The day was a large helping of death by PowerPoint (I’m sorry, but even using PowerPoint 2010 with it’s lovely new slide transitions is still death by PowerPoint which ever way you turn it) and after an extended period of being talked at I felt my concentration wavering a little. Some points did make it through though.

One was that SharePoint 2010 now supports true cross-platform, cross-browser fidelity. It was seamless, the guy opened MS Office 2010 docs inside FireFox, Opera, Chrome and Safari, and they looked *identical*. The inline rich web editor was also the same experience across the board, no so much as a pixel out of place.

Even more impressive was that using the inline rich web editors, you could collaborate in real time on the same document without even having the Office application installed. True thin client web app and no more cumbersome checking-in/checking-out.

The demo showed Microsoft making a real effort to adhere to open standards for file and data formats to make this cross browser experience possible. Proprietary activex controls have all but been abandoned which hopefully mitigates that particular attack surface vector for the future.

Speaking of which, there was an interesting slide showing statistics that attacks against the operating system were on the decline against a rise in attacks being made against applications. To help protect against this new wave of attacks Microsoft now scans all legacy Office files being opened and compares them against a know signatures database, if they don’t match you are warned and the file is opened in a sandboxed safe mode in the background and an alert is shown to make the user aware. Sweet.

But my favourite part of the entire day was the explicit mention that IE6 was no longer supported for SharePoint and it’s associated web apps :oD

The only barrier I can now see to deploying SharePoint is that it’s still a very large product with a not insignificant pre-requisite list, both in terms of hardware and software.

You’re going to need a server up to running the latest version of Windows, along with enough RAM to make it happy. The cost of the license for Windows, the cost of the SharePoint server application. Then more hardware to run the SQL server backend (with another Windows license plus an SQL license of some flavour).

I’m not sure of the total cost to deploy SharePoint today (no pricing details as of yet for the RTM versions) but I’m pretty certain this is out of reach of most smaller companies, especially when you consider that my current workplace does the whole thing on an old Dell 2850 with 8GB RAM running Ubuntu linux, MySQL and MediaWiki server, all for free.

Really looking forward to tomorrow, Chris Jackson of the SWAT team is presenting a section of the ‘Deploying Windows 7′ day. Maybe I’ll find out how to automate that 5% of my current desktop deployment process that still eludes me ? Here’s hoping ;oD

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Posted in microsoft, office 2010, sharepoint 2010 | No Comments »

All Star…….Lame…….

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Had to write about one of the most dissapointing experiences of my life to date, and I’ve had a few !

For my flatmates birthday I decided to try and book a group of us a night of 10 pin bowling. We’ve never done it before and it makes a welcome change from the bars and clubs typically associated with these sort of occasions.

I decided I would book with All Star Lanes (hence this post title, catchy huh ??!) as they appeared in the google list for ‘London Bowling’, their website looked quite well put together and the food menu sounded great.

In hindsight, it’s my own fault, I should had read up more thoroughly and maybe tried to find some reviews of the venue in question.

The selection of actual bowling balls was quite limited (there was a girlie with us who could have done with one of the lighter balls that had been nabbed by the group in the other lane).

The balls were sticky and could have done with a bit of a wipe with a anti-bacterial agent to be honest.

When we finished our game, we stood looking confused not quite sure what to do next. I had booked a post game table for some of their amazing sounding American style food. But not one of the staff asked if we needed any help. When I enquired at the reception I was told to ‘ask a waitress’.

So we waited for 10mins for one to appear and then asked where we should go for our table. This took a further 10mins to sort out.

The food took an extremely long time to arrive (almost half an hour), but in their defense was very hot and clearly not microwaved in any way (finally a positive note !).

But the single biggest issue had to be THE VOLUME OF THE MUSIC BEING PLAYED !!! This place could give Ministry of Sound a run for their money. I’m pretty certain that all of the communication issues we encountered on the night were a simple case that their poor staff just plain could not hear us. They smiled, they were I am sure polite (coluldn’t hear them to be certain) but ultimately the evening was a resounding failure.

We will probably try bowling again, but not at AllStar :-(

16-04-2010 addendum :

All Star Lanes sent me a feedback email request which a put most of this detail into and sent back. Their manager has responded saying he takes the points on board and they will *monitor the situation*. Possibly worth going again in a few months to see if it’s any better

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Posted in all star lanes, meh ! | No Comments »

Clint Died, Bye Bye Sunshine…….

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

A friend of mine died at the weekend :o(

I will never get to talk with him again.

His name was Clint Walters and he was only 31. He was something of a legend for me as he dedicated his life to helping raise awareness of the HIV virus for young people, having been diagnosed himself at the age of just 17 and finding very few resources for helping people of that age.

The first time I met him I knew who he was from my own volunteer work with GMFA, I had seen Clint on some adverts and posters. But nothing could have prepared me for the real thing. This guy was *SO* upbeat and optimistic, all the time. He was sunshine personified, that’s the only way I can describe him.

I made it a point when ever I saw him after that to always project the same optimisim and cheerfulness, even when I didn’t feel much like it, if he could smile all the time then so would I.

He was completely selfless and battled for a long time to get funding for a clinic and support centre in London. I remember conversation with him about it, he still did not let it get him down, he just smiled and said he would find a way to make it happen.

He passed away on Sunday 4th April from a heart attack. I hope he is still smiling where he is now.

Clint you will be missed by many :o(

Addendum:

The Independant has an article here regarding Clint’s passing

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Posted in friends, gay | 1 Comment »