One of the nice things about linux is there is a distribution to suite pretty much everyones needs, lets face it if you want to run Windows Vista you need to have a pretty chunky machine to do it. Why? well because if you have an older machine that perhaps is not powerfull enough to run Vista then you pretty much have to throw it in the bin. This seems rediculous to me after all just becuase it won't run the latest version of Windows does not put it out of the running.
Recently I had cause to decide what to do with my old Sony Vaio N505X. This is a nice small laptop very light weight and easy to carry around, but with a Celeron 333 processor, 128MB RAM and a 20GB hard disk there was no way it was going to run Windows XP well or Windows Vista. Windows 2000, ME, 98, 95 and NT are no longer supported by Microsoft and as such no patches are available. So even if I were to install any of these on the Laptop I would not be able to use it safely on the Internet.
Enter Puppy Linux... Puppy linux is a modern OS with a small foot print, not the smallest but still small with an ISO of 100MB. It comes with an Internet Browser, Word Processor, Calendar among other things, and is very happy running on a machine of such a low specification.
OK so it won't allow me to use the BBC iPlayer but thats hardly the point, if I just want to sit in front of the TV and browse the web I would rather do it on a small Laptop than a large heavy thing.
All in all Puppy and other small foot print distributions are an excellent way of keeping older hardware working and safe and not just dumping it in the nearest land fill.
So if you have an older machine think twice about scrapping it and have a look at what Puppy has to offer.
Puppy Linux Home Page
Ubuntu Tips & Tweaks
Friday, 10 April 2009
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Ubuntu Linux
Ubuntu is an operating system much like Windows. However it has a few differences that make it worth looking at and in my opinion worth dumping Windows in favour of Ubuntu.
Lets start with the obvious advantages shall we?
Ubuntu is free, yes FREE, no its not rubbish it's FREE. Not only does Ubuntu cost nothing but its also free in the larger sense. You can obtain any of the code for Ubuntu and modify it to work the way you want it to work. OK so you are not a techie and you don't do code! We thats not a problem as there are plenty of people out there who do and are working hard on Ubuntu and Linux software in general to make life easier for everyone.
Software is on the whole freely available, some software is commercial however the majority of it is free and Open Source and very well produced.
Support is free via web forums and ICQ and the help that people both new users and Guru's is excellent and FREE.
Now I am not just bleeting on about Ubuntu because it's free, there are many Linux distributions out there also free, but unlike most of those the developers of Ubuntu have made a huge difference to every day users. Ubuntu is as easy to use as Windows for just about everyone.
Take a look at the Ubuntu home page for more information, and if you would like to get a copy you can for FREE, you can download it or order a copy to be sent to you by post.
If you are not sure about all this its probably worth knowing that you can boot your Windows computer from the Ubuntu CD without removing Windows and test Ubuntu before you decide if you want to move away from Windows. Be aware that running Ubuntu from CD is slower than when it is installed on your hard disk, CD drives work slower than hard disks.
Go on check it out.... Ubuntu Home Page
Toshiba E400 PPC & Safecom SWLSDI-1100 802.11b Wireless LAN Card
The Safecom SWLSDI-1100 802.11b Wireless LAN Card is one of the few cards you can actually buy for reasonable money. Others I have looked at exceed £50 and lets be honest are not worth the money. I spent quite a while searching for a card before I came upon this particular one. Expansys had the socket card but at nearly £60 it was above my budget. The Safecom card was found on ebay, in new shrink wrapped condition for reasonable £28 with free postage. I opted for special delivery which cost me an extra £4 or so. The nice thing was that I ordered it on the Friday at around 2pm and had it the next day by 8:30am! What service. My initial attempt at installing this card and subsequent attempts were equally unsuccessful. I spent 29 hours in total trying to get the card working with my Toshiba E400 but all I could achieve was locking up the Pocket PC. I finally begged a set of drivers from someone on the Internet and my luck changed. I installed the new drivers and found it to work fine once I fiddled with the settings on Windows Mobile 2003 SE. However further attempts to install the drivers caused some problems. So I have merged both the driver and utility and the installation program from various driver sources into one installation package that seems to work fine for me.
Link Safecom SWLSDI-1100 802.11b Wireless LAN Card Driver and Utility.
You can access .PDF copies of the Installation Guide and some other information HERE!
Hope this information helps.
Additional Notes
The LED indicating data flow on the SDIO card is not always a blue LED so don't worry, mine is a green/yellow LED. A quick note about Safecom I tried 3 times to get help from Safecom support. They did not even bother to contact me! Eventually when I had solved the problem and posted the solution to their forum, they emailed me and asked me to supply them with the driver I had got working. They suggested that they would perhaps drop the driver onto their site for other E400 users to benefit from, well that was about 3 weeks ago and they still have not bothered. So this is probably the only place to get a decent working driver that is compatible with the E400. I would suggest to Safecom that relying on a forum and other people to sort out their problems is not perhaps the best customer support system ever invented.
How To Install Puppy Linux On A Sony Vaio N505X
This was an easy one to figure out, but for those of you who are struggling, I hope this helps. ☺
What you will need:
1 x Sony Vaio PCG-N505X
1 x Sony PCMCIA CDROM Drive
1 x USB Memory Stick (Optional if you have a CD Burner)
Step 1
Download and burn a copy of Puppy Linux to CD.
Connect your PCMCIA CDROM drive to you N505X and turn on the computer.
When the N505X shows the VAIO logo, Press F2 this will sent you to BIOS.
Insert your Puppy CD into the CDROM drive. Check the boot sequence and make sure ATAPI CDROM is the 1st boot device.
Select Exit (Save Changes).
Step 2
Once the boot sequence starts you will be presented with the boot: prompt, you need to move fairly quickly at this point to prevent auto boot as you will have to re-boot once it fails.
At the boot: prompt type: - puppy ide1=0x180,0x386 nopcmcia acpi=off
If you are installing a version of Puppy that is 3x or higher see the notes about USB installation at the end of these instructions.
Press ENTER to continue.
The boot sequence will continue, show a little patience here! A few minutes will go by and it appears nothing is happening. But it is!
Next you will be presented with a dialog requesting your keyboard layout, select the relevant layout and press ENTER to proceed.
Next you will be presented with the Puppy Video Wizard. At this point just press ENTER XORG will be selected by default.
The installation will now spend a few seconds probing the video card. Once it has finished the Wizard continues, at this point select h31.5-48.5v40-70 LCD Panel 1024x768 and press ENTER.
Next the Wizard requests you select the correct video mode, select 1024x768x24 Unconfirmed for monitor, OK for video card and press ENTER.
The boot sequence now continues and you will be presented with the rather cool looking Puppy Linux Desktop and a Dillo Welcome screen.
At this point you have not actually installed puppy! Close the Dillo Window by clicking the ⚄ in the corner and we are ready to proceed.
Step 3
At the top left of your screen you will see an icon that looks like a USB stick and is labelled drives, click it once.
A small dialog will appear and present you with a list of drives available at this time. Next to the CDROM icon you will see MOUNT, click it and a new window containing the contents of the CDROM will appear, close this window with the ⚄ in the corner and then close the Media Utility Tool by clicking the ⚄ in the corner.
Click Menu
Locate the menu option Setup and move the mouse point to this position, another menu will appear, 3rd option from the bottom is Puppy Universal Installer. Select this item and wait for the installer to start.
The next dialog requires you to select the location you wish to install Puppy Linux. Select IDE (ATA) Internal Hard Drive and click OK.
The next dialog requests confirmation of the drive you want to install Puppy Linux on, click OK. On the next dialog click the Puppy next to Install Puppy to hda2.
On the next dialog select OK to continue with the installation.
On the next dialog select NORMAL to continue. (Unless you are setting up multi OS on the system. This guide does not cover multi OS installations.)
If you have installed puppy before the next dialog will ask if you want to upgrade or wipe. For this tutorial you will WIPE but be aware that the contents of your hard disk will be deleted “Yes that includes your data”.
The universal installer will then wipe all the files on your hard disk and continue copying your fresh Puppy installation to the selected drive. This will take a few minutes, and is a good time to indulge in a call of nature or a cup of coffee.
Step 4
Once the files have finished copying to your hard disk you will be presented with a new Puppy Universal Installer window asking if you want to Boot from USB or Install GRUB. Click Install GRUB to proceed.
On the next dialog click OK.
On the GRUB CONFIG dialog leave simple selected and click OK.
The next dialog asks what frame buffer console you require, leave Standard selected and click OK.
On the next dialog you are asked to select the grub partition, click OK to continue.
The next dialog asks where you want GRUB installed, select MBR Install to Master Boot Record (possibly unsafe) and click OK.
On the next dialog click OK.
On the next dialogue select No.
Puppy is now installed on your hard disk, at this point it is important that you DO NOT re-boot. Puppy will not work properly.
Step 5
Edit the Boot menu.lst file.
Once again click the Drives icon once and then next to hda you will see Mount, click it.
A new dialog will open displaying the contents of the hard disk. Clicking each icon once and navigate to:-
boot – grub
Then right click the icon labelled menu.lst
A menu will appear and you should select File ‘menu.lst’ a second menu appears and you should select Open As Text.
A new window will appear with the contents of the menu.lst file. At this point scroll down until you see the following line:-
Kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro vga=normal
Place your cursor at the end of this line and add a space. Then type the following:-
ide1=0x180,0x386 acpi=off
Now click File and Save and click the ⚄ in the corner to close this window.
Continue to close each of the windows currently left open on the screen.
Then click Menu – Logout – Shutdown and click OK to proceed.
When you are asked if you want to save your personal settings you can select DO NOT SAVE and press ENTER to continue the Shutdown procedure.
When you see a message on the screen saying SENDING TERM SIGNAL - SYSTEM WILL SHUT DOWN you should press the Eject button on the CDROM. Don’t worry if you miss this, you can always turn the N505X back on and press F2 to enter the BIOS. From there you can Eject the CD and reboot.
Eventually the N505X will turn off.
At this point I chose to remove my CDROM drive as I intended to install a WIFI card in the slot being used by the PCMCIA CDROM device.
Step 6
Turn your N505X back on and wait.....
At the GNU Grub screen make sure Linux (on /dev/hda2) is selected and press ENTER.
Puppy Linux will continue to load.
Once again you will be presented with the keyboard layout dialog. Select the keyboard layout you previously used and press ENTER.
Once again you will be presented with the Puppy Video Wizard, just press ENTER to select the default XORG option.
Once again the system will probe the video chipset and present you with the Monitor list; you should select h31.5-48.5v40-70 LCD Panel 1024x768 and press ENTER.
Once again the installer will ask you to select the correct video mode; you should select 1024x768x24 Unconfirmed for monitor, OK for video card and press ENTER.
At this point puppy continues to load and you will be presented with the Puppy Linux Desktop.
You have finished the preliminary installation of Puppy Linux on your Sony Vaio PCG-N505X.
Installation of Audio Chipset
Installation of the Audio Chipset is a very simple task.
From the Puppy Desktop click Setup, you will be presented with a WizardWizard dialog. On this screen click the wand next to Setup Alsa Sound...
A Terminal window will open showing the ALSA CONFIGURATOR. Press ENTER.
On this screen ymfpci will be highlighted, press ENTER.
You will be presented with the sound card selection screen.
The next screen requires you click OK.
That’s it done... You have sound ☺
Later versions of Puppy for some reason will not install on the N505X using the above method. However thanks to a note on the Puppy forum I have found that you can boot using USB but not directly.
Basically you need to create a Puppy USB install, then leaving the USB stick plugged in you then boot from the CDROM. Then at the Prompt before Puppy attempts to boot you enter the following command:-
puppy nopcmcia acpi=off pfix=ram pmedia=usbflash
Now this does indeed get Puppy running on the N505X however after running the universal installer I have now further problems booting from hard disk, keep an eye on this post and I will try my best to resolve this and post the answer here!
What you will need:
1 x Sony Vaio PCG-N505X
1 x Sony PCMCIA CDROM Drive
1 x USB Memory Stick (Optional if you have a CD Burner)
Step 1
Download and burn a copy of Puppy Linux to CD.
Connect your PCMCIA CDROM drive to you N505X and turn on the computer.
When the N505X shows the VAIO logo, Press F2 this will sent you to BIOS.
Insert your Puppy CD into the CDROM drive. Check the boot sequence and make sure ATAPI CDROM is the 1st boot device.
Select Exit (Save Changes).
Step 2
Once the boot sequence starts you will be presented with the boot: prompt, you need to move fairly quickly at this point to prevent auto boot as you will have to re-boot once it fails.
At the boot: prompt type: - puppy ide1=0x180,0x386 nopcmcia acpi=off
If you are installing a version of Puppy that is 3x or higher see the notes about USB installation at the end of these instructions.
Press ENTER to continue.
The boot sequence will continue, show a little patience here! A few minutes will go by and it appears nothing is happening. But it is!
Next you will be presented with a dialog requesting your keyboard layout, select the relevant layout and press ENTER to proceed.
Next you will be presented with the Puppy Video Wizard. At this point just press ENTER XORG will be selected by default.
The installation will now spend a few seconds probing the video card. Once it has finished the Wizard continues, at this point select h31.5-48.5v40-70 LCD Panel 1024x768 and press ENTER.
Next the Wizard requests you select the correct video mode, select 1024x768x24 Unconfirmed for monitor, OK for video card and press ENTER.
The boot sequence now continues and you will be presented with the rather cool looking Puppy Linux Desktop and a Dillo Welcome screen.
At this point you have not actually installed puppy! Close the Dillo Window by clicking the ⚄ in the corner and we are ready to proceed.
Step 3
At the top left of your screen you will see an icon that looks like a USB stick and is labelled drives, click it once.
A small dialog will appear and present you with a list of drives available at this time. Next to the CDROM icon you will see MOUNT, click it and a new window containing the contents of the CDROM will appear, close this window with the ⚄ in the corner and then close the Media Utility Tool by clicking the ⚄ in the corner.
Click Menu
Locate the menu option Setup and move the mouse point to this position, another menu will appear, 3rd option from the bottom is Puppy Universal Installer. Select this item and wait for the installer to start.
The next dialog requires you to select the location you wish to install Puppy Linux. Select IDE (ATA) Internal Hard Drive and click OK.
The next dialog requests confirmation of the drive you want to install Puppy Linux on, click OK. On the next dialog click the Puppy next to Install Puppy to hda2.
On the next dialog select OK to continue with the installation.
On the next dialog select NORMAL to continue. (Unless you are setting up multi OS on the system. This guide does not cover multi OS installations.)
If you have installed puppy before the next dialog will ask if you want to upgrade or wipe. For this tutorial you will WIPE but be aware that the contents of your hard disk will be deleted “Yes that includes your data”.
The universal installer will then wipe all the files on your hard disk and continue copying your fresh Puppy installation to the selected drive. This will take a few minutes, and is a good time to indulge in a call of nature or a cup of coffee.
Step 4
Once the files have finished copying to your hard disk you will be presented with a new Puppy Universal Installer window asking if you want to Boot from USB or Install GRUB. Click Install GRUB to proceed.
On the next dialog click OK.
On the GRUB CONFIG dialog leave simple selected and click OK.
The next dialog asks what frame buffer console you require, leave Standard selected and click OK.
On the next dialog you are asked to select the grub partition, click OK to continue.
The next dialog asks where you want GRUB installed, select MBR Install to Master Boot Record (possibly unsafe) and click OK.
On the next dialog click OK.
On the next dialogue select No.
Puppy is now installed on your hard disk, at this point it is important that you DO NOT re-boot. Puppy will not work properly.
Step 5
Edit the Boot menu.lst file.
Once again click the Drives icon once and then next to hda you will see Mount, click it.
A new dialog will open displaying the contents of the hard disk. Clicking each icon once and navigate to:-
boot – grub
Then right click the icon labelled menu.lst
A menu will appear and you should select File ‘menu.lst’ a second menu appears and you should select Open As Text.
A new window will appear with the contents of the menu.lst file. At this point scroll down until you see the following line:-
Kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro vga=normal
Place your cursor at the end of this line and add a space. Then type the following:-
ide1=0x180,0x386 acpi=off
Now click File and Save and click the ⚄ in the corner to close this window.
Continue to close each of the windows currently left open on the screen.
Then click Menu – Logout – Shutdown and click OK to proceed.
When you are asked if you want to save your personal settings you can select DO NOT SAVE and press ENTER to continue the Shutdown procedure.
When you see a message on the screen saying SENDING TERM SIGNAL - SYSTEM WILL SHUT DOWN you should press the Eject button on the CDROM. Don’t worry if you miss this, you can always turn the N505X back on and press F2 to enter the BIOS. From there you can Eject the CD and reboot.
Eventually the N505X will turn off.
At this point I chose to remove my CDROM drive as I intended to install a WIFI card in the slot being used by the PCMCIA CDROM device.
Step 6
Turn your N505X back on and wait.....
At the GNU Grub screen make sure Linux (on /dev/hda2) is selected and press ENTER.
Puppy Linux will continue to load.
Once again you will be presented with the keyboard layout dialog. Select the keyboard layout you previously used and press ENTER.
Once again you will be presented with the Puppy Video Wizard, just press ENTER to select the default XORG option.
Once again the system will probe the video chipset and present you with the Monitor list; you should select h31.5-48.5v40-70 LCD Panel 1024x768 and press ENTER.
Once again the installer will ask you to select the correct video mode; you should select 1024x768x24 Unconfirmed for monitor, OK for video card and press ENTER.
At this point puppy continues to load and you will be presented with the Puppy Linux Desktop.
You have finished the preliminary installation of Puppy Linux on your Sony Vaio PCG-N505X.
Installation of Audio Chipset
Installation of the Audio Chipset is a very simple task.
From the Puppy Desktop click Setup, you will be presented with a WizardWizard dialog. On this screen click the wand next to Setup Alsa Sound...
A Terminal window will open showing the ALSA CONFIGURATOR. Press ENTER.
On this screen ymfpci will be highlighted, press ENTER.
You will be presented with the sound card selection screen.
The next screen requires you click OK.
That’s it done... You have sound ☺
Installation of 3x or above using USB
Later versions of Puppy for some reason will not install on the N505X using the above method. However thanks to a note on the Puppy forum I have found that you can boot using USB but not directly.
Basically you need to create a Puppy USB install, then leaving the USB stick plugged in you then boot from the CDROM. Then at the Prompt before Puppy attempts to boot you enter the following command:-
puppy nopcmcia acpi=off pfix=ram pmedia=usbflash
Now this does indeed get Puppy running on the N505X however after running the universal installer I have now further problems booting from hard disk, keep an eye on this post and I will try my best to resolve this and post the answer here!
OpenDNS
I am one of those really boring people who thinks children should not be looking at nasty things on the internet, be that porn, dead bodies, self abuse sites or frankly anything else that does not revolve around a cute teddy bear or similar.
So you can imagine how pleased I was to locate a fantastic Open Source service called OpenDNS.
OpenDNS offers many useful reasons to use their services:-
Security
* Industry-leading anti-phishing protects everyone on your network from fraudulent phishing scams.
* Award-winning Web content filtering gives you the power to block up to 50 categories of content.
* Detailed statistics empower you to understand your network traffic and spot trends before they become problems.
Infrastructure
* Our globally distributed network makes Web sites load noticeably faster on your network.
* Anycast routing technology makes your Internet more reliable, freeing you of intermittent outages.
Navigation
* Browser Shortcuts let your users map a short term to a long URL via the address bar.
* Typo correction auto-corrects the most common typos in top-level domains.
* OpenDNS Guide provides helpful search results when your users try to visit a Web site that isn't resolving.
This is a very easy to use service, 10 minutes and your kids should be safe as houses on the Internet, well at least safer than just letting them have a free run at it.
The Internet is the most amazing library you could imagine, let your kids learn, but keep them safe while they are doing so!
Hope this helps!
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Windows Password Reset
For those of you who have been unfortunate enough to either loose your Windows Password or have the need to reset someone else's password this is a useful tool.
It allows you to reset the windows password for any local account including administrator.
More details can be found here: Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
Hopefully this will be as helpful to you as it has been to me.
It allows you to reset the windows password for any local account including administrator.
More details can be found here: Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
Hopefully this will be as helpful to you as it has been to me.
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