November 5, 2010 · General · 10 comments

You find GRUB ugly right? Everyone does. It's supposed to be better and cleaner, but it is so restricted and hard to edit. I am here to the rescue! You can easily use the Windows bootloader to boot into Windows or Ubuntu, with no hassle.

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October 18, 2010 · General · 36 comments

As someone that loves music, listens constantly and is always adding to my collection by purchasing and then ripping CDs, a decent tag editor is an essential tool.  I've been using Linux for the past seven years or so and the only drawback that I was constantly faced with was the lack of a great audio tag editor -- basically a Linux based equivalent to mp3tag.   After trying every Linux tagger I could get my hands on (Ex Falso, EasyTag, Pinkytagger, Jaikoz, Picard, etc. etc.) I finally settled on running mp3tag under Wine.  Whilst it works, it's still a compromise because it cannot handle case sensitivity, cannot rename folders and filenames and path lengths are limited to Windows file system restrictions.   In addition, there were a number of functional enhancements and additions I wanted to see in mp3tag, but didn't seem like they'd see the light of day.
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July 12, 2010 · Backup, General, Security · 5 comments

Few days ago after I've posted post "How To Reset Forgotten Ubuntu Password", someone ask me (or maybe not ask but give an opinion) about the security of Linux (we all know, "security" is one of the majority feature that Linux offered to us). How about the security if we can reset the root password as easy as that my post said.
After that, I think about that. And I haven't found the answer until now. But, I've got this useful tutorial from Ubuntu Forum. How we can set password protection to our GRUB
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July 9, 2010 · Backup, General, Security · 13 comments

reset ubuntu passwordContinuing my previous post "how to reset Windows password using Ubuntu", in this post I'll give solution "how to reset Ubuntu password".

It's really easy to reset Ubuntu password! Just log in root mode. And in Ubuntu this can be done by logging in when system reboot. So we logged in CLI mode. Here's the way, how to reset forgotten Ubuntu password. Check it out!

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January 25, 2010 · General · 27 comments

This tutorial will allow you to access your ext3 partition under Windows, using Sun VirtualBox and Ubuntu.
The tutorial is pretty long due to the images, but they explain things easier sometimes (they are not just meaningless screenshots) (forgive me for your scroll button :P)
I tested this on Windows Xp, using my Ubuntu Linux's root partition for test purposes and everything went ok, but be aware:

Warning
Raw hard disk access is for expert users only. Incorrect use or use of an outdated configuration can lead to total loss of data on the physical disk. Most importantly, do not attempt to boot the partition with the currently running host operating system in a guest. This will lead to severe data corruption.

as stated in the VirtualBox manual!

download and install sun virtualbox for windows
(http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads)

download the 32-bit ubuntu server edition
(http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download-server)

open up a windows command prompt (Start Menu > All programs > Accessories)
change into to the sun virtualbox folder:

cd "C:\Program Files\Sun\VirtualBox"

(tailor this if you have a non-standard Windows or VirtualBox installation)

find your ext3 partition:

VBoxManage internalcommands listpartitions -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDriveX

(where X should be 0,1,... depending on which hdd you want to use)
(tip: ext3 partition type is 0x83)

create a special image which points to your partition:

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename \path\to\file.vmdk -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDriveX -partitions Y,Z

(where Y, Z should be the partition number(s) you found out before, and filename is self-explanatory, but should end with .vmdk)

set up a virtual machine in virtualbox:




select your virtual machine and click on settings:
set up networking:

"insert" your ubuntu server install cd into the virtual machine:


start up your virtual machine and install ubuntu server:


select your keymap, and select the install mode:
the install is pretty self explanatory, you shouldn't have problems with it
choose samba file server and openssh server when asked

unmount the install medium and boot into your new system

update your system (optional), install some additional stuff(required):

sudo apt-get update (optional)
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade (optional)
sudo apt-get install screen nano mc htop

screen > allows multiple terminals to be opened easily
nano > easier to use than vim in my opinion
mc > just like norton commander or total commander
htop > easy process management

stop your virtualmachine and add the physical patrtition‘s image to the virtual machine
(image should be added to available images in virtual device manager first)

boot up your server again

make a new directory for the shared partition

cd /
mkdir sharedpartition
chmod 777 sharedpartition

edit your fstab to auto-mount the partition at every startup:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

add the following

/dev/sdXY /sharedpartition ext3 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1

(where X should be a,b,... depending on hdd number, and Y should 1,2,... depending on partition number)

edit samba configuration:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

change your workgroup to be the same as your windows one, and uncomment the security line:

workgroup = yourworkgroup
security = user

add this to the end:

[SharedPartition]
comment = The shared physical partition
path = /sharedpartition
browseable = yes
writeable = yes
valid users = tutorial

now add and enable this user to samba

sudo smbpasswd -a tutorial
sudo smbpasswd -e tutorial

restart samba with

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

Enjoy!

P.s:
You can share multiple partitions and/or different filesystems too.