The Tulsa .NET Developers group has setup a VS2008 install party that lets people get the full version of VS2008. The Microsoft partnered event is a great way to get your initial full RTM versions installed and ready for usage early without relying on the beta versions.
More to follow!
Add smart package manager and update the system
Step 2.
Add installation sources:
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/SL-10.1/non-oss-inst-source
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/SL-10.1/inst-source.
Step 3
Install non standard apps (jre, flash, etc)
Borrowed from http://dev-loki.blogspot.com/2006/05/how-to-install-and-use-smart-on-suse.html
Installing rpm-python
Smart has only one requirement, besides python (that should be always installed by default anyway), that’s rpm-python (RPM bindings for python).
rpm-python is not installed by default, so you will have to pull that one first.
Let’s assume that your current zmd/yast2 setup isn’t working correctly, and do it the low-level way.
After opening a shell and having switched to the root user, do this to install the rpm-python package from Factory:
(note that the whole command is supposed to be a single line, just splitted for the sake of readability, but you can still copy/paste that line as-is into your root shell)
Note that if you have a 64bit system (the command “uname -m” shows “x86_64“), then use the following command instead:
Now that we have rpm-python installed, let’s grab smart
Go to one of these:
(the latter should be the fastest)
And pick the URL of the latest smart package for 10.1 and your architecture (i686 or x86_64), e.g. this one for 32bit:
http://ftp.skynet.be/pub/suser-guru/rpm/packages/System/smart/smart-0.42-6.guru.suse101.i686.rpm
Or this one for 64bit:
http://ftp.skynet.be/pub/suser-guru/rpm/packages/System/smart/smart-0.42-6.guru.suse101.x86_64.rpm
Pass that to rpm -ivh in a root shell, like this for 32 bit:
or like this for 64bit:
From release 0.41-24 and 0.42-1 onwards, my smart RPM comes pre-configured with all the channels you need (main repository, online updates, non-OSS repository, my own “guru” repository, packman, …), including the correct repository URLs and mirrors for 10.1.
Another nice tutorial can be found here, written by sPiN: http://spinink.net/2006/05/20/installing-smart-package-manager/
After installing smart, you have to run smart update once to have it download the metadata for the configured repositories.
When you run it the first time, it will prompt you on whether you want to include preconfigured channels or not (it asks for every channel).
Note that as of version/release 0.41-25 (or 0.42-*) on, the package also includes preconfigured channels for the latest wine, firefox/thunderbird/… updates and the supplementary KDE repository, but those are disabled by default.
From there on, if you also want to install the graphical user interface for smart:
Personally, I prefer the shell interface: smart –shell 
If you also want to enable e.g. the supplementary KDE repository, do this:
You get a list of all configured channels with the following command:
In the course of providing for virtual infrastructure, you may need to virtualize a linux server or two. Here is my procedure for doing so.
Prerequisites
- A reliable (read NOT a snap server) data storage devic e mountable via NFS with free disk capacity in excess of the total drive size of the system being virtualized. r
- A reliable ethernet connection
- A working knowledge of NFS and vi
Procedure
Section I - Imag e creation
1. Boot off of Linux installation CD
2. Enter rescue mode
3. Allow search of existing Linux installs (makes it easier to map partitions/drives)
4. Issue mount command from command line
5. Document the drives/partitions mounted under /mnt/sysimage
6. Configure a virtual machine on a different hardware pl atform with the same number of drives as the original and at least of the same size. (Configuring the first dri ve to be much larger is not a bad idea as it is a good time to perform a consolidation unless you are devoting physical disks to the VM)
7. Make a mount point under the root of the rescue image (i.e. mkdir /filer)
8 . Mount the NFS storage location. Be sure that you are using NFS version 3 (2GB file limitation will break th e process)
9. Using the dd command make images of every drive (/sda or /hda) and name it with notation indi cating partition and mount point (i.e. sda1-1root-2boot-3home.img) This will greatly simplify reconstruction of the system in the virtual machine if something goes awry. (SAMPLE COMMAND - dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/filer/images/s da1-1root-2boot-3home.img)
Section II - VM Build
1. Boot the VM using the physical Linux CD or a n ISO of it
2. Enter rescue mode
3. Don’t search for installs
4. Create a mount point for the NFS Image location (i.e. /filer)
5. Mount the NFS location using NFS version 3
6. Using dd, image the virtu al drives you have created (i.e. dd if=/filer/images/sda1-1root-2boot-3home.img of=/dev/sda1)
7. type exit to reboot the virtual machine
8. Boot the linux cd/iso into rescue mode
9. Let the system scan and dete ct previous linux installations
10. Change root into the vm chroot /mnt/sysimage
11. make a directory for the initrd (if required - i.e. redhat/fedora) (mkdir /mnt/initrd)
12 copy the initrd image from /boot to / tmp and rename it with a .gz extension (cp /boot/initrd-2.6.10-766.img /tmp/initrd.gz)
13. Uncompress the in itrd.gz file (i.e. gunzip /tmp/initrd.gz)
14. Mount the initrd file (mount -o loop /tmp/initrd /mnt/initrd) r
15. Copy the buslogic module for the active linux kernel to the initrd mount point lib directory (cp /lib/mo dules/2.6.10-766/kernel/drivers/scsi/BusLogic.o /mnt/initrd/lib) Also copy the scsi_mod.o and sd_mod.o files i f they are not present.
16. Edit the /mnt/initrd/linuxrc file and remove any previous SCSI drivers and add t he BusLogic module and if needed the scsi_mod.o and sd_mod.o modules as well.
(i.e. example file
i nsmod scsi_mod.o
insmod sd_mod.o
insmod BusLogic.o
)
17. Save the file
18. unmount t he initrd image (umount /mnt/initrd)
19. Compress the image file (i.e. gzip /tmp/initrd)
20. Make a backu p copy of the original file (cp /boot/initrd-2.6.10-766.img /boot/initrd-2.6.10-766.img.orig)
21. Copy the n ew initrd.gz file to the image file (cp /tmp/initrd.gz /boot/initrd-2.6.10-766.img)
22. If lilo is the boot loader, make appropriate changes in the /etc/lilo.conf to reflect disk type changes (/hda to /sda). If grub is the boot loader, make the appropriate changes to /boot/grub/grub.conf (/hda to /sda)
23. If lilo is the boo t loader run “lilo”. If grub is the boot loader, run “grub-install”
24. If you are going to perform dri ve consolidations, this is the time to do it, if you need assistance, contact a linux guru)
24. type exit t wice
25. While the VM is going down, disconnect the CD-ROM drive/image from the VM
26. Upon reboot, inst all the vmware tools.
You should now have a running system inside the virtual machine.
Ok, spyware is a HUGE problem on the Internet today. Here are symptoms a nd steps for removal of it:
Symptoms:
- pop-ups appear when you get on-line
- your connection is measureably slower than it used to be
- your computer is measureably slower
Cleanup:
Download t he following programs:
- AVG Free edition ( for single computer home users, networks and business can email me for a quote. byte@web-host.net)
- Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta
- S pyBot Search and Destroy
Start by installing the AVG Free edition. Be sure and enable heuristic sca nning and then perform a full system scan. After the initial scan completes, I recommend restarting your compu ter and pressing the F8 key and holding it before the Windows XP or 98 menu comes up. Start your system in Saf e Mode. This mode does not load up drivers and add-ons that are typically attached to by spyware and viruses. Perform a complete system scan with AVG and restart your computer.
When your system comes back up, util ize Trend Micros Housecall online AV scan Using this second a nti-virus engine provides a second set of “eyes” on your system to perform cleanup and remove pesky virus and spyware infections.
Step 3 is to install spybot S&D, be sure and search for updates, install ALL of the m and then perform a scan and fix at that point. I also recommend installing the Tea-Timer add-on, beware thou gh as it will pop-up a confirmation boxes for changes to the system registry (where program settings are stored ) any time you install, remove or modify and application installation. There are beneficial programs that may show up on the list to “fix” that you may want to take off, i.e. weatherbug, covenant eyes, etc.
Step 4 is to install and enable the Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta. This is a good program and very able to clean thin gs up on the system. Be sure and join the spyware community.
The next step is to do the F8 reboot aga in and get into Safe Mode. This time around, you should run in this order
1. AVG Full Scan
2. Micro soft Anti-Spyware Scan
3. SpyBot Scan
4. Microsoft Anti-Spyware Scan
5. SpyBot Scan
6. AVG Full Scan
Go ahead and restart your computer after these complete.
Run another AVG Scan and a Trend Micro Scan
The last and most important step is to perform a Wi ndows Update and keep doing it (custom update, select all optional and hardware components as well) until t here are none left. If you have a DSL or Cable connection to the internet, you should utilize the applet on th e right side of the page to turn on automatic updates as well.
Your prescription to keep Spyware away is to update AVG and Spybot at least once every 2 weeks and do the windows update at least once every 2 weeks. r
As always, you can pay to have a professional do this operation but be prepared as it is not inexpensive due to the time involved.
If you continue to have problems afterwards, feel free to contact Byte Comp uter Services @ support@web-host.net for an appointment for assistance. Rates are $60/hr, but we won’t let y ou spend more than the computer is worth. You may be told that you are better off spending the money on a new system.