UNnetBootIn-How I did it?

If you have an old computer which does not boot from USB Flash Drive I have a solution for you.
This applies to the third world and perhaps to the guys and girls of the developed world who are going through rough times and cannot afford a USB booting netbook or laptop or desktop.

If you have a device which boots with USB, most of what of I state below may not apply to you except the principles.
If you are buying anything new do not buy ones without USB booting.

I of course use old gadgets and my 233 speed with 128 RAM and 4 MB graphic is still working but painfully slow.

Also for the guys and girls of the developing world who have gone abroad looking for better pastures with all your parents' saving and the parent no longer can support you on the second or third years.

All what you need is a Flash Drive and if you cannot afford that it is better you start looking for a menial job and rough out till times get better or they chase you out without extending the visa.

Once those universities sap all your money they have no use of you and start recruiting new batch for their own survival.

Education is money and money is education now in the developed world.

However world has not got better but worse with plenty of geeky gadgets around you, even I cannot afford them in my retirement age.

That is why I am turning to bare bones of computing and Linux utilities are there to get expensive work done with minimum of expenditure but lot of learning to do.

One must get out of the Microsoft plug and play mentality (i.e. even monkeys and dogs can be trained).

And nothing is plug and play even for Microsoft with so many new gadgets hitting the market and D.I.Y is one of the best ways to put your neck and nose ahead in the game of computing world.

Lot of time is necessary and risk taking is essential and above all experimenting. At worse you may ruin the partition table of the Flash drive which I have done.

Linux guys and girls are not there to spoon feed you and they are mostly doing it as a hobby with lot of work and midnight oil burning for their own survival.

But there are few professionals not many of course who are out there willing to help.

I am not a GuRu but an ardent supporter of Linux and a daily user of few outstanding Linux utilities.

UnetBootIn in one of them even though it has lot of teething problems.

For two years I have not looked at my Flash Drives with Live Linux distributions which were booting with my laptop but with none of my computers without USB booting facility.

Since my old IBM is ready for junkyard and power pack and mother board needing a rest period before the junkyard experience I went and bought a secondhand IBM in good working order with little amount of USB support but SATA hard disks.

As the testing period was over and it is doing my daily work and downloading at night, with the extended New year holidays I decided to go for the Acid Test of USB booting while doing lot of other things around the household.

This is my Final Report on UnetBootIn, may not be comprehensive but how I got it to do my work and used all my Flash drives for USB booting with or without USB booting facility of the other computers I have.

Ignore the top preamble and concentrate now.

I have no idea of how it works but this is how I figured it out with some basic idea about Linux booting practice with GRUB.

How I did it.
1. Its kernel is less than one MiB
2. Its init file is the biggest which is less than fifty MiB
3. It has ID file
4. It has GRUB Menu (slash.msg for Pendrive Linux)
5. System configuration file
6. Two text files names ubnfilel and ubpathl
These seven files are necessary for its booting.

Rest of the files are distribution specific out of which livecd.sqfs file is the heaviest and the most important that boots up after initial GRUB sequence.

It has a boot folder and isolinux folder which are basic essentials for Linux booting.

Process has 3 essential steps.
1. Downloading
2, Extraction
3, Booting (grub) sequence.

Most painful part is the downloading which can break at any moment because of the poor downloading here.

So I choose DSL my yesteryear favorite (50 MiB), Puppy 4.2 my very first USB Linux and parted Magic (158 MiB). Unfortunately gnome's gParted one of my favorite utility is not there in the listed distributions. I hope gnome will come out with gparted enhanced with UnetBotIn in it's 128 MiB distribution in the next revision.

Knoppix is not there but it is a different kettle of fish altogether with nearly 4 GiB of compressed files and the best heavy weight category and I am here with the light weight category, for now.

All three worked in the first instance but not PCLinux and Mepis.
Then I wanted to try PCLinux (could not get it because all iso files are now torrents at Linuxtracker) and Mepis (broke at once at 200 and the second time at 850 MiB out of 925 MiB).
Tried PCLinux from my hard drive but some important boot files were missing.

Failures on several occasions, I went into the experimental mode.

Prepare DSL for booting as usual or copy the files listed above to the intended Flash Drive.

Then go to the graphic item and distribution source and give the path for the file in my hard disk and click OK.
Before that one should delete the sqfs file of DSL or Puppy (or overwrite only this file when prompted).

Then say NO to overwrite for all the files except the sqfs file.

Before booting it is better to see whether all the files I mentioned above are copied correctly to the Pendrive.

If so shutdown the computer and reboot and the live CD is now in your Pendrive and you do not need to have a CD or DVD to boot your favorite Linux distribution onto the RAM. With this Pendrive you can install Linux to any worthwhile computer without a CD or DVD you may have.

In my case I did install PCLinux-2010 from the Pendrive I prepared on my laptop which I formatted to install Knoppix and record World Cup Cricket (quality of the USB TV card was poor).

Now I am looking for a netbook (my daughter would not oblige) to try my wizardry like wizard of OZ.

Only downside was that one cannot boot the DSL (you have overwritten or deleted in the process).

If you have brains you may even install another sqfs file and edit the boot menu and boot the second one too.
I have no time to try it but I hope UnetBootIn will add that facility in future and access to iso files in my hard disk so that I can bypass the downloading bit and boot any of the 100 odd Linux live CD /DVDs I have.

PCLinux USB creator was hopeless to say the least and it does not do the job properly like UnetBootIn and also needs Linux partition and not fat partitions.

Go and enjoy Pendrive freedom that come from Linux Developers of repute.

I must say special thanks to MCN (Mandriva) group which started the ball rolling in 2007 with the first Penndrive Version I got to work on a Pendrive in Singapore in 2009.

However Singaporeans have no clue about Pendrive Linux or Linux in general.

This is something Indians would have invested (prepare LIVE PENDRIVES for sale) during World Cup but missed it in toto and now doing IPL cricket instead.
Anybody can come to me but I charge for the time especially the download time which is painfully slow and I value my free time which is devoted for rants like this.

Edited on the 20th
How to get new Puppy into your Pendrive (It is easy as eating cheese cake and dogs love cheese)

Easiest method is to is to boot the Live CD and used it as a base to make a Live Pendrive. This was how I made my first Live USB long before Pendrive Linux and at a time when I did not have a computer with USB booting facility.

Puppy was my entry into Light Weight Distribution Version and I have not looked back on that experience.

Then I went into PCLinux and its many versions including PCLinux Mini Me. I am not impressed with the record of USB booting with PCLinux even now and that was the one that took the longest time and method (Thanks to UnetBootIn) how to figure out making a USB drive. It failed miserably with my USB hard drive in spite of me getting it into a Linux partition and I finally gave up because I do not fancy carrying a heavy SATA disk in my front pocket.

I prefer a Pendrive around my neck instead of a hard drive.
Mind you I use the hard drive to carry all my favorite iso images some of which are 4.4 GiB and Supreme Games Linux is almost 8 GiB.

Getting Puppy into a Pendrive was the easiest with UNetbootIn but with a problem.
It only downloads the 4.2 version (the first version I used before Dingo-most number of Live CD I have is with Puppy) from the internet.


So I set about to get a copy of Puppy lupu from my hard disk to Pendrive.

1. Plug in the Pendrive with Puppy 4.2
2. Start UnetBootIn and selected Puppy for install rather copy
3. From dialog box gave the path to my lupu already downloaded and click OK
4. Said NO to all overwrite messages
5. Check the Flash Drive to see production OK. Both Puppy 4.2 and and lupu 525 sqfs files were there with only 250 of the 14oo Mib used.
6. Booted the Flash drive to see it only boots the 4.2. Could not get F2 to change boot option since it configures the keyboard in later stages (Puppy bypasses even the BIOS) of booting.
7. Mounted Flash on my desktop and changed the 420 to 422 and lupu 525 to 420.
8. Booted again and got the kernel panic message (in early days when I get this message I go into panic mode, almost a heart attack but now wait for a few seconds and switch off the computer making sure RAM is not in freeze mode and fully flushed like toilet bowl after a wee, wee.
(I get a message from South Africa where water scarcity is a serious problem and asking me to put bricks on the cistern to reduce the capacity and fill it with waste or used water. I think they way we are chopping trees and the Coal Power Plant functioning at full speed we will be near that fate before India. Please excuse me on this diversion if I blog this separately nobody will read it and hence the inclusion here)
9. Booted again but again kernel panic mode
10. UnetBootIn again and and copied lupu 525 and this time said yes to all overwrite messages including uninit and unkernel.
11. Booted again presto the lupu was running.

Summary in 4 steps

1. Format the Pendrive with FAT 32 partition
2. Install Puppy 4.2 using UNetBootIn and check booting of the Pendrive.
3. Download any of the latest Puppy, lupu, quirky or wary (you can rename the iso image with your dog's name if you are a dog lover. I believe Barry Kauler an Australian is a Dog Lover. Note, unlike cricketers Australian are nice and normal guys).
4. Repeat Step 2 to with overwrite mode on (manually) and boot it up.

I think I have said enough of UnetBootIn.
I hope the Developers got the message and in its next update of UnetBootIn it is sweet as honey.
Thanks Guys and Girls you are doing some excellent work, you should make sure that you have some rest in between and play some Linux Games like me .

Postscript
I get a message from WiN 7 guys that they also have developed a Pendrive utility but it is painfully slow and need a huge Flash Drive with all the viruses included in the processing.
So before any one using it do a virus scan first using a Linux Utility called Medi Linux!

Maha Brahma and his Dog

This story was related to me by one of my yesteryear friends, not a doc but a dog now in high heaven.

I am well versed from the time of Maha Brahma's Assistant who was a Kandy dog frequenting rubbish bins in Kandy including Malwatta temple and by some clever means twisted the arm of the Maha Brahma and managed to get the present post.

I knew the dog well and once in a way he sends me an errand of some sort by email. I cannot send any email to him because it is not permitted by law of the heaven for human to send email direct but there is no restriction of outgoing email from heaven, though, very randomly. I am told they use a type of Linux distribution where in the tradition incognito the log, memory and search routes and rules are erased without a trace. I am trying to crack this and get some stories for earthling and I cannot wait till the next Buddha's time and appearance which is eons away.
As a form of grace they release some random stories and and I have the privilege of knowing the dog first and the current Brahma's Assistant and by that virtue a few of the stories circulating in heaven.

The story predates his time (present Assistant) and this time it was Pedigree dog.

This pedigree dog was resident of a demented man who was politician of yesteryear.

He was demented because of his bounty of alcohol when in and out of power. But sadly he lived up to ripe old age of nineties, physically well but mentally demented. The dog died soon after the master's demise but because of his virtues and because he happened to reach heaven at the time of our New Year holiday, he was put on the waiting list.
There were quite a number of dogs who reached there at the very same instant. Maha Brahma without an assistant then had great difficulty in selecting the correct protocol and the correct next round of births that they deserve.

Because this dog came from high office on earth he was very well noted by the Maha Brahma for extra credit.

Maha has a set of standard questions and it is very difficult to outsmart him.

He did not leave the demented politician now completely neglected by his party members, family members and the like but this faithful dog was with his master till his last few seconds on earth. My friend told me not to disclose where about of this politician now but suffice is to say much less honourable quarters than his favorite dog.

In his conversation with Maha this dog had lot of questions from the Master Being.

The pedigree dog could not understand why the behaviour of his master changed in latter stages of his life with dementia who could not remember the dog's name and used to call various odd names and forgot to feed him or fleece him.

He was telling Maha it was very unfair for a dog to be with a human in that stage of life and state and why only humans get demented and not dogs barring of course hydrophobia.

Maha did not have a suitable answer and he was impressed by this dogs devotion to his master when all earthlings deserted him high and dry including doctors.

There were lot of other dogs of lowly human settings including beggars, humbugs and the lot, Maha was pushed up to his neck and told the pedigree dog to wait for another day for a change and he could become his dog for a day and stay with him overnight.

This he could not decline.
He was so pleased with the offer did not bother the Master Being for even an overnight meal and went to sleep like a log.

Maha had other ideas and wanted to observe and test him before offering the next round of birth, the next day. But he lost this opportunity and in any case for his calm demeanour Maha was highly impressed.

The next day also Maha went on with his mundane routine affairs and was not ready with a place for our pedigree dog. That day was the same result, the pedigree dog that day went into dream mode thinking what a nice place he is going to get the next day.
This went on for a week and for some unknown reason Brahma had hit high on this week and was finding easy with his decision making.

In fact Brahma was enjoying his company which was docile but very pleasant.
It was the same with the dog who had a very painful last few months on earth with the demented politician.
So he became less chatty and never asked any favours from the new master the Master Being himself.

Master also never offered a new lease or round of births by default.

Well Maha also knew one day when his term of office ends like the politician and when he has to go he has to go and he did not want to go alone.

Master needed a companion.

So the Maha and his dog came into being and they got eons to go.

So do not ever think of becoming the master's dog or the master's assistant.
They are on eternal holiday without fire crackers and assistant is doing the mundane rounds without a break (he loves it though being a descendant of paraya or the stray dog clan).

In my case I am looking for post of the server manager in heaven with my experience in hell this may lead to better and faster Linux Protocol and Administration there in heaven.

The Dog, the Dog Lovers's Heart Disease and Fire Cracker Menance

I often wonder why dogs get same diseases like human except a few.

We get diabetes and dogs get diabetes.
We get arthritis and dogs get arthritis.
We have hip problems the dog too have hip dysplasia and the lot.
We get skin diseases and the dogs also get skin diseases.
We get allergy and dogs get allergies.
Dog gets heart problems and we get heart problems but with a difference.

Having a dog is good for the heart but I do not think having a heart patient is good for the dog which curtails his exercise routine and he becomes chubby and in reality more heart disease prone.

We get cataract and dogs get it too.

These things a common with pedigree dogs but not nearly so in paraya or the stray dogs.

What a crime these poor animals have done to be with us and have all the tendencies of our own.

I do not know but the Maha Bramma knows it for better or worse.

But there is a big difference in old age we get dementia and we forget even the dog who was with us which is very unfortunate for the dog as well as the owner.

But dogs will never get dementia and they will remember us till they die, whether we are poor or rich.

Thank god their life span is shorter and they do not have to go through with a family after family of forgetful people.

When the next turn of life cycle comes or the rebirth comes they are better and wiser if they ask for another life style without human diseases from Maha Brahma who is looking after their interests after their death.

They deserve a better life for their loyalty alone and I hope they will be with gods and angles next time round and look after our failing health, memory, eyesight and hearing from above.

If we care for three dogs in our lifetime, guess there will be three guardian angles looking after our interests up from above.

But Maha Brahma should have a firm hand on this issue and anybody who light fire crackers for cheap fun during new year and politicians who get their supporters to light fire crackers to herald their arrivals during festive times should be excluded from guardian angle duty of the dogs who left us in fear of fire crackers if not thunder during new year.

When I see my dog in fear not knowing what to do except to hide under my bed, I now have a firm conviction that all of us dog lovers sick or otherwise should get up and say no to fire crackers and ban them in toto.

Amnesia "Webbo Amnesia"

Please note that this was posted with Incognito Live CD with Vidalia activated!
Within 24 hours of posting this my Firefox has deleted all recently accessed sites. Thank you Firefox.

You were open source based and you do not have to feed your information to business vultures.
Please make the browser cookie free if one prefers that. I am one of them.

I love this term for a Linux distribution.
It is called Amnesia Live System.

It is a medical term.

We have two terms anterograde and posterograde Amenesia or post traumatic Amnesia and this is "webbo amnesia" that is developing and evolving.

It uses Tor-to Ram utility where the web browser is clean as a slate.
It has no cookies.
It has no search term records.
Access log deleted on shutdown.

Hassle free Browser Iceweasel (which also blocks access denied message) in situ.

If you need a fast browser, this is what you should go for.

All the other browsers have cookies which remember you and your password and on the day you are hacked you are fully naked on the world wide web.

Yes, stark naked, like "Indian bolly" after the world cup win.

If you have personality to protect not a shady one of course this is the one (distributions) for you.

Browse the web in anonymity, yes it can be done with Linux.

It has nothing on the mostly visited column.
It has web mail and tor and no logs of where you have visited.
It boots and connects immediately with the Internet with a green onion on display.

I like this onion saga too.

It has Vidalia Cobtrol Panel from which you can view the entire network connected to you with the name of site and IP address.

One name is I-dis-agree (USA), another is trusted (Austria) and lemondrop from Russia.

You can see who is eavesdropping on your computer but they do not know who you are?

You can zoom it up to his door step if your computer has good graphic card.
Similar to Google Earth but with the IP address of the offender.

If the intruder is nasty, you may type some four letter words and exit with a thank you.

This is Debian and with powerful Gnome and Iceweasel.
It has Globby Collaborative editor, open office, Inkscpae, Scribus and a scanner.

Home has bug reports and tail's documentation and nothing else.

This live CD is amazingly good and I wish they add a message that says "catch my tail if you can"-reminding me of that famous film "catch me if you can"

Well done Guys and Girls!

With this utility sends chills down the spines of power hungry politicians.

Beware, you are scrutinized by the seconds, but you cannot catch the voter who is posting this message.

Nothing is impossible in Digital Linux-Including Large File Backup

Now that I have downloaded the first Linux Gamer DVD, Iglive, an Arch based Linux Live DVD, I was wondering how to save the image.

It is above 4 GiB which cannot be transferred to my external hard disk with FAT.
FAT is limited by 4 GiB limit and fragmentations. These problems are not there with Linux partitions. Next time round I will have both FAT and NTFS partitions as storage devices.

Simple solution for this is to convert the FAT partition to NTFS partition by booting with Gparted but if I do that it will effect my GRUB file (I have many distributions in one BOX and it means I have to reinstall them) and having my images in DVDs will let me do that on a future date.

I could compressed the file with Ark with archiving utility is Linux but that is doing two thing for one job and a windows Guy / Girl won't be able to open it with Nero if I give the image file compressed to him.
I hit open a crazy idea with Supreme Super Gamer (which will take 4 to 5 days to download) being downloaded, that if it can copy 8.4 GiB on a double density DVD, it will jolly well copy the image in data format.
Certainly I did not want to lose 2 days of downloading be wasted since I have the uncanny habit of formatting the hard disk with a drop of hat of when I hit upon a new idea to investigate.
In fact I accidentally formatted 33 GiB of images in one stroke (this was a USB multimedia gadget with SATA disk) since the multimedia file was misbehaving and I wanted to try installing a Linux distribution in a separate partition.
Everything misfired and the entire partition table was out of reach and I have to redo the partition table (which took ages in good all days) and install Linux for testing.

I had no regrets since in addition to hard disk save I have over may be 200 DVDs with all the images I have downloaded so for except those above 4 GiBs.
Presto! my idea worked and in about 22 minutes I have copied 6 images into DVDs.
While I was waiting for these DVD writing, I thought I will pen this to wider web now.

While all these digital work my two computers are downloading Incognito (I will talk about soon) and Supreme Super gamer, Dabian-Edu and last 50 MiBs Incognito with my dog bringing message telling who is at the door or and all the alerting news of the front door.

Incognito is an amazing utility which all the aspiring politicians and power hungry ones should worry about.
It can boot and erase all the traces of memory in the browser and the computer of use after posting a message out of the country which some dictators like what you find in China may not like it, and the true state of affairs are known to the rest of the world.
Tor is a small utility one can carry in a floppy disk and it will send chills in the spines of some politicians!
Linux can do it and www is for all not for a few powerful and wealthy.
It makes the ground rules simple and open.
Be transparent in all public (not private) affairs.
What I gather is that this utility is used by teenagers in the West to hoodwink their parents and reach unwanted sites.
Well, teens are two steps ahead of their parents and old folks should should fast learn "tricks of the trade".
Use of this utility in bad hands can be deplorable but I will use it only when their is a dire necessity political-wise.
So long holiday is going to be over and I can sleep well now with all the utilities in hand and two games DVDs to play round for the rest of the year.
Pingus and tuck racer are my favourites now.

Linux Gamers and Final Count Down

Yes it is the final count down to Linux 100 and curtain would be down soon and me looking for other academic activities with firm base on Linux utilities.

I have decided to devote on Linux Games when I retire (if that will ever happen) and because of that I am yet to download a games DVD.

Games in Linux, that is the only area it is lagging behind.

Now that the downloading of Gamers Linux DVD is in progress by dawn of Bakmaha Poya Day, Linux Gamers DVD (4.4 GiB) would be ready barring power failure due to thunder and lightening in Kandy.

We had a very big shower today and by midday computer which was cooking at 95 F was switched off.

My hard disks are chockablock with Linux images and it is high time I quit this adventure of mine.

All night and till early morning (best time to download) I was configuring all my Pendrives with Puppy Linux 4.2 (from biblio), DSL 4.4.1 (from Australian University), Parted Magic and engineered method of PCLinux KDE on Flash Drives with UNetBootIn as Linux Utility was the penultimate step.

Yes, UNetBootIn has some teething problems which I have stated elsewhere, no need of repetition, here.

Long holiday was blessing in disguise!

Little over 3 years ago my interests were to have a Linux on a Pendrive (Puppy Linux), the latest SuSe DVD, latest Mandriva DVD and Linux Gamers DVD (Knoppix in particular with kids in mind) to play with in Christmas 2008.

I used to get somebody in Kandy to download these and after months of perseverance I get a badly burned (with Nero) DVD.

That also in 64 bits version which I cannot use.

The other ploy was to get the DVD from a chap who comes once a month to deliver pirated copies of all Microsoft utilities and few Linux CD/DVDs.

It is very often, me coming down to Colombo and searching either in Liberty Plaza or Majestic City the DVDs in Linux and never for pirated copies of Microsoft utilities.

I had made a firm decision that I will not use pirated copies (it is stealing) which even some Buddhist monks who are preaching virtues are violating in this Buddhist country.

So entry into Linux was with a firm base and not by anyway accident.

Then the guy who used to bring Linux DVDs got married and I never heard of him since then.

The one who used to do some downloading lost his business place (owner raised the rent).

One of my favorite Linux students went to Colombo and another went abroad.

I was left high and dry.
Nothing was in my favour.

One I trained in Linux in the University has become incorrigible and he would be downloading only Movies but not Linux CDs interestingly using university lines (resigned from computer committee on the pretext of migrating full time to Linux).

No wonder I was bitten by the D.I.Y. BUG (Do It Yourself Bug) and I took a short holiday and went abroad (had some medical work abroad too) with a list of items to buy and convert my house into a little network (with lot of secondhand items all over the place in my house).

Last World Cup Cricket in 2007 with war in rampaging spirit made me to realize what a lot of things we were missing in this country.

If the university cannot do it or if the entire Kandy City has no way of offering me a solution, only way I can accomplish my dream without being a pest and a scrounger was to do it myself (D.I.Y).

With a little head start by December 2009 and the year of elections in 2010 (as a diversion of my intellectual capacities) with no worthwhile activity happening in academic spheres, my decision to divert intellectual energy for Linux was a right one.

In that process I said good bye to Fedora, Mandriva, SuSe and warmly embraced all the up and coming Linux distributions with somewhat academic criticism of the way of dealing with the common issues and problems.

I am none the wiser, now.

I do not need to repeat what I have already stated in the wider web and suffice is to say that response form the Linux Community was almost instantaneous and outrageous.

Linux has gone beyond the threshold of suppression mindset of the business vultures, it will emerge stronger and brighter and nothing can steam roll it now.

Yes, I can get involved in Linux Games now and little respite for Linux utilities and their virtues.

I have waited solid 3 three years for Linux Games (by design and not by default) except the little ones that come with some distributions which I often play when I am bored when downloading.

Next I will be downloading the Supreme Super Gamer which is 8.4 GiB that needs a double layer, double density DVD. May take a week or more but that is how the work get done in this blessed country.

Like a little kid I am not going to share them. If somebody asks me for a copy I would say with firm conviction, "It is free go and (do it yourself) download it yourself".
I have no time for lazy window seekers (no offense to the musicians)!

Funnily enough I could not find a good double density DVD in Kandy before New Year holiday.

I still have two out of many I bought for Cricket World Cup in 2007 but never have the opportunity to use (not 2011 World Cup - my worse fears that they will be eliminated before round robin stage was spared but the way we exited was like a bad dream) them.

I think I deserve a little play time now if not cricket which is spoiled by internal politics (not external or Indian).

Update on UnetBootIn and PCLinux Live USB Creator

I have tried to install a Linux distributions not supported by UNetBootIn in its list and were in my hard disk already downloaded but could install them into the USB drive but would not boot as usual.

When I looked at the files two files were missing with my shortcut.

Those five files are
1. unkernel
2. uninit
3. Systemlinux configuration file
4. Menu file
5. IdLinux file

Other reason is that live file is on a folder unlike in UNetBootIn files which are out in the open in the fat partition.

I wanted to cut and paste these files into the USB but tried a different method which did the trick.

For parted magic which was a zip file I had to cut and paste those files and that also did the trick but one has to have one Flash Drive prepared by downloading the full quota of files and kernels to copy later to another Pendrive.

What I did was to install DSL which is 50 MiB first (took half an hour of downloading) and tested it to see whether it was booting.

It did boot and then installed PCLinux from my hard disk to save time of the download of PCLinux.

When it asked whether to overwrite the files already there, I chose no to all, so that init and kernel files were not erased.

Menu file was also left intact.

I did this because PCLinux USB Creator install its image on a ext file partition and not on fat partition.

My BIOS does not read ext files at boot time which I tried several times. It is usual for the BIOS to read DOS files or GRUB and not other formats.

So I got PCLinux on FAT partition and it booted OK.
The down side was I could not boot DSL and that was the price I have to pay for fiddling with UNetBootIn.

The problem with UNetBootIn is when I copy it from my hard disk it omits two files.

I hope in its future version it will rectify this minor anomaly and verify before exiting that both uninit and unkernel are there for it to boot when an image is copied from the hard disk.

I have to do this to save time of the downloading of the Iso (I have all the Isos I downloaded over the last two years).

For the time being if you want it to boot do not skip or try shortcuts like what I did.
Longer method of course work but do not overwrite the files written on the first run.
I have tried to install from the downloaded (by UnetBootIn) temporary image but that time also the the two booting files were missing.
I have to pen this since part magic I am downloading takes a long time even though it is 156 MiB.

UNetBootIn-Linux Utility that one can carry in a Pendrive

It is easy as plugging a Flash Drive to boot a Pendrive with Linux utlity called UNetbootIn.
It does the job in four steps and the it is a graphic and not command line utility.

1. Download the Iso image to a tmp / file
2. Extract and copy iso file to USB
3. Install the boot loader which we call GRUB (Grand Universal Boot Loader)
4. Reboot and enjoy

Only a few Linux distributions are supported by this utility as at present and I use Puppy (100 MiB) for my work.

Remember DSL, Backtrack, PCLinux (not Knoppix) and a host of Linux distribution now can be mounted on a Pendrive.

This is just to let you know that I have booted Puppy Linux 4.2, the first of all the Puppies I used (now it is Puppy Lupu 5.2.5) on a Flash Drive and configured the internet and edited this page on seamonkey (while I am doing this see monkey is telling me a new version is available) web browser.

Puppy and UnetBootIn rocks the Linux World which is 20 years young.

Now that it has become easy to install I must fetch all the USBs with Linux installed by me with various other methods universalized by the UNetBootIn.
I do not need to carry heavy luggage (means a laptop or netbook with various power devices) when I go out abroad on a holiday now with this utility doing the honours.
I will certainly have few Pendrives around by neck instead of the specks (which I often forget) on vacations anywhere.

Of cause when I return I will have a netbook (tested with my Pendrives before buying) in my hand without Microsoft and sell it at half the price to any prospective buyer on the spot.

If he wishes he can spend enormous amount of money and install Microsoft or he can buy few of my Pendrives at three times the cash value (extra payment is for the time I wasted downloading Isos with Sri-Lankan Telecom which boots my electricity bill high in the process).

Even then it is around $50 to 60 dollars (per item) but Linux is free as is always.

Ten (10) Minutes of Digital Linux-Multitasking

I was bored to death of this long new year holiday and having had a long sleep overdue for sometime switched on the two computers one for my daily work and the other for the downloading of Linux gamers.

One I use regularly is a secondhand IBM overhauled by me into prime condition with two SATA disks.

Other one is one overhauled just two weeks ago with one of my old second hand IBM computer's bare bones (mainly 133 bus speed SDR RAM which I used for the last 4 years, day and night and coming to its terminal stage of life and wanting to say good bye (on off switch is not working properly, graphic card is grumbling at times being unable to bear the load etc) but all the old SDR RAM Cards which I paid a fortune to get the (my ) minimum requirement of 1 GiB in working order, old CD Writer (combo) not much used and a DVD ROM hacked to its optimum use still working.

Now the SDR RAMs which I paid a fortune have no secondhand market value and throwing them into a dustbin was not my intention and roamed all the secondhand dealers in Kandy (looking for a IBM with SDR slots) and found a NetVista with 16 GB Graphic card (but the mother board supporting above 32 and above up to to 512 GB but the vendor selling it cheap, knowing it has no market value) and I was test driving it for buying it at a later date.

While I was doing all that another buyer (probably having minimum of Rs.10,000) without any respect to my age or dignity promptly wanted to buy it for cash on the spot. I took a back step and made a funny wink at the salesmen (by now who are very friendly with me) and said OK and sell it without the stranger form a nearby village knowing it, knowing I can have another later with a new power pack and the agreement of the dealer for providing a 32 GB graphic card (64 GB is the minimum for Linux now).

This incident reminded me of the post Christmas sale and mad rush in London high street where customers almost kill each other (I never went for any of them fearing my life like an Asian going to a English Football Club for a prime football match-unlike cricket of course-where one can get trampled to death by design if not by default- stay at home in London and watched them on TV instead) for a purchase which I wondered how could it happen in a civic society who teaches democratic values to Middle East sheiks.

And to put the story in perspective, I duly purchased the Kit with a 80 GiB IDE fortunately one day before the agreed buy / sell date saving time in my hand in the process (since I managed to get my salary one day before the due date) so that I could fiddle with it (in spite of many security tags they put on inner hardware) and get it in working order to download Linux games during New year holidays.

These are the things I did in 10 minute while K-torrent was downloading to images in two different computers in the background.
1. Copied a 1 GiB image in K3B - WiildLinux which is pretty good.
2. Went through my email answered new year greetings in double quick time.
3. Changed the screen saver on the newly assembled computer and almost ruined the graphic card of 64 GiB with plasma effects and comic strip. Please do not try these extreme graphic effects of Linux on new graphic cards not supporting Linux. You will invariably ruin them in few seconds.

4. Made a cup of tea in between and let it brew.

While my daughter was on Skype and my son watching peoTV on the same DSL line.

In spite of the slow speed of our Telecoms achieving all this is due to digital capability of Linux and not Microsoft.

Can Microsoft boast for same multi- functionality or multitasking?
I doubt very much!

New Year Resolution-01 to 03

My first Tamil and Sinhala New year Resolution is to have a long sleep after posting this.

My next new year resolution is related to the incident I discovered today.

Just today I went to drop a friend of mine to the airport and being new year we arrived at the friend's place in good time. Since I did not have a good night sleep yesterday (I was looking for various Linux gamers to download for the new year) I had a bath and had a little snooze on the arm chair.

I usually carry a book and gossiping is not my pastime.

I forgot the wine making book I fished out from a secondhand bookshop, unfortunately.

We had lunch and tea and all that but my friend and wife were taking an unusually long time getting ready and I was bit bored dropped into their daughters room to say hello, and found a computer and sat in front of it.

There was a glaring message saying that the hard disk is at risk and blah, blah.

Then she came in with another cup of tea before leaving and she told my that it is giving trouble and could not connect it to the Internet.

I Looked at the router it was OK looking form outside (no evidence of hit by lightening) but not blinking properly and the outer panels were open pulled out the hard disk and the cable and she had another hard disk and fixed it as the slave and booted a Linux live CD (Peppermint with Google utilities), I had given her earlier.

It took a little time to configure first but in less than ten minutes with 256 RAM, 

I was up and running the Chromium browser and typed asokaplus and parafox.

So router part is OK and my friend was still not ready, I decided to boot the computer (XP, I believe a pirated copy vendor had installed) without the internet cable not plugged in and I could not find any (I had given her Medi Linux Disk, too but did not use it for virus check) problem and it was running well.

I booted again with Peppermint, to show how to use it, this time it quickly configured and she was up and running.

My diagnosis Microsoft secretly spying on pirated copies and infecting the hard disk and giving instructions not to recognize the router with the message which I did not care to read.

Router is above the operating system and Microsoft has no right to fiddle it at that level but they are doing it on unsuspecting Sri-Lankans who are using pirated copies.

So my solution is get hold of a Linux live CD and boot it with it and go to Internet.

When using XP (pirated copies of course pull the Internet wire out, a very simple remedy).

I prefer DSL (Damn Small Linux-that is what I have given my wife) with less than 50 MB which boots fast.

If you have enough RAM go for any Live CD I have listed in Linux 100.

The second message is to say do not use Microsoft for Internet.

Third resolution is to promote Sinhala Linux for the next 3 months and go into full hibernation so that Microsoft would not be be able to find a trace of me or my old testicles which are still producing enough testosterone to fight any villain against Linux.

If you have any brain take a few (5 enough) minutes a day and learn bit of Linux from a Live CD. It does not do any harm to your computer since it is running on RAM and there are enough forums to guide you through the early phase.

Linux is 20 years young!

From www.linux.com

This is posted at linux.com and there is a Linux Foundation Video contest, you can join.

Please visit www.linux.com

Twenty years ago this summer, Linus Torvalds made a bold decision to share his operating system with the world. Not long after that, he chose to license it under the General Public License. Nothing in computing has been the same since.

In fact, today Linux is the largest collaborative development project in the history of computing, which means that the 20th Anniversary of Linux is an opportunity for the community to come together in celebration of this great success story and in collaboration on how it will define the next 20 years of Linux.

Today Linux is literally everywhere: in your phone, at your ATM, in your TV, on your desktop, at the movies, in your car, and in more places than I can write in one blog. It is everywhere because of everyone. We’re announcing today our plans for celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Linux and hope we can provide a variety of forums, online and in-person, where everyone can contribute to this important milestones.

We’re kicking things off with an exclusive video produced by The Linux Foundation that is one way to tell the Story of Linux:

7 Days, 7 hours and 7 minutes of downloading Debian Multi Arch (32 - 64 bits)

My dog is sitting besides me and the thunder storm might hit us or my computer in minutes and if I do not pen this down now, I may have to wait for long hours in the night.

Yes it took 7 days, 7 hours and 7 minutes of downloading for me to try the Debian Multi Arch (32 and 64 bits).

The last 2 MiB took 7 minutes and it was like long one hour for me with the impending thunder storm.

I pay for 3 MiB for a minute and I have to sit for 10 minutes to to get that service, which is a violation of the service contract. I cannot do anything about it and if I complain I might even get a far worse service. Here they can boast that so many have got internet connections but with service contract violation.
Can you imagine how many man hours I may have wasted over the last two years to download 150 t0 200 CD/DVDs.
But it was worth the trouble even with very poor service if one sets a target to achieve (testing 100 Linux distributions was my target) and persevere with it can be achieved. What I did was not stop at 100 but to continue with it, this time with torrent and what did I get.

Now I discover there is utility called FileZilla that can be used in a situation where there is often breakdown in service, it restart from where the breakdown had occurred. I have not tried it but love to try it when I have time.

I found something that I was waiting for a long time.
Discovering Sinhala capability of Linux was a welcome bonus that I was not looking for.

It is true I have not spent that amount of man hours for my thesis but thesis trained me in discipline and perseverance, which come good when doing a thing Like delving into to Linux.
Instead of flame wars, I look at what is there with some perceived objective and if I decide to make a live CD for myself, I now know what to look for and where to look for.

Yes I have tried it for few minutes and now I have one DVD with both 32 and 64 capabilities to try Sinhala Linux. This is the DVD I will carry with me for demonstrating Sinhala Linux capability.

See you soon after the thunder storm.

The seeder was from Sweden.
I have only Gamers Linus of 8.4 GiB to try and I will do that leisurely, now.

Why I hate month of April?

I hate the month of April.

List them down in point form.

1. It is the month of thunder and showers. It does lot of damage to my equipments including the switch board.

2. It is the month of fire cracker. There is a saying that empty vessels (like many politicians) make a big noise, it surely does in the month of April.

3. It is the month my dog is constantly behind me in fear of thunder and fire crackers. At least for the sake of our trustworthy friend we must ban fire crackers. Many of them left alone by owners die in this season. Good that we lost the World Cup in Cricket, it would have raised some forest fire too.

4.It s the month of extreme temperature which varies from 78 F to 98 F.

5. It is the month everything goes up in price for no reason like the ambient temperature. Not only it goes up but remains high after the season.

6. It is the month of excesses including alcohol and spiritual degradation.

7. It is the month of lot of accidents on the road with police on leave.

8.It is the month of petty fights both inside and outside the house due to economic hardships and not being able to afford what one wants.

9. It is the month we empty coffers and living on loans (for two months afterward we are in absolute poverty, unable to settle the loans).

10 It is the month of credit cards.

11. It is the month all the unwanted relatives drop in without notice and spoil one's quiet holiday.

12. It is the month of where healthy people go under the hammer and drop dead (violence, forget the medicine, too much sugar and diabetic coma, road traffic accidents and many more).

13. It is the month when the sun is above your head and shows its mighty power and all the good gods are looking the other way (in disgust probably) without helping us with some cash.

14. It is the month of mosquito music and menace including Santhus.

15. Come to think about it, now I know why April Fool's day is relevant and the month start with a day of the fools and end with full month of madness!

I sometimes wonder why we call it the New Year with so many unwanted catastrophes evolve round it.

These are points to ponder when you avail yourself of some welcome respite of daily chores.

Sinhala Linux Update-Who started it and where it is now?

I can categorically say one thing for certain, it was our own Anuradha from Kandy who started Sinhala Linux, way back in late nineties and early this century but it went into hibernation after tsunami in 2004 but now it has emerged in 3 or 4 Linux versions I have tested.

They are as follows

1. Fedora 13
2. Debian 6.0.0
3. Sabayon 5.5
4. Hanthana Linux
5. Fedora 15 Alpha ( believe-downloading 15 KDE alpha currently)

My profuse apologies to FEDORA Team for jumping the gun and giving the credit to Debian as the first distribution supporting Sinhala Linux.

I was wrong and apologies are with this little update on Sinhala Linux.

I have dissociated with Fedora from Core 3 but did not use it for 10 versions (3 to 13) for many reasons but it is not the purpose of this writing.

First thing first, it was Fedora 3 that allowed the Sinhala font to be used, and I am proud to say I used it with open office a decade ago when nobody was interested in Linux.

Then Mandrake (not Mandriva) allowed the Sinhala font installation but I was never expecting the Sinhala capability of Linux until now with Anuradha drawn into other work by accident.

I have changed myself a lot and given up all and gone to PCLinux which is only in English and 32 bits version.

Reason being the introduction of Live CDs which it was a pioneer from Big Daddy stage.

It has FullMonty and there is a version of it named (not by them, texstar tells me) as apartheid (it means what it says) which has brought bad taste to Linux community (only for white people-Mr.Shuttleworth of Ubuntu must take action now to wean the bad eggs in Linux community even if they are not under his fold).

There is Linux dedicated to Bible and I see no problem with it but Obama in high office this propaganda is something not for the current century.

What I am getting at is, all Linux Distributions including PCLinux should have multi-language capability and I give lot of credit and marks for that.

It is now happening in, French, German, Spanish and Russian.

Linux is global and for everybody unlike Microsoft or Apple Mac and multi-language capability is a must.

Coming back to Fedora when I realized that it has Sinhala capability and it is changing fast I decided to download all 5 CDs of Fedora 13 and DVD. I downloaded all the versions of Fedora 14 and I was not impressed and did not check Sinhala capability since Fedora 15 was round the corner.

After nearly 3 days of downloading I managed to have a DVD in my hand and tried it and found the Sinhala capability (I now invariably check for that ability) in installation.

So my ignorance was exposed and I have to correct that right away.

In defense of Fedora, I have all the versions of Redhat from 7 to 9 and Fedora Core from 1 to 3 and now Fedora 13 and above.

Suffice is to say, the most number of books and CDs I have are from Redhat and Fedora even though I did not use it for my work recently. My entry into checking 100 Live CDs was a harbinger and the Rediscovery of Linux Potential and for two years I have been downloading and testing Linux and I am in the final (stage) lap of honours to all Linux Distributions and Communities, especially with multi-language capability.

Not only that, I found a Fedora Bible (the book) with Fedora 6 version CD /DVD and bought it to add to my collection and for reference purpose and I am gong to support Fedora with all my heart from now onwards in spite of forgivable misgiving with Redhat Team, sometime back.

My only concern is that Redhat is introducing so many changes in so little time, will it be possible to have a stable edition like Debian (with many derivatives) for me to use.

I might even consider dropping PCLinux if they are resistant to other languages other than English.

It is time for other distributions to take the lead from Debian and Fedora and take Linux to new heights with muli-language capability.

Sorry for me being political here.

I hate politics of all types whether, it is economic, power, race or language.

Update on Fedora 15 Alpha KDE
I have now downloaded and tested the pre-release alpha version and it has no Sinhlaa capability in installation.
In addition it has some difficulty in detecting hardware.
It appears sleek and my genuine fears already compounded by its rapid change in many areas including file system and program selection make me feel hesitant to recommend for a newbie, especially in Sri-Lanka.

Best bet is to use Fedora 13 and see how it works but download DVD version, (or 5 CD version) and not live CDs (see how it works for you).

This is the same reservation I have for Hanthana Linux which is based on Fedora 15.

I have not been able to download it beyond 700 MiB but I will keep trying.
Fedroa 13 took almost 3 days with one or two seeds.
Debian multi arch is taking about 7 days with one seed.
It is painfully slow even with K-Torrent if seeds are not there.

In the mean time I have downloaded many others including CTKarchlive, Trisequel, Astrumi and Puppy and many other small utilities, including sound drivers for Microsoft.

I am also happy to report I managed to download Taylor Swift Swift Linux after about 40 (forty odd) attempts.
That was something based on Debian and AntiX (Mepis) and plays a Taylor Swifts song at boot time which was very pleasing.
It is meant for low RAM of 256 or so and old computers.
Download and try it please if your internet is fast enough!

Warning for Newbies using Live CDs

Now that it very easy to obtain a Linux Live there are certain prerequisites or conditions one must satisfy before experimenting with them.
I would list some of the mistakes I have done and continue to make in spite of the familiarity.
Some of them I call killer sharks.
The take over the entire system with minimum warning and they forget Live Booting is fun and game and there should no be any commitment to them like Microsoft Apple Mac as from the box.

1. First priority is the graphic capability. NVidia is the graphic card Linux find it easy to configure. Lot of manufacturers do not provide necessary OEM data for Linux to configure them. If you have the wrong card you may not be able to join the fun. They may boot up bit might do some damage to the card.
The damage may be due to wrong low level configuration or due to graphic intensity of the distribution. One example is SuSe which is graphic intensive KDE. On the other hand it may be like Swift Linux with low graphic intensity with the mind set for old computers and may not be suitable for graphic card with much power.

2. Second is the RAM. I recommend minimum of 1 GiB but more the merrier then the live session will be quite fast to boot and execute its virtues.

3. Third is the monitor. Lot of old distribution cannot configure LCD monitors. I of course in my early days with wrong horizontal and vertical configuration burnt few cathodes out of commission. Now of course most distributions tell you it has not got the driver for the card and uses the least harmful configuration for the live sessions.

4. If you have got a hard disk without an operating system or data no harm can be done. I often use the live session for preparing the hard disk. Partitioning and formatting can be done to get the hang of the process but with Operating system and data in the hard disk and no changes to the hard should be done without saving data.

5. Doing any of these without a UPS power supply is a risk. If power fails one should immediately terminate the session.

6. One more important point is that April is the month of Thunder and do not use your computer just before and during the early part of the thunder storm. Once a thunder struck and it went through UPS and through the battery to computer (my daughter's) and BIOS. It burned the graphic card and some rubber upholding of the processor. Damage to the switch board (electricity) was massive and do not believe the throughput of our electricity and it fluctuates (voltage) in spite of the big bill we pay the Electricity board. It took three days for me to realize the damage, I was thinking of a BIOS virus.

7. Our indoor temperature surges above high nineties F even in Kandy and avoid using the computer if the room is not air conditioned and dualcore computers consume lot of electricity and the cooling system may not work efficiently in hot weather.

My Selection of Linux Utilities that Should make a Standard Distribution-Internet

First of all let me send my condolences to the Family of Chesterfield who passed away yesterday morning.

He risked his health to go to the cricket field to report to us almost live unlike our sport arm chair pundits.

May he rise to high heaven.

This selection (Internet collection) is bit difficult and I would go by utility value.
1. Number one is Skype
2. Number two is Dropbox
3. Number three is K-torrent which I have already discussed.
4. Number four is email manager and Thunderbird / Kmail would foot the bill.
5. Internet TV- Miro Internet TV

6. Browser I have no selection here because they (browsers) are becoming groggy except perhaps Iceweasle

7. For Linux package downloads in a terminal KDE get or Gnome get

This selection has to be made keeping in mind the whether the distribution is light weight and bundled in a CD or heavy weight and DVD under 1 GiB.

If one is packing it over 1 GiB limit there should be a reason, say the distribution is like ArtistX, or XMBC or Education or Games.

10 and more reasons why I do not use SuSe now and gone to Mepis / AntiX

From this months onwards and after the World Cup Cricket, I have deleted SuSe from my computer.

There are 10 and more reasons.
They are as follows without any logical sequence.

1. It does not recognize more than 15 Linux partitions.
2. But faithfully recognize windows.
3. It does not give priority to other Linux distributions following the tradition of windows.
4. It discriminate other Linux distributions and in fact actively disable others at boot / install menu /time.
5. In fact it has become a wolf in sheep clothing.
6. It could not configure my new TV card in spite of 1 hour of trying and downloading.
7. It never (11.3) configured Skype
8. Its DVD is more than 4 GiB and cannot be copied as an image for posterity.
9. Its GRUB has radically changed itself and would not to recognize other boot menus of different Linux distributions.
10. It cannot delete large files.
11. It has no veritable CRON configuration to delete tmp files and like windows collect muck all over var and tmp
12. It is heavy and clumsy at times in spite of beautiful garb and it is infected with windows image.

I remember giving 10 out of 10 on first encounter with it, live and or install but now after using briefly over a month I have reduced 12 and and it is getting into two minuses.

If I use it any more there may be more minuses and I cannot be that harsh to a friend I associated with over the last 6 to 7 years.

Now I use AntiX and Mepis.
1. Unlike Debian it has a nice Graphic Front.
2. AntiX is fast to boot unlike Debian.
3. It has all the utilities I use.
4. Integrate well with other Linux except of course with SuSe
5. It has a sweeper incorporated

Debian I use simply because it has Sinhala capability and if I want anything missing apt get will do the honours.

Why I still do not use Ubuntu is that it has no root capability except sudo which I hate.

My Selection of Linux Productivity Utilities that Should make a Standard Distribution-05

Cricket World Cup sapped lot of time from all of us and it has done some good too.
I had to go back to windows for three days to install a TV Card and sound drivers and almost three days of struggling to find a suitable sound driver I manged to record the cricket match live in MPEG 4 compression and I could save lot of DVDs.

Since I could not configure the card in Linux I decided to set a day and SuSe automatically configure the card but it has no information about Asia and Sri-Lanka.
Linux has the canny habit of going down to the repository and looking for modules and automatically configuring it.
SuSe is very good at automatic configuring (YAST) and other leading Linux distributions also should follow SuSe.

This is simply because respective TV regulators have not provided the necessary information to Linux developers.

There are lot of TV utilities and the following is a list.
1. Miro Internet TV
2. TV Time Television Viewer
3.TV Mosaic
4.Saw TV

I have not used any but I am going to try at least on of them an give a feed back when I am convinced that the utility does the job for me.