I migrated to Arch Linux back in October and have been in love ever since. I thought Ubuntu was flexible but Arch stretches that whole idea to a new level. We’re talking about building your OS from the ground up, the way you like it. Much more customization and less bloat.
The details:
- OS: Arch Linux x86_64
- Desktop Environment: Xfce4
- Window Manager: Compiz
- Window Decorator: Emerald; Kind of Blue by tob1k
- Desktop Aesthetics
- Applications
- Music Management: Rhythmbox
- IM & Chat: XChat & Pidgin
- Browser: Firefox
Despite my troubles with Filezilla, I managed to utilize ssh and rsync to download an approximately 9GB iso from my home computer to my Linux box at school. I setup a secure shell on my remote machine before the semester started in case I needed to use it for such reasons.
Command:
rsync -vrPtz -e ssh host:/remote_path/* /local_path/
The command worked flawlessly giving me the power to stop and resume the download at my wishes. As for the Filezilla problem, apparently resuming files via SFTP corrupts the file size and MD5 checksum of the said file. A topic on the filezilla forums points out that it’s currently a problem with uint64_make on 64bit platforms and not actually a Filezilla bug. If your interested, read more.
Thanks to Daniel Ferbers for doing the dirty work and finding the command provided in this post.
What I thought was going to be an effortless upgrade to Ubuntu 8.10 turned into a 4 day ordeal with lots of head scratching and google searching. Turns out I nuked the partition table to my /home partition and destroyed all metadata contained within in less than 30 seconds.
The Problem
How did it happen? Well it all started after I successfully did a fresh install of the latest release of Ubuntu, Intrepid Ibex. I avoided formatting my /home partition during the install because I have it contained on a separate partition, which was in ext2 format. I did some research and discovered that ext3 provides journaling vs non-journaling in ext2. So I figured I would convert my home partition to ext3, which can be done by issuing the following command:
tune2fs -j /dev/hdaX
Unfortunately, I stumbled across an option in gparted. The option was to “Format to ext3″. I blindly made a few clicks and began formatting my home partition…. wait… what? Did I read that correctly? “Format”??? OH SHIT! Cancel! Cancel! Cancel!
Less than 30 seconds had passed before I actually realized that the partition was being formatted (erased). Upon mounting the drive, it appeared empty but I knew all my data was still on the drive.
How do I fix this? Well there are two options, extract all the data from the drive or fix the partition table. The partition contains most of my design files, including websites, Photoshop & Illustrator files, and a number of other files I probably would like to have backed up. Thankfully all my music, movies, and photos are on a second hard drive.
The Solution
I used Photorec to extract files based on filetype. I managed to get over 500,000 files, which were dumped into 1,041 folders. Photorec is intuitive and rather easy to use. The problem I have with Photorec is that you cannot search for a specific filetype that is not on the predefined list.
Upon further googleing, I came across Scalpel. Scalpel does pretty much the same thing as Photorec but enables the user to add filetypes to search for, given that your filetype entry meets specific criteria. The config file is located at /etc/scalpel/scalpel.conf to which you can add filetypes. The filetypes need headers and footers to search for, which can be found using a hex editor.
Continue Reading…
Just on time for the release of Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex… grrr i cannot wait much longer! Gnome-Look.org has slightly redesigned the look of their website, giving it a more modern, dare i say, facebook-esk look. I like it though. The sidebar menus & tabs are simpler and easier to read. The colors are more visually appealing and give it more of a Web 2.0 look.
New vs Old
Ubuntu 8.10 is to be released on Thursday. As with anything new I’m itching to give it a go.
I love Linux for its flexibility when it comes to desktop customization.
- OS: Ubuntu Linux
- Wallpaper: Lucky Chuck by David Lanham
- GTK 2.x Theme: Glow Water Dark
- Emerald Theme: Ninja
- System Icons: gTango
- AWN Icons: Gant 3 by Mattahan
- Conky Scripts: Custom
- Screenlets: HDUsage v0.1
I ran into some problems running Compiz-Fusion this week. I am not sure why Compiz broke twice but I believe it was because I upgraded from kernel 2.6.24-19 to kernel 2.6.24-20. Each upgrade requires a reinstall of the Nvidia drivers. Everything went well except for the fact that it broke Compiz. Whenever I tried to activate Compiz I would get the following error:
“Desktop Effects could not be enabled.”
I tried multiple solutions but grew tired of failure. I searched forums which led nowhere. Eventually I stumbled upon Compiz-Check, which effortlessly found and fixed my problem. Turns out I had not disabled gnome’s desktop effects, therefore the confliction was the cause of Compiz breaking. So thanks to compiz-check I was able to get the desktop effects running smooth and ‘hardy’. hah, pun intended.
