Last thing you'll ever read…again
Posts tagged Windows
Tech blog – No subliminal messages
Mar 18th
So I’ve been using my Mac for around 1 week now and it has been a pretty amazing experience.
Having said that I still do not see myself moving to the mac full-time.
When I switched to Ubuntu from Xp/Vista, it was heavenly. Everything “worked” more or less. Took me 2 weeks to fix the wireless drivers and then there’s the random config files you need to mess here and there just to get something trivial working. But it worked fine! apt-get was a god-send. However, after using Ubuntu for a year I decided to try out Windows 7 beta. I more or less ditched Ubuntu straight away. It picked up all my drivers straight away. The superbar was and still is one of the best things that’s ever happened to windows. I’ve been using it since.
I’ve been mainly using my mac for development. I was also hoping to learn some objective-c and develop this idea that I’ve had for quite some time now. But I can see myself using the Mac full-time. Everything is just so clean, crisp and organised. Installing an app is as easy as drag and drop.
There are plenty of small annoyances that I would love fixed but overall I have been extremely happy with the mac experience. The apple tax is well worth it. Though I cannot hack the fact that the base Macbook pro in USA costs less than my base macbook. Unbelievable.
I’m even contemplating selling my macbook and getting the range of macbook pros when it comes out. I never considered myself a laptop fan but Apple has really changed my way of thinking.
Ubuntu has a long way to go. Windows will always be a dominant presence in the software market. OSX is slowly but surely catching up. With Valve’s plans of putting Steam on osx, Apple will enter the gaming market without having to lift a finger.
Random thought: I always liked the song “Dip it low” by Christina Milian, listened to it for the first time in years…and realised how dirty it was, but oh so arousing.
Comment!
Tutorial: Boot Ubuntu 9.10 Partition using Virtualbox inside Windows (deprecated)
Nov 22nd
This article is now deprecated as 10.04 has been released. Comments will be disabled. Check back for an updated version.
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So Ubuntu 9.10 got released several weeks ago and people have been asking about how to get my old tutorial working for 9.10.
The problem is that Ubuntu 9.10 uses the new grub 2 boot loader which changes LOTS of things. In this tutorial I will be showing you how to get Ubuntu 9.10 (or any other linux OS with grub2) working under your Windows installation.
Before we begin, you should have a dual boot setup. I will NOT be showing you how to setup a dual boot, if you need help plenty of other guides out there.
Step 1: Creating a grub 2 boot iso
The grub iso file will allow you to specify which partition to boot into.
- Boot into Ubuntu
- (OPTIONAL) Configure your /boot/grub/grub.cfg This is so that you don’t accidentally boot into your Windows partition from inside Windows! Bad things will happen if you do!!!
$ gksudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Comment out your Windows Menu, should be towards the bottom - Create the bootable iso
$ grub-mkrescue –overlay=/boot/grub GRUB2CD.iso - (DO THIS STEP ONLY IF YOU PERFORMED STEP 2)
$ gksudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Uncomment out your Windows Menu, so you still can boot into windows after the reboot! - Move the iso into a location that is accessible by windows
Step 2: Creating the .vmdk file
This creates a file which tells Virtualbox what partition to actually load as the harddrive. Unfortunately, unlike VMWare Workstation, Virtualbox does not support a GUI interface for selecting RAW hard disks as the “virtual hard drive”.
- Boot into Windows
- cd into the directory you installed virtualbox
- Find out which drive contains Ubuntu (if you don’t know already)
Run the command: VBoxManage.exe internalcommands listpartitions -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive1
(where 1 is the number of the hard drive ubuntu is installed on. E.g. Master should be 0, you’re second hard-drive should be 1 etc…The output should be something like:Number Type StartCHS EndCHS Size (MiB) Start (Sect)
1 0×07 0 /32 /33 1023/254/63 902023 2048
5 0×83 1023/254/63 1023/254/63 49677 1847346543
6 0×82 1023/254/63 1023/254/63 2164 1949086188In this example, my Ubuntu partition is number 5 and the swap is number 6. So my Ubuntu partition lies in PhysicalDrive1
- We now create the VMDK file with the given information
Run the command: VBoxManage.exe internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename C:\ubuntu.vmdk -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive1 -register
Step 3: Setup Virtualbox
Now everything should be ready to setup Virtualbox. Create a new virtual machine. Select the .vmdk file we just created as the hard drive and mount the grub.iso file we created at Step 1.
Step 4: Running the VM
Due to the way grub 2 works, whenever you put into it you now have to load the appropriate grub config file.
Just type the above into terminal and grub should load and boot into your Ubuntu 9.10 installation.
If this has helped you in any way, please take the time to drop a comment (or a donation)! If you have any problems, just post a comment or send me an email through the “Contact me” page.
ISSUES:
- For some reasons Grub does not recognise the partition if you specify the EXACT partition entry of Ubuntu. You have to specify the entire drive for it to be recognised.
- It doesn’t seem to like nvidia drivers in this release so you might have to reset your x.org for it to work inside a VM. Just have to live with the lack of acceleration!
References:
Tutorial: Boot existing Ubuntu Partition using Virtualbox inside Windows (deprecated)
Apr 28th
Edit 22/11/09
Ubuntu 9.10 uses the new grub 2 as its boot-loader thus this article would not work for 9.10. I am currently in the progress of getting 9.10 to work under Virtualbox.
This tutorial would no longer be supported. Any comments regarding support will be ignored.
If you want to get 9.10 working please READ THIS ARTICLE
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I recently got Windows 7 and Ubuntu running in a dualboot. However, since I’m using more of Windows now I figured I should probably find a way to run Ubuntu inside my Windows. VM’s are great, but it’d be better if I can actually boot into my existing Ubuntu partition. So I searched the web and kept on finding tutorials on how to boot existing XP partitions inside Windows. So I decided to extrapolate from those tutorials and work my way through it. I’ll be writing how I did it here.
Before we begin, you should have a dual boot setup. I will NOT be showing you how to setup a dual boot, if you need help plenty of other guides out there.
Step 1: Creating a grub boot iso
The grub iso file will allow you to specify which partition to boot into.
- Boot into Ubuntu
- We create the folders and copy the necessary files to setup an iso
Run the command: cd ; mkdir -p iso/boot/grub ; cp /usr/lib/grub/*-pc/stage2_eltorito /boot/grub/menu.lst iso/boot/grub - Configure your ~/iso/boot/grub menu.lst file to boot your target OS (in this case Ubuntu). Remove the “savedefault” option from your target entry if it exists.
- We now create the bootable iso file
Run the command: cd ; mkisofs -R -b boot/grub/stage2_eltorito -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o grub.iso iso - Move the iso to a location that’ll be accessable by your Windows partition
Step 2: Creating the .vmdk file
This creates a file which tells Virtualbox what partition to actually load as the harddrive. Unfortunately, unlike VMWare Workstation, Virtualbox does not support a GUI interface for selecting RAW hard disks as the “virtual hard drive”.
- Boot into Windows
- cd into the directory you installed virtualbox
- We find the partition number that needs to be mounted
Run the command: VBoxManage.exe internalcommands listpartitions -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive1
(where 1 is the number of the hard drive ubuntu is installed on. E.g. Master should be 0, you’re second hard-drive should be 1 etc…The output should be something like:Number Type StartCHS EndCHS Size (MiB) Start (Sect)
1 0×07 0 /32 /33 1023/254/63 902023 2048
5 0×83 1023/254/63 1023/254/63 49677 1847346543
6 0×82 1023/254/63 1023/254/63 2164 1949086188In this example, my Ubuntu partition is number 5 and the swap is number 6
- We now create the VMDK file with the given information
Run the command: VBoxManage.exe internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename C:\path\ubuntu.vmdk -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive1 -partitions 5,6 -register
Step 3: Setup Virtualbox
Now everything should be ready to setup Virtualbox. Create a new virtual machine. Select the .vmdk file we just created as the hard drive and mount the grub.iso file we created at Step 1. If everything was successful Ubuntu should boot up nicely.
DONE!
If this has helped you in any way, please take the time to drop a comment! If you have any problems, just post a comment or send me an email through the “Contact me” page.
References:
Ubuntu 8.10 to Windows 7 Beta to Ubuntu 9.04 to Windows 7 RC
Apr 25th
Originally my hard-drive crashed. So I decided to install Windows 7 beta, just to give it a spin. I loved it. Never have I ever gotten used to an operating system so quickly before. Everything just worked.
I promised I would install Ubuntu 9.04 beta when it gets released but it just had too many known issues so I decided to wait until the full version gets released.
I installed Ubuntu today and now I’m running it. To be honest, I don’t enjoy it. The screen feels so much smaller. It’s amazing how the looks of an operating system can actually make your monitor feel small. Windows xp makes my monitor feel HUGE, Ubuntu on the otherhand makes it feel tiny. It also hurts my head a bit just staring at it. Everything is so jagged.
Coincidentally, Windows 7 rc also got leaked today.
So this is what I’m going to do.
Format my computer again. Install Windows 7 rc and then just VM ubuntu. I’ll stick in some more ram so the VM can get some decent amoutns of ram.
Hopefully I haven’t used up considerable amounts of bandwidth setting up Ubuntu.
But yes. Microsoft, you have won me back.
I’ll probably wait until later tonight before downloading/installing the RC. Don’t wanna use up any more bandwidth setting up my OS.
Oh lord what do I do?
Mar 6th
I really like Windows 7. Am I fanboy? I hardly think so. I mean…I’ve had Ubuntu installed as my primary OS for 2.5 years only to remove it after my harddrive crashed and decided to give windows 7 a go. You may even hear me talking about wanting to be able to afford a mac. The problem I’m facing is that Windows 7 RC won’t be released until April 10th. Ubuntu 9.04 won’t be released until April 23rd. The beta for Ubuntu 9.04 is still 3 weeks away and I have uni now so my need for Linux is ever increasing.
Okay, if I am a fanboy then I’m a fanboy of non-virtualisation. You may be thinking “What the hell is he talking about? Virtualisation is great!” Don’t get me wrong, stuff like VMWare is great, but it’s just the way that some people use it.
If you want to test an Operating System for fun…use a VM, if you want to create a development environment for testing purposes…use a vm, if you need to isolate multiple servers for whatever crap you’re doing…use a vm. DO NOT use a VM simply because you want to run an application that’s not available natively. If you’re using linux…then use Wine. If you’re using linux simply for the sake of “programming” please shoot yourself in the head. If you’re a developer and you don’t develop in DOT Net you should be using linux by default. If you desperately need to program using linux tools then just use cygwin.
I often see people running VMs on their laptop, the laptop probably has 2 cores, a shitty graphics card and 2gb ram tops, how the hell can they tolerate running Ubuntu in a vm?!
Learn to Dual boot. If you don’t know how to dual boot…using wubi. Don’t know wubi? Google it.
In the mean time, I’ll be using Wubi. No VMs or cygwin.
I also phoned my old workplace and asked them to take me back. If I do get back I’ll have my laptop back 
Irony – Keeping Windows Clean
Oct 8th
I’m not religious about Operating Systems. All OSes have their advantages Linux for servers, Mac for multimedia, Windows for gaming…etc. But…let’s be frank here…keeping Windows clean is like keeping a toilet clean. You can buy your air fresheners and toilet duck but at the end of the day you will have to chuck a shit and start the cleaning process again. There’s really is no such thing as an auto toilet cleaner. You can do your best to keep it clean but you’re only delaying the fact that sooner or later it’ll get filthy. What’s worse is that you are the only one that can keep it clean. You can’t hire a toilet cleaner, you’re the one who’ll have to clean up your own shit.
I used to be a Windows whore. I was like one of those gym junkies trying to keep my body in shape except I was keeping my Windows in shape. I only downloaded applications that I needed and if possible used standalone applications. If I could choose between an app that had an installer with an app that came in a zip file, I’ll download the zip file any day. Who uses utorrent here? Most people these days do, but I was using it back when it promised to use “less than 4mb of memory”…during it’s beta stages. Every heard of Foxit Reader? It was a 1mb pdf reader. It substituted Adobe Reader. It got to a point where my startup processes was 16. I didn’t have any icons on my desktop and I ran registry cleaners regularly. I even took it to the step where I was modifying the Windows XP installation disk to minimize my install. Using nlite, I was able to bring my Windows XP installation down to around 550mb. I removed everything that I didn’t need, Accessiblity Tools, Games, Internet Games, Netmeeting, MSN Zone, random legacy device drivers…you name it.
It was pretty fun actually, whilst it lasted.
It all came crashing down when I installed Windows Vista. It tripled the number of starting processes and there was nothing I could do about it. But that problem went away when I installed Ubuntu…I felt clean again.
The problem with Windows is that…you install an app, it’ll leave traces behind, shit-stains on the toilet bowl if you will, sure you can wipe the stains away but eventually, overtime, you’ll find that these stains will clog up the extent you have to get down on both your knees and seriously wipe it with some heavy duty sandpaper. The only solution is to either upgrade your computer or reformat.
And that’s what I love about Debian based Linux Distributions. No registry. To install an app it’s one command. To remove an app it’s another command. Install as much as you like and you will hardly notice any performance issues.
I would also like to take some time to rant about the use of the Desktop. The desktop is NOT your workspace. Do NOT put everything on your Desktop. Make a seperate partition for your Music/Movies/TV Shows/etc. Create a shortcuts toolbar for all your shortcuts. The only shortcuts that I approve of seeing on the desktop are your local drives and the trash can. Everything else can gtfo. Sure…you can use your Desktop to temporarily store documents or folders but as soon as you’re done with it PLEASE move it to your home directory. I use the Desktop all the time for temp files these days, all my downloads gets saved there but once I’m done with them I move them elsewhere, there’s no point having them clutter my desktop. You want to keep your desktop pretty…what’s the poing of having a wallpaper when there’s all this tiny pieces of crap covering it?
I do not disapprove Windows. I disapprove the use of Windows.
