3 posts tagged “linux”

I am really no good at keeping this blog up to date! In fact, I fail. My neighbours create such great blog entries, keep up the good work!

I have been busy revising again for another exam next month. I may have a work experience placement at an IT firm in Leeds next month. This would help me greatly in my hunt for a career! Thanks to my brother in law and sister =) Again, its often not what you know, but who you know!

In my last entry I posted (quite literally) how to post a computer. I messed around with knoppix a few times. If you get chance, burn yourself a copy of this live bootable CD. You can use knoppix to help rescue a windows install and get a feel for GNU/Open Source.

Knoppix Boot

Download the iso image from one of the many mirrors, then burn to disk. Once burned restart your computer. Make sure the BIOS is set to boot from cd drive and you will get the splash image shown on the left.

If you get into a spot of bother with windows try to recover using Knoppix and one of the many guides available.

Knoppix Hardware Test

I decided to install the new version of Ubuntu, Hardy Heron. Since I have a 64 bit AMD processor I decided to install the 64 bit version. My test rig has two hard drives, and I want to set up Ubuntu on a RAID 0 array (two hard drives working together striping data across the disks) However, upon reading I discovered Ubuntu (and Debian) do not have support for the SATA RAID (also called FakeRAID) The only distros to support this currently are Gentoo and Fedora Core 5. Not to be hindered I discovered a way to install upon a raid array via the most excellent versatile powerful linux shell. Yes, the shell is that good, im addicted! This would also be an excellent way for me to practice and understand shell commands, and get under the hood of the system and understand what the operating system consists of (debian core, ubuntu-base, linux kernel, dmraid, grub, and ubuntu-desktop) The tutorial I followed HERE was for version 7.04, Feisty Fawn. I had to improvise in certain areas and learn more about each process via various websites till I got it right. But how much fun I had! I can see why so many people prefer Linux over Windows.

Here is a vid of my new freshly installed 64 Bit Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron Linux distro on a RAID array:

Ubuntu Vid

I mentioned in an earlier post of my plans to experiment with GNU/Linux/Open Source. Well today I received the necessary hardware. Here is a picture and specs for the micro ATX open source test rig. A cheap system build for testing, learning and personal development.

Test Rig Hardware

X2 Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ 2.50GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail
Foxconn 6150M2MA-KRS2H Micro ATX (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2
Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
KeySonic ACK-3700C Ultra Compact Keyboard- Notebook Layout - USB
X-Qpack II Micro ATX Gaming Case With 500W ATX2.0 PSU - (Black/Silver)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g)
256mb Radeon x850 PCI Express Graphics Card (Spare)

I plan to install the newest release of Ubuntu, version 8.04, codename Hardy Heron, released in 7 days.

Watch this space!

Yes, the reason is I have been occupied with revision the past two weeks. I had an exam, Server+ yesterday, and passed which is cool. I should now have a bit more time to be proactive and report on here!

What has been happening recently? Well, apart from studying I have been testing out new equipment (Logitech z-5500) that is sweet. THX certified sound with high definition movies...wow!

My next project is installing and testing some Linux distros onto a Micro ATX set up. Looking forward to playing with Ubuntu! I will post some pictures of my venture when I start the project.

Also going to start my studies into the telecommunications system, Cisco CVoice is the next learning curve!