Helpful Linux Tidbits

Originally I had installed Ubuntu on this 300mHz clamshell iBook but it lagged a bit and PPC support was dropped by the developers so I built a customized Gnome build with Gentoo. (Note: a community version of an Ubuntu ppc install still exists).

This guide supplements the Gentoo Quick Install Guide which in turn is derived from the Gentoo Handbook being specific to the PowerPC iBook.

Building Linux on a PowerPC can be a bit of a challenge – support for PPC isnt as well developed, and answers to questions can be more difficult to come by – but building Gentoo Linux on an iBook is not only possible but a customized build can run very nicely.

A Note about Time and Date

Linux can be real picky if the time and date is wrong. If the clock is off or if the iBook has a dead-battery, it’s a good idea to set the hardware clock before booting. To do this from Open Firmware start the computer and hold down Apple + O + F.

To set the time to: 1:23:45 PM November 7th, 2008:

decimal dev rtc 45 23 13 07 11 2008 set-time

Partitioning – Dual-Boot

If wanting to dual boot Mac OS 9 hold down C on boot with the Mac OS Install CD (see below for without). With Disk Setup partition into three volumes. Here’s how I split up a 5 GB partition:

• 2.7G / – Unallocated
• 384MB swap – Mac OS Extended
• 2.6G / – Mac OS Extended

Install Mac OS on the last partition – this is important for the bootloader to run correctly. Now restart and zap the PRAM
(Apple-Option-P-R). If might not be a bad idea to reset the Open Firmware too. See the Ubuntu on a Powermac on how to do that.

Now put in the Linux CD, restart the system and hold down the c key.

The partition map was already created with Disk Setup. “mac-fdisk” will be used to specify what each partition will be used for.

mac-fdisk /dev/hda

p       # print current partition map
b       # Create Apple_Bootstrap
8p      # selects eighth block device
c       # root partition
9p      # first start block, 9th partition
9p      # end block, 9th partition
/       # name of root partition
d       # delete for swap setup
10
c
10p
10p
swap    # name of partition
w       # write changes to disk
q       #quit

Partitioning the Full Disk

I don’t use Mac OS 9 though anymore and just used mac-fdisk to partition:

mac-fdisk -l          # to see partitions

mac-fdisk /dev/hda  # enter disk editor

p         # print current partition map
i         # init new partition map

b         # OF needs an Apple bootstrap partition
2p        # on second partition

c         # create (for swap)
3p
768M      # twice the size of the physical RAM
swap      # name

c         # for root
4p
4p        # to the end of the physical drive
/         # name

w         # write partition map
q         # quit

Formatting the Partitions

There are several good filesystem types in Linux. The common and best tested file system is ext3 – it offers journaling and is very dependable.

With any memory less that 512MB in Linux it is best to make a swap partition and activate it:

Configuration-Files for Gentoo iBook

To save alot of time and research, here are configuration files for “/etc/make.conf“, “/etc/fstab“, “/etc/X11/xorg.conf” and “/usr/src/linux/.config” (kernel config).

Installing a Kernel

Included in the configuration-files is the kernel configuration file tailored to the clamshell iBooks. Not much should need be changed.

Manually Configuring a Kernel

If beginning from scratch, start by creating a default mac configuration file:

Video Support

Video support works better with the userspace driver just make sure that the video card is correctly set in the “make.conf“.

Device Drivers - Character devices --->
/dev/agpgart (AGP Support)
[*] Apple UniNorth support
[ ] Direct Rendering Manager (DRI support)
ATI Rage 128
Device Drivers - Graphics Support --->
ATI Rage 128 display support

Kernel Build

Kernel Install

“make install” uses the “installkernel” script that doesn’t work on PPC computers so the kernel will need to be installed by hand:

Adding System Daemons and Tools

“updatedb” runs once a day which is tasking for a slow laptop. To change that behavior move slocate from the daily folder to the weekly.

Configuring the Bootloader

PowerPC machines must use “yaboot” as a bootloader to boot Mac OS 9 and Linux.

Now exit the chroot and return to the LiveCD shell to create a yaboot configuration file:

Yaboot cannot find a kernel? Type it in manually:

Go back to the chroot environment:

Have “yaboot.conf” (which was just produced) applied to the bootstrap partition.

It may be required to manually add a Open Firmware path to the boot device in “yaboot.conf“. Discover the OFpath by:

where # is the root partition number, and add it to “yaboot.conf“:

ofboot=/pci@f2000000/mac-io@17/ata-4@1f000/disk@0:#

• Yaboot Handbook

Now you can reboot and test your system. This will only do a base install (i.e. allow you to boot with basic services. If you want to add a desktop… see the Gentoo documentation. For computer’s of this performance type take a look at desktops like Openbox as Gnome and KDE would probably be too much for them.

A Few Other Tips

Disk Space

Disk space is a tough issue with an older computer. Even more so with Gentoo. But it is possible to install a Gentoo desktop. To make more space available:

To see how much disk space it being taken. To help, you can empty the temporary files produced by emerges and the source files themselves:

Clock Skew

If getting a large clock skew if might be because a program in Linux (ntp I believe) will create a clock skew file (/etc/adjtime) if there are large differences between the hardware clock and software clock. Though the hardware clock and software clock may get adjusted correctly the clock skew upon reboot will be adjusted to the skew in “/etc/adjtime“. Remove this file to fix the problem.

Refusal to Check Filesystem on Boot

fsck could refuse to check filesystem on start stating:

(check deferred; on battery)

To fix create "/etc/e2fsck.conf” and add a defer check option:

[options]

defer_check_on_battery = false

4MB Video Cards

4MB is a low amount of memory for displaying material on the screen. Any value over 16 bit depth on the desktop will cause excessive paging and long draw times. Fix in “/etc/X11/xorg.conf“.

Notes:

• I did this installation at the beginning of 2007. Ubuntu since then has officially dropped support for PowerPC’s. The Ubuntu community however is continuing development of Ubuntu (see the Ubuntu wiki for details.
• For alternatives, I use Gentoo Linux and enjoy it alot. Installing Gentoo on an iBook is a more advanced install but I’ve discovered because it is extraordinarily customizable can be more efficient than standard distros.

  Chasing the Rabbit

  I have a clam-shell iBook, (one of the originals, mind ya kindly, a rev. B 300 mHz, bondi blue!) I love this computer, so don’t ask to buy it ;). It’ll be forever a classic in my view. I have to admit, though, it was beginning to feel a little bit dated. When I used it to surf the web was when I began to feel it was a bit dated. Webpages would load slow and some pages would just not load at all! And, continually, MacOS9 apps became more depracated (unuseful) and I wasn’t able to find new ones to do the things I wanted/needed to do. So, I admit, I became curious when a group of my friends one day talked Linux. I can tell you that Linux isn’t as intimidating nowadays as the days I first tried it 10 or so years ago. But some of you may be asking why change when Mac OS 9 is a pretty reliable OS?

  Looking Down the Rabbit-Hole

  I confess though, I got the bug. I had to try it. What I had just wasn’t enough, wasn’t exciting enough. If Ubuntu didn’t work, I justified to myself, I would just go back and restore my OS 9. I can tell now that it did work, better than I thought dreamed it could. And the installation is nothing like the installation I did ten years ago. It did have one concerning “kinda”, never mind that though, I’ll get to that later.
  So, I read a lot of what I wanted, what I needed, to do to get Linux installed on my on my iBook. I mean alot. I’ve messed things up before on computers, like the time I deleted an entire Windows 95 from a simple command line. Shhhh! So this time, I am happy to say that, I!, was prepared.

  After studying what linux distro may be best, I choose Ubuntu. Ubuntu is the most used Linux, and hence, has the most support. Literally hundreds of thousands of people use it and many of them belong to Ubuntu Forums. The forums are a great place to ask and have questions answered and to learn what I could do with my new OS.

  The Dark Plunge – Leaving OS 9
  

  I started by backing up my information. Everything, everything – including the System Folder. I used Disk Copy to image everything in around 600 MB chunks so that I could burn them to a CD. It isn’t necessary to image the files, but for me it gives a nice insulation to protect the files. However, to my surprise, because my iBook had ‘Disk-Burner’ in the Apple Menu, I thought I had a CD burner. Heh lol. Fortunately, I do know a friend that does. So I connected to the Internet and used the Web Sharing control panel to transfer my files. Web Sharing completely rescued me. Since I know little to nothing about networking, it was able to make the transfer files relatively easily. In Web Sharing, all I had to do was tell the folder I wished to transfer. Web Sharing gave the folder with all my images a web address. I just booted my friends computer, opened the web browser and download the files.

  Because Macintosh files are generally corrupted on other types of computers, Web Sharing encodes them before they’re transfered. I gave up transferring the files after a couple hours. Web Sharing appear to have issues with encoding large files. So, I found ZipIt to be good solution. I made sure I had the MacBinary checked in options and zipped the images. Alternately some people use the DropStuff program to do this.
  With all my MacOS9 and data on the other computer, I burned them to CD’s.
  The Ubuntu Installation Guide is a good guide on what needs to be done – though is is a little sparse MacOS9 support, it’s not too bad. I read through most of it in a breeze, then just kept it nearby when I installed.

  The Ubuntu Install ISO for the CD needs to be downloaded. I made sure I chose the PowerPC version. I choose to download since I was using a friends computer :) It’s 600 friggin’ megs. The Installation Guide recommends doing md5 checksum on the downloaded ISO to verify it, but there isn’t any md5 checksum utility for MacOS9. I burned the CD without any problems. I found a great program on Windows that burned the ISO called ImgBurn – it did a good job, and it was free.

  Stop Smilin’ Cheshire

  I planned to have both Mac OS 9 and Ubuntu on my computer, so the first job I had to do is division the hard drive. It would have been nice to have a another hard drive lying about but… I ]separated the drive into four pieces. One for Ubuntu Linux, another for Mac OS 9, another a Linux Swap, and a boot-strap. Linux Swap is used for memory; while boot-strap is needed to dual-boot. It’s not for the feint of heart, trust me I’m one of them, I’ve done this before so I knew what I was doing. Partitioning will un-index all the information on the hard drive, effectively erasing it – thats why everything was backed up.

  I started my computer holding C with my MacOS9 Install CD in the computer. I started Drive Setup in the Utilities Folder. I noticed first my original MacOS9 install has already partitioned the drive a little bit. The MacOS creates 7 or so mini-partitions that are used for hard disk driver, directory info, and some other things I don’t know about. They have to stay there if I want to use MacOS9 on your computer so I didn’t touch them. From the pull down menu I selected four partitions (Drive Setup doesn’t show the 7 mini ones). The first partition had to be the boot strap partition so that I can dual-boot. This partition only has to be 832 kb. Drive Setup only allows partitions down to 32 MB so thats what I did. I left its type as unallocated so that Ubuntu Install could later create it correctly. The next HAS to be the MacOS partition. I’ve heard of others putting MacOS on a later partition but from all the documentation I saw, it is not a good idea. This partition I put at 2.6 GB – pretty small but would do for what I needed. I set this partition as HFS+ Extended. The next was Swap then the Ubuntu partition – it doesn’t matter if swap or Ubuntu are interchanged. Swap I set at 191 MB – the same as installed memory – and it works plenty well. The Ubuntu partition the Installation Guide recommends to be at least 2 GB. Both these (the swap and Ubuntu partition) I set as unallocated letting the Ubuntu Install CD partitioning-tool finish the job correctly. Drive Setup partitioning worked best if I sized these when I worked from the bottom. At this point, everything is new. The Ubuntu Installation Guide says to install MacOS now. I’m not sure if this is necessary but I did it anyway. Since I was booted from the MacOS install CD there was no way I could use my burned CDs to restore my saved MacOS9, so I just installed the one from the CD temporarily.

  A Little Lighter – Oh Pooo!

  I have an internet connection so I chose the LiveCD (the default one). I do believe there is a minimum install CD as well that doesn’t require an internet connection. The LiveCD (6.10 Efty Edge) has alot of Ubuntu Linux on it but still needs to download a fair deal to have a well rounded Linux setup. So after I finished Drive Setup I put CD in and restarted. Holding down C, the Live CD booted to the Ubuntu Desktop. I got a several warnings at the very start that the PCI something or other had an error, but these were just errors appling to the startup-screen. I clicked on Install-icon. Basic information will be asked. Name, name of this computer, time and date. Do you like Tom Jones? I did my name and named the computer lastname-iBook. This made it pretty easy for me to spot it on the network.

  When the installer got to the part about partitioning I choose not to have Ubuntu do the recommended partitioning scheme and chose to manual edit the partition-table myself. Here it is pretty easy for me to select my already sized partitions and make them the type I need them to be. The hard drive in Linux is called is called hda, it says it on the upper right. Its called sda on some computers, etc etc. This varies depending on the type of hard drive a computer has. Here I needed to format (make the right type) the Ubuntu partition, the swap-partition, and the bootstrap. Now I can see the 7 mini-partitions (this may vary too) hda1 – hda7 the ones needed to boot MacOS, I didn’t touch them. I selected the first partition (hda8 on this computer) after the mini-partitions and changed it to bootstrap from the format menu. hda9 (the MacOS disk) I left alone. hda10 I choose swap. And hda11 I choose ext3 (the Linux file system). I hit Continue. On the next screen, I needed to tell the installer where to install what. On the left, I selected bootstrap from first pull down menu and on the right I choose hda8 (my first partition.) Next, I picked swap from the next pull down on the left and chose hda10 on the right. On the third pull down on the left I chose “/”. This “/” is known in the linux world as ‘root’. This is where Ubuntu will be put. After selecting / on the left, I chose hda11 on the right. Now, Ubuntu is ready to install.

  The Red Queen

  Thats about it, I sat down and grab myself something to drink. I does take a little bit depending on connection speed etc etc. My installation didn’t hang at all though. I haveread others that did. Generally these aren’t hangs and just take a little while. I was recommended to give a potential hang at least 30 or 40 minutes.

  Finally, Ubuntu installs yaboot on the bootstrap. This is the program the allows the iBook to dual-boot. Well, that’s it! I restarted to see how it did.

  The Keyhole in the Tunnel

  yaboot starts up and asks press m for macos, or l for linux. I press l. Another screens appears after thats asks what version of linux do I want to start. I press return to do the default. Everything loads and runs quickly. I type my password and I see my desktop. After spending an hour to get things just how I like. And I really do mean as I like. I linux you can change just about everything! I tell ya, I liked Ubuntu from the start. Clean, and neat. Runs great! More responsive than MacOS, doesn’t hang. It beautiful bro. I thought I was gonna cry. I’ve used the desktop for over a month now and I’m not turning back. Everything I wanted is here and almost all the programs for linux are open-source. Firefox is a great web browser. It’s much quicker at loading and had been able to load every thing I’ve thrown at it. The apps I need are all available to me. But it isn’t feathers and roses.

  Note: Ubuntu 6.10 Efty Edge used an outdated version of yaboot that was why I wasn’t able to book into MacOS as I detail below.

  It was awhile before I even tried to boot into MacOS again, but since others occasionally use this computer. I wanted to get it going. So at yaboot I press m to load MacOS. The screen turns to the dithered grey we’re used to and then I see a flashing disk. And everything I try to get MacOs running does not work. I’m not gonna get into all the details, but its been frustrating and aggravating. I got to the point where I removed the memory as a desperate measure.
  There is a little light at the end of this tunnel though. A great program call MacOnLinux runs MacOs through Linux just as good, and it’s a very simple to put up. All I had to do was select the Synaptic Package Manager and I found it in there. Instructions are pretty easy:

  MacOnLinuxHowto

  I had a lot of fun doing this, and I love my clamshell yet even more. If someone has an aging iBook, iMac, etc. Linux is definitely worth a look. It can even become a great hobby!

  Notes:

  - Ubuntu has an alternate Live CD for those who have a issues with the original one.
  - There is no accelerated video, so don’t expect to be playing the newest games.
  - check for firmware updates before install.
  - It’s been suggested to be to use Yellow Dog Linux. I had thought of this since Yellow Dog Linux specializes in PowerPC. Yet, I made my Ubuntu very very comfortable and customized. Also it is true that by 2008 Ubuntu will probably drop PowerPC support.
  - I had read writings that I could do partitioning without deleting my MacOS9 and it’s data. By setting up MacOS9 at the beginning part of your disk drive, partitioning, and rebuilding the disk directory – it is possible. Highly unrecommended however. Linux on a Mac needs that first partition to run well.
  - Lastly there’s Xubuntu for a lighter system.

  Enjoy All!

Better font rendering in Linux has been a long time a ‘comin. The slow adoption of better font rendering in Linux has been because Apple and Microsoft have restrictive patents governing how they are rendered. Gradually though a few distro’s are implementing better font rendering that’s attempting to be non-patent restrictive. Ubuntu by default adds subpixel font rendering to Xft and cairo and a few other distro’s too. However for most other distributions, the lcd-specific FreeType API’s will need to be patched in.

First be sure that your xorg server DPI settings are correct for your monitor. Then you’ll need the updated and patched versions of freetype, fontconfig, libXft, and cairo.

Installing on Gentoo

For Gentoo users these updated packages are in the devnull overlay. Devnull uses mercurial:

emerge mercurial

To add an overlay, use layman to add it:

layman -a devnull

Read nico’s comment on preferred USE flags (Ubuntu’s) for best rendering. Then emerge these four programs.:

emerge -1 freetype fontconfig libXft cairo

Arch Install

For Arch I use the Ubuntu font rendering too. To install the Ubuntu font rendering do:

yaourt -S freetype2-ubuntu fontconfig-ubuntu cairo-ubuntu libxft-ubuntu

For other types, take a look at the Arch wiki page on Fonts.

Setting Up Fontconfig

Setting up fontconfig should be done as simple as possible. If you add too many options, fontconfig will use all of them and your fonts will become a mangled mess. Some font options are already set up in ‘/etc/fonts/conf.d’ and there more available in ‘/etc/fonts/conf.avail’. However, though you can choose to set up your font preferences here so that they are applied globally, I’ve discovered it’s better to create a local configuration (talked about below). If you want to set any of these options up, you’ll need to link them. For example, to replace Microsoft fonts with the Liberation fonts:

ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/60-liberation.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d/

A fontconfig configuration file needs to be built to define how to render the fonts. This ideally shouldn’t be necessary as you should be able to set up most or all your settings by creating links to the fontconfig configuration directory. However, I’ve found some applications create a local configuration that can conflict with the global setting and create ugly fonts. Ok, there’s only one application I know that does this and that application is KDE’s System Settings. System Settings incorrectly sets the rgba value when creating the local font configuration and mangles how fonts should look. As of KDE 4.3.2 this bug is still here so try to avoid the Appearance > Fonts panel if you can ;). The local font configuration is a hidden file in the home directory called ‘.fonts.conf’ (~/.fonts.conf) and the one I provide here should work for most people:

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM 'fonts.dtd'>

<fontconfig>

 <!-- General Settings -->

 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
   <const>rgb</const>
  </edit>
 </match>

 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hinting" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>

 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
   <const>hintslight</const>
  </edit>
 </match>

 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="antialias" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>

 <match target="pattern" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="autohint" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>

 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="lcdfilter">
   <const>lcddefault</const>
  </edit>
 </match>

 <!-- set dpi -->
 <match target="pattern" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="dpi" >
   <double>88</double>
  </edit>
 </match>

 <!-- replace monoco font with monospace -->
 <!--
 <match target="pattern">
  <test qual="any" name="family" compare="eq">
   <string>Monaco</string>
  </test>
  <edit name="family" mode="prepend" binding="same">
   <string>Bitstream Vera Sans Mono</string>
  </edit>
 </match>
-->

 <!-- consolas and inconsolata appear fuzzy -->
 <match target="font">
  <test compare="eq" name="family">
   <string>Consolas</string>
  </test>
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
   <const>hintmedium</const>
  </edit>
 </match>

 <match target="font">
  <test compare="eq" name="family">
   <string>Inconsolata</string>
  </test>
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
   <const>hintslight</const>
  </edit>
 </match>

 <!-- hintmedium for small fonts, reduces fuzziness -->
 <!-- pretty sure this doesn't work -->
 <match target="font">
  <test compare="less_eq" name="pixelsize">
   <double>11</double>
  </test>
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
   <const>hintslight</const>
  </edit>
 </match>

 <!-- calibri jaggedness -->
  <!-- http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?p=1045807#post1045807 -->
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="embeddedbitmap" >
   <bool>false</bool></edit>
 </match>

 <match target="font">
  <test compare="eq" name="family">
   <string>Arial</string>
  </test>
  <edit mode="assign" name="hinting">
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
   <const>hintfull</const>
  </edit>
  <edit mode="assign" name="autohint">
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
  <test compare="less" name="weight">
   <const>medium</const>
  </test>
 </match>

 <match target="font">
  <test compare="eq" name="family">
   <string>Impact</string>
  </test>
  <edit mode="assign" name="hinting">
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
   <const>hintfull</const>
  </edit>
  <edit mode="assign" name="autohint">
   <bool>false</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>

</fontconfig>

Be sure you check your monitor’s subpixel type by looking at this page. You might also want to experiment with the hintslight, hintmedium, and hintfull options (though I’ve found hintslight to do odd things). In the configuration are also tweaks that make Microsoft fonts look good. After you have done this you should restart your xorg server. Technically font effects should take place immediately but applications that are already loaded (panel, window manager…) will need to be restarted to get the effect.

Again, keep it simple! You get too complicated and your fonts are going to blur.

A Note About Desktops

Desktops have previously handled font rendering and can over-ride fontconfig configuration. KDE 4 has the ability to let fontconfig handle font configuration in System Settings > Appearance > Fonts – choose ‘System Settings’ for anti-aliasing and disable DPI. In Gnome there is only one DPI option that should be picked up (in Preferences > Appearance > Fonts). If your DPI doesn’t match horizontally and vertically pick a median in between.

The quick answer to this, is that GVM can – in a limited sense. Up till now there were two choices: either accept how Gnome Volume Manager handles storage devices, or input every storage device that can be thought of into “/etc/fstab“.

Gnome Volume Manager has it’s own way of doing things. GVM appears to name storage devices as it pleases. GVM on this PC names the Vista partition as “OS”, the USB stick is named “1.0 GB Media”, and so on. Gnome Volume Manager also defines it’s own options – sometime erraticallty. Sometimes a storage unit will be mounted, other times not.

Trying to assist Gnome Volume Manager with fstab is possible to some degree. Gnome Volume Manager will listen to fstab and mount the storage unit in the appropriate directory, but fstab options may or may not be used.

The best bet is to go ahead and enter the storage units into “/etc/fstab”. First give UUID’s to give specific detail of the drives, partitions… (especially dynamic ones: USB sticks, external hard disks…). Enter the device/devicenames of all volumes as seen by fdisk:

sudo fdisk -l

Device names might also be discovered in “/etc/mtab” or at the end of the “dmesg” listing.

To get more information on known storage unit type in:

file -s /dev/devicename

To get the UUID:

vol_id -u /dev/devicename

The UUID is a permenant, unique identifier that always can be assign to a storage unit.

Open the fstab file and in place of using “/dev/devicename” use:

UUID=4c7b-bfbe-21310c36c89e

Or whatever the UUID’s are.

Now create folders in “/media” for the storage units:

sudo mkdir /media/WinVista
sudo mkdir /media/USB-Stick-1
sudo mkdir /media/DVD-RW

then enter the corresponding mount points in “/etc/fstab”.

Research what options are needed. The “/etc/fstab” file is read and mounts volumes during boot. Gnome Volume Manger will listen to some options. The most important option GVM looks for is the users option. If users option isn’t found then Gnome Volume Manager will not give regular user rights to the storage unit and the common “You are not privileged to mount the volume” dialog will appear. Another option “auto” can be entered in the storage units option that will have the volume mounted on boot. Unfortunately, Gnome Volume Manager will not listen to this option, Gnome Volume Managers preferences though do allow automatic loading of removable drives and media (albeit somewhat erratically and unpredictably).

An example “/etc/fstab”:

#/etc/fstab
#
# filesystem information

# Window Vista Partition
UUID=D6F275C3F275A87F                       /media/WinVista     ntfs-3g     users,defaults,force,auto               0   0
# Linux System Partition
UUID=8f30c65c-ac3f-4c7b-bfbe-21310c36c89e   /                   ext3        noatime,user_xattr                      1   1

# DVD Drive
/dev/sr0                                    /media/DVD-RW       auto        auto,users,rw                           0   0

# USB Stick 1
UUID=48BC-9FFE                              /media/USB-Stick-1  vfat        users,auto,uid=1000,gid=100,umask=007   0   0

With these changes most storage units will be loaded when are where expected to.

Change Storage Device Labels

To change the Label GVM shows, do it with a tool like Gparted. GVM reads the volume label that is assigned in the Master Boot Record, if there is none it gives the size the the storage device. The best option is to use the Gparted LiveCD or use any other LiveCD that that has Gparted on it. I had no problems adding a label to the storage units, but it’s a good idea to do as GParted warns and to backup any files first. If no name changes need to be made to root (/) or say another fixed partition (/home) Gparted can be used right then and there but be sure to kill GVM first:

killall gnome-volume-manager

Avoid Broken Links to Other Storage Units

If there are links, to say, some files on the Windows partition, they can be broken if not set up correctly. First be sure the filesystem is mounted at boot by naming them in fstab. GVM/Nautilus will then recognize the link when it loads. Second, make a direct link. Don’t use the storage unit links on the left-hand side of Nautilus – these are shortcuts. Instead name directly the device path:

ln -s /media/WinVista/Users/Username/Documents/ My\ Documents

At this point I reboot to see how the configurations work from booting. This should do it. Drives should un/mount properly and have good disk labels. Hope this helps.

Using Device Nodes

I have yet to try this as I am currently Gnome-less, but creating device nodes may help Gnome Volume Manager. It at least will help create an “/etc/fstab” file without the use of UUID’s.

• Creating a Unique Device Node

When setting up a friends PC with Linux the other day, I decided to begin by partitioning the hard drive with the Gparted Live CD. I learned that Gparted is a great tool to create partitions but it also tweaked my Windows install making it unable to boot. I’ve also heard of this happening on the occasional install of Ubuntu and other distro’s where the MBR will be written incorrectly. Fortunately though I did the research and was able to fix it. Here’s what I did:

Anyone that has been around Linux long enough has seen this problem before. There are two types of errors that can cause Windows not to boot properly. First there is a damaged MBR. The MBR (Master Boot Record) is a 512-byte sector at the beginning of the disk that holds the partition table and the information for bootstrapping an Operating System. And second possibility is the partition boot sector (NTFS, FAT…) becoming corrupted. The partition boot sector is part of a metadata file that begins at the initial 512 bytes of the partition and followed by several others sectors which are called by the boot sector’s IPL (intial program loader). If either one of these are broken, Windows will not boot.

Now, if Windows is reinstalled or there is a misconfiguration with Grub, Grub will need to be correctly setup and installed back into the MBR as the bootloader. Catlett writes a good guide about this.

If say the Linux partition is deleted, Windows will fail to boot because the program (Grub) and it’s configuration file are stored there. If this is the case, Windows needs to be put back in charge of the MBR. Meierfra, at the Ubuntu forums explains how to do that. You’ll need the Windows Install Disk to do this, or sometimes the recovery disks will do. If the computer didn’t come with Install Disks or Recovery disks (as they do sometimes nowadays) then TestDisk might be an option. Read below.

However if Grub and MBR are set up correctly, then the partition boot sector needs to be repaired (this is what happened to me). This can be done in two ways I know of with TestDisk or ms-sys.

TeskDisk Success

TestDisk has the capability to rebuild the NTFS boot sector and recover a FAT one. Start TestDisk and select the disk then partition table type. In the “Advanced” option select the partition Windows boots from then select the “Boot” option. TestDisk showed the Boot sector as OK and the Backup boot sector as bad, funny I thought that it would be oppposite. I had no choice though (besides a clean install of Vista [I hadn't heard of ms-sys at the time]) and choose to rebuild it anyhow. I rebooted the computer and got my Vista back.

Fix Boot with ms-sys (Untested)

An alternate method of fixing the MBR is using the ms-sys program. I have yet to try this but alot of feedback at this post makes it seem to work pretty well. I’d like to hear feedback.

How to fix your Windows MBR with an Ubuntu liveCD

The Gentoo Wiki is lost, or as the administrator put it “database lost”. What does that mean? Itmeans that every page, Encyclopedias of information, will never be seen again. The Gentoo Wiki was the pride and pillar of the Gentoo community. When all else flagged, the Gentoo Wiki remained strong. People from all over the Linux community, from multiple distro’s contributed to the wiki. How many warnings were there? Server downtimes, a previous hacking attempt. Now we got a new and improved, blank page book.

Even worse the administrator has abandoned his and thousands of others property rights.

This is a bad day for Gentoo, you won’t see me contribute to the Gentoo Wiki unless it’s an official part of the Gentoo project.

Update 4/21/09

The Gentoo wiki has rerooted itself and looks to be getting some of it’s momentum back. A good deal of the more popular posts have been returned and new style guidelines and content guidelines are being strictly enforced (a much needed thing, and seldom help-up in alot of wiki projects). As to my prior statement that i wouldn’t post to the Gentoo wiki, i have contributed four posts, and appreciate the guys work to help rebuild it.