theAdmin.orgGrowing a simple software business

Over the past few weeks I have been setting up Linux on my XBox, following the instructions from Xbox-Linux.org. I ended up getting Xebian setup on it and running really good but it is running an older 2.4 kernel.

Since I recently decided to install Asterisk onto the XBox, I needed to get the kernel sources and figured I might as well upgrade to a newer 2.6 kernel. After a good day, and many slow compiles I now have a working 2.6.8 kernel with the XBox patches.

eric@xebian:~$ uname -a
Linux xebian.home.theadmin.org 2.6.8-xbox #2 Sun Mar 4 19:58:45 PST 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

Since I have my apt repository setup, I even made a deb package for it. This kernel comes with an initrd built in so it should boot up but you must edit the /etc/linuxboot.cfg file. If you add in the new kernel, the bootloader will fall back and try to boot each additional kernel if one fails.

# /boot/linuxboot.cfg
title v2_6
kernel /boot/vmlinuz
append root=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part2 devfs=mount kbd-reset xbox=hdd 
xboxfb y

title v2_4
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.31-xbox
append root=/dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0/part2 devfs=mount kbd-reset xbox=hdd 
xboxfb y

default v2_6

It also appears that the bootloader for XBox will load the initrd that matches the version of the kernel. So with my configuration the “/boot/initrd” would get loaded for my v2_6 kernel and the “/boot/initrd-2.4.31-xbox” would get loaded for the v2_4 kernel.

Eric Davis

I’m back.

I also have a lot to write about now but I wanted to start with a new feature I have added to my theadmin.org server.

I am now starting to package up some software for Debian. I have my apt repository setup at apt.theadmin.org. To add it just add one of the following lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list

# Sarge
deb http://apt.theadmin.org/debian/ sarge

# Etch
deb http://apt.theadmin.org/debian/ etch

# Stable
deb http://apt.theadmin.org/debian/ stable

# Testing
deb http://apt.theadmin.org/debian/ testing

Right now I only have two versions of lighttpd in sarge/stable but I will be starting to add more now that I know how to create the packages.

If anyone has a request, feel free to contact me and I can see what I can do to package it up.

Eric Davis

Just upgraded to the latest trunk of Typo (r1272) and have no errors with the migration.

Eric Davis

Note: This is for PPC users only, x86 users can just grab the files straight from Java.com

I needed to get the Java plugin working with Firefox on my Mac Mini Debian install. Since I ended up using IBM’s Java, it was not automatically setup so after reading the docs (file:///usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-ibm/docs/navigation/index.en.htm?eng) that came with it I found a solution.

cd /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/ 
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/j2sdk1.5-ibm/jre/bin/libjavaplugin_oji.so .

This will create the symlink to the plugin and allow Firefox to use Java applets (although the JRE is not the most current one so some may not work properly).

To test this:

1. First exit and restart Firefox
2. Type in “about:plugins” in the addressbar. You should see a list of plugins installed, and the Java one should also be there. My version is “IBM Java(TM) Plug-in: J2RE 1.5.0 IBM build jclxp32dev-20060511a”.
3. Next try to find a Java applet you can use to test, if you are having a hard time try the DSL Speed Test

Eric Davis

Yesterday I finished setting up my main computer to run Debian Etch. I made the switch from Ubuntu after a year because I wanted to run the same OS on my desktops as my servers. Since I am running Debian Sarge on about 6 servers I maintain, I might as well also run it on my desktops too. Ok well Sarge is a bit old now, so I am running Etch (testing). So far I love it, it might not be as refined as the Ubuntu Desktop but there are a lot of newer versions of the software I run and they “Just Work”.

The hardest problem I had was with the sound on my Mac mini, it just would not work. I ended up compiling a new kernel, which would not load (damn PPC and yaboot, I miss GRUB). Turns out I just did not load the correct modules for the mini on the stock kernel. So now I have my mini running on Debian Etch.

Also over this weekend I was able to load Debian onto my work desktop. I am now the first person at my company to run a Linux desktop (with VMWare running Windows XP for that one Windows program).

FYI: The mini needs to load these modules for sound to work:

# file /etc/modules
snd_powermac
apm_emu
snd-powermac
sr_mod

Eric Davis