Category Archives: tech

Installing Debian Linux 9 on Windows 10 with WSL

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So you got Ubuntu installed on your Windows machine, but you’re more of a Debian person.  Well this post is for you.  (If you haven’t yet enabled WSL and got Ubuntu running, check out my Part 1 post walking through that!)

These steps will switch WSL to use Debian, but don’t worry, it’s easy to undo them and switch back to Ubuntu.  Please follow the steps carefully, as doing things out of order may cause it to fail.  There are many ways to do this, and sometimes I know I’m skipping some shortcuts, but I just want to make these instructions as simple to follow as possible.

Part 2: Transitioning WSL to Debian

  1. In your browser we must download the Debian docker image.  Go to https://hub.docker.com/_/debian/ and find the build you want.  As of this writing, the latest version is stretch.  Just look for the line that includes the word “latest”.  Click the link in that line.  Currently it says (stretch/Dockerfile).
  2. It should take you to a github page.  You need to go one level back from the dockerfile page to find the location of the actual image.  In this case, the link says “stretch”
  3. Find the file that is named “rootfs.tar.xz” and click on it.  It should take you to the github page for this file, and click on the Download button.
  4. Find where this file was downloaded to and take note of this location.  Usually it will be in your Downloads folder or your Desktop, depending on how your browser is set up.  Do not try to extract the file yet.
  5. Open your Ubuntu bash prompt (there should be a listing in your Start menu for Bash on Ubuntu on Windows)
  6. Create a folder to extract the archive to: 
    cd ~
sudo mkdir rootfs.debian
  7. Next we’re going to copy the image file to your home directory.  (not move in case we mess something up we still have the original).  You’ll need to substitute the Windows path where you had downloaded the archive to the Linux path name.
    Example: I downloaded to:
    “C:\Users\scott\Downloads\rootfs.tar.xz”
    so the path from within Linux is:
    /mnt/c/Users/scott/Downloads/rootfs.tar.xz
  8. So in my case the command would be (in case it’s hard to tell from the formatting, this is all one line, just a space before the ~): 
     sudo cp /mnt/c/Users/scott/Downloads/rootfs.tar.xz ~/rootfs.debian/rootfs.tar.xz

    (NOTE: Linux is case sensitive, and make sure you use the correct slashes.  You can use tab when typing to complete some path names.)

  9. Extract the archive: 
     cd ~/rootfs.debian

 sudo tar xf rootfs.tar.xz
  10. Exit the terminal by entering: 
     exit
  11. Open any folder in Windows, clear out the path in the Address bar and type in: “%localappdata%\lxss” without quotes then hit enter.
  12. Click onto the rootfs folder and rename it to rootfs.ubuntu
  13. Open the home folder, then open your username folder and find rootfs.debian.  Right click on this folder and select “Cut”
  14. Go back to the lxss folder, then right click in the folder and select “Paste”
  15. Rename this folder to rootfs
  16. Since the user you had been using in Ubuntu is not set up in Debian, we must switch Debian to use the root account.  Open a Windows command prompt and type: 
     lxrun /setdefaultuser
  17. When asked for the new Unix username, enter: root
  18. Type bash then hit enter.  You are now in debian!  However, it’s pretty broken at this point, so keep reading!
  19. Set a root password by entering: 
     passwd
  20. Get the latest list of available updates by entering: 
     apt-get update

 apt-get upgrade

    Hit y to agree to prompts to install these updates.  You may notice some errors about your locale.  Let’s fix that.

  21. Run: 
     apt-get install locales

    Once this is installed, run:

     dpkg-reconfigure locales

    Hit enter to go through the list of locales.  For Americans you can then enter en_US.UTF-8.  For other people, choose the appropriate language.
    When asked for the default locale, I just choose option 3.

  22. The ps command is missing, so let’s fix that: 
     apt-get install -f procps
  23. Another thing that’s missing but helpful is the ability to extract .xz files, in case you need to do anything like this again from within Debian.  This command installs the xz utilities: 
    apt-get install xz-utils
  24. You’re probably getting an error about resolving a hostname.  Take note of your computer’s name.  Then let’s install nano for a quick way to edit files in Linux. 
     apt-get install nano
  25. Run nano to edit the hosts file 
     nano /etc/hosts
  26. Beneath the line that says 127.0.0.1 localhost, add a line that says:
    127.0.0.1 hostname
    (filling in your computer’s name as the hostname).
  27. Hit CTRL-o then enter to save the file.  Then CTRL-x to exit nano.
  28. Install sudo so you can run as an account other than root: 
     apt-get install sudo
  29. Add a new user substituting username for the username you’d like (no spaces allowed): 
     useradd username -G sudo
  30. Set up a password for this account, putting in your actual username: 
     passwd username
  31. Then exit.  You’re back at the dos prompt.  Now let’s tell WSL to launch as this new user instead of root: 
     lxrun /setdefaultuser

    Then type in your new username.

  32. Test this out by typing bash.  You should be logged in as the new user.  To verify try typing the command: 
    whoami
  33. Two last things that are optional.  You can change the shortcut in the start menu to now say Debian, and you can change the icon.
  34. Click Start, right click on “Bash on Ubuntu on Windows” then More -> Open File Location
    Rename this file to Bash on Debian on Windows
  35. Next in the path name type in: %localappdata%\lxss then hit enter.
    Rename the bash.ico to bash.ico.ubuntu.  If you’re not seeing the .ico extension, click the View tab up top and make sure “File name extensions” is checked.
    Download this icon and save it to the folder with the name bash.ico.
  36. That should be it!  It might take a reboot to get the icon updated everywhere on your system.

NOTES
if you want to undo this, assuming you used the same username for both Linuxes, all you need to do to have this launch Ubuntu is rename the rootfs folder to rootfs.debian and rename the rootfs.ubuntu folder back to rootfs.  And of course restore the old icon.

Installing Ubuntu Linux on Windows 10 with WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

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I’m a big Linux fan, been using it since 1999 when I first bought a Red Hat Linux for Dummies book which came with an install disk in the back.  Things have changed dramatically in the Linux world since then, maybe most dramatically in the fact that you can now install the bash shell in Windows 10.

In this blog post I’ll show you how to install WSL, which gives you a bash terminal running Ubuntu on your Windows 10 machine.  After that, look for Part 2 where I show you how to transition it to Debian 9!

Just a note: At the time I’m writing this, the current latest version of Windows 10 still hides a few of these options from the normal user.  I’ll give the steps as they are today, but in the future you may be able to skip a few steps.  For example, installing Ubuntu is going to be an option directly from the Windows Store, instead of going through the control panel steps.

Look for the store link for Ubuntu here:
https://www.microsoft.com/store/p/ubuntu/9nblggh4msv6

Also coming soon will be Windows Store packages for Fedora (no link yet), openSUSE and SLES!

What you need:

  • Windows 10
  • Internet Connection
  • A little bit of time

Part 1: Installing Ubuntu on WSL

  1.  Click start, and click the Cog icon to open the Windows Settings app.
  2.  Open “Update and Security”
  3.  On the left side open “For developers”
  4. Put a dot in “Developer Mode” (Note: this won’t be required in future updates of Windows, but currently still is)
  5. If it makes you reboot, go ahead and do that, then log back in.
  6. Click Start, type Control Panel and hit enter.
  7. Make sure the View By in  the upper right is Large or Small Icons, then open “Programs and Features”
  8. In the upper left click on “Turn Windows features on or off”
  9. Check the box for “Windows Subsystem for Linux (Beta)” then click OK.  It probably won’t say Beta in future updates.
  10. It should install some stuff and ask you to reboot.  Go ahead and do that.
  11. Next, open a command prompt (click Start -> type cmd and hit enter)
  12. At the command prompt type “bash” without the quotes, and hit enter.
  13. Type y to continue, and it should download and install a small Ubuntu image.
  14. It will ask for a new username, so enter a username (no spaces) and choose a password.
  15. It should bring up an ubuntu terminal.  Cool!
  16. Exit the Linux environment by typing exit then hitting enter.
  17. Enter exit again to close the Windows command prompt.

OK!  So by now you’ve got Linux available on your Windows computer!  You should have an icon for “Bash on Ubuntu on Windows” on your start menu to launch it, or you can bring up any command prompt or powershell and type bash to launch.  If you want, you can stop right here, and you can just use Ubuntu.

If you want to switch this over to Debian, read Part 2!

Penn State MacAdmin 2013 Conference

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This past week was the Penn State MacAdmin Conference over at the Penn Stater Conference Center, and I had a really good time. I would say about 10% of what I do is Mac based, but we have some heavy Mac users that could really use some improvements in their level of service, so this conference was very useful.

I have been to several conferences over at the Nittany Lion Inn, but I think this might have been my first actual conference at the Penn Stater (although I do find myself over there frequently because of a leadership training program I’m participating in this year). The food at the Penn State was really pretty good, with a lot of options. We had breakfast and lunch there all three days of the conference and I couldn’t complain about any of it. They also always have a bunch of snacks between sessions. In general, you don’t go more than about an hour between feedings lol. The only bad thing about the facilities there was poor wireless connections. I don’t think most of the crowds that hit up the Penn Stater for conferences put as much pressure on the wifi than a big tech conference, so hopefully AT&T will be a little better prepared to handle it next year.

There were many good sessions about software packaging, deployment, management systems etc. I thought the talks by Allister Banks were very interesting and entertaining. He’s got to be the most eccentric person in a room full of Mac users, which is saying something.  I also liked the talk I attended from Rusty Myers about bash, and the one I took a little earlier that day about python.  If only they could find some grizzled old sysadmin to talk about perl!

My workflow evolved throughout the conference. I brought in a work iPad on the first day but found myself not using it to keep notes or anything really, but rather just to check work emails. (I really hate the anxiety of knowing work emails are piling up but not being able to really knock them out, so even when I’m at an event like this I tend to try to keep up with them.) On the second and third days I brought in an old macbook from home and fired up evernote to keep notes. This was much better… I could still keep my email open (in those rare moments when I had working wifi) but I could also take notes, pull up URLs of things the speakers were talking about, and keep the conference hashtag up in Twitter.

Unlike some conferences I’ve been to where the hashtags were used by like 1 or two people, here the #psumacconf tag really brought together a big chunk of the community. It really helped me (who lives 2 minutes away from the Penn Stater) from following along with the shenanigans that took place in the after-hours with the people staying at the hotel.  I did attend the after-event on Wednesday, which was at Medlar Field. They had the outfield food place opened up and had a cash bar. It was pretty fun although the wind and rain sort of pushed everyone under the concourse. Even so, it was a good place to network, and I met colleagues from across the country who came in for the conference.

The schedule for the conference was on http://sched.org which I thought worked really well, especially on day 2 when they changed up some of the events.  It also seemed to tie into Eventbrite, which was how we registered e-tickets for the evening event at the baseball stadium.

Overall I gained a lot from the conference, and am looking forward to next year!

The Last Shuttle Flight

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Today was the last flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, and with it the end of the Shuttle program. It’s pretty sad, if you ask me, and definitely the end of an era. Here’s hoping that, despite constant budget questions, human spaceflight will continue to progress.

see you space cowboy...

Crossposting

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shock

I’ve got a few different blogs out there and they should all be syncing the same posts.  The reasoning behind that is if my own site (scotttopic.com) goes down some day, my posts (although perhaps not all of my images) would be stored somewhere at least.  This is a post to test this stuff out.  And perhaps my favorite GIF of all time.

 

Twitter’s Growing Role

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The scandalous Iranian elections are just the latest chapter in the growing multitude of uses people are finding to connect with twitter. I’ve used twitter for a while now and have truly believe it to be a revolutionary tool for gaining insight into the world’s collective mind. I’ve had plenty of friends sign up, post something along the lines of “I don’t get it.” and then never post again. Last week Slashdot covered the topic of these “One Tweet Wonders”, who sign up for the service and then leave it behind.

But it’s those who have embraced it that truly understand its potential. Sure, there’s plenty of meaningless crap (eg. anything i post, hehe), but the true power lies with two features: search, and trending topics.

Search, as it pertains to Twitter, doesn’t give you results that you could compare with, say Google. While the twitter search page [http://search.twitter.com] may vaguely resemble Google’s simple interface, a search won’t link you to sites about your topic, or the wikipedia entry. Instead, you find what human beings are thinking about that topic. Even the mundane details of everyday life, when organized through search, can give insight into what people are thinking. The Trending Topics (shown on the main search page) show you the most talked about topics across the system right then. Click on the links and you have instant response and commentary.

Twitter search gives you organic search. But it also gives you only a snapshot, and the most recent snapshot at that. While I’m sure there are ways out there to search through older moments in time, twitter’s search by default is telling you the results that are happening right now. It is instant, unfiltered, unedited content from regular people (with it’s own fair amount of spam included, of course).

This has become threatening to those who would like to control the flow of information. During terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the Indian government plead to its people to stop posting to twitter. In the past few days, with Iran expelling many foreign press with their election coming, people have turned to Twitter to communicate and organize their outrage at the perceived corrupt election. Twitter founder Biz Stone posted today that they will reschedule planned maintenance on the site because of the importance the site has in Iran right now.

Twitter gives people a platform to speak on. While individually it might seem small and meaningless, collectively it gives people a voice.

Ubuntu 9.04 Still Not Ready for Primetime

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I’m a big Linux fan.  I’ve been using in some way or another since 1999 and wouldn’t consider myself a novice.  But despite all my efforts over the years, Linux is still unable to meet my needs as a desktop OS.  Now, I do use Linux regularly as a server at work, and it’s a rock solid beast.  But when it comes to the desktop, I find it wanting.

Take today’s release of Ubuntu 9.04 – Jaunty Jackelope.  I’ve been using it since beta, and it’s got a lot of good stuff going for it.  Boot time is excellent… around 26 seconds on my desktop.  After installing a few fonts from other sources (such as my beloved Futura, and my new favorite coding font, Droid Sans Mono from Google’s Android platform), it is simply gorgeous to look at.  Ubuntu has finally learned exactly how to properly display fonts.

But apart from the shiny exterior, and the admitedly stable structure that frames any UNIX based OS, is a slew of problems that prevent Ubuntu from taking over my desktop.  Multimedia support is a big problem.  After a few commands, I had all the gstreamer codecs installed from Medibuntu, vlc player and skype.  But everything is still such a cobbled-together mess.

Xvid files drop frames in vlc, even though I’ve got a system that should easily handle this type of stuff.  I can double-click the vlc window to make it full screen… but I must wait for 5-10 seconds as it slowly chugs away at this simple procedure.  (Simple in terms of how Windows and osx86 handle it the exact same procedure, on the exact same hardware, with the exact same version of VLC.)  If I open the same files in Totem, it’s hit or miss whether it will display anything at all, or will just be a black window.  I once full-screened the Totem window to have my entire X session hang.

Support for things such as webcams is also dreadfuly inept.  My Logitech webcam was detected immediately and “worked” to some extent.  Skype recongized a generic usb camera, and was able to display video.  However it only displayed a fraction of the actual camera image, a zoomed in corner of the view.  Skype, nor cheese, nor camorama, nor any other camera app I could find have any actual settings for this.    So unless I only wish to show a corner of my head, or mount my webcam 10 feet behind my monitor, this webcam is useless.

Media streaming?  Sorry there’s no orb support, nor any built-in media streaming ala Windows Media Center.  You can try Jinzora (which requires you to run a web server with MySQL databases on your PC [no thanks, I deal with that enough at work]) or open up the troubled VLC to stream.

I really want to love Ubuntu.  And I do have it installed on two old laptops here where I fuck around with perl and c++.  But as it stands, unfortunately it just does not meet my needs.  It’s sad that XP is still the best OS option I have.

Penn State Security Day 2009

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I went to the PSU Security Day 2009 conference today. Pretty dry, to be honest, except a talk by Johnny Long, a hacker who’s talked at DEFCON and other places. Rather than the policy laden talks from the other keynote speakers, Johnny spoke on social engineering and low-tech hacks. Very interesting topic. Made me wish we still had a 2600 chapter around here.

My Poor, Poor Xbox

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After putting up with the unbearable buzzing the DVD-ROM drive in my 360 produced whenever it spun a disc for probably a year, I finally caved and sent it in for service. They were pretty fast about sending me the coffin to mail it in.. and I’m hopeful that they’ll fix her up and have it back soon. So, I dropped it off at UPS today, Monday.. We’ll have to see how long until it’s back to me.