Mediafon

Now, I have long been interested in Ubuntu (who hasn't), and it is exciting to follow the revitalisation of Debian in the wake of Ubuntu.

I am a diehard Debian fan, and have previously only tried the Ubuntu Live disk. But yesterday this changed. I write this from a Ubuntu install on an external usb harddrive. My Debian installation is still thriving on the internal harddrive, in fact I use a lot of programs and documents from it.

Let me show you.

Installing Ubuntu: The Struggle

Using my Ubuntu 5.04 Hoary disc, I had no problems installing on the external harddrive (a 300GB Maxtor OneTouch II). But it did not boot. All I got was the error message:

USB Mass Storage support registered
pivot_root: No such file or directory
/sbin/init: 428: cannot open dev/console: no such file
Kernel Panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!

Clearly not good. And the pivot_root: No such file or directory message strongly suggested the cause: the ubuntu root partition was not found.

The solution

Luckily, this is swiftly remedied:

• re-boot from the Ubuntu install disc, this time supplying the parameter rescue

• when asked, mount the correct root file system (the one on the external drive)

• type mount -t proc proc /proc

• mount your boot partition if you have one

• Add "ehci_hcd", "ohci_hcd", "ide_disk" and "usb_storage" to "/etc/mkinitrd/modules":

  echo -e "ehci_hcd\nohci_hcd\nide_disk\nusb_storage\n" >> /etc/mkinitrd/modules
  

• Open /etc/mkinitrd/mkinitrd.conf and increase the variable DELAY from 0 to 10

• Create the new initrd:

  mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd.img-[kernel version]-usb [kernel version]
  

Now, you can try out the new initrd from grub, and if it works you can edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to make it permanent.

Running Debian within Ubuntu

Setting up what is called a chroot, I am able to run all the programs from the Debian installation even though I've booted Ubuntu. And it's not just Debian: The same technique would've let me run any other Linux or BSD.

Here's how:

• mount the debian partition: sudo mount /dev/hda6 /mnt/debian

• mount proc: sudo mount -t proc proc /mnt/debian/proc

• mount tmp: sudo mount --bind /tmp /mnt/debian/tmp. Why do we mount tmp? Because we need it to run X clients, graphic progams, from within the chroot.

• Fix networking:

  sudo mv /mnt/debian/etc/resolv.conf /mnt/debian/etc/resolv.conf.old; 
  sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/debian/etc
  

• Now you can enter the chroot:

  sudo chroot /mnt/debian /bin/bash
  

Voila! You're "running Debian"! There's one thing left before you can start your graphic programs: since the graphic server is started by Ubuntu and not Debian, you need to import the so-called Magic Cookie. I'm sure there are other ways to do this, but here's a simple one:

In a Ubuntu shell, type: xauth list. This will list the "Cookies". Add these by typing in a Debian shell:

xauth add [paste line from Ubuntu shell here]

I recommend cutting-and-pasting the cookies, so typing errors don't bite you.

Now, try to run a graphic program, like xclock or qtorrent. Does it work?

I guess being a verb is cool, but you know you've hit the sweet spot when someone names a species after you. Thus, the google ant

Jeg har fått flåttfeber. Drittsekken kaller seg *Rickettsia africae* og har gnagd hull på min høyre legg. Legen sa at jeg skulle kjøre den gode gamle mølla på den (anti-biotika) og holde meg i ro i 10 dager. Helt i ro. Ligge-i-senga i ro. Fysj. Litteratur: * [MSIS-rapport nr. 9, 2000 (Nasjonalt Folkehelseinstitutt)][1] - Under **Afrikansk flått-tyfus** (!) [1]: http://www.fhi.no/eway/default0.asp?pid=223&oid=0&e=0&trg=Area_4397&MainArea_4320=4392:0:15,1411:0:0:0:4320;4389;::0:0:0&ContentArea_4392=4397:0:15,1411:0:0:0:4320;4392;::0:0:0&Area_4397=4470:26906::0:4396:44:4320;4392;4397;::10:0:0

Rutiner. Og særlig morgenrutiner. Isj.

Jeg har aldri vært noe særlig hypp på morgener. Men så kom min stjerneseng inn i livet, og hun hadde med seg ønske om å stå opp tidlig og høre på P2s "Nyhetsmorgen". Lenge fikk hun drive med det uforstyrret, men etterhvert ble jeg også mer og mer glad i den heseblesende, informasjonspakkede sendingen hver morgen.

Og det har ikke endret seg - selv om vi nå bor 34 grader syd, på den sørlige tuppen av det afrikanske kontinent - takket være Nrks nettradio.

I dag hørte vi at Langnestunnelen er stengt på grunn av arbeid av noe slag. Jeg aldri blitt så glad for å høre vegnyheter som da. Hva sier dette om nyhetskriteriene?

Jeg har alltid likt slate.com, selv om jeg ikke har lest den så ofte. I dag leste jeg en velskrevet og akkurat passe tøff artikkel. Det ga en god følelse.