Windows XP on a Dectop (AMD PIC)

I bought a Dectop (formally AMD PIC) a few months ago. It makes a very nice small Linux box (though there are a few sound issues with Ubuntu/Debian). I had a little bit of free time this weekend, so I decided to see how well it would work with Windows XP. Installation is fairly straight forward. Boot it off of a USB cdrom or flash drive. Setup detects most of the hardware (except the three things listed below). It runs surprisingly fast and is definitely usable for light browsing and word processing. Now that my curiosity is satisfied, back to Linux :).



Drivers:
Video:http://wwwd.amd.com/AMD/SReleaseF.nsf/weblookup/40ACE6F4AE7D617087256A380062D102?OpenDocument&id=Display-Graphicsv1.04~GX/CS5535~WinXP/XPe
Audio:http://wwwd.amd.com/AMD/SReleaseF.nsf/weblookup/15E7CBD7C2BCE57A872572600061B817?OpenDocument&id=AMDGeode%99LXEPICRDKAudio-WDMv3.00.00~LX/CS5536~WinXP/XPe
Network: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=8&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true

Programs to install on fresh install (Ubuntu)

I just reinstalled Kubuntu on my laptop. These are the programs I usually install.

-First set up apt repositories-

1) edit /etc/apt/sources.list
add

deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu feisty-commercial main

to the end of the file
2) Run

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/dapper.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

3) Run

sudo apt-get update

-Install the programs-
Run

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jre msttcorefonts ttf-xfree86-nonfree realplay flashplugin-nonfree libxine1-ffmpeg libdvdread3 libxine1-ffmpeg libdvdcss2 w32codecs opera skype quanta mozilla-firefox mozilla-thunderbird gimp

to install all of the programs at once or you can install them individually:

Java:
Run

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jre

Fonts:
Run

sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts ttf-xfree86-nonfree

Real Player:
Run

sudo apt-get install realplay

Flash:
Run

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

MP3:
Run

sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg

DVD support:
Run

sudo apt-get install libdvdread3 libxine1-ffmpeg libdvdcss2

Windows codecs:
Run

sudo apt-get install w32codecs

Opera:
Run

sudo apt-get install opera

Quanta:
Run

sudo apt-get install quanta

Mozilla Firefox:
Run

sudo apt-get install mozilla-firefox

Mozilla Thunderbird:
Run

sudo apt-get install mozilla-thunderbird

Skype:
Run

sudo apt-get install skype

The GNU Image Manipulation Program
Run

sudo apt-get install gimp

Turning off ipv6 may make web access faster (Linux)

If you are having problems with slow network/Internet connections or DNS resolution problems turning off ipv6 may help.

1) edit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases
change:

alias net-pf-10 ipv6

to

alias net-pf-10 off

Intel Graphics i945 (Ubuntu)

I reinstalled KUbuntu on my laptop today (a Clevo M520N). The video driver (K)Ubuntu installs does not support the native resolution(1280x800) of the lcd. This makes everything look blurry and hard to use. The solution is to install a different Intel driver.

1)Run:

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel

2) Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and change
Driver "i810"
to
Driver "intel"

3) save and restart X (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace)

How to setup Lighttpd/PHP/MySQL (Ubuntu)

Lighttd is a small memory efficient web server. It is very easy to install, just 6 steps :). These directions are for Ubuntu Linux (Feisty), though should work with any Debian based distro

1) Run:

apt-get install lighttpd php5-cgi php5-mysql mysql-server mysql-client

2) create /etc/lighttpd/conf-available/10-php.conf

server.modules += ( "mod_fastcgi" )
fastcgi.server = ( ".php" => ((
"bin-path" => "/usr/bin/php5-cgi",
"socket" => "/tmp/php.socket",
)))

3) Run:

/usr/sbin/lighty-enable-mod php

4) edit  /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf
Change

server.bind = "localhost"

to

#server.bind = "localhost"

5) edit /etc/php5/cgi/php.ini
Add

cgi.fix_pathinfo = 1

to the end of the file

6) Run:

/etc/init.d/lighttpd force-reload

reCaptcha

A CAPTCHA is a challenge-response test that helps determine if the user is human. They are useful on signup forms, comment pages, and e-mail functions to prevent automated spam. There are some nice existing PHP functions for it, but most are a pain to setup or lack features such s audio support for the blind. reCaptcha is easy to use and is actually doing something useful with the user entry. reCaptcha helps in the process of digitizing books. It displays two words one known and one unknown that a user enters. If the user gets the first word right, it is assumed that they were also correct about the other.

reCaptcha is free and has several examples of how to use it with various programming languages.  http://recaptcha.net/
 

New blog

Hello,
This is the first entry in this blog :). This blog will focus mostly upon my web development work, Linux, and Wikimedia Foundation Projects. I am a computer consultant currently living in South Carolina. I am lead developer and cofounder of Blue Fishpond, a company working on a new soon to be annouced web comunity site for artists and writers. I am the creator of A Simple Version Control System (ASVCS) a PHP/SQL based revision management system. I am also involved with the Wikimedia Foundation projects, particularly Wikinews.
-Craig