Bohack

My first Linux install was actually a BSD install of OpenBSD and I was quite impressed that nothing was installed except for the operating system. I am now minimalist and when installing operating systems this principal works to my advantage. The ideology is: you only install what is needed and nothing more, thus reducing the surface of attack and lowering wasted process time. So I have put a guide together that was inspired by the Linux how to for “The Perfect Setup – Debian Etch”. This guide was created with screenshots from VMware. Read the rest of this entry »

Mass software installation is generally done with imaging of machines. The process is simple: a reference image is created and then software is installed onto it. Along the way we test the software, QC check the software installation against our environment, then regression test the software against accounts that will be used by our users. Finally ‘sysprep the image’ and then push out a gigantic image to the all the PC’s in the field and cross our fingers.

Some software just does not want to be imaged, so we find ourselves reverse engineering the software to make it work; licensing is usually to blame. This can sometime take weeks because it breaks other functionality. Many times we simply don’t have the time to image a PC and go through the entire process or it may be something that’s just not worth the time. Bohack’s rule of thumb is: less than 40 PC’s in the same location just sit down and manually install!

However that doesn’t mean we need to give up on automation. So I wrote what I call the ‘Automated Installation Framework’. It’s a simple VBScript with common subroutines and often just saves time behind the keyboard. It uses a VB command called sendkeys and saves us from clicking next, next, next…

To use it I recommend using a ‘Vanilla’ install of your current environment; so use the image in place you will be installing to. Virtualization undo disks help speed this process up, because you will find that you will be installing over and over again for the perfect rollout. Next start practice installing the program, as you write the keystrokes down required moving the install through its steps. Keep track of the time it takes and estimate the time for the slowest computer you have. Next create a domain account that is a local administrator or domain admin for the machines you need to install to. Create a simple profile for the user and drop the finished VBScript into the profile’s startup section (base of the profile\Start Menu\Programs\Startup). Now all you need to do is login as that user and as the profile loads and the startup section runs, your install will begin. Cross your fingers and watch the install!

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When reviewing a UNIX log file, I often feel like I’m looking for a needle in a haystack. Even after I ‘grep’ out what I’m looking for I still can’t find it. I also like to use the ‘tail –f’ command to watch a rolling log, but again the information scrolls too fast and you just can’t find what you’re looking for in the quick moving results. To find the interesting information we will obviously use the ‘grep’ command, but to identify the results in the information there are a couple of methods.

The ‘grep’ command will support ANSI colorization and this can be done a number of ways. The first way is to specify the –color or –colour option on the command line. The second way is to export a variable that ‘grep’ looks at when executed. You will most likey want to add the export lines to your .profile or .bashrc file.

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I always find it frustrating when my soldering iron tip gets scaled with the oxidization of solder. It is the leading misuse of flux and the cause for frustration, because it creates an insulation layer between the tip and the component. So you either use flux to make the solder melt or you overheat the component.

I was very amazed to see a solution from Hakko that addressed this problem. It is a small metal container that has brass windings inside for cleaning the soldering iron tip. The tip cleaner can be purchased for about $10 dollars from various online vendors or you can do like me and build one.

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The website has been redone and transitioned over to my new hosting company of DreamHost. Dreamhost is cheaper than GoDaddy and offer alot more for the buck. In the transition my theme needed to be redone as well. I had been using Drupal as my Content Management System and during the transition I moved to WordPress. I found that Drupal was great for a CMS, but poor as a blog. I spent more time trying to make Drupal like WordPress than I was publishing articles. So the site is back up and I will be republishing the articles from the old site.