Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Upgrade to LM11 desktop from W7 laptop =keep

My Win 7 laptop was zippy a couple years ago with 8 Gig Ram, fast single core processor. Win 7 updates and a couple years of use have taken its toll on current speed so that now I struggle sometimes listen to streaming music while entering receipts into a database. Don't get me started about my frustrations about trying to watch Netflix or Hulu and do ANYTHING else. Used to work fine even on dual monitors. On the plus side, I am more productive while doing the anything else, but then again sometimes it is nice to mostly relax while doing a little mundane business accounting in the evening.

So I decided to drop my laptop and move to a faster desktop running Linux Mint 11 (Gnome, 64bit). I already use Linux Mint LXDE on several older laptops at home which were bogging down with Win XP, but now are quite zippy, thanks to LXDE's responsive GUI. I also have a couple desktops for the kids to play on which dual boot XP and Linux Mint 9 (Gnome, 64bit) which I have been very happy with, especially the Linux Mint 9 portion of that.

OK, so down to it.
Install:
Standard DVD install. Started off trying to use bios (software) raid after determining Linux Mint does not have Linux RAID options in the setup menu as is available during the Ubuntu Server install process. Maybe I could setup Linux software raid using PartitionMagic or SystemRescueCD, but unsure. I got bogged down in implementation of the bios software raid, specifically in setting up the boot manager, so after thinking about it decided to install to a single hard drive, which will be more energy efficient anyway, then setup regularly scheduled backups using a rsync type product.

Syncing and Bacup:
First needed to get my files from my Win 7 laptop.

Failed Attempt - But only because not mounted locally, so LuckyBackup cannot reach them
start by trying to mount by GVFS


GVFS moutn
install needed programs and add self to fuse group, then log off and on
sudo apt-get install gvfs-bin sudo gpasswd -a [user] fuse
open the samba share in Nautilus via File/Connect to Server... then select Windows share and put in computer info, then unmount and mount from terminal


MOUNT FROM TERMINAL
gvfs-mount smb://[ip address]/share_name

Create script with the above command 


#! /bin/sh
gvfs-mount smb://[ip address]/share_name


You need to logoff and login again for the group to actually change.

this allowed me to mount samba shares, but not to local directory, so lucky backup which does not directly support samba was not able to use these mounts.

Final  Working Solution for Mounting Samba Shares:
referenced:

temporary local mount created with:
sudo mount -t cifs
sudo mount -t cifs //172.30.30.104/homeshare /home/chenier/LanShare/homeshare_104
sudo mount -t cifs //172.30.30.50/data /home/chenier/LanShare/data_50

then
created credentials file entries

edited /etc/fstab [sudo gedit etc/fstab] by adding the following lines:
did not work
#samba mount for Win7 laptop using hidden username and password
//172.30.30.50/data /home/chenier/LanShare/data_50 cifs credentials=/home/chenier/.smbcredentials,dmask=777,fmask=777 0 0

this works
#samba mount for Win7 laptop using hidden username and password
//172.30.30.50/data /home/chenier/LanShare/data_50 cifs username=chenier,password=[password],iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777 0 0

Change Samba Shares for new FreeNAS storage device -- alternately could have used SSH for share
Able to see Samba shares on the FreeNAS storage device via Nautilis, so do the following to mount to permanent location for backup software access

  • mkdir /home/chenier/LanShare/data_20
    • creates the directory used for sharing
  • sudo gedit /etc/fstab
    • comment out the Windows 7 share, no longer needed
    • add the following 2 lines:
    • #samba mount for FreeNAS storage
    • //172.30.30.20/mnt/store /home/chenier/LanShare/data_20 cifs username=[user], password=[pass], iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777 0 0
    • alternates of the above that worked when guests allowed on Samba share are:
      • //172.30.30.20/mnt/store /home/chenier/LanShare/data_20 cifs 0 0
      • //172.30.30.20/mnt/store /home/chenier/LanShare/data_20 cifs guest,uid=1000,iocharset=uif8,codepage=unicode,unicode 0 0
    • using this last option for now as I am not getting the results I want for file permissions otherwise.
    • save file and exit gedit
  • sudo mount -a
    • remounts everything
Changed network layout so edit one more time:
  • gksudo gedit/etc/fstab
    • change IP address of FreeNAS storage device to the new one
    • saved file
  • sudo mount -a   = to remount everything
  • success
Sharing Directories as NFS
I will use this to access some files on my computer with my KVM servers.  Resource for this: http://www.techotopia.com/index.php/Sharing_Ubuntu_11.04_Folders_with_Remote_Linux_and_UNIX_Systems

  • on Desktop
    • sudo apt-get istall nfs-kernel-server   =installs nfs server package, which is not installed by default on Linux Mint... go figure
    • Service nfs-kernel-server status   = showed "nfsd running" message ... if not see above document to fix
    • define shares from the /etc/exports file
      • gksudo gedit /etc/exports
      • add share lines as per documentation included in comments in file or via above reference
    • sudo exportfs -a    
    • sudo exportfs
      • returns exported files information (to verify)
    • Firewall configuration changes if needed (not needed in default setup of Linux Mint)
  • on Server
    • log into server
    • sudo apt-get install nfs-common   =installs nfs-common which was not installed on my default server setup
Playing Amazon Prime Videos




Install OpenProj
Ubuntu/Linux Mint does not yet have link to openproject install via Software manager so use:
wget http://nchc.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/openproj/openproj_1.4-2.deb
sudo dpkg -i openproj_1.4-2.deb

Install ClamTK
This is the front end for ClamAV, installed so I can scan files on removable media for viruses as I have several Windows computers at home.

Other Programs Installed:

  • BibleTime - very nice bible, etc reading program
  • Calibre - ebook management software to sync with and manage ebooks for my Sony reader.... I actually have not tested this yet for syncing, but I can add my titles just fine.  I intend to test next time I want to sync.  Looks like a very nice application with cool features like converting books and sharing with multiple devises.
  • ClamTK - Antivirus front end
  • Dia - Diagram editor -- although, the Google docs program, LucidChart is even better!
  • DigiKam - I use this program for batch renaming my photos to something based on the day it was taken.
  • Filelight - (not necessary) nice light weight disk usage analysis tool, but Disk Usage Analyzer (Baobab 2.32.0) works just as well or better even, so did not need this extra program... though will keep using it on lighter weight installations.
  • FileZilla - Very nice tool for moving files from local to remote locations using SSH and other connection schemes.
  • FreeMind -  mind mapping tool
  • Furious ISO mount - for mounting virtual disks
  • Guake Terminal - terminal access using f12 and more -- very nice!  Set it to launch when I log in.
  • Hamster-applet (or Time Tracker) - Keeps track of time spent on various tasks while on computer
  • KeePass X - nifty password storage program
  • LibreOffice 3.5.3.2 - latest version right now.... installed by adding additional repository - see Ubuntu help sources for how to do this -- do not try adding .deb packages from LibreOffice web site as it is too time consuming and confusing
  • LuckyBackup - very nice rsync based backup utility
  • MySQL stuff:  see my blog on MySQL setup :)
  • OpenProj - see above
  • PuTTy - for those times I want an SSH session outside of terminal (I prefer this for just a couple things)
  • Remmina - Remote desktop application with support for VNC, RDP, SSH and more
  • SweetHome 3D - not a great program, but good for a free layout/design program
  • Vinagre - another remote desktop application, mainly for VNC.... works very nice in Gnome.
  • Xournal - cool program for mixing hand writing and text together... too bad there isn't a cloud version yet or it doesn't work with google docs.
  • Xiphos Bible Guide - another bible study tool

Stuff I tried and didn't like
Either these apps were not for me or did not work well on my version of mint

  • aclock - graphics poor, menu system broken in this Gnome, so hard to close, gets in the way.
  • Krusader - twin panel file management a little too old school for my tastes, plus added a lot of KDE desktop stuff I didn't need otherwise.  I also generally use Filezilla for moving stuff from local to remote locations.
  • Tomboy Notes - very nice program.... just not how I organize my thoughts.

Various References: