HOWTO: Use Linux to Slipstream SP3 into Windows XP iso

A co-worker of mine inspired me to create a new enterprise CD with SP3 pre-installed the other day after I asked about an existing iso I had found on our network. I wondered if it were OEM or a new volume license with SP3 I had hoped it was.

He sent me a few links to some howto’s and not all were the same. Looking over a few examples I quickly began replacing their Windows solutions with known Linux. Rather than recreate the wheel, I first searched how others have done it using Linux. These are a couple sites that have inspired my success:

• Slipstreaming Windows XP with Service Pack 3 in Linux by Jeremy Visser

• Slipstreaming Windows XP SP3 in Linux by Michael Gorven
• Intégration du Service Pack Windows sous Linux by Jacques Rouxel

The process is actually very easy but as usual ‘your mileage will vary’. I am using KDE 4.3.0 with Fedora 10.

1. Copy XP CD content into a clean working directory (/home/warren/software/VRMPVOL_EN/)

2. chmod -R 777 /home/warren/software/VRMPVOL_EN/
3. Convert everything to uppercase with convmv -r –upper –notest /home/warren/software/VRMPVOL_EN/. Don’t ask; who’d of thunk Microsoft was case sensitive!
4. Retrieve the redistributable SP3
5. Extract the service pack using cabextract -d /home/warren/software/SP3/ /home/warren/software/WindowsXP-KB936929-x86-ENU.exe
   
   

6. Install the service pack using wine /home/warren/software/SP3/i386/update/update.exe /integrate:D:\\home\\warren\\software\\VRMPVOL_EN_SP3.

   The D: is the wine drive letter I have my existing CD in. Run the wine configuration app and find the Drives tab.

7. Extract the boot loader from the original CD with ./geteltorito /dev/sr0 > /home/warren/software/VRMPVOL_EN_SP3/boot.bin.

   I didn’t have an rpm package for geteltorito so I got both files from the download page and chmod 755 to make it executable. I could only run this as root, so be sure to chown the boot.bin back to you.

8. Write the iso with mkisofs -b boot.bin -hide boot.bin -hide boot.catalog -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -iso-level 4 -relaxed-filenames -D -V VRMPVOL_EN_SP3 -o /home/warren/software/VRMPVOL_EN_SP3.iso ./home/warren/software/VRMPVOL_EN_SP3/
9. Burn iso to CD and test! I prefer K3b; just works.

So there you have your newly update XP CD with SP3 already installed. I tested and only created one coaster with a botched boot loader. This one boots and has a clean SP3.

Thunderbird now plays well with Firefox

I had been a non-conformist in many ways with regard to installing my own tarball of Thunderbird and Firefox instead of using the packaged RPMs Fedora already built. I mainly did this because they are considered stable by Mozilla yet one version ahead of RPMs.

Late last year I had run into problems with my system dieing for various reasons and I had suspected Firefox. I knelt down and installed the RPM leaving the tarball version in place and changing my app links to point to the correct bin. Soon to follow was Thunderbird as well.

PowerShot S2 IS in Linux

I have a Canon S2 IS camera. It is a mid-level camera which I am happy with. In my resent family migration to full throttle Linux this past month; I have been the only one to have fired up XP one time to access pictures from this camera. Back in Fedora Core 6 and I think even up to resent kernel updates, I was able to mount my camera. The PowerShot S2 is not a mass storage device so you can’t just mount it to get the pictures. Instead it uses the Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP).

Evidently hotplug has been pretty much replaced by udev in modern Linux distros now. Up to now I only heard the term udev but had no idea old or new it was nor what it did. Once upon a time Linux used a static list of devices under /dev. Today everyone is connecting and disconnecting devices with USB, Firewire, and Bluetooth and static /dev alone just doesn’t cut it anymore. Dynamic udev to the rescue!

Wikipedia excerpt:

udev is the device manager for the Linux 2.6 kernel series. Its primary function is managing device nodes in /dev. It is the successor of devfs and hotplug, which means that it handles the /dev directory and all user space actions when adding/removing devices, including firmware load.

Linux Migration – Day One

Day one cleared up all the FUD! Kids are happy, wife is happy, I’m happy. I really didn’t doubt the outcome. Am glad for it to have been received so well. It is key to get them to sit down and just use it.

My wife discovered her card games and much more. The kids have yet to discover any of the installed games; they just played on their Webkinz site. I finally sat down as well to look at a few of the bazillion games. I first got a little gitty when I saw Doom and how well it performed. It brought back memories of college days. I knew instantly how much better it is now compared to the 386/486 machines we originally played it on. Looking forward to Heritic the same way. I wonder if Decent is available?

I have a 3D graphics card but have yet to install the closed source driver. I need some pointers… Scott, you know what card I have… give me some tips! Will be sweet when I get Beryl going with this too!

I also took a peek at an emulator. Don’t recall the name, but apparently it only works with a select few games and providing you have the data files/CD. More for some older role playing games. Still interested in using wine or other suggested emulator.

Linux Migration – Day Zero

My family computer is the second Dell we have had with XP Home for the kids gaming entertainment and dual booting Linux mainly for my doing the books. Under XP we have used open source applications for the most part: Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org. So off to a great start for migration.

Prior to allowing kids to play on the computer my wife had been using Linux with our first Dell. Then she just stuck with XP instead of having to keep rebooting for the kids. They had acquired many educational and gaming CD’s over the years.

Recently I have inherited two higher end machines yet only one is complete and another just a cpu and motherboard. I have plans to use one for the family and the other for a server. Problem is I don’t care to shell out for a new XP license. I got by with the second Dell we inherited because we simply just plopped in our drive from the first Dell and kept on going. These new machines are not Dells.

LinuxWorld Expo 2007 Day 3

As usual with any show, the last day on the exhibit floor is very light. Both Marc and I were scheduled for the morning and Scott was not scheduled at all Thursday. We didn’t always stick to the schedule though. Marc didn’t get in until after 1pm and Scott was there most of the time anyway. Both Kir and Kostya made their rounds to see other exhibits as well did Scott. Not much swag was left, but it was fun to speak with others. In some cases it turned into just a cold-calling out on the floor. One exhibiter from rPath turned the tables on us (after Kir asked why rPath doesn’t support OpenVZ while several other virtualization products are supported) and wanted to know about OpenVZ instead of telling us about rPath. We ended up back at our booth finishing with a demonstration.

The DVD burning continued and we had no trouble keeping up with the demand… however we did end up burning all of the spool of 50. By the end of the show we only had about 5 left.

Eighth Annual Linuxfest Northwest

Each April computer buffs from across the Pacific Northwest trek to Bellingham, WA for Linuxfest Northwest.

Bellingham, WA, April 4, 2007 — The eighth annual Linuxfest Northwest takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., April 28 and 29, 2007 at Bellingham Technical College in Bellingham, WA. Exhibits, presentations, and parking are free. All ages are welcome.

Linuxfest Northwest provides a range of educational and networking opportunities for techies, business users, and novices—anyone who wants to know more about the advantages of open source software. The Fest is an informative, low-key way for people to explore Linux and other open source products. LFNW features internationally recognized speakers from leading companies and well-known open source projects, as well as exhibits and demonstrations for a wide range of interests and technical abilities.

Previous Fests have included presentations by leading open source experts such as Jon “maddog” Hall (international Linux evangelist), Rasmus Lerdorf (of PHP fame), and Brian “Krow” Aker (MySQL, Slashdot). This year’s attractions include:

One Laptop Per Child — exciting technology that could change the world

Oracle, Google

Crispin Cowan of Novell

Second Life

Free Software Foundation

Hands-on test drives

Dee-Ann LeBlanc (author and open source expert)

Zonker Brockmeier (Slashdot, Linux.com)

RoboExpo — turning serious technology learning into fun

Again this year, Linuxfest Northwest will feature the LFNW World Famous Raffle of valuable computer products, services, books, vendorwear, and assorted keen stuff.. Proceeds from the raffle help to pay Fest expenses.

On Saturday night Linux Festivities will continue in downtown Bellingham. Events include April Brews Day, a benefit for the Max Higbee Foundation, which provides community-based recreation programs for adults with developmental disabilities. Linuxfest Northwest is proud to be a sponsor. Several Linuxfest exhibitors will be giving away tickets.

Open source is a collaborative approach for developing high-quality software. Open source software solutions are available for most computing needs at little or no cost. They are comparable to and compatible with most common computer applications. Two of the best known open source projects are the Linux operating system and the Apache web server. Other examples include:

Office applications – wordprocessing, spreadsheets and presentations

Email, calendar, contacts and other personal information management functions

Accounting, bookkeeping, personal finances

Games

Educational software

Desktop publishing

Database management

Collaboration; document sharing

Web browsers

Image editors

3D graphics

Digital camera imaging

Programming tools, tutorials and courses

For more information, please visit the Linuxfest Northwest website at http://linuxfestnorthwest.org/

Hashing out Samba

I just recently wrestled with my little smb setup here to tighten the grip on who might be accessing my share. My intention is to simply share my own smb share I have running in VmWare with my XP host. My XP host is logged into a domain server not to the local machine. The Linux I have installed in VmWare is FC5 running from USB drive and using the NAT networking setting. My company has blocked DHCP to only those machines authenticated with by the domain server. I originally used the KDE Control Center to setup my smb sharing homes. However I felt a bit uncomfortable with the possibility of people with remote desktop access being able to drop into my share. So I created a new share with access to only part of my /home space. I had great difficulty with the KDE Control Center giving access to this new share. For some reason I was simply not able to authenticate into it.

So I prefer/suggest using swat to configure SAMBA. Starting with a clean slate, I removed the homes share and printers. Prior to all this I added my user via the terminal console: ‘smbpasswd -a johndoe’. This is very similar to adding a new system user. Also I used the same user as my existing system user; not sure why but it doesn’t like non system users being added, go figure.

Some non SAMBA defaults from the stock FC5 samba RPM I am using are depicted in my smb.conf file below:

# Samba config file created using SWAT
# from 127.0.0.1 (127.0.0.1)
# Date: 2007/03/02 13:56:48

[global]
        workgroup = WD
        netbios name = USB
        server string =
        username map = /etc/samba/smbusers
        log level = 1
        server signing = auto
        preferred master = No
        domain master = No
        ldap ssl = no

[USB2]
        path = /home/warren/software/Xfer
        read only = No

Also I am not using the same workgroup as my windows xp pro domain host is using. In xp, I browse the network neighborhood and into my WD workgroup I find the USB share and browsing to it pops up the authentication window. I choose not to save password. I also don’t map to this share. What I do is create a shortcut to the \\WD\USB\usb2 share and have it on my Desktop or quick links toolbar. In the morning I click it and it asks for authentication and am set for the day. No worries about IP address or XP home or XP pro here at work or at home; it all just works.

Ready for DST?

Daylight Savings Time in the US. Is it the end of the world again March 11th 2007? For most of us our Linux boxes will be just fine. The DST change has been fixed in most modern Linux Distros. But if you are still using your 2.4 kernel based ancient distro, you may want to look into fixing it. That isn’t what this tip is about rather proof that your box is going to make the switch. You should see this when you run the zdump command below:

zdump -v /etc/localtime | grep 2007
/etc/localtime Sun Mar 11 08:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Mar 11 01:59:59 2007 MST isdst=0 gmtoff=-25200
/etc/localtime Sun Mar 11 09:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Mar 11 03:00:00 2007 MDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-21600
/etc/localtime Sun Nov 4 07:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Nov 4 01:59:59 2007 MDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-21600
/etc/localtime Sun Nov 4 08:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Nov 4 01:00:00 2007 MST isdst=0 gmtoff=-25200

If you are seeing this then you probably need to fix it some year:

zdump -v /etc/localtime | grep 2007
/etc/localtime Sun Apr 1 07:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Apr 1 01:59:59 2007 CST isdst=0 gmtoff=-21600
/etc/localtime Sun Apr 1 08:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Apr 1 03:00:00 2007 CDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-18000
/etc/localtime Sun Oct 28 06:59:59 2007 UTC = Sun Oct 28 01:59:59 2007 CDT isdst=1 gmtoff=-18000
/etc/localtime Sun Oct 28 07:00:00 2007 UTC = Sun Oct 28 01:00:00 2007 CST isdst=0 gmtoff=-21600

At first when I found this tidbit I thought I would be just fine since I run my NTP service to keep good time. Well this technically doesn’t correct your computers time. The kernel clock uses UTC time not DST. Your computer only translates the DST from UTC time by the TZ database as shown above. So NTP only changes local time not system time.

Stupid Mouse Trick

Short and sweet. Just discovered this trick. In KDE (currently using 3.5.4 FC5) if you move your mouse over the kpanel with more than one application running and over the apps or desktop area… you can use the scrolly mouse wheel to cycle through your apps. from all your desktops. An alternate keyboard method is with Alt+Tab/Ctrl+Tab but those will only alternate between apps. in the current desktop.