Restoring Ubuntu 10.4′s Bootloader, after a Windows 7 Install

Posted on by
Reply

I installed Windows 7 after I had installed Ubuntu 10.4. Windows 7 overwrote the Linux bootloader “grub” on my master boot record. Therefore I had to restore it.

I used the Ubuntu 10.4 LiveCD to start up a live version of Ubuntu. While under the LiveCD, I then restored the Grub bootloader by chrooting into my old install, using the linux command line. This is a fairly complex thing to do, and so I recommend you use this approach only if you’re are confident with the linux command line:

(as root under Ubuntu's LiveCD)

# prepare chroot directory

mkdir /chroot
d=/chroot

# mount my linux partition

mount /dev/sda1 $d   # my linux partition was installed on my first SATA hard disk, on the first parition (hence sdA1).

# mount system systems inside the new chroot directory

mount -o bind /dev $d/dev
mount -o bind /sys $d/sys
mount -o bind /dev/shm $d/dev/shm
mount -o bind /proc $d/proc

# accomplish the chroot

chroot $d

# proceed to update the grub config file to include the option to boot into my new windows 7 install

update-grub

# install grub with the new configuration options from the config file, to the master boot record on my first hard disk

grub-install /dev/sda

# close down the liveCD instance of linux, and boot from the newly restored grub bootloader

reboot

Windows 7 Gaming on my Macbook

Posted on by
Reply

I have a 2006/2007 Core 2 Duo 2.6ghz white macbook, that I use regularly for internet, music, watching films, itunes and integration with my iPhone.

I wanted to turn my desktop PC into a ‘work only’ Ubuntu Linux machine, so that I don’t get distracted when I’m supposed to be doing something else.

But I still have a lot of PC games that I wanted to play on the Macbook, so I decided to try and setup a windows environment to play games on using Bootcamp 2.0 to create a dual-boot OSX/Windows 7 configuration.

It turns out it works really well. The Macbook runs Windows 7 64-bit edition fine, and although the integrated graphics card isn’t designed to run modern games very well, you can get a good gaming experience from small indie games and the older type of PC RPGs that I tend to play. My macbook got a 3.5 rating on the windows experience index for graphics, which is sufficient for many PC games.

First you need to partition your macbook’s HD using the Bootcamp assistant, in the OSX utilities section. Make sure you have your first OSX installation DVD to hand, the one that came with your Macbook. I chose to split the hard drive into two equally sized partitions. Then just place your W7 DVD in the drive, and Bootcamp takes care of the rest.

Once W7 is installed, you can access the Bootcamp menu on startup by holding down the option key. This brings up a menu where you can select to boot into OSX or Windows.

When you start W7 for the first time, you can install the windows driver set for your Macbook that Bootcamp provides you. Insert your OSX installation DVD 1, and run the setup.exe that is located in the Bootcamp folder. This will install native windows drivers for your Macbook hardware.

The only change I needed to make for my macbook, was to install the latest 64bit Realtek drivers for Vista/Windows 7, which are located on the Realtek website. This will fix any sound problems you might have while playing games.

Now don’t expect to run the latest 3D games, but if you’re happy enough with slightly older, classic, indie or retro games, you can get a good gaming experience on Windows 7 from your macbook. It does well with plenty of the indie games available on Value’s Steam distribution network.

Ripping Movies onto the iPhone

Posted on by
Reply

I’m currently watching Persepolis, the 2008 animated film about a tomboy anarchist growing up in Iran. I’m watching this on my new iPhone 3GS, and the picture and audio quality is very good.

Here’s what I used to convert my newly bought Persepolis DVD, for watching on the iPhone.

1x Macbook (but you can use any intel mac)
1x iTunes
1x RipIt – Commercial Mac DVD Ripper (rips up to 10 DVDs on the free trial, $20 after)
1x Handbrake 32 – Freely available transcoder
1x VLC 32 – Freely available media player
1x DVD

* Ripit – rips the video and audio from the DVD, onto your computer
* Handbrake 32 – ‘transcodes’ the ripped video and audio, meaning – it converts it into an iPhone compatible video file.
* VLC 32 – is used by Handbrake 32 to get past any problems with converting the media.

Go to the following sites to fetch the software:

1. Ripit – http://thelittleappfactory.com/ripit/
2. Handbrake 32 – http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php (get the 32 bit version)
3. VLC 32 – http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html (be sure to get the 32 bit version)

There’s currently a difficulty in getting the VLC 64 bit software for the Mac, and so although the 64 bit version is faster to use, you’re probably better off with 32 bit versions of both for now.

The Process

1) Rip the DVD.

Start RipIt. It will ask for a DVD, insert the DVD.. and point the resultant save location to the desktop. The ripping process takes about 40 minutes on my Macbook, you can check the progress by looking at the icon in the dock – it will be updated with the percentage of progress until completion. You can do other things on your mac while it’s ripping, even though the DVD drive will be occupied. Wait until it’s completed before continuing.

2) Transcode (convert) the ripped video file for use on the iPhone.

Start Handbrake. There are a bunch of transcoding settings called presets – those tell Handbrake what type of media player you want the converted video to work on. In handbrake on the right section of the window, select the iPhone preset. Then go to the file menu, select ‘Open’, and then select the video file that RipIt saved onto your desktop. Then select the destination for the converted video file. Then select the Start (green) button on Handbrake window, and it will start. You can now minimise handbrake and do other things. The transcoding process depends on the film, but takes about an hour on my Macbook. You can check on progress by maximizing the Handbrake window, and checking on the progress bar.

3) Move the converted video file onto your iPhone.

Once that’s done, you will have another media file on your desktop – this is the end result, a video file that will play on your iPhone. Simply connect your iPhone to your Mac, start up iTunes, and drag that file from your desktop into the iPhone icon on your iTunes window. It will take a couple of minutes to transfer, then eject the iPhone as normal

Now you can watch this new movie on your iPhone by going to the ‘Videos’ tab of your iPod app.

WordPress HTML edit mode inserts BR tags sometimes when you add a carriage return..

Posted on by
Reply

This is something that was quite annoying today, as I was struggling to use WordPress 2.9.2 to align some pictures in the HTML mode of editing a page, on a client’s website.

It turns out that WordPress was adding BR tags sometimes when I hit return.. and sometimes not. The annoying thing was, although the BRs were outputted in the resultant WordPress site, the BRs were not visible in the WordPress HTML edit mode itself.. meaning they were invisible and undetectable until I viewed the resultant website source and finally figured it out.

WordPress does insert some formatting tags now and then, it seems, but I would have thought it would tell you about the tags that would change the page layout! Apparently not. Anyway, something to be aware of for WordPress gurus..

Edit:

I don’t have time to report this as a bug, but this is the stack I’m using for anyone interested:

Browser: Google Chrome for Mac (5.0.342.9 beta)
TinyMCE Advanced Editor Plugin for WP (3.2.7)
Wordpress 2.9.2

The beta of Google Chrome is a bit unstable, although it may not be the source of the problem.