How To: Scan a Hard Drive with Fedora 8 Live CD

I had downloaded the i386 version of the Fedora 8 Live CD. Since I already had it downloaded and burned to a CD, I decided to use this to scan a laptop’s drive for viruses. There is probably an easier way, but I thought this would be a good exercise.

Once booted, open a terminal and run the following commands:

su -
yum install gcc zlib zlib-devel make

Then, I downloaded clamav from the SourceForge website. The version I downloaded was 0.92rc2. Firefox automatically saves files to the Desktop, and so, I just let it do its thing.

Next, back in the terminal window, I compiled the program:

cd /home/fedora/Desktop
tar -xzvvf clamav*.tar.gz
cd clamav*
useradd clamav
./configure
make
make install

Then, I had to update the configuration files. You can do this from the terminal with:

freshclam
sed -e 's/^Example$/#Example/i' /usr/local/etc/freshclam.conf > freshclam.conf
mv -f freshclam.conf /usr/local/etc/freshclam.conf
sed -e 's/^Example$/#Example/i' /usr/local/etc/clamd.conf > clamd.conf
mv -f clamd.conf /usr/local/etc/clamd.conf

Next, download the most recent virus definitions.

freshclam

Finally, do your scan (You may need to mount it first).

clamscan /media/disk

Linux Mac Crossover

I found an interesting article today about making Linux look like a Mac.  The thing is that I don’t necessarily want to go all the way, but I would like to steal a few things from their side of the world.

Make Your Linux Desktop Look Like A Mac – Mac4Lin Project Documentation

The big thing that caught my eye was the AWM on page 3.   I had trouble following the instructions though.  These instructions worked a little better:

HOWTO: functional eye-candy with Avant-Window-Navigator and Affinity

Two Great Reviews

Today, I found two great reviews with a nice list of software to watch or install.

First, Linux Format Magazine published a posting announcing the releasing of Ubuntu 7.10, which included a review of the release:

 http://lunapark6.com/ubuntu-710-gutsy-desktop-edition-review.html

Not only does the author describe his experience with installing the new version, but he also provides some nice ideas for software to install such as vlc, k3b, Kino, ardour, Google Earth & Desktop, VMWare Server, and MythTV.

Another article I found from Linux Format Magazine was about installing Slackware:

The Perfect Desktop — Slackware 12

This article also listed numerous software install ideas along with detailed explanations on how to install the system.  The article also points out that the HowToForge also has other similar articles for other distributions.  I haven’t tried it but the Linux Distribution Chooser sounded very interesting too.

Bug: Fedora 8 Test 2 Boot

Fedora 8 Test 2 freezes when I try to boot it. This happens both with the install DVD and once I have it installed. I need to try to “post a report”, but until I figure out how, here is the output:

Linux Plug and Play Support v0.97 (c) Adam Belay
pnp: PnP ACPI init
ACPI: bus type pnp registered
pnp: PnP ACPI: found 11 devices
ACPI: ACPI bus type pnp unregistered
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
usbcore: registered new device driver usb
PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing
PCI: If a device doesn’t work, try “pci=routeirq”. If it helps, post a report

For now, I am trying out Ubuntu. I am kind of dead in the water with Fedora right now unless I go back to Fedora 6 or maybe 7.

Update: Here is the bug — 316811

Actually, I did not do a good job searching for a bug.  My bug was marked duplicate and here is the actual bug: 299301

Installing Flash for 64-bit Firefox on Ubuntu

These two pages really helped me:

Howto Install 32 bit Firefox with Flash w/sound and Java for AMD64

TGHC / 64bit browser with java and flash plugins for Ubuntu

The script worked very well for me.  As far as I can tell, everything seems to be working.  I am using Swiftweasel and I am liking it.   I had already installed some extensions such as Google’s toolbar, and I did not have to reinstall them for Swiftweasel.

HP: $1000 Latch

From the looks of this article, you should never send your laptop in to HP for service:

InfoWorld: HP’s $1000 Latch

Also, I just talked to a co-worker who had an HP laptop.  I think it was very similar to my old one.  The plastic around the screen had cracked, and he believed it was poor design.  He talked with another acquaintance that had the same problem confirming the idea of poor design.  He had bought the extended warranty, and so it was still under warranty.  After talking with a foreigner, they informed him that it would cost about $300 to repair.  He said no and had them ship it back to him.  Now, he uses a Lenovo laptop and said he would never buy an HP again.

He also works at a large firm that uses HP servers.  The support staff told him that if they have to call HP they hang up when they get a support technician in India.  They try again until they get a person in the United States.  The problem is not a matter of prejudice but a matter of communication.  Trouble with the English language and only following a script are not successful ingredients to technical support!