nixternal

OK, since the lazyweb totally owned in helping me locate a killer portable media device, I can use your help once again.

I have Googled and Googled until my eyes have exploded, and I have yet to find the answer I am looking for.

The question….Can you hot swap, not warm swap, SATA drives in Linux without having them a) setup in RAID, and b) not using a hardware RAID controller card? Someone told me that you can and the kernel works out of the box that way. Well, whoever told me was wrong. I have tried it in Red Hat, CentOS, Ubuntu, and SUSE. No go, the kernel panics and blows up and I have to call the Chicago Fire Department

Warm swapping works just fine, where I unmount the drive, pull the drive, put in a new drive, configure drive, and then mount the drive. That works, but when a drive fails that isn’t on a RAID controller, or is on one, and isn’t configured with RAID, I want to a) know about it, and b) pull it out without unmounting and what not first.

So, I know there are some of you wizards out there that can help me, so please, any information you may have or questions, please comment or feel free to email me directly (nixternal kubuntu org). Thanks!

OK, here is the scoop. We have one appliance that gets a custom partitioning via kickstart and a bit of Python love. Once the partition is complete, we install the base packages and then our appliance package. During the installation of the appliance package, it reads in the size of the multiple partitions it has available and their sizes. This all works like a charm. Side note, our Kickstart scripts are being run through Anaconda from CentOS.

As it stands, when the partitions are created, there is 5% by default that is utilized with every partition for super user access. This way here, it saves you from running out of space and being unable to access the drive. This is great on directories such as /boot, /var, /, /home, and etc. But when we partition our 750GB drives, we want a large growing space that doesn’t need this 5% reserved blocks percentage. Typically when you use mke2fs to create the partitions, outside of Kickstart and Anaconda, you would pass the -m flag with 0 (zero) as the variable. This would get rid of any reserved space, therefor allowing you to utilize the entire space. With the default 5% on 4×750GB hard drives, we lose a total of 150GB of space. That is a lot of space to lose, especially when our appliances main duty is storage.

I know we could add a %post section to our Kickstart scripts, call tune2fs -m 0 /partition/location, and then reinstall our appliance package so it can read the new drive partitioning, but is there any other way to do this? Someone said to use mke2fs.conf for this, however Kickstart and Anaconda documentation is far from good when it comes to tricky configurations, and it seems nobody else in the world is doing this. Does anyone know how to go about using the /etc/mke2fs.conf with Kickstart so I can have the drives partitioned with the -m 0 flag from the get go?

/me wishes we used Debian/Ubuntu with FAI!

Right now I am working with the members of the Ubuntu Chicago LoCo team on creating a solid proposal for developing “Ubuntu Development Courses” that members of the Chicago community will lead. Right now we are looking for those that are in the Chicago land are that may be interested in such events. As it stands, I have come up with a basic, college-like, course layout.

Ubuntu Development 101 - Familiarization of Ubuntu development tools
This session will provide the attendees with a breakdown and brief run-through of the tools involved with Ubuntu development. These tools would include: Launchpad, mailing lists, IRC, development applications and scripts, and more.

Ubuntu Development 102 - Bug Triage
This session will provide the attendees with the knowledge necessary to help triage Ubuntu bugs. Attendees will learn the basics as well as some of the advanced topics with triaging bugs on Launchpad.

Ubuntu Development 103 - Packaging I
This session will provide the attendees with the knowledge necessary to build their very own package. Topics covered will include development applications, scripts, setting up development environments, creating the package, and more.

Ubuntu Development 104 - Packaging II
This session will provide the attendees with the knowledge necessary to merge, sync, and request merges/syncs for Debian packages into Ubuntu’s latest development cycle. Topics covered will include those mentioned as well as proper utilizing of certain development scripts as well as how to properly fill out a request, create a debdiff, and more.

Ubuntu Development 105 - Packaging III
This session will provide the attendees with the knowledge necessary to work with Debian on patches, request backports properly, how to do Stable Release Update requests, and anything else not covered by Packaging I or II.

Obviously none of this is set in stone at this time, as we are working on getting an infrastructure in place. One thing I would like to do, is keep these away from local LUG meetings as to not a) disturb the meeting process, or b) have our session disturbed due to socializing. We are currently looking for an ideal venue for this that will a) be easy to access, b) be free, c) have a projector, and d) have Internet. There are many places in the Chicago land area that fits this bill, so now we are just looking for the best place.

We figure that each event would take anywhere between 4 to 6 hours per session and may possibly be separated into mini-sessions. If we get this off the ground and have enough interest, we could keep it going and turn it into its own little BuntuCamp (BarCamp style) just for Ubuntu!

The reasoning behind this is not only teach interested individuals Ubuntu development, but also provide them the tools necessary to properly advocate the use of Ubuntu and its partner projects. I think once our members understand as many of the aspects involved with the development of Ubuntu, they will be able to better portray to future users the importance of Ubuntu and free software. Also, you get to learn Ubuntu hacking, what could be more fun?

If you are interested in such an event, I urge you to track the Ubuntu Chicago mailing list and let us know. If other LoCo teams are interested, feel free to contact me at nixternal - kubuntu - org.

Working on my ‘inbox zero’ project right now after a day of enjoying the lovely Chicago weather we are having right now. One thing that strikes me are the amount of mailing lists I seem to be subscribed to. I am currently sitting at about 50 mailing lists. Honestly, this sounds ridiculous, like totally impossible to keep up with. I know there are a few local ones I could probably ditch that I really don’t follow 100%, but I do like knowing when there is a meeting locally that I can show up at and learn something. Out of these 50 lists, between 40 and 45 are development based. How in the hell could I possibly follow 40/45 development lists? I don’t respond to every email in the list but I have and still do communicate on everyone of the lists, one way or another.

My current list subscription looks like this: For Ubuntu there are; Kubuntu (-devel and -users), Ubuntu Translations (I only know English, however this is a very important channel, as I can pimp packages ready for those hard working translators to attack), 3 MOTU channels (MC, MM, and MOTU), LP, IRC, IllinoisTeam (nobody even uses this, goodbye), Fridge, Docs, Ubuntu dev, 8.04 Commits, ChicagoTeam, Bug squad. The I have a mix of local channels ranging from the LUGs, to hackers and language communities. Then I have a few Foresight development lists, some Debian development lists, and then most of the KDE development lists.

Actually, 49 lists. One of those lists is the Hardy commit list, no responding, just keeping up with who is uploading what. So I ask you, how many lists do you follow? How many do you actively respond to? Is 49 or 50 way to many? Is 49 or 50 total developer newb status? If you follow these many lists or more, how do you do it? What is your magic?

What CPU cooler do you recommend? My specs are this right here:

• CPU: Pentium 4 D (dual-core) 2.66GHz
• Mobo: MSI PM8M3-V (micro-atx) LGA775
• Case: This one

I am looking for a cooler that isn’t to expensive, somewhat quiet, very good, and hopefully doesn’t have those plastic motherboard connectors I previously warned about. Thus far I have read a few reviews, but I don’t always trust those, since most websites tend to BS their results in order not to piss off the person who sent them the free components. Some of the shops I buy from and trust are Newegg, Directron, Tiger Direct (local), Frys (local), Microcenter (local), and sometimes hit up Amazon for stuff. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I am currently writing up some information for extra applications available to Kubuntu users and a couple of people have expressed that having information about some Gnome panel applets would be good. Can you run Gnome panel applets in KDE? I have never tried, nor have the time right now, but if you could let me know I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!