cpradio's tidbits of information » Ubuntu

Local Printer Support via RDP (Remote Desktop)

cpradio — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:39:27 +0000

For those wanting to support a local printer connected to their Linux system via RDP (Remote Desktop) connecting to a Windows server, here is a quick how-to.

First look up the Printer Name on your Linux box, it is best if it is a single word and under 20 characters. You can typically find this by opening a document, selecting Print and it should be the name in the drop down.
Next you will have a script that call rdesktop like so:
rdesktop -r printer:="WINDOWS DRIVER NAME AS IT APPEARS IN ADD PRINTER"
Run the rdesktop script and login
Go to Printers and Faxes
Right-click on the Printer that matches your Linux printer’s name and choose Properties
Print a test page!

Backup a Hard Drive over the Network

cpradio — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 00:52:30 +0000

This is a technique I constantly forget when I absolutely need it, and so I am going to post it for future reference as I hate trying to figure out over and over again.

So here is the big secret. First get a Linux distrobution that allows you to use a Live CD. Boot up the computer you wish to backup with the Live CD. While that is happening, get on your primary PC (that is hopefully running Linux) and type the following command and run it:
netcat -l -p 1234 | dd of=backup.img bs=16065b

Once the Live CD is booted, start up the terminal/konsole and run the following (must be ran after the prior command):
sudo dd if= bs=16065b | netcat 1234

That’s it! It will now backup the hard drive partition you selected on the PC running the Live CD. So easy!

Disk Full

cpradio — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 02:49:06 +0000

For anyone who uses Linux, especially Ubuntu or Kubuntu, you will want to read this! I personally hate how Ubuntu and Kubuntu setup my partitions. They typically setup two partitions, the swap, and the rest of the hard drive. I personally prefer to have a partition for the following: / /boot /usr /var /tmp swap.

Now, the reason I hate how Ubuntu and Kubuntu do this, is it is very easy to fill up the entire drive and not know where the bulk of the data is. With separate partitions, when one fills, you know what caused it, or more specifically, what folder is growing too large. I use several development packages and pull down the source to a lot of packages for experimental use, and so a 160 GB drive can fill up fast. With that said, partitioning things out allows me to quickly identify where I need to allocate more storage, and put in a new drive to handle it.

I wish Ubuntu and Kubuntu would allow the Guided Partioning that Debian allows under expert mode to create a multi-partition setup.

Remote Access in KDE

cpradio — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:44:35 +0000

I have been looking for a way to login to my other PCs which have no monitors, and for the most part SSH works fine, but lately I have found myself wanting to create more of a testing environment setup without using a Virual Machine. Enter ‘Remote Connection using XDMCP’.

There are a few things you have to do to the machine you wish to login to first before you can use this nice feature. First of all you need to modify the /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc file and set make sure you have the following:
[code]
[Xdmcp]
# Whether KDM should listen to incoming XDMCP requests.
# Default is true
Enable=true
# The UDP port on which KDM should listen for XDMCP requests. Do not change.
# Default is 177
Port=177
# File with the private keys of X-terminals. Required for XDM authentication.
# Default is ""
KeyFile=/etc/kde3/kdm/kdmkeys
# XDMCP access control file in the usual XDM-Xaccess format.
# Default is "/etc/kde3/kdm/Xaccess"
Xaccess=/etc/kde3/kdm/Xaccess
# Number of seconds to wait for display to respond after the user has
# selected a host from the chooser.
# Default is 15
#ChoiceTimeout=10
# Strip domain name from remote display names if it is equal to the local
# domain.
# Default is true
#RemoveDomainname=false
# Use the numeric IP address of the incoming connection on multihomed hosts
# instead of the host name.
# Default is false
#SourceAddress=true
# The program which is invoked to dynamically generate replies to XDMCP
# DirectQuery or BroadcastQuery requests.
# If empty, no program is invoked and "Willing to manage" is sent.
# Default is ""
Willing=/etc/kde3/kdm/Xwilling
[/code]

Next you need to modify the /etc/kde3/kdm/Xaccess file. For ease of use, I made it so any host (‘*’) can connect and the CHOOSER BROADCAST was set to ‘*’.

Once you have that finished, you then must restart KDM. From the command line or the TTY login, run “sudo /etc/init.d/kdm restart”.

Now you can login to the remote machine using XDMCP. Enjoy!