Triple Booting Vista, XP, and Ubuntu

I tried doing this a couple of times before, but failed. Most of the documentation I found online were helpful, but they were not descriptive enough to explain the whole process—at least for me. Even though this guide is written based on the HP TX2500, anyone should be able to use these instructions on any PC. So here is an easy guide to install Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Ubuntu 8.10:

Starting with a Fresh Install:
If you have already installed the operating systems, and having issues configuring the boot loader, then refer to the next section.

1. First make sure to create the required partitions. You can use a single partition to install Vista and XP, but I recommend not to do so. My TX2500 came with Vista installed already. So I had to use a third party software to alter the partitions as I didn't have the Vista setup disks.

2. I used Paragon Partition Manager as it supported both 32-bit and 64-bit PCs. Partition Magic, unfortunately damaged my partition table and I lost the Vista backup drive that came originally with my notebook. So I recommend using Paragon Partition Manager, and not Partition Magic to do this.

3. Make sure you have at least 5 partitions, for:
    a) Windows Vista
    b) Windows XP
    c) Linux OS (Ubuntu 8.10)
    d) Linux Swap
    e) Data Drive (Common drive to share data across platforms)

4. Make the Windows partitions NTFS and the the Linux partition EXT3. It is best to have the data drive in NTFS format, as it will help smooth transferring of files between Windows and Linux.

5. First, install Windows XP, then Windows Vista, and finally Ubuntu. Vista should automatically detect XP and add it to the boot loader, and use the Ubuntu GRUB boot loader to add the Windows operating systems.

Configuring MBR:
This method works with any order of OS installation. You will need a copy of Paragon Partition Manager's recovery disk burned on to a CD. You can do this by installing Paragon Partition Manager on any Windows-based PC and burning a recovery CD.

1. Boot your PC with the recovery disc, and make only the Linux partition active and the others inactive. Having multiple active partitions will prevent your PC from booting to an OS.

2. Reboot your PC and load up Ubuntu.

3. Open up a terminal screen and type the following: “sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst”

4. When gedit opens up the menu.lst file, go to the end of the file and add the following code to represent each Windows installation on your system (You will be prompted to provide the administrator password at this point):

    title Microsoft Windows XP x64 Edition
    root (hd0,1)
    savedefault
    chainloader +1

5. Change the “title” and “root” parameters to represent your system: hd0 represents the first physical hard disk, and the value following the comma in the parameter (hd0,0) represents the partition number. For instance, (hd0,0) means first partition on the first physical hard disk, (hd0,1) means second partition on the first physical hard disk, and (hd1,0) means first partition on the second physical hard disk.

6. Some guides that I found online suggested adding a “makeactive”' command after the “savedefault,” but I suggest not to use it, as it changes the active partition upon boot and if you haven't configured the boot loader on the most recently updated partition, it might result in a failed boot.

7. According to this method, you only make the Linux partition active and remove the boot loaders from all the other partitions. Make sure the root folders of each operating system have the following structure (If not, you can change them from within Ubuntu):

    a) Windows Vista: Root folder should have the “bootmgr” file and a folder named “boot” with the “BCD” file inside. The boot configuration information is stored in the “BCD” file in Windows Vista.
    b) Windows XP: Root folder should have the “ntdetect.com,” “ntldr,” and “boot.ini” files. Boot configuration information is saved in the “boot.ini” file in Windows XP.
    c) Linux (Ubuntu): The “/boot/grub/” folder should have the “menu.lst” file. Boot configuration information is stored in the “menu.lst” file in Ubuntu.

8. If the files mentioned in the previous step are present in your partitions, all you got to do is change the “menu.lst” file as explained in step 4, save it, and reboot your PC. You should be provided with a list of operating systems to boot from the GRUB boot loader.

Summary:
For the advanced user, this is a summary of what you should do (All steps can be completed by loading up Ubuntu).

  1. Make only the Linux (Ubuntu) partition active.
  2. Check and update the files on each Windows partition (Step 7).
  3. Modify the GRUB boot loader (menu.lst).

This should prevent you from the hassle of trying to modify your Windows-based MBR. I hope that I managed to explain the process clearly, as one of the main issues for a beginner, is to understand the tech-background of the booting process. If you understood step 7, then everything else should be easy. Send in your feedback; and good luck updating your MBR!

Got My New TX2500z

i bought this HP TX2500z when i was in the US. but unfortunately, it got delivered late -- just the day after i left the US. so i was looking for someone to bring it down here. everyone i knew were planning to go there next year and those who went this year, weren't coming this year. so finally, i decided to ship it -- just didn't want my new tablet arriving after HP released the next generation ;-)

it arrived approximately in 5 business days of shipping. first i had an issue booting it up as there was some problem with the RAM. after trying every possible thing, i decided to remove the rear flap and re-seat the RAM. BINGO! that worked ;-)

the new TX2500z came with the maximum of everything that it could support by the time i bought it. i put in an AMD 64-bit ZM-82 Puma Processor, 4GB RAM, ATI 3200 VGA and 320GB SATA HDD. it came with a lightscribe DVD-RW and integrated bluetooth and wireless facilities. it came with Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit Home Edition, and with all the above mentioned specifications, it still seem a bit slow. may be that's how Vista works ;-) anyway, i'm gonna tray Vista on this for a while and then decide if i should switch to XP. if anyone out there have used a TX2500 and have experience, please fill me in.

i am still testing this tablet doing "trial-and-error," and will post reviews as i go. for now, it works fine and suits my needs.

White Sand - AVB - Zocalo (Live)

best of trance... enjoy, nothing else to say ;-)

NASA Tests First "Deep Space Internet"

The Internet has officially gone galactic. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California announced that they had successfully tested a deep space communications network based on the architecture of the Internet. Using software called Disruption-Tolerant Networking (DTN), NASA was able to transmit images of space to and from a spacecraft located about 20 million miles from Earth.

“This is the first step in creating a totally new space communications capability, an interplanetary Internet,” said NASA team leader Adrian Hook.

Check sitepoint for more information.

He Is One ...

This is just a glimpse of what our brave soldiers go through to save our motherland for our children, so that they can live with dignity. He is one of them who committed their present for the sake of our future.

America's No. 1 Export

This is what the "TIME" magazine had to say on October 6, 2008:

"Japan and Germany make cars. Saudi Arabia pumps oil. China supplies the world with socks and toys and flat-screen TVs. What does the United States produce? Lots of stuff, but in the recent years its No. 1 export -- by far -- has been debt."

And that explains a lot about why things are such a mess right now...

5 Seconds . . . . .

Seetha Rae - Dialog MoFilms

this music video was created by my friends thimal and iresha. featuring in the video is thimal with his sweethart prasadi. lyrics, music and voice by iresha.

Trojan-GameThief.Win32.OnLineGames.srhe

recently my PC was infected by a Trojan that damaged some files. according to Kaspersky, the name of the Trojan is "Trojan-GameThief.Win32.OnLineGames.srhe." unfortunately, i was out of the country when it got infected (my friend had been using the PC) and when i returned it had caused a lot of damage.


nature of the Trojan:

1. restarts the PC on its own
2. damages .jpeg files
3. disables the internet connection
4. prevents anti-virus software from updating its database
5. spreads upon disk access


method of cloning:

the Trojan spreads through any portable media (including CD, DVD and flash drives). it uses an autorun.inf file stored in the root of the media, where it executes a couple of batch files (.bat) and .com files. these in turn access other drives connected to the PC and infects them in turn. so just formatting the main drive an reinstalling the system is not enough. when you access an infected drive, the autorun.inf re-activates the Trojan from hibernation.


identifying an infected PC:

an infected PC can be easily identified by using a dir/a command on a DOS prompt. however, this might give false results if used from within Windows. so you might have to bootup to a DOS prompt using a Windows 98 bootable CD.

you should see an autorun.inf, a couple of unidentified .bat files and a couple of unidentified .com files. usually the system doesn't leave any .com files on the root. and the only present .bat file on the root should be the autoexec.bat file. if other unknown .bat files or .com files are present, you can suspect an infection.


manual removal of the Trojan:

if Kaspersky is present and updated, it will automatically remove the Trojan upon accessing the disks. however, if you don't use anti-virus software or if your virus database is out-of-date, you can use this manual cleaning process.

1. disable systems restore on all drives.
2. restart the PC and boot using a Windows 98 bootable disk.
3. type dir/a on the DOS prompt.
4. use the attrib function with the parameters -a -s -h -r to remove all assigned attributes to the autorun.inf and other unidentified .bat and .com files on the root.
5. delete the autorun.inf and all other unidentified .bat and .com files.
6. follow steps 3–5 for all logical disk drives on your PC and those conneted to your PC.
7. once the cleaning process is done, you can remove the Windows 98 CD and restart you PC.
8. re-install Windows. if you fail to follow the process in steps 3–6, the Trojan will re-activate itself from hibernation, upon re-installing Windows. so it is important to follow the steps carefully.

i have just explained how i removed the Trojan from my PC. there might be better methods of doing this. just let me know if you find one. re-installing windows is not a compulsory step, however, if your PC is prevented from connecting to the internet or if you see damaged .jpeg files, you should re-install.

good luck cleaning Trojans.

If KITT Had Four Doors ...

"knight rider industries three thousand" aka KITT, is the next generation of "knight rider industries two thousand," the legendary high-tech car with artificial intelligence.

the "shelby mustang 500 gtr" originally comes with two doors -- of course it is a racing model. this is what it will look like with four doors ...

Ecuador: Best of Dance Music

i listened to the orignal "ecuador" track by sash in 1997... 11 years ago. and now i got a copy of one of the latest remixes, "ecuador 2007" -- one of the best, i repeat, one of the best, dance music tracks i've ever heard. already, i would have listened to it 20+ times ;-)

you can download the track here: Ecuador 2007 (Electro Remix)

sascha lappessen aka sash, is the man behind the original "ecuador" track. i started listening to sash since 1997, when i first got hold of "encore une fois." it was different, a new type of music, and i liked the change.

i'm sure all the dance/trance/electro fans will love this new track :-)

Excel Formula: Second Occurance in a vlookup

the vlookup function in microsoft excel is very useful. however, it only returns the first occurance in a range. here i have written a complex formula that will extract the "n"th occurance.

it's easy if you can use named ranges to define the range. defining only the first column is enough as the range for the vlookup is specified through an offset.


=VLOOKUP(J5,OFFSET($A$1,MATCH(J5,$C$2:$C$200,0)+(K5-1),M5,COUNTIF($C$2:$C$200,J5),N5),2+(L5-2),FALSE)

where:
J5 - Lookup Value
K5 - Required Occurance
L5 - Required Column
M5 - Start Column Number in Range for vlookup (Offset from $A$1)
N5 - Number of Columns in Range for vlookup
$C$2:$C$200 - Lookup Range (This need not be the full range, only the column where the lookup value can be found is enough)

note: this is a vector formula; so you should use CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to get it working, if not it will return an error.


i wrote this for one of my projects and may be i havent explained the process clearly; so if you find an issue, or if it is not working, post a note or email me. i can explain how to make it work :-)

Bye Bye tx1000!

i sold my hp tx1222au tablet two days ago, and now finding it a bit difficult to deal with work without it :-( actually, it was really a good tablet -- one of the best i've used -- and the only reason to sell it was to go for an upgraded version of the same series.

the hp tx series of tablets are very populat among users, according to www.tabletpcreview.com. however, there were a couple of drawbacks i noticed in the tx1000 series:

1. the touchscreen does not meet the expected standards; it's hard to write, and write-recognition is really bad. i couldn't use it to draw in photoshop; but finally managed to use it by doing a couple of tweaks -- still i had to draw slow, giving enough time for the processor to recognize the strokes.

2. the sound quality is no that satisfying. eventhough it comes with altec-lansing speakers, my n70 was better at times ;-)

3. hp doesn't provide the most optimized drivers for windows xp. it comes originally with windows vista, which is ofcourse a failure. and if you try to downgrade to windows xp, you will end up without optimized drivers. fortunately, i found third party drivers for all the components online.


besides the drawbacks mentioned, i found it a really good tablet, and it helped me a lot in organizing my files, and synchronizing between office and home.

i'm still contemplating between the "hp tx2500" and the "dell latitude xt" (which i'm not sure if is available in the market yet). if any of you guys have any idea of the two, please fill me in.

JavaScript: Loading an External File to a DIV

this script will let you load an external text file to a DIV container in the html file.

first, put this code in the 'head' section of the html:
<script>
<!--
function ReplaceText(container,content) {
document.getElementById(container).innerHTML = "<iframe src='"+content+"' width=600 height=400 frameborder=0 scrolling=auto>";
}
-->
</script>

and then use this in the link:
<a href="#" onClick="ReplaceText('base','sample.txt')">Load Text</a>

the container div should be something like this:
<div id="base"><div>

happy coding :-)

JavaScript: Simple Buttons

well, here is a quick way to replace the images on an html button:

put this code in the 'head' section of the html:
<script>
<!--
function ReplaceImage(image,imgfile){
document.images[image].src = imgfile;
}
-->
</script>

and then use this in the link:
<a href="home.html" onMouseOver="ReplaceImage('home', 'home_down.gif')" onMouseOut="ReplaceImage('home', 'home.gif')"><img name="home" src="home.gif" border="0"></a>

you can also use the 'onClick' attribute to use a JavaScript to load the link; in such case replace the value for 'href' with "#."

Exams Are Over :-)

yeah, finally the long awaited moment... the exams are over :-) i had planned many things to do after the exams while the papers are being marked. but now i don't know where to start :-)

any ideas guys? hehe... not that i'm gonna follow...

well, here's part of what i have in mind:
learn php
develop a 3dml page
develop a couple of other websites that were pending
pimp ma phone (yeah, it's N73 baby...)

let's see how far i can go... wish me luck ;-)

Got an N73 :-)

well, after a hectic period of trying to repair my N70 and 3250, i decided to go for a new phone. i bought an N73 which looks ok for now. give me some time to do a complete review on this.

for now, the specs are as follows:
phone model: nokia N73 (Z5.01)
firmware version: 4.0736.3.2.1
memory card: 2GB

plus points:
2GB memory
supports wma music
3.2MP camera with flash and lens cover
carl zeiss lens
good battery life

drawbacks:
the key pad seem a bit hard to use (not that comfortable)
the respond time is slow
ringtone volume is low
ringtone is chirpy (not like 3250 or N70)


that's it for now; i will post more in due time.


cheers
neo

3250 Busted...

well, i am forced to believe that there is something wrong with the signal ic of all nokia phones -- at least most. the 3250 that i was using for about a week, stopped responding to my notebook and after a while the signal bar disappeared.

now i have to look to repair it again and i don't want it to end up with the same fate as my n70. well, i had to change the ic a couple of times on the n70, and finally they say it's working now, nut i'm not sure until i see it for myself.

may be the next time i will skip nokia and go for something else. i am still skeptical about the iphone. not yet satisfied with its connectivity options. however, my friend bought one in the u.s.a. and cracked it successfully.

i'm still tired writing code to extract info from a database at office. so can't write much. may be the next time i will write a better review.

-- neo

Busy Busy Busy, but a Review on 3250 :-)

well, i haven't had much time to blog as my studies have been keeping me busy. it's my first year exams in may and i am still trying to study... i was never used to studying in the first place, so it's kinda difficult ;-)

missed blogging as well, but i have some news... well, i lost my phone -- the good old 6610 that i was using after my n70 crashed... so now i'm using my sister's 3250, which is again a good phone, even though i didn't like it much at the beginning. it has considerably good sounds, but a crappy 2 megapixel camera. i wonder why the distinction between the 2 m.p. camera in n70 and 3250 -- both are 2 m.p. but 3250 is really crap... haha...

anyways, one good thing i tried was to connect my notebook to the internet using bluetooth on the 3250... works fine eventhough a bit slow. the nokia n81 has wlan b/g support. i hope that'll work fine. looking forward to test it though... i'm still thinking whether i should go for it or not...

and good news, my friend called me up to say that the n70 is repaired and is working fine... so i'm just waiting to go back kandy to get my n70 back :-) i really miss that phone... however, everything happens for good they say... and now i am forced to believe that... hehe... if the n70 didn't crash and my friend returned it on time, instead of the 6610, i would have lost the n70...

anyways, thanks for reading my blog, and hope to post some good stuff after my exams...

-- neo

MasterCard :-)

Drink Beer :-)

Unlocking a Frozen iPod

well, i tried this only on an ipod nano. you don't need to connect it to the pc or power outlet. as long as the ipod is charged, you are good to go.

1. turn off the "hold" button.
2. press and hold the "menu" and "action" button (in the middle of the touch wheel) together, for a few seconds.
3. release once the apple logo appear.
4. wait for a while, it will boot up in a few minutes.
5. enjoy your music again :-)


-- neo

An Hour between Two Sides of a Road -- The Political Curse

politicians are appointed by the vote of the public. and they are expected to serve the country -- looking in to the development of the economy, culture and also ensuring procedures are in line for long-lasting peace, etc.

and those are the only things that they don't do. apart from smuggling the country's treasury, they invest in foreign banks and buy luxury vehicles for their generations, for personal use. these are public secrets and no one talks of them.

this morning i was headed to work as usual and there was this huge traffic block. i got off the bus and began to walk, since the bus was moving at 1cm per hour -- i was much faster than that. i came to the usual junction, which i have to cross the road, and right opposite of the road is my office. and this is where the traffic block had originated -- there had been some parliament meeting -- and all the routes and sub routes that entered the main route that these politicians were passing, were closed.

i wanted to cross the road -- as my office is on the exact opposite side of the road. and a policeman stopped me and said "you can't cross the road." i told him that my office is on the exact opposite side of the road. he said, "still you can't due to security reasons, as you have to cross the road."

while the terrorists and other underworld gangs bring in weapons and mass destruction items through other methods, innocent people are being tormented. if you counted the amount of people stuck in the line of this particular route only, it would have been over 1000 -- i need not mentioned the other routes. and they were standing there in the hot sun, waiting for the road block to get cleared, for more than an hour. among them were kids who were schooling -- and they were already late to school -- i believe their parents would have taken them back home, once the block was cleared.

if you calculate the total amount of man-hours wasted due to this stupid parliament meeting, it would exceed 10,000 man-hours in one day. and this is without taking in to account the other man-hours connected to the network of people within and out of the country. and this will directly impact our economy.

they start blocking the roads when the politicians wake up in the morning and starts brushing his teeth. so the poor public has to stay halted while they get ready for parliament. and all these politicians don't wake up on time -- and at least they all don't wake up at the same time. so the people have to stay from when the first politician to wake up, till the last politician to wake up is ready to go.

one politician has a parade of vehicles, leading and following him -- while the poor public have to stand by the road and watch them go by in their "adopted glory."

after about an hour of standing, they cleared the block -- i was lucky enough to get caught in the latter part of the block -- otherwise, i would have been standing there for more than an hour to cross the road.

first there were a couple of vehicles coming from the opposite side of the road, but the side that i was standing were still not given permission to move. the people -- who were frustrated -- couldn't wait for more, and they began to move in bulk.

they were stopped several times by the police -- may be to clear their doubts if the block was really cleared. and their was this person who was on a bike, who came a bit forward than the others in line. first an army officer pushed him back. and then i heard some words being exchanged. and then a police officer came to him and shouted at him. then he ordered the poor man to come to the edge of the road -- then he shouted at him again, and slapped him -- all this for just moving a few inches beyond the other, after being tormented in the hot sun for more than an hour.

i was already late to office, and had to move on. but this is the pathetic situation of this country. once called the "pearl of the indian ocean," has now become "hell in the indian ocean."

politicians, you are to be blamed for nearing "doom's day" to this country. invariably isn't it us -- the public -- who should be responsible for appointing such cowards to the parliament?


-- neo

Trance vs. Drugs

Happy New Year...

wishing all of you viewers & the blogging community, a successfull & prosperous new year, full of joy & happiness :-)

let's hope & pray for peace around the world...

--neo