So this is how I accomplished the task:

on the running system attach the SSD drive ( my system has a nice fast eSata ), and run gparted to format and partition the drive. Set it up as MBR partition, MSDOS type, with a similar layout to what you had. HOWEVER, I added a separate /var partition, because a SSD has a relatively high failure rate with many read/writes on a particular memory cell, and /var is where much of that happens. So when it comes down to it, the system could fail, and it would be easy to recover.

Then I made a bash script to do some work for me:

#!/bin/bash

# /dev/sdb below is MY SSD drive, change it for yours

mkdir /mnt/new

mkdir /mnt/new/boot

mkdir /mnt/new/var

mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/new/boot

mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt/new

rsync -auv \

--exclude="/home/onyx" \

--exclude="/proc/*" \

--exclude="/lost+found/*" \

--exclude="/dev/*" \

--exclude="/mnt/*" \

--exclude="/media/*"  \

--exclude="/sys/*" \

--exclude="/tmp/*" \

/ /mnt/new

rsync -auv /var/ /mnt/new/var

rsync -auv /boot/ /mnt/new/boot

grub-install --recheck --root-directory=/mnt/new /dev/sdb

===================

Save it as ~/clone.sh

then chmod +x clone.sh to make it executable

then su to switch to root user

then ./clone.sh to run the script.

Open another terminal as ROOT.

blkid     will print out the UUID for each partition in the system. You want to note the ones for your SSD.

back to the first terminal window;

grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/new/boot /dev/sdb

Edit /mnt/new/etc/fstab & /mnt/new/boot/grub/grub.cfg to taste with new UUIDs for the SSD...be careful!!

mount --bind /dev/ /mnt/new/dev

mount --bind /sys/ /mnt/new/sys

chroot /mnt/new

update-grub

After that, the GRUB command should have completed happily, in which case your system is ready to rock and roll on the SSD. Remember that if you have different users then you need to handle the addition of those at ROOT level first.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

I am here to tell you that I am on Debian Wheezy, running on a Dell Inspiron 17R (n7110) laptop. I use XFCE 4.8 for my DE.

Thunar is the default file manager in XFCE, and is fast and easy... but doesn't natively handle OBEX FTP that is what bluetooth needs, s o we need to use FUSE as an intermediate layer.

Here is how to get Bluetooth to work happily in such an environment:

Open the terminal, then:

su

<enter root password>

apt-get install fuse fuse-utils blueman

exit

Now, using your favoured text editor, create a file at your home directory called 'bluetooth-thunar.sh', with this inside it:

 #!/bin/bash
 fusermount -u ~/bluetooth
 obexfs -b $1 ~/bluetooth
 thunar ~/bluetooth

Save and close. Open the terminal again, do: 

mkdir ~/bluetooth

chmod +x ~/bluetooth-thunar.sh

blueman-manager &

su

adduser <yourusername> fuse

exit

Now, right-click the Bluetooth icon in the system tray, and choose 

Local Services > Transfer > Advanced

Set how you want the file sharing to be handled in the checkboxes, and in Advanced, put:

sh /home/yourusername/bluetooth-thunar.sh %d

Now set up the bluetooth phone in the BlueMan Manager. Test the Browse files on device. You may have to log out to make it function.

What you should have is a  Thunar File Manager window pop open to your newly created bluetooth directory, so you can drag and drop files both ways.

Yes, yes, I know... it would be great to have this all pre-done so it is automagical. But where is the fun in using Debian in that case? It's fast and raw because all of that is not assumed about you.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

So tell me, dear readers what it is that you come here for?

Do you want to see this blog continue?

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

I'm now running Archlinux on one machine, and Ubu-Jaunty on another. Neither can use xtightvncviewer to respond to incoming UltraVNC connections. But after a few hours searching, I found something that can; SSVNC project; http://www.karlrunge.com/x11vnc/ssvnc.html#download.

Karl's excellent project has all you need to do VNC. I downloaded the binaries, selected vncviewer from here: ssvnc/bin/Linux.x86_64, copied it to a new folder and set it to listen like so:

#!/bin/bash
/home/cw/remote/vncviewer -bgr233 -encodings "hextile copyrect" -listen

Save that file, give it execute perms, and set it to start at system startup. Wunderbar.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

"So what", you say?

Well, this bodes really well for my favourite OS...as Google, which is based upon Linux, takes off, it knocks MS down, and forces competition in the marketplace. Not only that, but all of a sudden Google's billions are put behind the code base for Linux, which being GPL Open source, improves both of them...

Should MS be worried? Of course, but they've got the bank account to keep milking the public for some time yet. Apple is the one that really needs to be worried. This spells disaster for them, as suddenly someone in the Linux ranks has the backing to take them on, and make their much-vaunted OS X look silly. Whilst Apple has been throwing advertising dollars at the old horse of MS's Vista, poking fun continually, there has been a new horse coming up on the inside rails that they just didn't anticipate.

Already many are saying that the Google OS will be a limited joke. And MS is saying that they are not worried. But for them to even comment, rather than ignore, says that they are. And the OS will not be a joke. What does Google do poorly? It throws it's dollars behind skilled programmers and designers, and comes up with something that works, and is dead simple. That is how they won the Search wars. And they don't sit still...taking years to release anything new is not their style ;)

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

That intrigues me...a NEW WINDOWING SYSTEM... are they reinventing the wheel? Are they reworking Gnome? They do say that the code is being opened up LATER THIS YEAR, before the release to the wider world on NetBooks in 2010...so I guess we wait and see :D

Thank you Google, you have made my day!

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Super Geek to the rescue!

The following solution works ONLY if Firefox has not been closed! And Only works on Linux.

1) First, find the PID of Firefox. Do a 'ps aux | grep firefox' in command prompt, and take notice of the first number. In my case the PID was 3961.
2) Secondly, dump firefox' memory to disk with gcore: 'gcore -o dumpfile 3961'. This might take a little time; let's hope you have enough disk space.
3) Third, extract all text from the dump: 'strings dumpfile.3961 &> strings.txt'.
4) Fourth, now your text should be in strings.txt, but along with it there is a considerable amount of junk. Try to remember a keyword from the text you want to find; I looked for "Christel".
5) Check if the keyword is in strings.txt (repeat with another keyword if you get zero, remember to spell it EXACTLY right): 'grep Christel strings.txt'.
6) When you have a hit, open strings.txt in your favorite editor (could be gedit or whatever, I used geany): 'geany strings.txt'.
7) Search for the keyword again: CTRL+F Christel

I found this recipe in an archive of Ubuntu forums, and replicated it here for posterity. And because it's darn geeky. :D

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Why is it we seek and we strive so hard to attain; wealth, fame, fortune, status, success? Is it because we really don't know what actually has value, or is it because we really DON'T WANT TO KNOW?

This is something that I have been contemplating lately. And I'm throwing it open to all you armchair philosophers out there!

Original post blogged on b2evolution.

Me: "So you use load OpenOffice on these then?"
Him: "NO! I HATE OPENOFFICE!"
Me: "Oh really? What about it do you hate?"
Him: "Oh, I've never used it."

And he was dead serious! That folks, is what the open source crowd is up against.

On slightly related news, by the time you read this, Ubuntu Linux's version 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" will be released. Congratulations again to the Jaunty team. I am using this already, and it is solid.

Original post blogged on b2evolution.