Sep 26
ErinLaboratory
I need to run the Rational Team Concert Jazz Build Engine as a Windows service as we need it to run non-stop as part of the continuous integration service. The catches though are
- it (theoretically) wouldn’t stop as it keeps on waiting for build requests from the RTC server. This makes it as an unlikely candidate for scheduled tasks unless I will cookup a script for terminating it before the actual run. Messy if I still have to check if there is a build in progress.
- the machine hosting it is not a dedicated machine so a couple of admins usually login to do some stuff which kills any running processes executed by the currently logged-in user.
Windows provides the sc.exe utility for creating and removing Windows services but it only accepts executables and not scripts. I have to set some environment properties and parameters so this is out of the running. The Java Service Wrapper is a good alternative but I misread the instructions so ended up using the AutoExnt utility in the Win2003 Resourse Kit. The files are still usable in Windows XP.
Only three files are needed from the kit namely Autoexnt.exe, instexnt.exe and servmess.dll. These files are to be dropped in the %SYSTEMROOT%\system32 directory.. The next step is to create the %SYSTEMROOT%\system32\autoexnt.bat (the file needs to be named like that) with the commands to be executed. My script looked something like this:
@echo off
setlocal
REM
REM Workstation specific settings.
REM
set JBE_Eclipse_Dir=C:\Apps\IBM\jazz\buildsystem\buildengine\eclipse
set JBE_Repository_URL=https:///jazz
set JBE_EngineID=ToolingBuilder
set JBE_user=kerberos
set JBE_password=
REM
REM If proxy is not needed, switch the JBE_VMArgs_OPTS to use the empty one
REM
set proxyHost=
set proxyPort=3128
set JBE_VMArgs_OPTS=-vmargs -DhttpsproxyHost=%proxyHost% -Dhttps.proxyPort=%proxyPort%
REM set JBE_VMArgs_OPTS=
REM
REM Set the JVM to use to the IBM J9 VM otherwise the compilation will fail.
REM
set java_home=C:\Apps\IBM\SDP70\jdk
set classpath=.;%java_home%\lib
set path=%java_home%\bin;%path%
REM
REM Invoke the Jazz Build Engine client.
REM
pushd %JBE_Eclipse_Dir%
jbe.exe -repository %JBE_Repository_URL% -userId %JBE_user -pass %JBE_password% -engineId %JBE_EngineID% -sleeptime 1 %JBE_VMArgs_OPTS%
endlocal
The next step is invoking the command instexnt install to install the service. The only final thing to do is to go inside the Services console of Windows and reconfigure the AutoExNT service to start automatically at boot up. Of course, it needs to be started as well if you want to use the service immediately. 🙂
There are a few more help in the Windos 2003 Resource Kit help but the only thing of interest is using instexnt install /interactive to install the service. This will cause the service to pop out a command window wherein the user can view the console output. The downside is that the user can close the window which will terminate the service.
I have thought about migrating the system to use the Java Service Wrapper but using the AutoExNT separates the service component which allows JBE implementors to replace/delete the JBE installation directory without going through the setup process again.
[edit 20081002] Dom Weinand posted this link in the RTC user forum on how to use the Java Service Launcher to run JBE as a Windows service[/edit]
ciao!
Sep 23
ErinGadget
ExtremeTech has published an article announcing that the dual-core Atom processors (330) are now out. These processors are also designed for netbooks and UMPC but there is nothing that can stop anybody from putting this in small form-factor PCs to have a low-power, small, and inexpensive servers.
This would be another tease for those who are procrastinating about getting a UMPC since the current slew of models are only sporting the single-core chip (230). The A230 are already great for the need of the regular netbook user but having more cores would be better if you are doing more intensive processing. I hear that Photoshop on the current netbooks are bearable but having a dual-core unit would make it more tolerable. Code compilations and other number-crunching processes will also benefit from having an additional core. I wonder though how much would be the hit of the additional core on the battery life since if I am not mistaken the power draw has also doubled since the TDP of the 230 ranges between 2.5 to 4 watts. The increase might be tiny enough if viewed on the perspective of the benefits but the processor is part of the triumvirate of the power guzzlers for computers (hard disk and monitors complete the set).
For me, I will procrastinate again on getting my low-power download/storage server until the 330 becomes available locally. Hopefully there is a new chipset that will complement the low power draw as well since the current chipset for the 230 is not known for power efficiency.
And yes, there are reports that when it comes to performance per watt, the AMD Turion Mobile processor still beats the Atom processors. That is a testament to how efficient the AMD designs have been from the start. Too bad that there are no netbooks and UMPC model that sports these processors. 🙁
ciao!
Aug 30
ErinFLOSS, Gadget
Fixed by overriding the GRUB lines, editing the GRUB menu, and correcting the entries in the /etc/fstab.
Here is the original line that causes the bootup to panice:
kernel (hd1,0)/boot/vmlinuz BOOT_IMAGE=linux root=/dev/sdc10 vga=788
initrd (hd1,0)/boot/initrd.img
PCLinuxOS is configured to use the graphical GRUB menu so pressing the ESC key will allow the users to go into text mode that allows the editing of the line command. Pressing ‘e’ on the selected entry enabled to correct the order of hard drive being searched [ (hd0,0)/boot] as well as the correct root [root=dev/sda10]. After both the kernel and initrd lines have been updated, pressing ‘b’ will continue the boot process.
The GRUB entry is only half of the problem since the boot operationg still panics and dumps me in a command line. The culprit is that the fstab file still contains incorrect entries since all of the partitions are being searched at /dev/sdc. The USB flashdrive I used for the installation has 3 partitions so there are also 3 incorrect entries for it in /etc/fstab.
As I said, the boot process dumps me into a command line. This is where knowledge of vi comes very handy. It is small enough and ubiquitous enough to be in most *nix system. A quick ‘vi /etc/fstab’ to correct all linux partitions (and temporarily disable mounting of windows partitions) and I am now good to go. Invoking ‘mount -a’ confirms that I am able to successfully mount all partitions.
This problem is solved but unfortunately the PCLinuxOS Minime distribution is not the answer to my wireless in the Wind woes. 🙁
ciao!
Aug 25
ErinFLOSS, Gadget
Doc Mana (or rather his daughters) own a Wind and has pointed me to the released Linux realtek drivers. As Doc Mana has stated, the released drivers are in RPM format but this gives me a good opportunity to use the alien utility for converting packages. Doc also said his Neo empriva is working fine with a similar wireless chipset.
With the extended weekend, I promised to try it out with a refreshed Xubuntu installation, or better yet try installing the PCLinuxOS MiniMe distro to get native support for RPM. The nutshell is that I now have a semi-hosed Wind UMPC. 🙁
Here is what happened:
- I replaced the gnome network manager with the kwlan application and I hosed down my network connections. I then decided to refresh the Xubuntu installation from the my 4GB flash disk. And then…
- I tried converting the package using the alien utility with the “–scripts” parameter because it told me so. It said it is for including the scripts inside the package. When it was time to install them with dpkg, an error was thrown out that there is a parsing error in the post install script. Both drivers show this error. Great!
- As this is a refreshed installation, I decided to try again the tip from the msiwind.net wiki as this is also stated in the Gentoo Wind wiki. The build essential tools refused to install properly because of the problem with the botched realtek drivers installation.
- I cannot uninstall/purge the realtek drivers from synaptic becase there are errors in the hooked scripts. 🙁
- I wiped by flash disk with MiniMe and proceeded to install over my Xubuntu system. Everything seems to be fine until I rebooted. The system got reconfigured with my flash disk as its main storage (sda) and my Wind’s drive as its secondary (sdc) so the GRUB entries refuses to work.
- I tried booting with the flash disk inserted and tried to select the HDD Minime installation but the boot process refuses to proceed and ends with a kernel panic.
Right now the Wind will only continue booting if I have the flash disk inserted, and its too late into the night to start tinkering with livecd options. The bright side is that I have effectively created a very crude security key. /lol
I hope I can fix this properly tomorrow as the wife is giving me weird looks when she can’t easily get into the Windows partition to play Mystery Case Files. 😀
ciao!
Jul 15
ErinGadget
Not grammatically correct but who cares. I got my own Empire black MSI Wind today and posting this on it. It has XP Home right now and I don’t have the time to dual-boot this machine but I would assume that this little baby will sport a Hardy Heron 8.0.4.1 before the week ends. 🙂
The picture is in my phone and its already late but let me just savor the gloating by a little bit before I go back into the reality that I need to go to work tomorrow. 🙂
ciao!
Jul 11
ErinFLOSS
Frequently I come across queries on how to retrieve files in Linux wherein the most probably answer will be that it is almost impossible due to the journaling nature of the standard file systems for most Linux systems. Ext2 is not a journaled file system but its use for large partitions (>128MB) is not recommended since a premature crash (system-induced or external like a power shut-off) will cause the file system to be marked as dirty and be subjected to a file system check and possible data loss. At this time where terabytes of disk space are becoming available to us members of the unwashed masses, I don’t think anybody in a right mindset will even consider using ext2 on a 20GB partition.
Back to the topic, previously you are screwed if you were clicker/presser happy with delete operations (rm -rf ~ /tmp comes into mind, ouch!) then it only takes a split second from the time you confirmed the delete operation to switch between nonchalance and an agitated mental anguish. It may be a single document or your whole directory (I hope you are not in the habit of running as root for day-to-day use), but if you really need to get that file you just delete and you are using ext2/ext3 then there might still be some hope. I just came across the page for ext3undel which promises a set of utilities and scripts that will help you in getting your precious files back. The project is not available on official Mandriva and Arch repositories 🙁 but the project provides RPM and Deb downloads.
I haven’t used it yet as I am fortunate enough to haven’t gotten the need but the documentation on the project’s wiki seems to be simple enough. I am going to try installing this on my systems this weekend since this would be a handy tool to have when my stupidity arises need beckons.
ciao!
Jul 06
ErinFLOSS
I have a 4gb TDK usb drive and i want to try running a full-blown linux on it. I am using this guide from pendrivelinux to install xubuntu on the flash drive.
The instruction is for creating two partitions: the first one is a fat16 partition that will hold the main system while the second partition is a small ext2 partition for the persistent data (settings?). I modified it a bit with this setup:
- sdb1 – 3GB FAT32 – for sharing data
- sdb2 – 1GB – fat16 for the main system. I tried using ext2 but the instruction was really for a fat16 partition for the syslinux step
- sdb3 – 115MB – persistent partition that is labeled casper-rw
The partitions were created using cfdisk on my archlinux system. I opted to put the 3GB partition at the start because I am from the old school thinking that when dealing with stupid OSes always put the partitions it can read first. All of the partitions are physical partitions but i marked the second one as the active/bootable partition.
Everything else in the tutorial went smoothly except when it was time to boot the machine using the usb drive. The booting stopped with the message that the boot sector was invalid or damaged. I tried googling around for the fix which basically suggests installing the boot loader on the flash drive’s boot sector (/dev/sdb) but these did not work.
I finally gave in and restarted the installation process, only this time I placed the 3GB partition at the end so that I will be mostly compliant with the pendrive linux guide. There is really something to be said for following instructions especially if those instructions do not contain any discussion on the rationale. My tux in a stick works although it takes quite a while to boot my laptop. I have been able to use it in the office so I can copy a big file (RTC linux client) that I need to bring home from the office since I cannot complete the download at home.
I am happy since I have a portable Linux system in case I need it. As for the question on whether Windows was able to recognize the data space at the end of the drive, I honestly don’t know. I haven’t booted into Windows yet here at home, and the USB ports are locked by the domain server at work. I guess I will eventually know the answer but I am not in a hurry to find out. 🙂
ciao!
Jul 06
ErinFLOSS
After a few failed attempts in getting my ArchLinux desktop system go into hibernation, my boot-up shows an error during the mounting of the swap file. Issuing the “free” command validates that I don’t have any swap space running. My desktop system has 2GB of physical RAM but I wouldn’t want to wait for something to fail before fixing the swap space.
The fix is to format the swap partition (/dev/sda8) again before activating it using this command sequence:
# mkswap /dev/sda8
# swapon -a
mount -a would also work in place of the swapon command.
NOTE: mkswap will happily format the device or file you pass on as parameter so make sure you are passing the correct partition or you will be sorry. 🙂
ciao!
Jul 02
ErinGadget
I just got wind (pun intended) from TipidPC.com that THE WIND is now available at PC Corner. Here is the link to the PC Corner page.
Unfortunately stocks are pretty limited and they only come with the 3-cell battery (max of 3 hours at minimum settings) and in white and pink colors only. I am too much of a pig messy user to go for the white and I don’t think pink suits me. I guess I can wait for a month more but a Wind is definitely within my horizon.
Price list is as follows (quoted directly from the link above):
PhP 23,999.00 - - - - 512Mb / 080Gb / NO Operating System
PhP 24,999.00 - - - - 1.0Gb / 080Gb / without MicroSoft® Windows® XP Home Edition, SP3
PhP 25,999.00 - - - - 1.0Gb / 080Gb / with MicroSoft® Windows® XP Home Edition, SP3
PhP 26,999.00 - - - - 1.0Gb / 080Gb / with MicroSoft® Windows® XP Home Edition, SP3 . . . .with external 60Gb Mobile HDD with enclosure !!!!
PhP 27,999.00 - - - - 1.0Gb / 160Gb / with MicroSoft® Windows® XP PRO COA
PhP 29,999.00 - - - - 2.0Gb / 160Gb / with MicroSoft® Windows® XP PRO COA
PhP 31,999.00 - - - - 2.0Gb / 320Gb / with MicroSoft® Windows® XP PRO COA
Now I can’t sleep!
ciao!
Jun 25
ErinGadget
Not my wife. Well I hope she is but that is another story. 😉
I have already made up my mind that I am going to get a MSI Wind NB when it comes out but it seems that the shipment date has been delayed again. With the battery shortages and Atom processor presumed shortages, I might end up getting one in September as originally planned. 🙁
My wife is already kidding me that I would never get to own an ultraportable since by the time the Wind shows up, something better would be cooking in the background. The sad part is she might be right with the impending release of Acer Aspire One, Dell E (tentative name), and the currently planned MSI Wind NB Mark II!
But I am so going to get my hands on an ultra-portable on September. Or October. 🙂
ciao!
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