First off, there is no such thing as truly “green” technology that is really commercially viable at this time.  All man-made products come with there impact and destruction of the environment.  We as humans ruin the environment, we do not help it. For this post I am going to focus on my experience with CFLs.

If you don’t know what a compact fluorescent light (CFL) is then you must be living under a rock without lighting .  I have personally seen first hand how this technology will save a lot of money and a lot of electricity.  This is not a “green” or an “earth-friendly” technology.  These bulbs are in fact destruction to many portions of somebodies ecosystem.

The CFL bulb, like the large fluorescent bulbs before them, contains toxic chemicals and will damage the environment if not disposed of properly.  I don’t really care about the environment and I really enjoy saving money so I use CFLs without worry.  Just remember not to breath in while cleaning up a shattered bulb.

I have personally seen 3 instances where these newer CFLs actually pay for themselves in months not years.  The first was in my parents basement.  This was a saving in lighting and not so much in money.  I enjoyed being able to see everything, CFLs offer that in a small space.  Being able to plug in 4 bulbs in to replace the one incandescent and not have to worry about “hot wires” is very nice.

The second instance was at my in-law’s house.  Here I lived for about one year.  When I moved in I replaced all the bulbs in the house with CFLs, the exception being the giant chandelier in the living room.  That chandelier required pretty bulbs that are still not affordable in “new” technology.  I have a large number of computers on all the time.  We also brought in a projector and several other electronic devices that my in-laws did not previously have.  I assumed there would be an increase in electrical usage since we were “using” more, right.  Wrong, we saw month over month a drop in overall usage and as a result a drop in the actually bill.

At this house lights are always left on.  They used to have between 2 and 5 100 watt bulbs on all through the night as a “burglar” defense.  When I replaced these with CFLs, and still left them on all night long, I got to see the actually life of a CFL “completed” for the first time.  Normally these lights last 3 times longer, and in this case they still did .  I had never seen a CFL burn out, here I got to see several.  Each bulb still paid for itself several times over, as their energy usage was much lower.  This lower usage allowed us to see a decline in the overall cost of lighting, even though there was more money being spent on different bulbs.

The third example is at my own home.  Here now I have all CFLs or fluorescent lighting everywhere in the house.  I have seen a consistent month-by-month drop in our usage as I have traded newer CFLs for older ones.  This doesn’t equate to a decrease in the electrical bill as the actually cost of electricity has climbed consistently as well.

Another factor in a consistent lowering of our energy usage is leaving the lights on.  This may come as a shock but there are certain light bulbs that I will never replace with fluorescent lights.  These include: the fridge, the oven, and any automatic on/off lighting.   The most energy a CFL consumes is when it is turned on.  When a bulb of this type is flicked on and off several times in succession, the cost savings are significantly reduced.  This is why now, as much as I dislike it, I leave a light on until I really believe I don’t need it on anymore.  This may seem like wasteful at first but with CFLs it really will save electricity and thus most importantly money.

The next evolution of cost-saving lighting comes in the form of LED lights.  At this time, these bulbs are still very expensive and sold individually.  The light output is also much lower and therefore not as useful.  These bulbs can replace traditional “pretty bulbs” as they work with dimmers and similar devices.  The ones I have seen for about $30 at Home Depot and Lowes don’t look too dissimilar to normal wasteful incandescent bulbs.

Well there’s that little snippet.  Maybe its useful to some but most likely not.  Please comment and let me know stuff.  We all learn by the experience of others.

I use Linux for just about everything, and the Windows OS that are running for the setups here are VMs on Linux (VirtualBox).

I am going to attempt to show step by step how to set up a windows XP desktop VM to be a terminal server for 5 or more clients.

Remember this is a “how I” not a “how to”, so instructions are based on the level that I would need to get this going not you.

I am also focusing only on how to do this for free since I can.
If you wanna pay for play please see XP Unlimited or WinConnect Server XP or Thinstuff XP/VS Terminal Server for Windows.

The basic layout we are going for is to first create a vm of XP that will allow multiple remote desktop sessions. Then we will join the XP machine to a domain.
Then we change some settings to make sure that the default stupidity of windows xp on a domain does not interfere with our terminal server.

For those that are like me and very lazy feel free to download the easy executable here and then skip down to the domain configuration section.  If you go to that site and read that information you will notice that domain auth is not supported, we will fix that later on.  You will also need this and this from below .

So first thing to get started we will need an XP VM.  I am using a volume license copy with SP3.
The machine has a 40 GB virtual HDD and 1024 MB of RAM.  This is more than sufficient for the objective mentioned above.

Once you have the VM running configure the following:
Disable remote access using RDP:  <= only necessary if you have already enabled RDP

4. right click and choose stop <= if you can’t do this just reboot your PC

Next we need to overwrite the dll that was patched to restrict this in the first place:
Download this file from here or here
The file is named termsrv.dll.

cd <downloadsdir>
copy termsrv.dll C:\Windows\system32\dllcache\
move C:\Windows\system32\termsrv.dll termsrv_BCK.dll

Now download this XpTerminalServer.reg file here or create your own from the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Terminal Server\Licensing Core]
"EnableConcurrentSessions=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"EnableConcurrentSessions"=dword:00000001
"AllowMultipleTSSessions"=dword:00000001

The following are for reference if you insist on doing this registry editing by hand:

Now we have successfully accomplished most of the difficult crap.
Now we edit the local group policy for this machine to allow multiple concurrent connections.
Click on Start=>Run
Type gpedit.msc and press enter
Navigate to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Terminal Services.  The preview pane should update with a list of options.
Find “Limit number of connections” and double click it.

Check the enabled radio button.  Arrow up or down or type in the number of connections you would like to have enabled on this machine.

XP Terminal Server with Domain Authentication

Add this VM to a domain of your choosing.  If you don’t know how to do this then why are you reading this?  Log on to the box as the domain administrator a couple of times with reboot in between to make sure that this box has all the crapola from your domain.

The critical point here is that when a computer joins a domain the value of the registry keys set above will be reset to 0 every time the computer is rebooted.
Here is a short fix for this.  Download this termserv.bat file or create your own from the following:

rem This references the registry file that must be imported and executes silently.  This file is in a folder at the root of the C: drive.
regedit /s "C:\Path\To\XpTerminalServer.reg"

Now set it to execute on every reboot.  By either logging in after every reboot and manually launching the file or shortcut the file to the startup folder in start menu for all users.

Make sure that your batch file has full path to reg files, I used a folder on the root of the C: drive.
This way whenever any user first logs in to the terminal server it will correct the defective registry key, this only works if the user is an administrator.
You will also need to ensure that the users that are to log on to this domain enabled XP terminal server are added to the list under the remote tab of My Computer properties.  They could also optionally be added to the administrators group on the local PC.  As you are a good and wise admin you are using domain groups so you just add that group to either of the aforementioned locations.

I strongly advise adding the user as an administrator and then locking down the available options on the PC with either group policy or security through obscurity using default profile .
Hopefully this assists with somebody, I am going to do another article shortly on how to accomplish this with Windows Server 2003 and not pay for terminal services licensing so stayed tuned.

The following are the sites I used for reference:
http://fawzi.wordpress.com/2008/02/09/enabling-multiple-remote-desktop-sessions-in-windows-xp/
http://piglings.blogspot.com/2008/08/multiple-remote-desktop-connections-rdc.html
http://www.blogsdna.com/4560/how-to-enable-concurrent-sessions-for-remote-desktop-in-windows-7-rtm.htm
http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-xp/using-xp-pro-as-a-server/71258.html
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/06/13/enable-multiple-concurrent-remote-desktop-connections-or-sessions-in-windows-xp/
http://www.asktheadmin.com/2008/08/enable-multiple-remote-desktop-connections-to-your-xp-or-mce-machine.html

At this point I have screenshots for a current flash, Mozilla Firefox, Adobe Reader, and Automatic updates on XP.  If your not using XP then this is useless.  Windows has stopped progressing forward at Windows XP so I am going to document what I can while I can. I try to use screenshots of software updates to inform better than words.  More words and more pictures is preferred but at least more pictures.

The more issues that I see from individuals wondering what is wrong with the update, I see the need to create a simple howto and address each of the most common of these concerns.

Short story is updates happen.  There is nothing you can do, or want to do, about lowering the amount of updates you have to install.  Each update enhances your machine’s performance or your experience in the software you use.  Updates are a good thing, and should not be feared.

Here is a series of screenshots for Adobe Flash Player installation.  Follow them in order and you will find success.

Close all of your Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox windows.  Then click the INSTALL button.

Check the checkbox located above the buttons and below the text.  DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK to software agreement unless you really feel the need to read it again.

It will then download and install the update.

Press the DONE button and you are all done.

When you launch Mozilla Firefox you may see the following for various add-ons:

These are acceptable updates.  Just click on the Install Updates button, and the updates will be downloaded and installed.
These are updates for stuff you already chose to install.  They should not harm your computer more than they already have .

Now lets look at the pretty little yellow icon in your notification area, this is for Windows Updates.
Click the little yellow icon in the corner

Now click on the Custom radio button and press the next button.  In the list of update you should uncheck anything that say genuine advantage.  These items are spyware created by microsoft and should not be installed  :) :

Now watch as the updates are installed.  The occasional failure is just fine for windows XP, especially if you have not reinstalled windows in over a year.  This software will break down and pieces are not placed correctly at all after a while due to a wonderful crap design.

When the updates are completed you will be asked to reboot your computer.  Please reboot your computer.

Now you can move on to other updates.

Now we look at Adobe Reader updates, this happens every few security leaks.

First you will see a little icon in the corner like this:

Click on that icon to see the following:

Click the install button and watch it install:

Now click finish, tada you have successfully installed an update .

There are lots of updates that always popup with windows to install stuff.  Chances are most of it is legit.  If you are using Internet Explorer, only click on the X in the corner on all windows that come up.  If you watch a lot of flash videos, never install anything that looks like its pretty.

Hope this makes it easier for a few individuals.

Enter the world of VirtualBox. Honestly I saw this project as well as several others headed to the junker after big brother bought them.  Oracle has been very good to VirtualBox and I believe it is ready for primetime.  There are some key issues but I am going to walk through step by step how to create a new “headless” Ubuntu VirtualBox server.

For starters this solution does not requires you to use a windows desktop client. This I feel is most important.  With VMware solutions for the server side, you need Windows or Windows server and this is not optional.  VMware Server was mostly oriented to being a full single server multi user solution.  It has a fantastic web client that worked at least 60% of the time.  So likewise we need a solution that will allow for multiple users to connect and manage all the VMs on a machine with a web gui that works better than say 90% of the time.

*****************Special Note: This is a “How I” not a “How To”.  I am writing this for my benefit so I can reference it later. If you choose to use these ideas, and please do, you do so at your own risk and peril.*****************

First off we need a server.  I suggest, and use in this article, Ubuntu server 10.04.  This is supported for the next 3-5 years so it is an effective solution.  Download the iso from Ubuntu.  Burn it and install it. I don’t cover all of the installation here.  I assume that if you are call yourself an “engineer” for that wonderful desktop os that you run on your servers now, you should at least understand what server hardware you have and how to install a new operating system.  In order to make effective use of all the high end stuff you put in your server, get the 64-bit edition.  There is a slight hiccup, if you have a crap system like older Intel or anything compaq, you will not be able to run 64 bit guest .

There are many excellent howtos for the installation, here is one.  You will need at the very least, nothing .  You may want to save time later and install Apache2 and Samba server/client with all requirements during the installation.  This is how I did this.  Why Samba?  Simple, makes it easier to get your VMs from one computer to another using whatever OS you want to.  I am aware SFTP or SCP will do this as well, but why go complicated when speed is all that matters.

Now when you setup a new user ensure you remember what you chose, I used vbox as username and password.  This one username and password is all you require for this to work properly system-wide.  VirtualBox is targetted more at being a desktop single user solution, this is both simpler and more challenging for the administrator.  The first user you create on this server is the one that will be “running” and “owning” the VMs.  Although after I show how to add additional users that will be able to administrate this VM server.

For our web client we will be using PHPVirtualBox for the web client.  This is the best (read only) web gui available for VirtualBox at this time.  PHPVirtualBox requires the use of vboxwebsvr service.  We setup this service to start on boot as our vbox user.  This means all VMs and their configuration will be owned by this user.  When you go thinking about a backup solution, remember to backup this users home directory as well.

So now to installing VirtualBox, here we have to make a decision USB support in VMs or no USB support in VMs.  The license for VirtualBox allows for personal use of their proprietary plugins for USB.  This license is very liberal in that an administrator can “personally” install and use as many copies as they would like of this software.  There is no limitation on how the VMs that are run from this installation are used.  This means, I am going to choose to install the proprietary version and use it in my organization and its free.

Installation instructions can be found on the VirutalBox downloads pages.  I use their repositories since this makes things faster, and I wanted USB support. I should mention that I never type all the commands all the way out, I copy and paste.  I use putty once the installation is completed for any and all Linux installations, I suggest doing the same and all my screen shots are from a remote system.
Execute the following (I am using Lucid 10.04):
sudo echo deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lucid non-free >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-get update
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-3.2

Now we need the phpVirtualBox installation completed.  If you haven’t already installed apache2 execute the following:
sudo apt-get install apache2-doc apache2-suexec apache2-suexec-custom php-pear php5-suhosin apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils apache2.2-bin apache2.2-common libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap php5-common apache2 apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils apache2.2-bin apache2.2-common libapache2-mod-php5 libapr1 libaprutil1 libaprutil1-dbd-sqlite3 libaprutil1-ldap php5-common php5-mysql

Now download the binaries from the phpVirtualBox website.
cd /var/www
wget http://phpvirtualbox.googlecode.com/files/phpvirtualbox-0.5.zip
unzip phpvirtualbox-0.5.zip
rm -rf phpvirtualbox-0.5.zip

Open the config.php file in the phpvirtualbox-0.5 directory:
cd phpvirtualbox-0.5
sudo nano config.php
Change the following to match your setup:
var $username = ‘vbox’;
var $password = ‘vbox’;
Press CTL+x and answer questions to save the file.

For testing execute the following on the command line as the user you chose:
vboxwebsrv -b -p 18083 -H localhost –logfile /home/vbox/VboxLogfile.txt
Now you should be able to get to the main site at http://hostname/phpvirtualbox-0.5/
We still have a little bit to configure before all this is working securely enough for most people’s purposes.

First off we need the vboxwebsrv server to launch on boot by itself.  Download the sample script provided by the phpVirtualBox team:
cd /etc/init.d
sudo wget http://phpvirtualbox.googlecode.com/files/vboxwebsrv
Now open the file to edit some information:
sudo chmod +x vboxwebsrv
sudo nano vboxwebsrv
Change the following to match your installation:
USER=vbox
If you would like to have logging enabled change the following line too:
su ${USER} -c ‘vboxwebsrv -b –logfile /dev/null >/dev/null’
Now we can have this start on boot:
sudo update-rc.d vboxwebsrv defaults

So now we have an apache2 service running with a phpVirtualBox installation and vboxwebsrv service running.  Lets configure this server a little more to make it more securish .
First and easiest is the .htaccess file:
cd /var/www/phpvirtualbox-0.5/.htaccess
echo AuthUserFile /home/vbox/.htpasswd >> /var/www/phpvirtualbox-0.5/.htaccess
echo AuthGroupFile /dev/null >> /var/www/phpvirtualbox-0.5/.htaccess
echo AuthName “Login to phpVirtualBox” >> /var/www/phpvirtualbox-0.5/.htaccess
echo AuthType Basic >> /var/www/phpvirtualbox-0.5/.htaccess
echo <Limit GET POST> >> /var/www/phpvirtualbox-0.5/.htaccess
echo require valid-user>> /var/www/phpvirtualbox-0.5/.htaccess
echo </Limit> >> /var/www/phpvirtualbox-0.5/.htaccess
You will of course need to edit the above to match your situation.
Now we need to create our .htpasswd file with users that we want to allow access to this phpVirtualBox:
htpasswd -c /home/vbox/.htpasswd vbox
Edit the above to suit your needs.

Now we should reboot the server and make sure that everything is working.
sudo shutdown -r now

Now if all works great if not, oh well you get what you paid for.

To use the VMs that you have presently in VMware the following resources are available:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuMagazine/HowTo/Switching_From_VMWare_To_VirtualBox:_.vmdk_To_.vdi_Using_Qemu_+_VdiTool

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VBox_vs_Others

http://code.google.com/p/phpvirtualbox/downloads/detail?name=vboxwebsrv&can=2&q=

So here I am to save my day again with simple and concise instructions.  These are unique to Untangle’s OpenVPN and mostly only Untangle’s OpenVPN implementation.  Use and adapt if you can, and please post comments if you get it to work with another method.

First off have your administrator give you your .zip file download.  This is found by choosing to download the client that is for all other clients that are not windows.  This is inside the OpenVPN configuration of the Untangle server.

Next choose to save this file somewhere on your Ubuntu PC.  Extract the contents of this zip file.  There should one folder called something like untangle-vpn.  Inside this folder is another folder with the same name and two other config type files.  In to folder of the same name inside there are three important files: your user certificate, called username.crt or something similar; your companies Untangle CA certificate, called company-ca.crt or something like that; and your companies private key file for this VPN, called company.key or something similar.  You will use each of the above mentioned files a little later but first we need OpenVPN installed, oh and of course a big fat gui to make things easier .

Now for the fun part install the following using the big fat software install on the bottom of the application menu OR from the CLI like I know you want you like so:

sudo apt-get install network-manager-openvpn

Assuming your system is not as crappular as some others this should pull all dependencies needed/required.  If it doesn’t then just friggin run:

sudo apt-get install openvpn openssl

Now you should be truly ready for the funnest and easiest configuration ever for OpenVPN.  Find the Network Manager applet in your system notification area (next to the clock possibly?).  Right click on the applet and choose edit connections.

Now you will see the main VPN choosing tab, click on the Edit button.

Now lets go ahead and do the actual configurationing thing.  Obviously I already have mine configured but for your first pressing the Edit button will yield a similar screen.

Enter the IP of your Untangle server into the Gateway field.  This IP can be found in the file called company-username.conf or something similar from above.  Then choose Certificates (TLS) in the Type field.  Now click on each of three field and select the file that should be there.  These are three files that were mentioned previously in the subfolder of you untangle-vpn folder that you extracted from the zip file from your Untangle server.  If you have a pass phrase (like  a good security dude would) enter it in the bottom field to allow this program to unlock and use your private key.

Now Press the Advanced button.

Here you want to check any check boxes that apply to your specific situation.  I use LZO compression cuz it makes stuff faster, if your Untangle server doesn’t use this then don’t check the checkbox.  The other stuff will only need to change if you are already certain what needs to change there so I am not going to bother explaining.  Please feel free to look over the other tabs.  I didn’t bother cuz my VPN is working .

Now we have a configured VPN, how do we connect.  For this it will require an immense amount of concentration, you must LEFT click on the network and choose VPN Connections=>Connection Name.  The VPN will connect, there is no notification if the VPN has no errors.  If you want to see the errors do what I did and move the files that you previously configured, then you see the pretty errors that will be presented if something fails.

Congratulations, you made all the way to the bottom of this howto.  Now please leave a comment all about how this did or more importantly did not help you.  And of course thanks for wasting your time on my blog .

Anytime an MS update fails to install or gets interrupted, regardless of the product, pieces get left in \windows\installer so that you loose disc space.   This appears to be by design as MS has now removed the download for MsiZap.

If you ever wish to see how much space you can reclaim from all those uncessary installation files leftover to rot in your windows folder, download MsiZap.exe.  I have chosen to link it right here for all to download as needed.  This tool is a must and why on earth MS chose to remove it I will never know.

So now that you have this important file here is how to use it.

Press Start=>run and type cmd.  If you are using the new crappy windows, don’t use this program cuz you know your version of windows is just too cool to need anything like this.

Navigate on the command prompt to where the file is located.  I place the file in \%systemroot%\msizap.exe so that it was all ready to in my path.

Now that you have the location down just type:

msizap.exe !G

Watch as lots of stuff scrolls by on your screen, or not depending on how long windows has been installed.  Then go check your system drive and see how much space you have saved yourself.

This program has been able to save me and several family members lots of space.  Normally its about 2-10 GBs but this one time while camping it was over 60GBs

Hope this program helps you as much as it helped me.

If you want more information and an actual reference guide please see below:

http://rafaelwolf.com/?p=263

http://www.pagestart.com/msizap.html

http://thebackroomtech.com/2009/01/19/howto-use-msizap-to-remove-orphaned-cached-windows-installer-data-files-to-increase-free-disk-space/

http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/windows-install-clean-utility-using-msizap

http://sqlblog.com/blogs/linchi_shea/archive/2008/08/12/msizap-is-your-friend.aspx

In this howto I will give clear and concise lists of how to setup a crontab entry to run some program at a certain time.

To easily see what I am talking about I am going to show you first a simple printout of a default crontab from one server (no not a real server).  I personally locate all of the scripts to be run on my server(s) in a folder somewhere like /backup/scripts or /root/backup.  I also like to have all the information about actions from specific scripts sent to me personally rather than root.

#Set the person to receive emails from crontab results
MAILTO=lsmithers@nerdoftherings.net
#copy files to backup servers (3x per week)
30     18     *     *     0         /root/backup/copySaturday.sh
30     18     *     *     3         /root/backup/copyTuesday.sh
30     18     *     *     5         /root/backup/copyThursday.sh
#Create backup files 3x per week, tar.gz that gets copied to backup server
*     23     *     *     2         /root/backup/backupTuesday.sh
*     23     *     *     4         /root/backup/backupThursday.sh
*     23     *     *     5         /root/backup/backupSaturday.sh
#Reboot the server once a month, yes its linux but this is because of crap software
*      0     1     *     *         /sbin/shutdown -r now

Now lets examine each entry.  First we have the most critical of all elements I have discovered, a method to eliminate crap being emailed to root erroneously.  Root runs all the backup scripts on my server but I don’t want that user’s mailbox to get huge.  So I set the MAILTO environment variable and that email that apparently has to be sent is sent to somebody that might find it useful. You could also disable the need to email by setting MAILTO=”" but why would you do that?

Next we see the copy files scripts.  These scripts will copy the tar.gz backup files from the server to the backup location.  They will run at 6:30 pm (server time) and will run only one day after the label of the script.  So Saturday runs on Sunday, Tuesday runs on Wednesday and so on.  I do this for my own reasons, for the inclusion here it just demonstrates how to do stuff.

Next we see that the actual backups are started on the actual days that listed on the script.  If you haven’t caught on then look closer, the days of the week start on Sunday and go from 0-6.  The computer likes to use zero, if you don’t like to use zero then you could also use 7 on most systems to represent Sunday.

The last entry is because this is a phone server running Trixbox and it seems to need this occasionally.  I have it rebooting the server at midnight on the first day of the month.

So to recap all the above stuff is dealing with crontab, if you need more crap go to google or http://adminschoice.com/crontab-quick-reference or http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-unix-crontab-change-mailto-settings/.

I am going to show off the easy config that I have been using for over 2 months now.

I had been using notepad++ with 3 extra tabs always open.  This is an excellent solution whne you only need a few things available at all times but what about when you get 15 or more items that you have to type basically verbatim over and over all day long.

AutoHotkeys to the rescue.

First go to the download site for autohotkeys.  The file you want is the installer.  Simply install the program as you would normally, then drag the AutoHotkey program to your startup folder under all programs on your start menu.  When you first install the program it will launch an initial configuration that you will need to save somewhere, I recommend “My Documents” but you can place it anywhere it doesn’t matter.  In that configuration file you will see lots of other instructions, its a good idea to read them.

Here is a base config for several common uses:

::=HelloWorld::Hello to the world from AutoHotkeys.
::=sig::
(
Respectfully,
First Last
flast@Domainname.com
Technical Support Engineer
Please cc support@domainname.com on all correspondance.
My hours are 7pm to 5am GMT, if you require assistance outside the hours please call 18884nothin
)
::=close::
(
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to assist you with this case. At this time, I will close this case as you have approved.
If you have further questions, this case can be reopened at any time.
My goal is to always provide exceptional and timely service.
In an effort to provide the best possible customer experience, we willrandomly send out surveys after we close a case.
If you receive a survey you have the chance to be entered in a drawing to receive nothing.
The response and rating you give to the survey is a direct reflection on how I was able to assist you with your case.
There is an area at the end of the survey for you to leave comments and suggestions on the other departments but doing so may get them or you fired.
I value your opinion and if you receive a survey, I would appreciate any feedback you keep to yourself.
It has been a pleasure working with you.  Again please don't hesitate to contact me if I may be of further assistance.
Respectfully,
First Last
flast@company.com
Technical Support Engineer
Do Nothing Corporation INC
**Please CC support on all emails or we will simply ignore you**
Access our website at www.donothingatall.com.  You can find lots of useless informations there.
)
::=int::
(
This is BOB and I have taken ownership of your case.
Can you please tell me why you decided you had to open this case?
What could you possibly expect to find this time?
Would you please email the case and add all configuration files you have ever created?
If you fail to upload all files I will ignore you until you do so.
Thank you, its a pleasure to not serve you.
)
#c::SoundSet +5
#v::SoundSet -5

::=sig::(Respectfully,First Lastflast@Domainname.comTechnical Support EngineerPlease cc support@domainname.com on all correspondance.My hours are 7pm to 5am GMT, if you require assistance outside the hours please call 18884nothin)::=close::(I would like to thank you for the opportunity to assist you with this case. At this time, I will close this case as you have approved. If you have further questions, this case can be reopened at any time.My goal is to always provide exceptional and timely service. In an effort to provide the best possible customer experience, we willrandomly send out surveys after we close a case. If you receive a survey you have the chance to be entered in a drawing to receive nothing. The response and rating you give to the survey is a direct reflection on how I was able to assist you with your case. There is an area at the end of the survey for you to leave comments and suggestions on the other departments but doing so may get them or you fired.I value your opinion and if you receive a survey, I would appreciate any feedback you keep to yourself.It has been a pleasure working with you.  Again please don't hesitate to contact me if I may be of further assistance.Respectfully,First Lastflast@company.comTechnical Support EngineerDo Nothing Corporation INC**Please CC support on all emails or we will simply ignore you**Access our website at www.donothingatall.com.  You can find lots of useless informations there.)::=int::(This is BOB and I have taken ownership of your case.Can you please tell me why you decided you had to open this case?What could you possibly expect to find this time?Would you please email the case and add all configuration files you have ever created?If you fail to upload all files I will ignore you until you do so.Thank you, its a pleasure to not serve you.)#c::SoundSet +5#v::SoundSet -5

The above configuration is fairly straightforward.  To begin with you need :: signifying the beginning of a replacement text followed by :: then you start the text to insert with ( and end with ) on separate new lines.  If you only need to replace a single line of text you can enter it succinctly like ::replace::Text to insert instead.

Important notes about above configuration.  I use a format that is similar to what I have seen in other programs of this type, ie the = sign is placed in front of the text to be replaced.  This makes it easier to designate text that should be replaced and text that should be left alone.

The above configuration also demonstrates the versatility of this awesome program.  I have it set so I can press windows+c to increase volume and windows+v to decrease the volume.  This means I can lower the volume of my music playing when I have to put the phone headset on to take a call .

Mostly I would suggest this is useful for mundane repetitive typing, where using a mouse to highlight and copy/paste text is not preferred.  I like using the keyboard to get more done faster and now I can output more text on screen quickly with just a few key strokes.

I would like to hear about experiences you may have had using this program.  Please feel free to comment and post your configuration samples so the whole world can make this program better.

Update 03 Dec 10

Found out some new fun things.  I have been working with several people that are very into this program.  Apparently for some it was important not to have to press space or enter after a hotkey string to activate text replacement.
This will let you simple type was is present between the :: :: and have the text replaced right away without the need for space or enter:

#Hotstring * C

This is to print out the current date in common format using Shift+windows+d:

!#d:: FormatTime, mytime,, M/d/yyyy SendInput, %mytime% return

This one will open your downloads folder with CTL+k:

^k:: Run "C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\Downloads"

Apparently this application goes well beyond things that I initially started using it for.  Please continue to share anything that you feel might be of some use.

We will have to patch the source after installation, but before configuration.  This procedure will also have to be completed each time there is a kernel update.

The first step is to go to the following sites and download the patches presented there:

http://radu.cotescu.com/2010/01/19/how-to-install-vmware-server-ubuntu-fedora-opensuse/

http://codebin.cotescu.com/vmware/vmware-server-2.0.x-kernel-2.6.3x-install.sh

These are patches that have been updated from the ones available in the vmware forums.

This is the most important part, go to VMware site and download the server install files:

http://www.vmware.com/products/server/

You will need to register for free and provide them with a spamable email address.

Now we move on to the fun part, I use the console but you can use whatever makes you happy.  First I create a directory, we’ll call it VMware.  You will want to log in to a console on the machine itself, putty will not work since the installation can disrupt network services.

First you’ll need to untar the patch and place needed files in working directory:

Now download the tar.gz into the same directory as well:

ls -la

Now we simply execute the script and it works its magic

./vmware-server-2.0.x-kernel-2.6.3x-install.sh

It will print out a lot of stuff, when it is finished you will know and it will begin asking more questions.  It is safe to assume that the default install locations are acceptable.  If you need more help with the why for install locations please consult the vmware documentation.

If you need to use the vmware console on the Ubuntu Desktop then you will want the other script in raducotescu-vmware-server-linux-2.6.3x-kernel-592e882 directory, there is a bug in the default Ubuntu setup that interferes with the mouse.

For now just open your web browser and enter http://127.0.0.1:8222 to open the vmware console.

Enjoy your now more fully configured Ubuntu Vmware server.

For a web server I usually use the following:

RPMForge (necessary beyond belief)
wget http://packages.sw.be/rpmforge-release/rpmforge-release-0.5.1-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm
rpm -Uhv rpmforge-release-0.5.1-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm

Postgresql repositories:  as downloaded from http://yum.pgsqlrpms.org/reporpms/repoview/pgdg-redhat.html

wget http://yum.pgsqlrpms.org/reporpms/8.4/pgdg-redhat-8.4-2.noarch.rpm

rpm -ihv pgdg-redhat-8.4-2.noarch.rpm

And of course last but not least we really need Webmin to have some ease of administration

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin-1.510-1.noarch.rpm

rpm -ihv webmin-1.510-1.noarch.rpm

yum -y update
yum -y install nmap php-pgsql postgresql-odbc php-pear postgresql postgresql-server postgresql-libs postgresql-php httpd squirrelmail sendmail-cf php-pear samba-common vsftpd mod_ssl openssl