As linux distrubution I do use openSUSE together with the closed source GeForce driver of nVidia to be able to use all features and the full performance of the card. In the beginning of 2012 I switch from the normal release version of openSUSE to the rolling release version called tumbleweed. If you red the wiki-page of tumbleweed at the openSUSE wiki (http://en.opensuse.org/Portal:Tumbleweed) you will recognize that it is not recommended to use the close source GeForce driver. As I found out it is not a big deal to use it with tumbleweed. The only issue is that you have to reinstall it everytime a new kernel version was installed. I handle it in that way that I keep a copy of the nVidia installer in my home directory and after a new kernel was installed I just boot the system into run level 3 and run the installed. That’s it => Afterwards everything runs as expected.

As you may recognized running the nVidia installer on openSUSE with a kernel equal or higher than 3.7 is not possible anymore, because it quits with an error text like:

“ERROR: If you are using a Linux 2.4 kernel, please make sure you either have configured kernel sources matching your kernel or the correct set of kernel headers installed on your system.
If you are using a Linux 2.6 kernel, please make sure you have configured kernel sources matching….” => Have a look on the screenshot to the right for the full error text.

Error message shown by the nVidia GeForce driver when it is executed under openSUSE tumbleweed with an linux kernel equal or higher than 3.7

The log file of the nVidia installer is really a shame – The error text says: “Look into the log file for more information”. And what does it contain? => The same error message! Well… that are incredible detailed information

After a little bit of searching the web I found some links and websites talking about that the nVidia installer is expecting the some files of the kernel source structured a little bit different than some linux distributions delivering them. In addition if you searched the web already I sure that you found some kernel patches as well. After some “try and error” the solution is quite simple but also a little bit openSUSE specific.

The reason why the installer quits is that it might use a hard coded path to look for the file “version.h”. For the installer the “version.h” needs to be here, otherwise it troughs the ugly error message from above:

/usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h

So the solution is pretty easy and clear. You just need to create a symbolic link from the real location of “version.h” to the one where the nVidia installer expects the file. For the most linux distributions, except openSUSE, the following command should work:

 ln -s /usr/src/linux/include/generated/uapi/linux/version.h /usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h

The kernel-source which comes with openSUSE tumbleweed (maybe SUSE13.x too?) stores the “version.h” in the little bit different path. The correct command for the symbolic link is:

 ln -s /usr/src/linux-obj/x86_64/desktop/include/generated/uapi/linux/version.h /usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h

I do run the 64-bit version of openSUSE. So in case you are using a 32-bit version you may need to adapt the path named above. As you can see there is the string “x86_64″ in the middle of the command. I assume that you need to adapt the path there in case of the 32-bit version of openSUSE. (Feel free to leave a comment if you had this issue and you found the correct path).

Last but not least: After creating the symbolic link you should be able to execute the nVidia installer successful. But keep in mind: You need to create this symbolic link each time tumbleweed updates your kernel to a newer version!!

I did not optimized the pictures individually, so no cropping or color adaptations were made by myself. I just grabbed the pictures from the camera and sent the raw files once trough Corel AfterShot Pro using my default preset with noise ninja and perfect clear filter.

If you enjoy the color full pictures feel free to leave a comment.

Nearly two weeks ago I decided to update at least my Satellite R630 running Windows 7 since the beginning to Windows 8. Last Saturday I purchase my copy of the final Windows 8 Pro and installed it on my R630. And here the issues appeared….

1. The update disabled all Toshiba programs which are necessary to support the hardware in the optimal way, e.g. Eco utility, touch pad software etc.
2. Toshiba does not support running the Satellite R630 / Portgege R700/705 with Windows 8.

What I found out is that in some cases Toshiba software and system software developed for the Satellite  R930  can be used! Only to be correct at the beginning: This does not mean that any driver developed for the R930 will work on the R630. But it looks like that the following software is working (at least in main parts):

• Intel Chipset SW
• Bluetooth Stack for Microsoft by Toshiba
• Intel Display Driver
• Synaptics touch pad driver
• Intel Rapid Start Technology Software
• Toshiba HDD Protection
• Toshiba Webcam Application

The next three components can be installed, but so far I was not able to find out if it really makes sense:

• Toshiba Function Key(came up with a message after first reboot and than disappeared)
• Toshiba Eco utility (came up with a message after first reboot and than disappeared)
• Toshiba Service Station (does not make sense, because driver updates for Win 8 does not exists)

So what will you get when the working drivers/ system applications are installed? On my R630 I am able to control bluetooth, the display, webcam and the Synaptics touch pad now. The last big thing missing for me is the eco utiliy, but so far I had no chance to check if the default power management of Windows 8 is not satisfying.

In case of any question or a hint you have – use the comment form below.

UPDATE 1:

I just found out that Toshiba offers a “Value Added Pack”. This package does include the Eco Utility for example and many other tools. Here is the link to the tool: http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais/support/jsp/downloadDetail.jsp?soid=3480912&pf=true

To come around the issues of file path and version conflicts I decided to try to access the DigiKam installation on my workstation from remote. I know there are plenty of options to do so like VNC or running an X-Server on my Windows laptop, but finally I wanted to use something very bandwidth efficient offering also the flexibility to access the local file system of my workstation very easily without dealing with scp or mounting some kind of network share. Therefore I decided to give FreeNX a try as an free alternative to the commercial application streaming from Citrix.

1.) Download and install FreeNX

openSUSE does provide FreeNX and NX rpm files in the standard OSS repository, but if you compare the versions against the latests once from the website of the project they are outdated. Also the files provided by repositories of the OBS are not really up-to-date. Therefore I searched for newer files using the search function at http://software.opensuse.org by enabling that “home” folders shall be included in the search.
I found the following repository “http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/please_try_again/openSUSE_12.1/” and added it as repository to zypper:

As next I selected FreeNX and NX for installation:

2.) Configuring FreeNX

Next you have to open a console (at KDE e.g. press <ALT>+<F2> and type “konsole”). At the console you have to switch the user root first before starting the configuration and than execute nxsetup:

nf@jupiter:~> su -
Passwort:
jupiter:/home/nf # nxsetup --install --setup-nomachine-key

I got the following error when executing nxsetup as mentioned above:

The solution to that is to simply create the folder nxsetup is not able to find:

jupiter:/home/nf # mkdir /usr/lib64/cups/backend/ipp

Than I executed the nxsetup again (“nxsetup –install –setup-nomachine-key”) as already mentioned above and it ran successful this time:

Basically the main setup and configuration is done. You can check if the FreeNX server is running by using the command:

jupiter:/home/nf # nxserver --status

The output should look like this:

3.) Client installation and first connection

After the nxserver is running you just need to install, configure and connect with the NX client to the NX server. The NX clients needs to be installed on the computer you want to use to connect to the systems you are running the NX server on.
In my case this is my Windows 7 notebook and my Linux workstation.

You can get the client from the official Website of NoMachine the creator of NX (the propriety version of FreeNX). Currently NoMachine offers clients for Windows, Linux, Mac OS and Solaris. In addition to native clients NoMachine offers a web client called “Web companion” too. To be able to connect to a NX server using “Web companion” you need a computer where a Java runtime is installed on.
Get your client from here: http://www.nomachine.com/download.php

After you installed the client you need to configure the connection. This can be done using the wizard which appears when you start the NX Client the first time. How this looked like on my Windows 7 notebook can be seen in the following screenshots:

When connecting to my NX server the Windows 7 firewall asked my two time if I want to allow the connection of programm nx… to … . Here please check that this are really programs belonging to the NX Client before simply allowing it.

That’s it, NX server running and you shall be able to connect to is using the NX client. Have fun with it!

After clicking on the picture there is a “Download” link in the lower left, click to see image in its original size! (8000px+ wide!!)

Außenalster:

Außenalster 2012-01-20

Binnenalster:

Binnenalster 2012-01-20

This work by Nicolas Fischer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

I bought a lot of stuff along with the HP ProLiant MicroServer which needs to put into the small tower of the server. I do show in this chapter what to install how and in which sequence. Basically this is a pretty easy task, but in case you did not bought one of this MicroServers and you want to know how the device looks from the inside you can check out the pictures I made.

Index

Instead of simply writing one big blog entry I decided to split up my report into multiple parts:

• Part 1: Introduction
• Part 2: Components
• Part 3: Software Installation
• Part 4: Assembly & Configuration
  

Working on the system board

Removing the system board

To remove the system board you do need to open the tower. Basically I recommend to check the manual from HP how to open the tower and so on. HP does provide a nice descriptions which really shows every step and move to execute.

To open the tower you do have to open the front door with the key and unscrew the screw on the back of the tower. Than you should be able to slide gently the top of the tower off the tower.

As the next step you should remove the hard disks and unscrew the blue screws aside of the system board. In my case a needed a special screwdriver with a torx (“star”) as a tip. You will need the same screwdriver later one when you need to remove the back plane where you need to put the iLO-Card in later on.

Next step is to unlock the cables very carefully from the cable brackets. To be on the save side you should open all brackets and lose all cables. Then you can pull on the handle at the front of the system board and the system board will slide out. Be careful when doing so because there are several cables connected to the board. Also disconnect these cables. It is very easy to reconnect them because all of them do only fit into a specific port or are color coded as you can see on my screenshots.

Installation iLO-Card

Please check the manual of the iLO-Card for the official installation procedure. In addition to it you can read my description.
Before touching the iLO-Card you should ground yourself so that the iLO is not getting damaged by some kind of electricity your body will submit. As soon you have removed the system board you can insert the iLO-Card into the slot nearest to the biggest heat-sink. As the next step you do need to remove the back plane at the rear of the tower which covers the slot. To do so slide down the cover of the slots and unscrew the screw with the screw driver you already needed to remove the system board. The next step is to slowly slide the system board back into the tower and to reconnect all cables. Do not lock the system board by now, because you still need to install the USB-Stick (next step)

Installation USB-Stick

HP was really thinking in advance when they decided to add an internal usb slot to the ProLiant MicroServer. This slot is placed quite close to the huge SATA-Connector on the system board. To be able to mount my USB-Stick into that slot I had to slide out the system board a little bit and than I simply inserted my “FreeNAS” USB-Stick into that port.

After putting it there I carefully pushed the system board back again than secure the system board by screw-in the blue screws again. At least I secured the cables by using the cable brackets at the end and do not forget the cable brackets aside of the hard disk slots!

Finishing the work on the system board

By now the system board is back again at the place where it belongs. Before continuing to the installation of the hard disks you still need to fix the installed iLO-Card at the slot of the rear of the tower. To do so fix it with the screw removed at the installation step of the iLO-Card from the back plane and slide up the cover again. That’s it!

Test Drive

Before adding the additionally purchased hard disks I just wanted to do a test drive of the system. Therefore I wanted to try to boot up my FreeNAS from the USB-Stick, accessing the iLO and see how FreeNAS responses on the system. I do recommend this step because if something is malfunctioning the hard disks are still original boxed etc.. In my case I decided to insert (first slot) the 250GB hard disk supplied by HP only.

Than I connected it to the power grid, connected the system as well the iLO board with an Ethernet cable to my 1GBit/s switch, added a monitor (you have to connect it to the port on the  iLO-Card !!), an USB mouse and keyboard to it.

BTW: Check the CD supplied by HP. On it you will find a link to the handbook to your MicroServer…. very strange HP really did not put it on the CD. Instead they offer only the link to download it. Or click here (hopefully HP won’t kill me):
German: http://www.hp.com/support/HP_Proliant_MicroServer_UG_gr
English: http://www.hp.com/support/HP_Proliant_MicroServer_UG_en

Results:

I pressed not a single button and the system booted straight from the usb stick into FreeNAS… very sexy. At the end of the boot process FreeNAS will ask you for the console setup. I decided not to continue because I wanted to add the new hard disks first. Therefore I selected “Shutdown”.
After the system shutdown I disconnected the power and attached devices to continue the hard disk installation.

Installation of the hard disks

Installing the hard disks is a pretty easy task, but HP does not supply any screws to screw the purchased hard disks into the frames. Isn’t that some kind of strange??
For me that was not a big problem, because I collected a lot of screws from computers of the last years. But to the plastic frames from HP does not fit every screws… see screenshots.
I decided not to use the hard disk supplied by HP, because the 250GB is quite small compared to the 2TB drives I bought and especially in case of noise and power consumption I do feel that I should use the western digital green series only.
I already found usage for this disk… as separated drive of my workstation where I could install Windows on.

After putting all hard disks into the frames simply slide them in from left to right until you can lock them. In case you want to mount five instead of only four hard disks you can use the 5 1/4 slot for the fifth drive. In case you want to do this you have to purchase an additional frame/adapter to put a 3 1/2 drive into a 5 1/4 drive. In my case I will keep the 5 1/4 slot free for maybe putting there a bluray writer or tape drive in a few month.

Now it is time to put back the top on the tower. You assemble the rest of the parts in the opposite sequence as you did in the step a the beginning.

Configuration

The configuration of the system using FreeNAS is very easy. After having the server assembled and FreeNAS installed on the USB-Stick. You should simply power on the server and boot up FreeNAS.

When the system is up there are two comfortable options to configure the system:

1. You can use the the command line. FreeNAS is offering a very simply and clean menu which allows you to do all basic configuration. You can see the menu on the screenshot I added in this article showing the system booted without installed hard disks
2. You can configure the system using the webinterface. You can reach the webinterface via the URL: http://<yourSystemsIP>/

In general working with the system shall be done using the webinterface, but it can be necessary to setup the basic IP-configuration via the command line so that the system will be assessable in your LAN.

For all further configuration steps I recommend to read through the wiki and tutorials available on freenas.org => http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Main_Page

In any case of question leave my a comment or send me a mail.

And here is the counter to the next release: 12.1

Maybe I will post a full review, some hints and trick about the table later on.

This part explains how I installed the FreeNAS operating system on my HP ProLiant MicroServer and configured it. In case you are questioning yourself how to install the OS before having the device assembled you really should continue to read…. …. maybe a hint, we are going to put the OS on the usb stick

Index

Instead of simply writing one big blog entry I decided to split up my report into multiple parts:

• Part 1: Introduction
• Part 2: Components
• Part 3: Software Installation
• Part 4: Assembly & Configuration

Getting FreeNAS

You can get FreeNAS very easy from the Website of the FreeNAS project. Simply go there and look for “Download”. I decided to use the AM64-Version of FreeNAS because the AMD Neo II N36L does offer AMD64 support and therefore I did not see any argument why not to use it. To install FreeNAS on an USB-Stick the best is to download the “xxxx.Full_Install.xz”.

Installing FreeNAS on an USB-Stick

After getting to know how it is very easy to install FreeNAS on an USB-Stick to boot it from there.
To be able to write this image on a USB-Stick you maybe needs some additional software in case you do not work under Linux. How to write the operating system on the USB-Stick is described at the online documentation of FreeNAS including how to do this by using Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. Therefore please check out this link to find out more: http://doc.freenas.org/index.php/Installing_from_the_Image
I do use Linux (openSuSE) on my workstation therefore I went with “dd” to write the image on my 8 GB trancend USB-Stick as you can see in the screenshot.

After it is done writing the image to the USB-Stick more or less the whole installation is done and we can put it to the parts we do need to put into our MicroServer.

Continue to read at: Part 4: Assembly & Configuration

Building a NAS or home server based on the Hewlett-Packard ProLiant MicroServer N36L is quite easy. Only a small amount of additional hardware is required to assemble a system with very impressive features and performance. In this small blog post I do explain which components I decided to use in my system and which benefits I hope to gain by using them.

Index

Instead of simply writing one big blog entry I decided to split up my report into multiple parts:

• Part 1: Introduction
• Part 2: Components
• Part 3: Software Installation
• Part 4: Assembly & Configuration

Minimum Hardware required

Basically by buying the MicroServer you are ready to go. The system comes with all hardware you need to run a small server. But I think this would not be worth this device! Therefore decide on your own which additional hardware you want to purchase at least a pair of good and big hard disk should be added to the device!

Hard Disks

I got three 2 TB Western Digital hard disks to put into my MicroServer. I decided to go for the Green Caviar with 64MB Cache and 5400rpm. I do not need server class disks because I do plan to power down the system when it is absolutely not needed. In case I am not at home and I do need some data from the device I plan to power on by using the remote management function offered by iLO.
Back to the WD disks. They do offer a low noise profile and an acceptable performance because of the density of the disks.

RAM

I am not planning to upgrade from 1 GB RAM which was included in the package to a higher value. I checked the system requirements of FreeNAS and I think for my purpose 1 GB is pretty enough especially when comparing to some other NAS boxes with much slower processors. But in case of doing heavy raid stuff and running a lot of servers on the box you should insert more RAM.

Integrated Lights-Out – iLO

In my opinion the coolest feature you can get for this server. iLO is the remote management card by HP. By using this card you will get access to the server even when it is set to power off. Via this card you can power-on/ -off, hard reset the server, have a look on the VGA-Out (even BIOS) and install a new OS via a remote virtual DVD drive.

FreeNAS

Because I want to get the system running without having to start a long installation and configuration procedure I decided to give FreeNAS a try. FreeNAS is a free and open source operating system based on FreeBSD which is optimized for providing NAS services. A special features comes to the support of ZFS, the Zeta File System, which is fully suported including Raid-Z etc. To find out more check the FreeNAS Website and the Wikipedia article about ZFS.

USB-Stick

The USB-Stick is used to store the FreeNAS Installation on it. By using a USB-Stick there is not need to install FreeNAS on any of the hard disks and you can even benefit a little bit of the fast read access of flash storage.
For my configuration I decided to use a 8 GB stick from transcend.

The next chapters is about the required software installation. To continue reading click: Part 3: Software Installation