RedHat Linux KVM Virtual Machine in a Linux VM in Oracle Virtualbox inside Windows XP -Whew!

That sounds as confusing as it is.
I am working through a guide to becoming certified on Redhat Enterprise Linux RCSA. To do this I need practise installing RHEL. Since I dont have several 64 bit systems I needed to find a way to do this with a single Windows XP laptop.
To create a lab environment I installed a current version of Oracle VM Virtualbox on my 32bit version of Windows XP. (My laptop is a 64 bit Core i7- XP is required by my employer.)
 Withing this environment I can create a (64bit) Virtual machine and install Redhat Linux (RHEL) no problem.
Then I get to the chapter on using  RHEL to create virtual machines. I thought this should be interesting VM's nested inside VM's

So heres how it looks. Windows XP > Start Oracle Virtualbox > Start RHEL VM.> Start KVM virt-manager > Create and Boot another RHEL instance.
Seems to be working ok. Ill let you know if there are any complications.. Should be interesting when I get to the network setup.

GameSalad for Beginners book

I just started reading this book GameSalad Beginners Guide . I was excited to see it published by Packt publishing. I know the author a bright young game developer Miguel DeQuadros of Wurd Industries creator of a few apps available on the itunes app store.

When I heard he was writing it I was wondering just what is Game salad? Of course he explains it right at the beginning...
  GameSalad is a fantastic, powerful creation tool that allows you to develop iPhone games! The best part about it is there is no programming involved whatsoever! With a simple drag-and-drop user interface, and behavior-based development, putting together anawesome game has never been easier! Its possible to put together a fully playable game in less than half an hour!
 
This sounds good to me I've done some Unix shell scripting but no fancy graphical stuff. I'd consider myself a beginner in game creation. I've been very curious about what's involved in creating an iPhone / iOS app.
He walks you through everything from where to start getting GameSalad, signing up as an app developer then off to practical advice on how to plan and create a game. Then practical examples

I look forward to seeing what I can learn.

LDOMS using the CDROM in the guest / Create CDROM ISO in Solaris

In Solaris LDOMS (Oracle Virtual machine for Sparc) the CDROM or DVD is not connected to the guest by default.

Many examples of setting up LDOMS refer to using a jumpstart or network boot.

Here is a quick tip for using the CDROM drive or an ISO image of the Solaris Install CD on the guest. This can then be used to install or recover an unbootable guest

Mount Physical CDROM to Guest domain

-------------------------------------------------------

Insert dvd

# cdrw -l ### Checks CDRom device path ##

Looking for CD devices...
Node Connected Device Device type
----------------------+--------------------------------+-----------------
/dev/rdsk/c0t0d0s2 TSSTcorp CDDVDW TS-T633A SR00 CD Reader/Writer

# ldm add-vdsdev options=ro /dev/dsk/c0t0d0s2 cdrom@primary-vds0

# ldm add-vdisk cdrom cdrom@primary-vds0 Guest1

Create and Mount ISO virtual CDROM on Guest domain

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#/etc/init.d/volmgt stop

# dd if=/dev/rdsk/c0t0s0s2 of= /var/tmp/Sol10_U8_Sparc.iso bs=1024k

#/etc/init.d/volmgt startMount CD Image on guest as a virtual cdrom drive
# ldm add-vdsdev options=ro /var/tmp/Sol10_U8_Sparc.iso iso@primary-vds0

# ldm list-services

# ldm add-vdisk iso iso@primary-vds0 Guest1

In LDOMS 2.0 you wont even have to assign a devalias.

# telnet localhost 5000

ok} boot iso

/

You should be booting to Solaris intall now.
If you just need to get into recovery mode do:

ok} boot iso -s

Free QR code generator

These QR codes you see popping up everywhere, you can easily generate your own.

Also Wasp Barcode has a blog suggesting 5 ways to use them.

Rats, had to switch from Open Office to Excel

I became A big fan of Star Office then Open Office while I was at Sun Microsytems.

I am a firm beleiver it's better to use Open source software rather than pirate from Microsoft.

However some Vendor's software is tightly coupled to Micro$oft. It would be nice to see more vendor agnostic software.

Case in point:

My wife was working on converting a client from Simply Accounting to Quickbooks. Quickbooks has a feature to allow you to import customers and vendors via Excel spreadsheet.

We had the spreadsheet exported in Open Office calc and went into Quickbooks (QB) import utility.

Then QB complained we did not have Excel installed....

Long story (even longer) we then downloaded MS Office 2010. At least M$ is getting less greedy for the Home & Student edition. 25% discount until Jan 6, 2011. It $119 CDN.

Did I just give a free plug for Microsoft??

After finally getting Windows XP service pack 3 (required) then the 35 windows updates that followed it works.

We started the Office download and the Windows update in 2010 (New years eve) and finished in 2011.

Price:

• MS Office Upgrade -$ 119. (30 minutes download)


• Downloading & install Service pack3 - time overnight


• 35 windows updates - 2 hours

Time saved retyping 3600 customers & several suppliers: Priceless.

My wife reports her last conversion took about 60 hours of rekeying data.

Optical illusion colour or Black and white?

I just came across this really cool website that show those brain tricking optical illusions.

Try this on. Is the castle colour or black and white?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6ccBwnc5KU&feature=player_embedded

Lots of other great tricks at this site .

http://io9.com/5690012/the-webs-best-optical-illusion-videosand-how-they-trick-your-brain?ref=nf

Sunray to replace a KVM console.

I have had an idea to use a decomissioned IBM console with a Sunray to provide a replacement for our old KVM.


The KVM's time has gone and updating it did not seem like a good use of money.


The screen was a rack mount 17 inch vga screen and the keyboard & mouse /touchpad. (IBM/Lenovo laptop style.)





Here are the issues I overcame to provide this solution.


Issues:

1. Video: Our Sunray uses DVI connectors. IBM screen uses VGA.


2. Keyboard/ Mouse: The Sunray uses only USB. Our Console keyboard has PS2 connectors for both mouse and Keyboard.


3. A standard PS/2 to USB adapter did not work well on the Sunray.

Solutions:

1. Video: no problem the Sunray 2FS ships with a DVi to VGA adapter.


2. KB/Mouse- PS/2 : I acquired 2 Cables to go brand USB to PS/2 Y adapters from Tiger Direct.


3. Despite being a Y adapter, these adapters would not allow both keyboard and mouse connected to one USB port. In fact the first one I got (model # 27225 $12 CDN) would not even allow you to type normally. The mouse works fine with this one. The second one I got worked fine with the keyboard (model # 32185 $32.99 CDN) but not with the mouse. Note also I had to connect both devices to the port labeled mouse, not the labeled keyboard port. The IBM keyboard /mouse comination device was labled SK-8840 part number PN 89P8500

So by combining these 2 adapters and using the 2 rear USB ports on the SunRay I was able to make this solution work.

It seemed a bit expensive $32 for the Sun compatible USB to PS/2 adapter but i wanted the nice rackmount IBM keyboard to work.

A cheaper solutiion might have been to find a narrower USB keboard , a flatscreen monitor and put it on a shelf in the rack but not nearly as elegant and not foldable.