Debian Wheezy, Xorg & Nvidia Dualhead

I just bought a new 2nd monitor to dual-head with and while it works out of the box with nouveau open  source drivers the opengl rates are not the best leaving game play out of the question.

so this is my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file that gets it all working with gnome 3 (Debian wheezy)
of course it will be different for your machine but this will give you a hit on what to do, the main things I expect to be different are red

If you are wanting one screen spread over two screens, not two screens uncomment


#  Option "Xinerama" "true"

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier     "X.org Configured"
Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
Screen      1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "Files"
ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
FontPath     "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
FontPath     "built-ins"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load  "dri"
Load  "dri2"
Load  "extmod"
Load  "record"
Load  "glx"
Load  "dbe"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier  "Keyboard0"
Driver      "kbd"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier  "Mouse0"
Driver      "mouse"
Option    "Protocol" "auto"
Option    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier   "Monitor0"
VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName    "Monitor Model"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier   "Monitor1"
VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName    "Monitor Model"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier  "Card0"
Driver      "nvidia"
VendorName  "nVidia Corporation"
BoardName   "GT218 [GeForce 210]" 
BusID       "PCI:1:0:0" 
Option    "twinview" "1"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device     "Card0"
Monitor    "Monitor0"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     24
EndSubSection
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device     "Card0"
Monitor    "Monitor1"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Modes "1680x1050"
Depth     24
EndSubSection
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
#  Option "Xinerama" "true"
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Debian Wheezy Dual Head running Gnome 3.2

if you are running Debian Squeezy and want to run Debian Wheezy, I have made a video for installing
Wheezy



sources:

http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers
http://wiki.debian.org/Xorg?action=show&redirect=ConfigureX

Pantalla

Pantalla Screen Caster

*BETA*

Pantalla is a application for screen casting using ffmpeg and pulse audio

it has the following features:

• Full screen mode
• Windowed mode
• Record from microphone
• Record from loopback (microphone and system sound)

Pantalla Screen Caster

it requires a ffmpeg with lib264 support from debian multimedia repo or other such location

code can be downloaded from 

https://github.com/xpd259/pantalla/zipball/master

and installed with the install script


Features coming:
automagical upload to youtube


Requires Gnome and pulseaudio

tested on Debian testing (Wheezy)

Source Code
https://github.com/xpd259/pantalla

xpd259 install's - openSUSE 12.1 KDE Desktop

xpd259 installs openSUSE 12.1 with gnome 3

Xpd259 Install's Fedora 16 DVD install

Installing Debian Gnu/Linux Wheezy with Gnome 3

BRING ON THE SPAM!

I'm sure I will regret this but... I've disabled comment moderation as I was always clicking delete by accident

BRING ON THE SPAM!

recording desktop audio with pulse audio

Recording desktop audio with pulse audio

I wanted to record my desktop audio (the sound coming out of the sound card) with my microphone input so I could if I wanted make a screen cast of a game with audio comments at the time of playing.


It proved to be harder then I thought but the answer is quite simple


in a terminal enter

$ pacmd load-module module-loopback latency_msec=1

and you should head your voice (or feedback) on your speakers/headphones.


Now to record output and the microphone, Install pavucontrol with your preferred app install method.

Start recording and then load pavucontrol and set the Recording tab the output to "monitor of " 

Setting Monitor set to monitor of SB Audigy

this effect will only last till next reboot or till the module is removed with 

$pacmd list-modules

then look for  index: <number> <module-loopback>

$ pacmd unload-module <module number>

this should unload the module returning your audio to normal till it is loaded again 





Souces
www.pulseaudio.org/wiki/Modules
http://blog.stebalien.com/2009/03/howto-ones-linux-computer-with.html

Debian, Nvidia Geforce Cards with HDMI and no audio

Debian, Nvidia Geforce cards with HDMI and no audio

The Problem

I recently upgraded my system to include a second graphics card so I could dual head

this card was a Nvidia GeForce 210 from Dabs.com, While the card worked perfectly I did notice that my audio no longer worked on 9 of 10 boot's and then only on GDM not the desktop

After much investigation I narrowed the problem down and fixed it

It was quite hard to diagnose but thankfully I knew what should be in my system as I had only just built it

and when I did  lsmod there were a lot of refernces to snd_hda_intel.

Knowing I didn't have an Intel sound device and it wasn't there when I removed the graphics card it was obvious that the HDMI port on the graphics card must be interfering with my audio some how

Also when I use alsamixer this also reported a Intel card under the card listings when I pressed F2

alsamixer showing 3rd device

so I had to blacklist snd_hda_intel

The Fix

If you have an Intel sound device this will do nothing as it will stop your 

snd_hda_intel driver from loading stopping the sound device from working altogether 

sudo echo blacklist snd_hda_intel >> /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base-blacklist.conf  

and reboot

the output of lspci -v for the graphics card gave the following

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT218 [GeForce 210] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) Subsystem: CardExpert Technology Device 1401
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
Memory at fb000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Memory at de000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
I/O ports at cf00 [size=128]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at d0000000 [disabled] [size=512K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [b4] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
Capabilities: [128] Power Budgeting <?>
Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=024 <?>
Kernel driver in use: nvidia

Sources
www.dabs.com

Debian Gnu/Linux 6.0 Graphical installation guide

Debian Linux Graphical installation guide using Debian 6.0.3 

Net install CD image

"Debian is a free operating system (OS) for your computer. An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an operating system), but most of the basic OS tools come from the GNU project; hence the name GNU/Linux."

   

 This was installed in virtual box on Debian Linux, recorded using ffmpeg and edited using Kdenlive and Blender


sources
http://www.debian.org
http://www.virtualbox.org
http://www.xpd259.co.uk
http://www.kdenlive.org
http://www.blender.org 

FFMPEG Desktop Recording (update)

FFMPEG Desktop Recording (update)

as I posted a few week ago I wrote about how to record the desktop on Debian Linux, I have since improved my scripts

Debian 6.0 and Windows Dual boot install guide

Debian 6.0 and Windows Dual boot install guide

Sources

http://www.debian.org
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/
http://www.virtualbox.org
http://www.kdenlive.org/

Debian 6.0 Squeeze Text Mode Install Video

This is my Debian 6.0 install guide for 32/64Bit Text mode install
after reading http://wiki.debian.org/GoogleCodeIn2011/Applying I thought I would make a vblog about it

This is my first Video-Blog so be nice :)







sources
www.debian.org
www.virtualbox.org
http://wiki.debian.org/GoogleCodeIn2011/Applying#Create_a_video_showing_how_to_install_Debian_in_your_language.2C_and_upload_it_to_YouTube

Screen casting, ffmpeg , Debian and Virtualbox

Screen casting, ffmpeg , Debian and Virtualbox

I've been pulling my hair out trying to get this to work, I've been using gtk-recordMydesktop but the ogv files it makes kdenlive just didn't like so my only option was ffmpeg, But ffmpeg didn't like VirtualBox so here is my work around ... kinda

Debian Linux, Google music and 2 step authentication

If like me you want to use Google music and 2 step authentication, You may of noticed that every time you restart your pc you need to create a new password in auth manager. This is a pain in the ****
 a quick simple fix is the following

1. create a bash script to start google-musicmanger
2. alter menu to point to new script 
3. run and enjoy :)

Saned Networked Scanner & Debian Linux Squeeze

Saned lets you share any image acquisition device over the network as if it was connected to your PC and even put passwords on the device or limit it's access to a limited set of IP addresses

Why would you want this? Well imagine you live or work in an office where more then one person wants access to the photo scanner for the occasional scan  It would be a waste of resources to have a dedicated machine for scanning and then there is moving the image to their machine to work with it. this means anybody can scan from any PC

Xsane Dialogue box showing net:192.168.0.13 scanner 

Client 
I prefer to use xsane but you any front end that is able to access the network such as Simple Scan will work


edit /etc/sane.d/net.conf and place the server IP address in the file and it should look something like this

# gksudo gedit /etc/sane.d/net.conf

# This is the net backend config file.
## net backend options
# Timeout for the initial connection to saned. This will prevent the backend
# from blocking for several minutes trying to connect to an unresponsive
# saned host (network outage, host down, ...). Value in seconds.
# connect_timeout = 60
## saned hosts
# Each line names a host to attach to.
# If you list "localhost" then your backends can be accessed either
# directly or through the net backend.  Going through the net backend
# may be necessary to access devices that need special privileges.
# localhost
192.168.0.13 # this is the IP of the server running saned

there more be required for your scanner like mine as it was a HP all in one I had to set up via the hp-setup tool but this is beyond the scope of this howto 

Server

apt-get install sane openbsd-inetd

Edit /etc/services and make sure it contains a line like this:

sane-port 6566/tcp # SANE network scanner daemon

edit /etc/inetd.conf should contain a line like this:

sane-port stream tcp nowait saned.saned /usr/local/sbin/saned saned

#lsusb #output edited for length

Bus 005 Device 003: ID 03f0:2f11 Hewlett-Packard PSC 1200

and find your image device and note down the ID
then edit /etc/udev/rules/z60_libsane.rules

#nano -w /etc/udev/rules.d/z60_libsane.rules
SYSFS{idVendor}=="03f0", SYSFS{idProduct}=="2f11", MODE="0777", GROUP="scanner,lp", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"

Edit SYSFS{idVendor} and SYSFS{idProduct} to match your device (note colours)
this will change the device in /dev to be accessible to all users not just root (as seems to be for my scanner in debian)

then access to the scanner should be as simple as running xsane on the client

Xsane Ready to scan

this should work for all Debian based distor's such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint


SOURCES
http://www.sane-project.org/
http://www.xsane.org/
http://sanetwain.ozuzo.net - SaneTwain is a TWAIN data source supporting SANE
http://www.winsane.cx/ - WinSANE is another TWAIN data source supporting SANE

Evernote and Linux

Evernote and Linux

Evernote is to quote them

"... a multi platform note taking application ..."
it is a note service with image/pdf OCR and search for windows, mac and web browsers

.htaccess magic

I've spent the last few weeks playing with .htaccess and apache and it can be very powerful but has the potential to break every thing.

change root terminal to different colour

When using root it can be risky, to make it a little safer change the colour of the root terminal prompt to red

making it more obvious you are still in room and don't do rm -Rvf /

edit and place at the end of /root/.bashrc

PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;31m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]\w\[\033[00m\]\$ '

then re-login to root

Terminal with red root prompt

Sources


Life hacker months ago lost link


but had changes in my bashrc

securing phpmyadmin on Debian Squeeze

Securing Phpmyadmin on Debian Squeeze

securing phpmyadmin to the local network is much easier then I thought, there are three routes

1. Epic passwords and or option 2 and 3
2. user name and password .htaccess & .htpasswd files
3. Apache2 config editing to only allow known IP's access

assuming phpmyadmin is installed via apt-get and is in the default locations for squeeze 6.0.2

I don't guarantee these are any good, but they work for me by limiting access to 2 sets of passwords (.htaccess and application's) then IP address) 

1. Epic Passwords

epic length (20 char or more) passwords and unique passwords should always be used for each service 

http://www.pctools.com/guides/password/ is a good password generator 

but be warned that if some one is sniffing your network traffic they could get the password making the whole exercise pointless

I personally use pwgen

# apt-get install pwgen
# pwgen --secure # then pick four or five passwords from this and string them together

output of ~$ pwgen --secure

2. Username and Password

visit  http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/password/ and follow the instructions
using /usr/share/phpmyadmin/ as Path to .htpasswd file relative to your server's root directory

then using the information fill out.

# sudo nano -w /usr/share/phpmyadmin/.htaccess

# sudo nano -w /usr/share/phpmyadmin/.htpasswd

then upon visiting http://localhost/phpmyadmin it will ask for username and password
before asking for the applications username and password.

3. Apache2 configuration editing 
This method will secure Apache to reject any IP address but the one's in the local network.

#sudo nano -w /etc/apache2/conf.d/phpmyadmin.conf  

and add this to the bottom,

<Directory /usr/share/phpmyadmin/>
    Order Deny,Allow
    Deny from All
    Allow from localhost
    Allow from 192.168.0
</Directory>

 then because of apache config changes a restart is needed

# sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

The 192.168.0 is the IP address my network uses so will let any machine on the localhost or 192.168.0.0/255 IP range to access it anything else gets a error

if your network uses 10.10.10.0/255 or something else then edit to match your network or want to add a static IP address or some machine on the internet then add that e.g 192.168.0.13

Sources:
http://httpd.apache.org/docs/
http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/index.php