Chainload chimera with grub

If you want to dual boot your hackintosh with Linux using grub to select the operating systems, add the following lines to the 40_custom file and rebuild the grub menu.

menuentry "Mac OS 10.7 loader"{
set root=(hd1)
chainloader +1
}


The "40_custom file is located at "/etc/grub.d" .  To update the grub menu, run "update-grub" from terminal.  Once you run the update script, you will want to remove or comment out the other Mac OS entries that grub finds, as these will not work. (OS X needs chimera to boot from a normal BIOS.)

This scenario works only if you have Linux and grub on one hard drive and Mac OS on another.  Substitute  (hd1) for whatever hard drive you are running Mac OS from.

Dear ATI,

I really like your GPU hardware, it kinda kicks ass, but the drivers are another story. Please make some linux drivers that don't suck completely.  I am sick of driver installs that break every time the kernel gets updated or I switch monitor configurations.  Soon, I will trade off my Radeon 6850 for an older nVidia part just because NV drivers actually work.  If you want me back as a customer, please put more effort into making linux drivers.

Sincerely,

Ben

Fixing the media not found error in Subsonic

The latest version of Subsonic (4.6 beta 2)  for Debian seems to have an issue with  android phones and streaming out of the box.  The official instructions do not list two steps which should be there.  After you have configured the server, you need to manually create the music and playlist folders under /var for standard configuration.  As soon as I made the playlists folder, my android phone was able to list all the music on the server.

Subsonic webiste

Download for Linux

Instructions

Setting Fan speed for AMD GPUs under linux

If you need to set the fan speed for your ATI / AMD card manually for whatever reason, this is how it is done. I assume you have the fglrx drivers installed and configured correctly.

Type in terminal the following line (including quotes):

aticonfig --pplib-cmd "get fanspeed 0"

This command fetches the current fan speed.

Set the speed to something higher using this command:

aticonfig --pplib-cmd "set fanspeed 0 X"

X is the fan speed %.  In both commands 0 represents the first video card in the system.

Catalyst 11.1 Drivers now available for ATI/AMD video cards

The long wait is finally over, as AMD has released its new Catalyst 11.1 driver.  This driver brings native Linux support for the Radeon 6xxx series.  Sadly, my card still does not seem to be recognized by the driver properly.  I will have to do some digging in order to find out what is wrong here.  The driver also offers performance improvements on Left 4 Dead 2 on the Radeon 6xxx series under Windows, although I have not been able to confirm this yet.  As soon as I get a reason to boot back into Windows, I will get some performance numbers.  Download the new driver here if you have an ATI/AMD card.

Strange New Worlds

No, I am not talking about exploring outer space or visiting alien planets.  What I am referring to is the world of open source software, and more specifically, Linux.
I had previously rejected Linux as being a viable replacement for an everyday desktop operation system, but now that I have been using it for a while, I realize just how wrong I was.  Windows fanboys will claim that the average user won't like Linux because the average user does not want to use a command line.  Or because it doesn't run their favorite programs.  The thing is, the average user doesn't have to use a command line, and Linux doesn't have to run their favorite programs.

Wifi Hacking Part 1: Breaking WEP keys

In a previous post, I mentioned that I would provide tutorials for some of the things I am learning to do.  It has been said that one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it.  Today I will demonstrate how to crack a WEP key for the purpose of gaining access to a WEP protected wireless network.

Note:  This tutorial is intended for educational purposes only.  I do not encourage nor endorse the use of these tools for malicious or illegal use.  Do not go steal your neighbors wifi!

To perform this the operations detailed in this tutorial you will need the following:

• A compatible wireless adapter.  I use the TP-Link TL-WN321G.  It's only ten bucks and works out-of-the-box with Linux.
• Aircrack-ng suite--  This comes preinstalled on BackTrack 4, or can be acquired on Ubuntu by typing sudo apt-get install aircrack-ng
• A wireless network to perform these "attacks" on i.e. one that you own or have permission to use.
• GNU Macchanger-- also preinstalled on BT4 or can be aquired on ubuntu by typing sudo apt-get install macchanger
• A computer running some flavor of Linux.  Either the aforementioned Backtrack or ubuntu will work just fine.  Others will also work, but those are the two I have used.