SUSE Linux 10.1 as a DVD and a VNC client

by admin @ 6:51 am. Filed under Linux News, SUSE Tips & Tricks

Man, only in a tech job.

I have a new job which I’ve started this week. One of my co-workers is running me through everything to get me up to speed. He’s explaining what databases are updated by which php scripts. He is showing me what login scripts check which databases, and sends an email to the customer, and all that. OK, sweet.

What makes it really sweet is that we did it all from within our own cubicles. I got ahold of the new beta version of Skype. I also popped open krdc and connected to the VNC server running on his Wind0Z3 desktop. We connected on a Skype call, he ran me through the servers, configs, logins, scripts, IP addresses, domains, databases, and everything else, just as though I was sitting right there.

What makes this a little bitter-sweet is that his cubicle is right across the aisle from mine, so it wasn’t a “truly” remote session.

So anyway…

In a clear step backwards, a Toronto school closed their Linux lab. The reasons given were “because the principal said.” His reasons were “because of the limited resources they have.” Um, last time I checked, putting WinderZ on 30 machines would cost many thousands of dollars. Linux is the cost of 4G of bandwidth and one blank DVD. Well, that sucks. Someone call that principal and screw his head on right.

*growls a bit*

Alrighty, it’s about time for a tip.

I found a set of CDs the other day that, when installed, actually got the libzypp/rug/yum/etc. package management system installed properly so that it worked. Loving that I had found it, but wanting a DVD instead of 3,829,324,584,371,173,348,383 CDs. I can already hear someone saying, “Well, download the DVD.” OK, but what if I don’t feel like waiting for that? Well, it is possible to make a DVD from the SUSE Linux 10.1 CDs. It’s also FASTER if you already have the CDs.

It’s also pretty simple, as you can see by checking that link.

BTW, if you have the CDs as actual burned CDs, and you don’t have the images, you can create the images using a VERY simple command called dd, as in:

dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/home/scott/SUSE_Linux_10.1_i386_DISC1.iso

Modify it to suit your needs/tastes.

When you are done making your image files, it’s wise to check the md5sums to make sure they match.

Check the md5sum of the ISO:

md5sum /home/scott/SUSE_Linux_10.1_i386_DISC1.iso

Wait for it to complete.

Check the md5sum of the burned CD:

md5sum /dev/cdrom

Wait for it to complete.

If they match, you are golden to start making your DVD out of the CD ISOs.

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[Comments (2)] [link]

2 Responses to “SUSE Linux 10.1 as a DVD and a VNC client”

Lamont R. Peterson Says:
July 7th, 2006 at 11:12 am
I have used dd to rip CD/DVD images many times. But when a problem comes up with the media you’re ripping from, dd doesn’t have any facilities to handle it.

So, I found readcd, which is part of the cdrecord package on most distributions. It feels like it works faster than dd in many cases, but the really cool thing is that it can recover data in the face of most media read errors. It’s also dead simple to use.
Quentin Jackson Says:
July 7th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
I’m still ranting about this one (well it is a rant site right?) I mean, I made my own DVD out of the CD’s, helped out lots throught the beta process and I can’t figure out what to do with the whole libzypp thing. Their own website seems not to give a correct method of getting it to work, and it seems as though no-one has updated the CD’s/DVD’s that you download either which is ridiculous! I’m using SLED now and will wait for 10.2.