30 June 2010

NSIS on Linux?

NSIS is Open Source Installer made by the folks of ex Nullsoft. Today I just found "cross nsis" was floating on http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/opensuse/repositories/windows:/mingw:/win32/SLE_11/src/ What it means? I would say in near future many cross platform application developers on Linux will able to release Windows installer version on their own independently without touching M$ Windows. Umm probably touch WINE abit more :) though some windowish aspect should to be discussed with windows' user manually.

How To Make Bootable DVD/CD with CDRTFE

This is a list of boot image file of Windows and several popular Linux along with how to re-mastered Bootable CD/DVD using ONLY opensource software 7zip and CDRTFE.



Windows Vista, XP, 2000, NT4?, ERD :
Boot image: Generic*
Filesystem: ISO Level 4
BootCD option: Check all except "create boot info table" (as this corrupting boot image), use sector count 4

28 June 2010

Combo UbuntuStudio and Windows 7 bootable DVD

First, both OS (32bit version)  if combined togather it fits 4.7GB DVD. Ok I'm out of idea  if there is another benefit...

I once (long time ago) experiment to create All In One DVD contain multitude Windows, Linux Live Distro, OpenBSD, FreeDOS and several odds like Mikrotik, QNX NC etc. All cramped in single DVD and of course it works. Today, OS is getting bigger and giganteous not to mention excessive during the adoption of DVD standard.

The basic multiboot CD/DVD is to have bootloader that chain another bootimage file. I'll take isolinux for this guide, simply because it's open source and customizable. This method as I mention previously is not limited to Ubuntu + Windows 7 it could be (almost) anything.

Software needed:
7Zip, If you have ISO images
CDRTFE

1. Do we have isolinux?
Chance is if you have Ubuntu DVD/ISO then you already have it, look for "isolinux" folder. Just note this..
2. Dump Ubuntus ISO Images into empty folder say "D:\ISO\RemixDVD"
Use 7zip to extract the file or if you only have DVD just copy all files.
3. Dump Windows 7 ISO Images into same folder above using the same method.
4. Find the bootloader of Windows 7
I'll cover this maybe in separate post but for now it is "etfsboot.com" under "boot" directory. Copy this file into isolinux folder and rename it to 7.bin (in isolinux, all bootloader must be explicitly in *.bin files)
5. Delete any [Boot] folder under "D:\ISO\RemixDVD" in this case we don't need them.
6. Edit Isolinux's Boot Menu File

24 June 2010

GTK 2.90.3 : XP theme comeback?

Just checked GTK logs:


Overview of Changes from GTK+ 2.90.2 to 2.90.3
-------
* Win32: XP theming is back !-------

I will back to complete this post with quick review after try compile it... BTW they are getting closer to 3.0 :)

uh oh failed to build glib... guess I'll wait for stable tree :(

INF Path Variables and Values


These are complete translated value of predefined path variables taken from Windows XP that can be used in INF Packaging/Installation:

10=CSIDL_WINDOWS=C:\WINDOWS
11=CSIDL_SYSTEM=C:\WINDOWS\system32
12=C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS
17=C:\WINDOWS\INF
18=C:\WINDOWS\help
20=CSIDL_FONTS=C:\WINDOWS\fonts
21=C:\WINDOWS\system32\viewers
23=C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\color
24=C:\
25=
CSIDL_WINDOWS=C:\WINDOWS
51=C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool
52=C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86
53=
CSIDL_PROFILE=C:\Documents and Settings\qwerty
54=C:\
55=C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\PRTPROCS\W32X86

Unleash Winamp 2.x Power

When someone suggest me to use foobar, my reason basically (untill now) still the same: It doesn't bear a music player! IMO it's like WinSCP that able to play music... cluttered, complicated not like a jukebox. If it's not about player I will say "I want the most complicated software, I'll mastered it after a while" but no please not a player.

Since 1999, I always use Winamp for music only while I keep changing video player till I found MPlayer. Being a diehard XP user, Winamp 2.9 which dated back in 2003 was satisfied me. So does playing music need big resources? It just a matter of decoder and the rest is UI.

Pretty cool for 7 year old player!

Today I want to share my fully loaded Winamp 2.9 silent installer.

What special about this installer:
Core
- Winamp based on 2.95RC except the disputed in_mp3.dll file has been replaced by 2.91 version.
Plugins
Visualization:
- MilkDrop 1.04 preconfigured (add 5% CPU usage of my E2160)
DSP:
- edcast3 : a transcoder for icecast and SHOUTCast with ogg vorbis, mp3, flac and aac support
- VST Host : bring Winamp with unlimited possibilites of Sound FX. preconfigured using EffectChainer
- MuchFX2 : Multi DSP rack
- Enchancer : Light yet decent SFX (default DSP)
Input:
- Line-in : use input from your soundcard with winamp as amplifier
- Tara : plugin to support Real format, bundled with RealAudio 8 (audio decoder only)
- iTunes : plugin to play protected aac (mp4) files, need iTunes
- Other decoders:  mp3pro, aac, vqf, mp4a, als, flac, ogg vorbis, speex, musepack, monkey APE, FLAC, optimFROG, wavpack, AC3, DTS, vtx and WMA
Output:
- ASIO : low latency audio system, need special driver or use free ASIO4All
- KS : Kernel Streaming (skip windows audio system)
- Null : Mute output, useful for broadcasting
- Crossfading : also useful for broadcasting
- AAC : convert output to aac file based on libfaac
- FileWriter : convert output to FLAC, APE, OggVorbis (AoTuV) or MP3 (Lame)
- WMA : convert output to WMA
- KB5 : convert stereo to Dolby
General Purpose:
- DIMIN Hotkey: assign any key for global hotkey, useful if you dont have multimedia keyboard
- YMStatus
- Time Restore and Autoplay: make winamp resume playback after restart. disabled by default
- Alarm
- Advanced Control: preconfigured to display winamp mini control on systray
Twelve complete skins :)
Addons
- IceCast Server 2.3 : Turn winamp into Internet Radio Broadcast
- SHOUTCast Server 1.9.8 : Similar to icecast, more limited feature but much popular
- Acon EffectChainer : Free excellent VST and DX Chainer, preconfigured for using FreeVerb
- FreeVerb : Opensource set of Multithreaded VST SFX that sonically much powerful than Enhancer. To use it, choose VST Host as your DSP or can be chained in MuchFX2 (chaining chainer), note that any use of VST is CPU intensive (add 5% usage of my E2160 processor)

Enjoy!
Winamp 2.9 Silent installer (10 MB)
notes: 
this is silent install just wait for a few second then check in startmenu if it already installed, need XP and administrator account. Won't work on Vista/7!
realaudio 8 codec is bundled as illegal as realalternative did, cause surprisingly it ruled to be not redistributable.

16 June 2010

XP re-dead on upcoming October

Funny.. How many times Microsoft restate this?
Certainly an OS that living (and thriving) for a decade isn't a bullshit at all. I have done it over and over again to prove what 7even's could be better than XP's yet I always stuck with "The future is 7". It's like a headshot

But who cares? people behind opensource software always care about compatibility (and a virtue too) it's a discipline that must be adhered by programmers. Some major OSS even still consider Win98 to support! so XP's time should be extended faraway after it's end of line.

In fact I just finishing unattended XP CD (still reviewing in VM), An installation of XP with all latest updates after SP3, All drivers, All favorite OSS and freeware, All of my settings and preferences totaling 10GB stuff (after install) was completed in one step (that is inserting CD and choose partition) uh ok that's two step lasting in a mere 45minutes. Ah how the fuck I do that in 7even? Impossible... And people like me will always yearning for "Power of Administrator" that differentiate XP from 7, XP from Mac OS X and XP from Linux.

Does Linux anti crash? No, I can recall 7 years ago when I digging up a SuSe system configuration as root I was rebooted  for a total OS kamikaze, and after unsuccesful login I rebooted the system for a total harddisk suicide when an error in LILO ruin the MBR. Yes I'm a stupid root that time.. no doubt. But I'm probably learn my mistake later right? and it's a PC afterall...

In Win7 the system isolate the user by providing a seatbelt with minimal yet confusing button and a sweaty leather but in XP I make my own safetybelt with custom button and confortable leather as I gaining experience. It takes time but all is not lost when one day I transfer everything into an Unattended XP CD or should be a DVD today. And in a snap I got my safetybelt back plus a working ferrari ready to ride :) with me driving the car not by another driver. Yeah that's how I describe it, a system that flawed, insecure but a huge success if you know how to deal with the responsibily of given power. Smells like C cause XP isn't that complex compared to Linux and seriously sometime we need no complexity.

When I satisfied with the setup I will  start a legacy XP champaign by sharing many of my unattended installer specific for XP like a full powered Winamp 2.95 for example. And of course many OSS stuff.

note: XP means XP-32bit  just throw away that XP64 joke. Oh this post is a repeated rant

CabIt : A Re-Interface of Makecab and Expand

Recently during updating my unattended Windows XP CD, I create a small utility (eek written in batch) called CabIt. That time I try to achieved a much compressed DRIVER.CAB for the CD and find out that cabtool (an opensource utility) didn't satisfied me.

Later I'm puzzling with makecab.exe a builtin tool in Windows to create Cabinet file. No luck.. it always generate *.??_ file :(  only after googling a while I found Cabinet SDK from M$ that dated way back in 1997!

But guess what I found? Cabinet format indeed support "solid archiving" at that time! "Solid" which is a (marketing) term that popularized by WinRAR and followed by 7Zip is what M$ called (an ambiguous term) "folder" to explain the same functionality (Compressing a set of files as a union). Also I found out detailed info how to make a DDF file that needed by makecab.exe to properly produce .cab file. So CabIt is born, basically as an automatic DDF generator.