Some updates

First off...I am still having issues using VPN tunneling when out of town...I will next attempt to use port 80 as the VPN tunnel...and hopefully it won't wreck anything.

But on a positive note...the Dell Mini 9 triple boot works perfectly. And to be honest, as a non Mac user (ever) I just enjoy running OSX. It reminds me of a polished Ubuntu.

I use Ubuntu for a few things, XP for a number of things. But mostly I use OSX, it has the applications I use more often with a nice interface. It is still a pain to change things, but as is, it works beautifully.

Triple boot Dell Mini finale? (part 5)

Odds and ends.

It all works. It all works well, and OSX runs nicely on this little machine.

It took some command line editing to get it all to play nice.

First I had to put grub back on the Ubuntu partition.
-ubuntu$ sudo grub
-grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
-grub> (hd0,3)
-grub> root (hd0,3)
-grub> setup (hd0,3)
-grub> quit

I also took note of where the ubuntu partition was (hd0,3)
I booted a ubuntu live cd (on USB thumbdrive) and using terminal, drilled my way to the grub folder on the ubuntu install
-$ sudo gedit /media/ubuntu/boot/grub/menu.lst
I commented out all my windows links (#)
and copied the top ubuntu link (at the bottom of the list), I pasted the copy above the originals in the file (twice) and made some edits
- the original had (hd0,1) for boot drive...needed to be (hd0,3)
- the original pointed to /dev/sda2...according to gparted it needed to be /dev/sda4
The corrected menu entry with hd0,3 AND sda4 was the correct one...after it sucessfully booted, I commented out the others.

I also had to reedit the windows boot.ini (using msconfig). I previously had 3 setups depending on which drive the OSX bootloader would point to...it originally was part1...it is now part3. I made that one the default also.

The only thing left is to make a longer timeout in the OSX menu and perhaps make it visible, rather than having to hit a key first.

that file is on drive/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

So in all it took a 16gig flashdrive for the inital OSX install, a 8gig flashdrive to make the modified install DVD, an Ubuntu flash drive (gparted and grub etc) and time.

I didn't repeat all the instructions, I just tried to fill in some blanks, and clarify some things. There are some procedures listed that are simply no longer needed with OSX 10.5.6 and the new dellminiboot123 file...it is almost plug and play. (well easier than a linux install 1o years ago)

Dell Mini triple boot success! (part 4)

Lets see, where was I.

So I installed the standard OSX on my 16gb flash drive so that I could create an install disk that would install OSX to a MBR hard drive.
-while I was copying the DVD to the other (8gb) flash drive, (and went to bed) it stopped at 46 minutes to go...but it looked complete...so I went for it.

- removed the OSX DVD and the 16gb flash drive. reinstalled the dellminiboot disk and the 8gb flashdrive that I edited (as per linked instructions)...again booted up chose 80 for drive and booted from 8gb flash drive (install dvd)
-this time the installer allowed me to install to my 64gb drive
-I used the disk utility to lable that first partition EFI
-I installed OSX to the second partition
-...time passes...but much quicker than the flash drive install (16gb one)
-I reboot again with only the dellminibood disk in
-osx boots up
-go to the folder in the boot cd (DellMini9Utils) and install the AboutThisMac.pkg and DELLEFI (the instructions say to download the latest...they seemed to be the same to me)
-that file installs stuff into the EFI folder so OSX will boot on its own.
-remove the disk and reboot...you are there
-also the other partitions were there in the boot menu, XP worked, Ubuntu booted to GRUB>

At least the XP worked right away...I will play a bit with the Ubuntu install to fix grub.

Dell Mini Triple boot continued (part 3)

"When we last saw our hero..."

Up to this point I have,
- installed a Runcore 64gig SSD card on the Mini.
- installed XP pro on it (in a 20 gig partition)
- repartitioned the drive and moved the XP install to the third partition
- added a fourth partition large enough to the Ubuntu that came installed on the Mini
- used rsync to copy the Ubuntu install from the Mini to the Runcore SSD drive via USB cable.
- successfully booted to XP (again)
- mostly successfully reinstalled GRUB (to the Ubuntu partition) and booted Linux.
--mostly successful because when I reboot, it goes back to the XP boot...

As I write this...early in the morning (or late at night). I used the DellMiniBoot123v8.02b1 to allow the actual retail OSX10 DVD to install. Because I am triple booting, I have to 'hack' the OSX install to work with a MBR drive... If I was only installing OSX to a blank drive, I wouldn't need that step. (GUID ?)

So I have been following this post...and therefore I have been...
- boot using dellminiboot123.
- swap disks, hit the ESC key and ENTER to use the default (9f) to boot the install DVD
- once it boots to the install screen and you get to the point where it needs a drive (and it won't use the MBR one...)
- stick in a USB drive (or stick) with more than 8gig to 16gig in size. (I am using a 16gig)
- open the disk manager, select that usb drive, format 'mac os journaled' and select the option of GUID boot record.
- now chose that new drive as your install drive and let it chug away for a few hours...it lies as it gets near the end...23 minues is an hour etc. (last 2 minutes took half an hour)
--you will get a warning saying "Install Failed" (because it can't reboot to that drive...yet)
- when that is done reboot using that dellminiboot123 disk again
- make sure that usb drive (stick) with the new install is plugged in...then type in...(80 or 81 or 82...9f is the DVD drive?)...mine was 80.
- when you finally get it to boot off that drive (stick), plug in ANOTHER usb stick (8gig).
- at this point you should have two usb sticks installed (or a drive and a stick...however you do it) and also insert the install DVD again.

I don't want to repeat all the instructions, but that part I had to read a few times to understand what they meant.

Dell Mini 9 triple boot...baby steps (part2)

Because I have to leave for a trip, the treblebooted Dell Mini is on hold for a week...

However I DID move the XP partition and expanded it a bit, created an ext3 partition for Ubuntu, and copied Ubunto over from the original flash drive, and made two hfs+ partitions for the OSX install (the info is all on mydellmini.com)

With that as the drive, it still boots to XP without any issues.

I will have to install grub on the ext3 partition, but I will wait until I do the OSX install.

Bottom line, is the machine still works like it did before the advanced drive work...

...next stop OSX.

Triple booting the Dell Mini 9 (part 1)

My other project is the Dell Mini 9.

I finally got my 64gig SSD card...I quickly installed XP on it to see how everything ran (it all runs great, and boots up faster than any other computer I own).

Now I decided to (attempt to) triple boot it with OSX, XP, Ubuntu. I am following the info on MyDellMini.com (or search for dell mini triple).

Because my stubbornness outweighs my lazyness (or vice versa?) I decided to move the XP partition I had to later in the drive (to make installation of the other OSs easier)...I burnt a live cd (GParted on it...there are many choices) and am now moving the 24gig partition...it says I only have 10 hours remaining until all the data is moved.

Common sense would say, wipe the drive, reinstall...or ghost the partition and wipe the drive and reimage...

But no...I will waste the 10 hours, it will probably fail, and THEN I will have to wipe the drive and reinstall.

IPcop, OpenVPN and the internets-revisited

Back a few months ago I had sucessfully loaded and ran OpenVPN on my IPcop router, and was able to access my home network securely from where ever I wanted to...

Well it died at some point...I am not sure what combination of things killed it, but essentially I was blocked from using it.

By default (and only choice in the version I installed) the OpenVPN plugin to IPcop sets you up with a UDP port 1194...which is the official universal VPN port apparently. Also apparently the various providers I had been using decided to block either the UDP or the 1194 or both.

I couldn't enable TCP on the version of OpenVPN (ZERINA) I had installed. I decided to put my openvpn connection onto the 443 secure port via TCP...so I had to reinstall Zerina.

A handy tool I used to remind me of the procedures is this video. A quick little flash thing that walks you through the commands.

Once I deleted the old version of openvpn I had, and installed the new one...and went back and rebuilt certificates, reinstall client data, (set the TCP and 443), etc...(previously documented)

I sucessfully connected (again) via tether through my cellphone to my home network.