The Beauty of Customized Live USB Systems

Yesterday, I upgraded the kernel of my Linux laptop (MX Linux 18.3) to an antiX kernel 5.1.2.  The upgrade went well and the laptop now boots very fast.

Encouraged by that, I tried the same with my HP laptop, which runs antiX 17.3.1.  That laptop seems designed to discourage anyone from running Linux on it.  It gave me all sort of problems and, apparently, I'm not the only one who has had headaches thanks to such laptop.

Fortunately, when I finally got my system up and running, I made a snapshot and put the system into a live USB. That way, if something went wrong, I could run the live system with all my tweaks already applied and install it easily.

Well, the kernel upgrade did not work. I lost my wireless connection and there was no way to get it back.  In addition, my wireless stopped working on the old kernel, the one that previously worked without problems.

It was time to run the customized live USB.  It worked flawlessly.  After seeing the wi-fi back on, I installed the system from the USB stick.

Right now, I am posting this from the HP laptop.  Customized live USB systems are simply amazing!

Windows Malware: I Had Forgotten What It Was Like!

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a shop because I needed to print some posters.  I had my file on a USB stick, which the clerk inserted on a Windows 10 laptop.  After a minute, he told me he could not do anything with my file. 

When I checked, I saw the problem: some nasty Windows malware replaced my folders with .exe files.  Windows asked if my drive needed to be repaired.  Since I knew I was not going to print anything that day, I went forward with the repairing process.  The result?  The .exe files were gone but my files were not back.

At home, I plugged the USB stick to my Linux computer and, sure enough, I could see all my files plus the malware-generated ones.  The malware had inserted copies of itself in every folder and sub-folder while making my original files invisible to Windows. What a nostalgic feeling!

After I deleted all the copies of the malware, I searched for the way to make my files and folders visible again on Windows.

It turns out that Windows does it like this:

attrib -H -R -S /S /D F:\*.*    (F stands for the letter assigned to your USB).

Well, it seems that Windows malware keeps being as effective as it was back in the times I used that OS. Some things never change!

Painful Speed for USB Transfers? Dirty Bytes!

Since my upgrade to newer distros, I was suffering from really slow USB transfer speeds.  Copying a large file to a USB stick would take long minutes and, although the process was eventually completed, I needed a lot of patience.

Then, I started trying different solutions but none seemed to work until I found this one.  It was about a problem that was exactly like mine.

It is very simple.  You just need to find the etc/sysctl.conf file and add the following line:

vm.dirty_bytes = 15000000

That's it.  With that, copying a 1.2 Gb file took me about 4 minutes and the progress bar was showing the information fine.

Right, it's not the fastest speed, but at least it is way better than before.

If you want to read the explanation (you should), please visit the original page.

Malware Took over a Pendrive? Linux Goes to the Rescue

I had been away from blogging for a month. I've been working hard on several projects and, since my Linux systems work seamlessly, I've been able to concentrate all my efforts and energies in those projects.

Today, a coworker asked me for help. Her pendrive had been infected with malware and thus, her folders and files had been hijacked. The virus made them invisible (for Windows; they were perfectly visible on Linux, :P) and, as usual, there were some fake folders with the names of the original ones. Of course, the fake folders were no folders at all...they were files pointing to the virus.

What are the Windows ways to recover from that?

1. Downloading any "savemeplease" software (trial version), installing it, and then running it.
2. Running a very good antivirus while hoping it will make things normal again.
3. Using the Windows command line to correct the problem.

Well, I decided to use the third option, just for the sake of trying it. I ran cmd.exe.

Then, I tried the "attrib -a -h -r -s" trick...

Hmmm...it didn't work. Perhaps I should have chosen option 1?

Well, instead, I just used my Linux system to copy the folders from the pendrive and back. In this case, I didn't need anything else. The magic was done. Right, just by doing that.

Hey Windows users, Linux doesn't bite. The penguin is friendly and it certainly can help you a lot. I don't even remember the last time sweat ran down my temples and I hesitated before plugging my pendrive into someone else's PC.

How to Create a Live USB Key Using Syslinux

I learned this trick from Anticapitalista at the MEPIS Forums. It lets you create a bootable USB key quite easily by means of iso hybridization.

You'll need:

1. To download and install Syslinux. You'll find information about it here.

2. To have an iso of your distro and a spare USB key with enough room available. Well, this one was to be expected...

3. To lose your fear of the CLI/terminal/Console. You will have to type in two commands as root. :P

4. To test your patience. The process may take some time, especially the part of copying the files to the USB Key. During that time you either wait or do something else while you let the terminal be.

PREPARATION

1. Place a copy of your iso into a folder and note its location. Also, insert your USB key and note how it shows on your system. You'll need that information. I placed my MEPIS 11 iso on the desktop, in a folder I named "Distro." Thus, the location is:


/home/myName/Desktop/Distro/

My USB shows as sdb1, so I must remember "sdb" (without the 1.)

2. Open a terminal and make sure you are located into that folder. In my case, the prompt looks like this:

MyName@NakBlack:~/Desktop/Distro$


3. Become root. In my case, I did it by typing "su" and then my root password when prompted. Now, my prompt looks like this:

root@NakBlack:/home/myName/Desktop/Distro#


HOW TO DO THE TRICK

1. WARNING: this step will turn your original iso into a hybrid one. If you want to keep your original iso, then work with a copy. Making sure you are root, type "isohybrid" (without the quotation marks) and add the name of your iso. In my case, it was this:

isohybrid MEPIS11.iso

The conversion was fast! However, I got this warning:

"Warning: more than 1024 cylinders (1336).
Not all BIOSes will be able to boot this device."

2. WARNING: this step will delete all the contents of your USB key and will render it unusable as a storage device. As root, copy the contents of the now hybrid iso to the USB key by following this model:

dd if=/path-to-iso-file/nameofdistro.iso of=/dev/sdx

In this model, "if=" means input file and "of=" means output file. Likewise, "sdx" represents the name of your USB key.

Again, in my case, it was like this:

dd if=/home/myName/Desktop/Distro/MEPIS11.iso of=/dev/sdb

This step will take a while. Wait until your terminal finishes. If everything goes well, it will give you some technical details. This is what I got:

"2736128+0 records in
2736128+0 records out
1400897536 bytes (1.4 GB) copied, 1248.62 s, 1.1 MB/s"

That's it! As you can see, my live USB creation took 20 minutes (1248 seconds.)

Please note that this trick does not guarantee success. So far, I've tested it with MEPIS 11, antiX M-11, and Mandriva 2011 alpha. All of them worked, but I cannot be certain that it will work with any distro. I'll keep experimenting with other distros, though.

Good luck!

I Got My First Beacon!

Hey, who'd have said it? Today I used a public computer powered by Windows Seven (with its updated antivirus); I inserted my USB stick there and in doing so I got my first beacon!!

If you don't know what a beacon is, please read this post: "On Computers, Cookies, and Beacons."

Wow! The computer was infected with a virus that not only created an autorun.inf file pointing to a special folder in which the virus was hidden, but also gave me as a nice Children's Day present a small file with a code...

Surely enough, none of the three elements could be removed because it lacked the corresponding permissions.

What was left for me to do then? Well, changing their permissions with a couple of clicks and then to place all those files together into a compressed folder for my brother's Outstanding USB Virus Collection Version 2.0

What antivirus did I use? None!

How did I find them? Because I was using Linux. Had I used Windows, probably those files would be invisible and both the virus and my first beacon would be right now working together to send I-don't-know what-important-information to I-don't-know-who.

I really don't like that idea. If you use Windows, please be careful. Double check your USB sticks or don't use them in a public computer. Better yet, try Linux to check their contents after using them in another computer.

Creating a MEPIS USB Bootable Key

Why would you want to load your MEPIS LIVE CD into a USB key?

Believe me, it is great as a RESCUE/BACK UP TOOL...it will let you:

a- recover your Windows files if Windows refuses to start (that's a life-saver!!)

b- clean viruses you cannot normally reach from Windows

c- browse the web securely without worrying about spyware being installed

d- burn your back-ups from Linux or Windows partitions (MEPIS comes with a CD-DVD burning tool!)

e- view and create all kinds of office documents from a computer that doesn't run Windows

f- use MEPIS on a PC that does not come with it

g- install MEPIS on that computer if you want to

h- make or modify partitions on the hard drive

i- lend your computer to your cat without worrying about possible consequences in your system
(well..to be honest, I must say that this one has to be tested further. NOTHING is cat-proof yet! :P )

So, how you do it? (I mean installing MEPIS on your USB stick, not cat-testing your system)

First, you need a MEPIS Live CD. I personally favor Mepis 8.0.15 but others are more comfortable with Mepis 8.5

Boot your computer with the Live CD. Once you have reached Mepis desktop, go to System/Mepis settings/MEPIS System assistant. It should look like this:


Plug your USB stick and follow these images...they pretty much cover the process...

Mepis portátil

Los Live CDs y DVDs son un formato de Linux muy conveniente que, desafortunadamente muchos fuera de la comunidad Linux ignoran.

Este formato no es sólo conveniente, sino también seguro...en especial si tenemos que llevar a cabo actividades importantes, como efectuar una transacción bancaria de emergencia en línea en computadoras que no son de nuestra entera confianza, como una pública, por mencionar un ejemplo.

Los Live CDs inician, cargan un sistema operativo completo con sus aplicaciones y trabajan perfectamente sin tocar el disco duro de la computadora en la mayoría de los casos, aunque a veces pueden guardar información en el disco duro si escogemos hacerlo. ¿Qué puede ser más conveniente que algo así?

Por supuesto, algunos trataron de copiar la misma idea para favorecer a Windows XP, Vista, y Seven. Si se lo están preguntando, los intentos de Live-CD para Windows no son gratuitos y conseguirlos gratis significa infringir los derechos de autor. Dichos sistemas también están inhabilitados parcialmente y funcionan bien sólo como CDs de rescate: no incluyen aplicaciones reales de oficina...solamente Wordpad, MS-paint y un antivirus (¡qué sorpresa!)

Por lo tanto, Los Live CDs/DVDs de Linux poseían una clara ventaja. Sin embargo, ¡qué pena, las netbooks aparecieron en escena! Estas minúsculas computadoras no pueden usar Live CDs porque no poseen unidades de CD/DVD-ROM...

Por fortuna, Linux puede adaptarse al los cambios tecnológicos de nuestra era: los Live CDs se pueden convertir en llaves Live USB y hasta en tarjetas SD Live. ¡Yo mismo las he probado con MEPIS y SÍ funciona! Puedo iniciar mi sistema desde un CD, un DVD, una llave USB, y hasta desde una tarjeta de memoria SD...Sin embargo, aún tengo que intentar iniciarlo desde un reproductor de MP4.

Recuerden: En Linux, estos pequeños amigos proveen TODO el sistema operativo con sus aplicaciones...Es como llevar con nosotros a cualquier lugar el propio espíritu de nuestra computadora. Además, en Mepis, se puede usar el resto de la llave USB o de la tarjeta SD para almacenar información.

En el momento que lo necesite, puedo ejecutar Mepis en cualquier computadora sin preocuparme de causar inestabilidad en el sistema, de no encontrar mis aplicaciones, o, más importante aún, de volverme una víctima de los virus o de dejar información importante en la computadora anfitriona.

A diferencia de las herramientas de inicio USB de Win7, no necesito instalar nada en la computadora anfitriona para ejecutar MEPIS. Windows 7 ejecutable desde USB no puede hacer eso, ni lo hará de seguro Windows 8 tampoco. ¿Tal vez lo harán Windows 9 o 10?

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Si les interesa, sientánse en la libertad de visitar la comunidad de Mepis. También pueden descargar Mepis aquí

Portable Mepis

Live CDs and DVDs are a very convenient Linux format that, unfortunately, is still ignored by many individuals outside the Linux community.

This format is not only convenient, but also safe...especially if we need to carry out important activities, like doing an emergency bank transaction on computers we don't really trust. Say, a public computer, for instance.

Live CDs boot, load a complete operating system with its applications, and work perfectly without touching the computer's hard drive in most of the cases, although sometimes they can save on the hard drive if you choose to do so. What's more convenient than that?

Of course, some people tried to copy the same on behalf of Windows XP, Vista, and Seven. If you are wondering, Windows Live-CD attempts are not for free and getting them freely means copyright infringement. Those systems are also crippled and good only as rescue CDs: they include no real office applications...just Wordpad, MS-paint and an antivirus (no surprise!)

So, Linux Live CDs/DVDs had a clear advantage. But Alas, netbooks came into scene! These tiny computers cannot use Live CDs because they don't have a CD/DVD-ROM drive...

Luckily, Linux can adapt to the technological changes of our era: Live CDs can be burned into Live USB pendrives and even SD cards. I have tested that myself with MEPIS and it DOES work! I can boot my system from a CD, DVD, USB pendrive, and even from an SD card...I have to try booting from an MP4 player, though.

Remember: On Linux, these little fellows provide the whole OS with all its applications...It is like carrying anywhere with you the very spirit of your computer. Besides, on Mepis, you can use the rest of the pendrive or card to store information.

Whenever I need it, I can run Mepis on any computer without worrying about causing system crashes, missing my applications or, more important, becoming a victim of a virus or leaving important information in the host computer.

Unlike Win7 bootable USB tools, I don't have to install anything on the host computer to run MEPIS. Windows 7 bootable does not do that, nor Windows 8 will, for sure. Perhaps Windows 9 or 10 will?

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If you are interested, feel free to visit the Mepis community. You can also download Mepis here