Spike

In this How-to I will explain how to install and configure Network UPS Tools on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.
I will configure it with my APC BackUPS RS 800.
Install the package

1
sudo apt-get install nut

Now we need to find out what driver we need to use.
Check it out at the Hardware Compatibility List.
In my case the driver is usbhid-ups.
Edit /etc/nut/ups.conf and add the following

1
2
3
[apc]

driver = usbhid-ups

port = auto

Start the driver

but you can get this error

1
2
3
4
5
Network UPS Tools – UPS driver controller 2.4.3

Network UPS Tools – Generic HID driver 0.34 (2.4.3)

USB communication driver 0.31

Can’t chdir to /var/run/nut: No such file or directory

Driver failed to start (exit status=1)

Do the following to fix the problem

1
2
3
sudo mkdir /var/run/nut

sudo chown root:nut /var/run/nut

sudo chmod 770 /var/run/nut

Try again with the command

1
sudo upsdrvctl start

if it works, you should have an output like this

1
2
3
4
Network UPS Tools - UPS driver controller 2.4.3

Network UPS Tools - Generic HID driver 0.34 (2.4.3)

USB communication driver 0.31

Using subdriver: APC HID 0.95

Now edit /etc/nut/upsd.conf and add the following lines

1
2
LISTEN 127.0.0.1 3493

LISTEN ::1 3493

This way, upsd will only listen to localhost port 3493/tcp.
Start the network data server

1
2
3
4
5
6
sudo upsd



Network UPS Tools upsd 2.4.3

listening on ::1 port 3493

listening on 127.0.0.1 port 3493

Connected to UPS [apc]: usbhid-ups-apc

Check the UPS status

1
2
3
sudo upsc apc@localhost ups.status



OL

OL means your system is running on line power.
Look at all of the status data which is being monitored

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
sudo upsc apc@localhost



battery.charge: 100

battery.charge.low: 10

battery.charge.warning: 50

battery.date: 2001/09/25

battery.mfr.date: 2007/03/14

battery.runtime: 641

battery.runtime.low: 120

battery.temperature: 29.2

battery.type: PbAc

battery.voltage: 27.4

battery.voltage.nominal: 24.0

device.mfr: APC

device.model: Back-UPS BR  800

device.serial: QB0711130221

device.type: ups

driver.name: usbhid-ups

driver.parameter.pollfreq: 30

driver.parameter.pollinterval: 2

driver.parameter.port: auto

driver.version: 2.4.3

driver.version.data: APC HID 0.95

driver.version.internal: 0.34

input.sensitivity: high

input.transfer.reason: input voltage out of range

input.voltage: 232.0

input.voltage.nominal: 230

output.voltage: 230.0

output.voltage.nominal: 230.0

ups.beeper.status: enabled

ups.delay.shutdown: 20

ups.firmware: 9.o2 .I

ups.firmware.aux: o2

ups.load: 20.0

ups.mfr: APC

ups.mfr.date: 2007/03/14

ups.model: Back-UPS BR  800

ups.productid: 0002

ups.serial: QB0711130221

ups.status: OL

ups.test.result: No test initiated

ups.timer.reboot: 0

ups.timer.shutdown: -1

ups.vendorid: 051d

Now edit /etc/nut/upsd.users and add the following lines

1
2
3
4
5
6
[monuser]

        password = mypass

        actions = SET

        instcmds = ALL

        upsmon master

        # or upsmon slave

change the password field with a real password.
Reload upsd

1
upsd -c reload

Edit /etc/nut/upsmon.conf, create a monitor directive for upsmon

1
MONITOR apc@localhost 1 local_mon mypass master

Edit /etc/nut/nut.conf and change the mode to Standalone

1
MODE=standalone

Now you can start NUT with

1
sudo service nut start

If you want to enable e-mail notifications for UPS events, as suggested by Witwolf, edit again /etc/nut/upsmon.conf and add

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
NOTIFYCMD /usr/local/bin/nut-notify.sh



NOTIFYFLAG ONLINE   SYSLOG+WALL+EXEC

NOTIFYFLAG ONBATT   SYSLOG+WALL+EXEC

NOTIFYFLAG LOWBATT  SYSLOG+WALL+EXEC

# NOTIFYFLAG FSD     SYSLOG+WALL

# NOTIFYFLAG COMMOK  SYSLOG+WALL

# NOTIFYFLAG COMMBAD SYSLOG+WALL

NOTIFYFLAG SHUTDOWN SYSLOG+WALL+EXEC

NOTIFYFLAG REPLBATT SYSLOG+WALL+EXEC

NOTIFYFLAG NOCOMM   SYSLOG+WALL+EXEC

NOTIFYFLAG NOPARENT SYSLOG+WALL+EXEC

Create the script /usr/local/bin/nut-notify.sh and paste the following

1
2
#!/bin/sh

echo "$@" | mail -s "NUT Notice" test@example.com

make it executable

1
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/nut-notify.sh

Enjoy

SOURCES:
Network UPS Tools: User Manual – Configuration notes
Witwolf: My new APC Back-UPS Pro 900 arrived!

Host: Ubuntu Server 10.10 Maverick Meerkat
VMWare Server 2.0.2

If the host shut down unexpectedly, then it is possibile that you can’t start guests, hanging at 95% during startup process.
To solve, you need to:

1. delete .lck file from the virtual machine’s folder
2. delete file /etc/vmware/not_configured

Enjoy

SOURCE:
Zenware – VMware won’t boot after reboot: A general system error ocurred 95% boot and Stuff!

If after you have installed Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus on Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit, .xls and .xlsx are not associated anymore with Microsoft Excel, open regedit, go to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
and delete both .xls and .xlsx folders. Then close the regedit. Now if select files with these extensions and you select Open with… you can now find Microsoft Excel.

Thanks to Waldo Nell’s voice for the solution.

SOURCE: Office 2010 Professional Plus on Win 7 breaks Excel file associations

This How-To explains how to install nvidia drivers 179.48 beta on a notebook Sony VGN-FE31M equipped with a nVidia GeForce Go 7600.
First of all download the official drivers from the official website.
Try to install them till you get the error. The installer has created a directory containing the drivers inside your C:, if you haven’t changed it during the installation process.
Now we have to take the hardware ID of our VGA.
Go to Start – right clic on Computer - Properties - Hardware tab – Device manager – Display adapters – double clic on your VGA card – Details tab – select Device Instance ID
write down this code. Mine is

1
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0398&SUBSYS_81EF104D&REV_A1\4&31B7BFB9&0&0008

Now open the following file

1
C:\NVIDIA\WinXP\179.48\IS\Display\NVAM.ini

the directory may differ depending on your OS. Under the

1
[NVIDIA.Mfg

section, put the following line

1
%NVIDIA_G73M.DEV_0398.1%  = nv4_A6JC,   PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0398&SUBSYS_81EF104D

and under the

1
; Localizable Strings

section, put

1
NVIDIA_G73M.DEV_0398.1  =  "NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 (Sony VAIO VGN-FE31M)"

Now you can run

1
C:\NVIDIA\WinXP\179.48\IS\setup.exe

ENJOY

SOURCE: HOW TO: Modify and install Nvidia drivers for mobile graphics chipsets in Windows 7 when all else fails

I have an ASRock 4Core1600-GLAN/M with an integrated video card, an Intel G31 northbridge, and I can’t use the intel drivers without a monitor (headless server) on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx due to an X bug (Bug 14611 – X fails to start without display attached), so I need to use vesa drivers. First of all create che xorg.conf file with

1
sudo Xorg -configure

then edit it and at the Section “Device” replace

1
        Driver      "intel"

with

1
        Driver      "vesa"

Under Section “Screen” add

1
        DefaultDepth      24

and under the subsection

1
2
3
        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     24

add

1
                Modes     "1280x1024"

or write the screen resolution that you prefer.
 

Finally I got this xorg.conf

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
Section "ServerLayout"

        Identifier     "X.org Configured"

        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0

        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection



Section "Files"

        ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"

        FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"

        FontPath     "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"

        FontPath     "built-ins"

EndSection



Section "Module"

        Load  "glx"

        Load  "dri2"

        Load  "dri"

        Load  "dbe"

        Load  "record"

        Load  "extmod"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "Keyboard0"

        Driver      "kbd"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "Mouse0"

        Driver      "mouse"

        Option      "Protocol" "auto"

        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier   "Monitor0"

        VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"

        ModelName    "Monitor Model"

        HorizSync    31-101

        VertRefresh  60-160

EndSection



Section "Device"

        ### Available Driver options are:-

        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",

        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"

        ### [arg]: arg optional

        #Option     "NoAccel"                   # [<bool>]

        #Option     "SWcursor"                  # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ColorKey"                  # <i>

        #Option     "CacheLines"                # <i>

        #Option     "Dac6Bit"                   # [<bool>]

        #Option     "DRI"                       # [<bool>]

        #Option     "NoDDC"                     # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ShowCache"                 # [<bool>]

        #Option     "XvMCSurfaces"              # <i>

        #Option     "PageFlip"                  # [<bool>]

        Identifier  "Card0"

        # Driver      "intel"

        Driver      "vesa"

        VendorName  "Intel Corporation"

        BoardName   "82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics Controller"

        BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen0"

        Device     "Card0"

        Monitor    "Monitor0"

        DefaultDepth      24

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     1

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     4

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     8

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     15

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     16

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport   0 0

                Depth     24

                Modes     "1280x1024"

        EndSubSection

EndSection

If you try to start X server now, I’ll get this error

1
(EE) VESA: Kernel modesetting driver in use, refusing to load

You need to edit grub

1
sudo nano / etc/default/grub

and edit the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT this way

1
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

As said in the top of the file, update grub

1
sudo update-grub

Restart the system and enjoy

SOURCE:
xorg.conf con intel 945