JDiskReport

Recently someone brought the application to my attention. It can be downloaded at JGoodies.com
I downloaded the jdiskreport-1_3_0.zip for a SLED10 SP1 install with java version "1.4.2_17".
Unzipping the file extracts the following:

o LICENSE.txt - the license agreement
o README.txt - this readme file
o RELEASE-NOTES.txt - information about changes and bug fixes
o jdiskreport-1.3.0.jar - a signed executable JAR file

The README explains how to start the application:

To run JDiskReport from a command-line, change directory to where the JAR-file is located. Then execute:

java -jar jdiskreport-1.3.0.jar
or
java -jar /path_to_directory/jdiskreport-1.3.0.jar

Nice tool, it shows what's eating up all your space. You get a graphical output instead multiple lines of text, when using "du".

One of the view modes is a Pie Chart of "File sizes in /directory". "Top 50" breaks the output down to a list of 50 largest files in /directory, "Size Dist" shows the Distribution of sizes in /directory, "Modified" gives another Bar Chart with Distribution of modification dates in /directory and "Types" shows the Distribution of file types in a /directory.




JDiskReport takes up 1.7 MB in the /usr/local/bin/jdiskreport dir, I installed it in:

Kiwi - live USB image

There's a description Live USB stick on opensuse.org which I pretty much followed.

First I installed:

kiwi-desc-livesystem-1.62-25.1
kiwi-desc-usbboot-2.38-34.1
kiwi-2.38-34.1
kiwi-tools-2.38-34.1

I choose the option "downloading the most recent packages from the internet".

/usr/share/kiwi/image/usbboot/suse-10.3/config.xml

and added the repository:

<repository type="yast2" status="replaceable">
<source path="ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/distribution/10.3/repo/oss"/>
</repository>
<repository type="yast2" status="replaceable">
<source path="ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/distribution/10.3/repo/non-oss/"/>
</repository>

I didn't set the update repository in
/usr/share/kiwi/image/kwliveCD-suse-10.3/config.xml

When I set the update repository to
<repository type="rpm-md" status="replaceable">
<source path="http://download.opensuse.org/update/10.3/"/>
</repository>
kiwi exited with the following error:

opensuse103:~ # kiwi --prepare /usr/share/kiwi/image/kwliveCD-suse-10.3 --root /media/vmware/kiwi-tmp --add-profile KDE --logfile terminalApr-22 04:59:15 <1> : Setting log file to: terminal
Apr-22 04:59:15 <1> : Reading image description... failed
Apr-22 04:59:16 <3> : Scheme validation failed failed
Apr-22 04:59:16 <3> : Element image has extra content: text

Apr-22 04:59:16 <3> : KIWI exited with error(s) done
opensuse103:~ #

Instead I replaced the entry with the same I had put in: /usr/share/kiwi/image/usbboot/suse-10.3/config.xml

There's only one .checksum.md5 file. It is in /usr/share/kiwi/image/usbboot/suse-10.3/
Copy it and create a new one with:

cp .checksum.md5 .checksum.md5.old
md5sum config.xml > .checksum.md5

Cleanup is only necessary if kiwi was run before, there wasn't anything to do here.
For anyone who already created the two directories: kiwi-tmp and kiwi-image a removal is recommended if you are going to use the same path. Remove these two directories with
rm -rf /tmp/kiwi*

(I actually created them in a different directory, so instead of /tmp, the image was on my USB drive /media/usb-dvd/

Finally, after all these preparations I run:

kiwi --prepare /usr/share/kiwi/image/kwliveCD-suse-10.3 --root /media/usb-dvd/kiwi-tmp --add-profile KDE --logfile terminal

Kiwi initiates downloading and installing all these RPMs. Good thing that progress is shown on the right hand of the screen:

-> ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/opensuse/distribution/10.3/repo/oss/suse/i586/tpctl-4.17-131.i586.rpm
tpctl-4.17-131.i586.rpm ########################################################################### [ 83%]
->

And finally at the end:

Apr-22 05:35:38 <1> : KIWI exited successfully



Then I continued to create the compressed image and initrd out of kiwi-tmp.

mkdir /media/usb-dvd/kiwi-image
kiwi --type usb --create /media/usb-dvd/kiwi-tmp -d /media/usb-dvd/kiwi-image --logfile terminal


Now it was time to plug in my usbstick and unmounted it with:

umount /dev/sdd

There was no other partition on the drive. If there is so, then "mount" will show them.


To create the bootstick enter:

kiwi --bootstick /media/usb-dvd/kiwi-image/initrd-usbboot-suse-10.3.i686-2.1.1.splash.gz --bootstick-system /media/usb-dvd/kiwi-image/openSUSE-10.3.i686-2.5

Following messages appeared on the screen:

opensuse103:/media/usb-dvd # kiwi --bootstick kiwi-image/initrd-usbboot-suse-10.3.i686-2.1.1.splash.gz --bootstick-system kiwi-image/openSUSE-10.3.i686-2.5
Apr-22 05:14:50 <1> : Creating boot USB stick from: kiwi-image/initrd-usbboot-suse-10.3.i686-2.1.1.splash.gz...
Apr-22 05:14:50 <2> : Can't open log port: 9000 skipped
Apr-22 05:14:52 <1> : Creating initial boot structure done
Apr-22 05:14:54 <1> : Importing grub stages for stick boot done
Apr-22 05:14:57 <1> : Found following removable USB devices:
Apr-22 05:14:57 <1> : ---> 5B8110A091D0 at /dev/sdd
Apr-22 05:14:57 <1> : Your choice (enter device name):


Enter the device name output in the last but one line. In my case: /dev/sdd.

Apr-22 05:14:57 <1> : Your choice (enter device name): /dev/sdd

Kiwi partitioned the stick and dumped the image to the stick:

Apr-22 05:17:12 <1> : Creating partition table on: /dev/sdd done
Apr-22 05:17:26 <1> : Rereading partition table on: /dev/sdd done
Apr-22 05:17:30 <1> : Dumping initrd image to stick done
Apr-22 05:17:35 <1> : Dumping system image to stick
Apr-22 05:19:29 <1> : Installing grub on USB stick done
Apr-22 05:19:30 <1> : Removing HAL lock done
Apr-22 05:19:30 <1> : KIWI exited successfully

Kiwi created the following partitions:

/dev/sdd1 on /media/disk-2 type ext2 (rw,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sdd3 on /media/disk-3 type ext2 (rw,nosuid,nodev)
/dev/sdd2 on /media/disk-4 type squashfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)

/dev/sdd2 is the compressed image, initrd and kernel.
/dev/sdd3 contains packages and stuff that doesn't fit into the 700+ MB initrd. It's read/writable so that thing that get written to the USB stick are put here.
/dev/sdd1 is the boot partition, including grub.

Boot a machine with the usbstick plugged in, don't forget to set the BIOS to boot from USB and you'll get a LIVE opensuse 10.3 on a USB stick.

the pointy-haired boss finally gets into opensource

I love the today's Dilbert:

article in informationweek

comparison between Linux (Ubuntu) and Mac OS X
in the article's conclusion the reporter writes:

"[...]Apple is arguably the most proprietary hardware / software company in the industry, despite Mac OS X's origins in BSD Unix, and the products' compliance with many industry standards.

You think Microsoft locks users in? At least with Microsoft you can buy a PC from a huge number of big and small vendors, or build your own from components. With the Mac, you buy your PC from Apple, you buy your operating system from Apple, and you're also encouraged to buy your mouse, keyboard, display, audio device, and smartphone from Apple, all at an Apple Store where you can get Apple service.[...]"

He himself is sticking with his Mac and says it's a great computer.

I agree with the above and not that I knew before but it made me again think, if I have to buy another computer, should it really be an Apple?

choices

I just read this article:The Apple way and the Linux way.
The guy tried to help a Mac user to burn some pictures to a DVD. At the very end he writes:
"OS X and Linux are essentially two extreme opposites. The Apple Way is to make all of your decisions for you so that you're not burdened by choice. Some people enjoy that -- they find simplicity in it that allows them to concentrate on other things. To me, it's computing hell."
That's exactly one of the reasons why I enjoy Linux so much. It's all about choice and it gives me so many of it.