SprayflyLanguages, Linux, Life

I have managed to setup a dual-boot configuration on my old computer (with one hard drive) so that I can boot either Fedora Core 5 or Windows 2000 Pro. Here is a simple guide that details the important stages in getting this setup running. Whilst this was tested with Fedora 5, older versions of Fedora should still work fine.

Fedora and Windows Back to Back

The Specs

Here is the equipment I used to get this running:

• An old Dell Dimension Tower with ONE hard disk
• Windows 2000 pro CD
• Fedora Core 5 (bordeaux) as a set of 5 CD’s (DVD should be no different)

A Clean Setup

The easiest way to make sure you do everything right is to completely wipe the computer you are using and start from scratch. However, understandably, this is not ideal. This guide assumes that you are starting from scratch. If you are already running Windows 2000 pro and have sufficient free, unpartitioned space available then this guide should also work for you.

Install Windows 2000

Turn the Computer on, place CD 1 of Windows 2000 professional in the CD drive and boot from the CD, you may need to change the computer’s boot order from the BIOS Menu to allow this option. Run the setup.

Partitioning

When the setup asks you about partitions, delete all existing partitions and create one new partition, at least 2GB in size (preferably much more than this). Don’t worry about creating the linux partition for now, we do this using the Fedora Core 5 setup. However, do make sure that there are a few gigabytes (more than 4 at least) of free space. To review, you should only have

one

partition present.

Finish the Install

Install Windows 2000 to the partition you created for it and run through the setup process as normal. Let the PC reboot when required and finish off the setup by entering any other information required. Once you are in Windows, shut down and place the Fedora Core 5 (CD 1) into the CD drive. Again, boot the computer from the CD drive and select the graphical Fedora Installer option (anaconda).

Fedora Partitions

After entering in some basic options (system locale etc), make sure you select the

install to free space and create default partitions

option (or something along those lines!) from the dropdown menu. This will automatically create the required partitions and swap space in the free, unpartitioned space on your hard drive. I don’t recommend setting up the partitions manually unless you know what you are doing. Certainly don’t let Fedora delete existing partitions or you will lose Windows! You can check the review layout options should you wish to see how things have been setup.

GRUB

The final important stage is to make sure you install the GRUB boot loader. On this page of the setup, it should list your current installations (Fedora Core 5 and Other). Other is your windows installation. You will need to choose a default operating system. During boot, GRUB will wait three seconds then will boot the default. If you press a key during the three seconds pause then you can select another operating system.
Complete the Fedora installation with all the other options you want. Once Fedora is properly installed, reboot and use GRUB boot loader to boot both Fedora then Windows (one after the other) to ensure proper functionality. If all that works then you have a fully working setup and you can get on with configuring both operating systems to your own needs. I’ll leave that bit to you…

After what seems like years of the same old (but brilliantly simplistic) Google search interface, Google are testing out a new, more “innovative” design. Whilst officially, you have to be invited to test it, here is a great workaround that lets you try it out.

Pointless Rearranging?

As you can see in the snapshot above, the new interface scraps the bar above the search box with the image, groups, froogle etc options and instead, puts these links at the side of the page along with the number of relevant results that have turned up under each section.

Where are the Blogs

Sadly, still missing from the list of options is the all important ‘Blog’. That means users will still have to revert to http://blogsearch.google.com for their blog results. Slightly disappointing.

• To get your access, type http://www.google.co.uk in your address bar.
• Click the Go to google.com link at the bottom.
• Now paste the following into the address bar, it is a javascript cookie. To ensure you select it all, triple click the line of text and copy it (right click and click copy or use ‘Ctrl + C’ on the keyboard).

http://herejavascript:document.cookie="PREF=ID=fb7740f107311e46:TM=1142683332:LM=1142683332:S=fNSw6ljXTzvL3dWu;path=/;domain=.google.com

• Press the enter button and the following (or similar) should display on your screen:

PREF=ID=fb7740f107311e46:TM=1142683332:LM=1142683332:S=fNSw6ljXTzvL3dWu;path=/;domain=.google.com

• Now type http://www.google.com into your address bar and once you are on google.com (make sure its not .co.uk) perform a search for anything. You should get to see the new interface.

I have recently had some spammers posting on my Mediawiki installation. Here are some preventative measures which I have used which effectively tackle many of the problems.

Solution

You are able to define some basic but powerful anti-spam rules in your Localsettings.php file. This file is in the root of your MediaWiki installation, e.g. /wiki or /w . The measures below tackle mainly hidden spam. They are not “Blacklist” rules.

Rules

Here are the rules that I recommend. Simply add them to the end of the Localsettings.php file using a text editor.

$wgSpamRegex = "/\<.*style.*?(display|position|overflow|visibility|height)\s*:.*?>/i";

$wgSpamRegex="/<div/";

$wgSpamRegex = "/overflow:\s*auto;\s*height:\s*[0-4]px;/i";

Explanation

The first rule bans certain attributes of the “style” tag that could be used in posts to attempt to hide spam from the reader.
The second rule bans the use of “div” tags which are also often used to hide spam.
FInally, the last tag disables certain CSS attributes that could allow a spammer to hide spam.

Hide Spam?

Why would a spammer want to hide spam? The answer is that hidden spam has the sole purpose of increasing page ranking in search engines such as Google. However, in a Google search, the spam text

will

be displayed, this does no credit to your site. Spammers choose to hide the spam in the hope that it will pass unobserved.

Some Spam = More Spam

Other spammers are constantly searching for sites which have already been spammed. This makes sense- if other people have managed to insert spam on that particular page then they too should be able to do so. This is why it is important to remove spam from your wiki pages immediately, otherwise you risk having a lot of spammers flocking to your site in the hope of adding their list of links aswell. Keep an eye on the recent changes page to get rid of spam a.s.a.p.