[sudo-discuss] [omni-discuss] Linux dual boot on Basement Computer bank?

Wed Nov 8 17:42:02 PST 2017

Hi Ed,

As I understand it, these devices were a donation to GCEA. As GCEA does not
have a dedicated space at Omni, and since the delegates assembly agreed
having more devices in te library hall wouldn’t be an issue and could maybe
be a plus, that was, as I recall, OK’d. Obviously passwords limit their
common use. Nonetheless, I see no reason why, nor has anything happened to
my knowledge to suggest otherwise, we shouldn’t continue to consider GCEA
and Almaz (as the regular GCEA delegate, and all around Omni volunteer) as
the stewards of those device. So before anything more gets done to them, I
believe it should be cleared with Almaz and GCEA.

My personal opinion is that a dual boot using that minor of a portion of
the HDs is a good solution. I see no reason why GCEA would object once the
proposal is communicated clearly (not everyone knows what a “dual boot”
is); it makes sense that there be a way for Commoners to use the devices
since they are in a Common area; it also makes sense that GCEA have the
installation they want on there for the youth etc to study with. But again,
I think this suggestion should first be cleared before acted on further. I
can understand why you and “someone” went forward with the previous Linux
installations previously without asking, given the locations of the devices
and given hacking habits of Sudoers, nonetheless I think that when the fate
of a given set of devices is unknown, and the devices themselves are not
in, e.g., Sudo Room itself, now and in the future it would be best for
people to ask and wait for confirmation before going ahead rather than
going ahead and asking after the fact. Cleary, you’re currently asking.
Relatedly, would it be possible to restore Windows to the first device down
there with Linux on it, from which it sounds like it was removed?

Best,
Julian
BAPS

On November 8, 2017 at 4:03:00 PM, Ed Biow (biow at riseup.net) wrote:

A few months ago about a dozen Core 2 Duo Lenovo boxes with 4 GB of RAM
materialized in the basement hall way. They were all left running with
the monitors on, but they had Windohs on them and the lock screens
required a password which was nowhere in evidence, and rebooting also
required a PW to log in.  Anywho, since they just seemed to be heating
the basement, and it was summertime anyway I shut them all off, and did
so a couple of weeks later when I noticed they were powered back on
again. Since then they have mostly been off, and some folks know the
password and have been using them periodically. Someone blew Linux Mint
on one of the boxen.

The one on the far left (facing the wall) was unplugged, I plugged it
back in but it was beeping whenever it booted, but just required that I
open the case and clamp down the memory sticks, All Praise Cyber Jesus.
Since I had revived box from the dead like Lazarus I felt like no one
would object if I made it dual boot Linux as well as Windows 10. The
machines are mostly empty and have 300-500 GB hard drives, so I hacked
off 60 GB and copied a Debian 9 installation off of a flash drive, fixed
the fstab, installed grub, and set the machine to boot Windoze by
default. The USB wifi sticks are the only way for these things to get
internet since there is no ethernet cable in that hallway, but I managed
to get one working with Debian and it seems stable.

So unless someone objects I propose to set the rest of the machines to
boot automatically into Windows (and not require a PW when the screen
blanks) and also, I'd whack off a small chunk of their hard drives so
all the boxes dual boot Windows and Debian stable (except possibly the
Mint box, it may have been installed to stomp on the whole drive).  It
will give me something to do and keep me out of the sun. This will not
adversely effect the Windows installations, which will still be
available to do whatever folks do in that OS.

Attached is a picture of the machine I mucked with, folks can go down
there and play around with it. As those of you are wise in the ways of
dual booting know, you can select Linux by using the "up arrow" key on
the keyboard to scroll to the Debian 9 "grub" entry and hit the Enter
key. It will automatically boot to a non-privileged "omni" account (PW:
omnivore) and it will hang for a few seconds at the lightdm display
manager to give you a chance to change the Linux desktop to taste (I
configured it for mate, xfce, cinnamon & KDE, and could add other
options if desired). You can also switch users to a "sudoroom" user,
that has sudo privileges, the PW is the same as the username, except in
drop case.

In a world without Gates who needs Windows?

Special Ed

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Windoze: Kleopatra (http://gpg4win.de/download.html)
OSX: GPG Keychain (https://gpgtools.org/#gpgsuite)
Linux: GnuPG (https://www.gnupg.org/related_software/frontends.html)
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An "easy" way to set up PGP on your computer is to download the free & open
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