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  • Is there a Linux distro specific for running as a host OS for Virtualization?

    - by harmh
    Hi, as I understand running VMware or other virtualizations requires a "host os". Normally this is one of your main os-es, that you really use. What I would like is a mini-linux and virtualization software pre-wrapped into a specialized bootalble, installable mini-os. So the linux would not have a webserver, nor X, just the minimum to run as a host OS and of course optimized for that, like some partitioning tools and such.

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  • SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 crash when disk is full?

    - by squillman
    One of our SQL boxes ran itself out of disk space last night. This particular server has both the database engine and analysis services on it. Database engine was not happy about having no disk space on the volume where all the data files are, but analysis services just plain died. At least, the only thing I have to blame is the full volume. Has anyone experienced a SSAS that they've been able to directly tie to no disk space? I've got nothing else in the SQL or event logs to blame...

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  • Can a faulty battery cause a laptop to crash?

    - by Paul Johnson
    After replacing a blown out motherboard, my Toshiba Satellite C600 is still malfunctioning lately: BSODs. Distorted graphics, and freezes. Sudden shutdowns. After removing the battery and doing a re-format the laptop works perfectly (I should mention the problems continued before removing the battery after the re-format). I haven't seen a fault while solely running on A/C power for two days. Could the problem be a faulty battery?

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  • Fujitsu Siemens V6535 laptop doesn't wake up - crash when going into standby?

    - by marc
    I'm having trouble with my laptop (Fujitsu Siemens model V6535). It runs Windows 7, and after I upgraded from Vista I've noticed something that makes me really angry. When my laptop goes into Standby, the power LED changes to red and starts blinking (standby mode). When I push the power button to wake it up it, the blinking LED changes to green but nothing else happens. Nothing on the display, no HDD sound. When I press the power button for a few seconds and then try turn it on again, it doesn't display anything. I have to unplug the charger, shut it off, and power it on again without the power cable. Then it starts working. A few days ago I upgraded the BIOS to the newest version, but it doesn't help. Does anyone have any idea what can be wrong?

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  • Linux Kernel crash mutex_lock_slowpath "blocked for more than 120 seconds". What to do?

    - by Roddick
    I have out-of-the box Debian Lenny with non-custom kernel 2.6.26-2-amd64. Brand new server that is used to 5% of it's potential, CPU and Disk-wise. Meaning it probably not crashing because of overload. every few days it freezes with hundreds of these messages in console log: : [284847.828428] INFO: task apache2:12473 blocked for more than 120 seconds. : [284847.868468] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. : [284847.912759] apache2 D ffff8101bc6b7ab0 0 12473 14358 : [284847.912763] ffff810160d5bc50 0000000000000082 ffff8101c0002e40 0000000000000000 : [284847.912766] ffff8101a7c42950 ffff810327d92810 ffff8101a7c42bd8 0000000400000044 : [284847.912770] ffff8101c0002e40 00000000000612d0 0000000000000000 00000040000612d0 : [284847.912773] Call Trace: : [284847.912786] [<ffffffff80429b0d>] __mutex_lock_slowpath+0x64/0x9b : [284847.912790] [<ffffffff80429972>] mutex_lock+0xa/0xb : [284847.912794] [<ffffffff802a20b9>] do_lookup+0x82/0x1c1 : [284847.912800] [<ffffffff802a4271>] __link_path_walk+0x87a/0xd19 : [284847.912805] [<ffffffff80295844>] kmem_getpages+0x96/0x15f : [284847.912808] [<ffffffff80295fb7>] ____cache_alloc_node+0x6d/0x106 : [284847.912814] [<ffffffff802a4756>] path_walk+0x46/0x8b : [284847.912819] [<ffffffff802a4a82>] do_path_lookup+0x158/0x1cf : [284847.912822] [<ffffffff802a3879>] getname+0x140/0x1a7 : [284847.912827] [<ffffffff802a53f1>] __user_walk_fd+0x37/0x4c : [284847.912831] [<ffffffff8029e381>] vfs_lstat_fd+0x18/0x47 : [284847.912840] [<ffffffff8029e3c9>] sys_newlstat+0x19/0x31 : [284847.912848] [<ffffffff8020beda>] system_call_after_swapgs+0x8a/0x8f Almost all traces has __mutex_lock_slowpath as top-level. Only some has different trace: : [284847.737386] INFO: task apache2:12472 blocked for more than 120 seconds. : [284847.777551] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. : [284847.824881] apache2 D ffff8101bc6b7ab0 0 12472 14358 : [284847.824886] ffff8101b9cc1c50 0000000000000086 ffffffffa0131e0a 0000000000000002 : [284847.824889] ffff8102e7454300 ffff810324c6cad0 ffff8102e7454588 0000000000000000 : [284847.824893] 0000000000000001 0000000000000296 0000000000000003 ffff8101b9cc1c58 : [284847.824896] Call Trace: : [284847.828403] [<ffffffffa0131e0a>] :ext3:__ext3_journal_dirty_metadata+0x1e/0x46 : [284847.828412] [<ffffffff80429b0d>] __mutex_lock_slowpath+0x64/0x9b : [284847.828418] [<ffffffff80429972>] mutex_lock+0xa/0xb : [284847.828421] [<ffffffff802a20b9>] do_lookup+0x82/0x1c1 : [284847.828427] [<ffffffff802a4271>] __link_path_walk+0x87a/0xd19 : [284847.828428] [<ffffffff80271296>] find_lock_page+0x1f/0x8a : [284847.828428] [<ffffffff80273182>] filemap_fault+0x1c2/0x33c : [284847.828428] [<ffffffff802a4756>] path_walk+0x46/0x8b : [284847.828428] [<ffffffff802a4a82>] do_path_lookup+0x158/0x1cf : [284847.828428] [<ffffffff802a3879>] getname+0x140/0x1a7 : [284847.828428] [<ffffffff802a53f1>] __user_walk_fd+0x37/0x4c : [284847.828428] [<ffffffff8029e381>] vfs_lstat_fd+0x18/0x47 : [284847.828428] [<ffffffff8029e3c9>] sys_newlstat+0x19/0x31 : [284847.828428] [<ffffffff8020beda>] system_call_after_swapgs+0x8a/0x8f kernel: [1912668.466347] INFO: task apache2:17984 blocked for more than 120 seconds. [1912668.507035] "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message. : [1912668.555165] apache2 D ffff8101c5637ba0 0 17984 17282 : [1912668.596752] ffff810166a7dd30 0000000000000086 0000000000000000 ffff810166a7dcd8 : [1912668.643341] ffff8101c563c880 ffff81024505f000 0000000000000002 ffff810166a7dd68 : [1912668.699566] 0000000000000086 00000000000cb1a0 0000000000000000 ffff81017f344d60 : [1912668.744773] Call Trace: : [1912668.761754] [<ffffffff8022a3ed>] pick_next_task_fair+0x6e/0x7a : [1912668.829311] [<ffffffff802be0e2>] bio_alloc_bioset+0x89/0xd9 : [1912668.861930] [<ffffffff8024ac3a>] getnstimeofday+0x39/0x98 : [1912668.897005] [<ffffffff802710f6>] sync_page+0x0/0x41 : [1912668.927868] [<ffffffff80429487>] io_schedule+0x5c/0x9e : [1912668.960286] [<ffffffff80271132>] sync_page+0x3c/0x41 : [1912668.991756] [<ffffffff804295fa>] __wait_on_bit_lock+0x36/0x66 : [1912669.031757] [<ffffffff802710e3>] __lock_page+0x5e/0x64 : [1912669.064191] [<ffffffff802461d3>] wake_bit_function+0x0/0x23 : [1912669.100100] [<ffffffff80281bc5>] handle_mm_fault+0x5e4/0x8de : [1912669.134531] [<ffffffff802461a5>] autoremove_wake_function+0x0/0x2e : [1912669.174623] [<ffffffff802aa108>] fcntl_setlk+0x1cf/0x291 : [1912669.210623] [<ffffffff802461a5>] autoremove_wake_function+0x0/0x2e : [1912669.246923] [<ffffffff802a677f>] sys_fcntl+0x280/0x2f7 After googling for "mutex_lock_slowpath" I can only find the Kernel mailing list discussions that this issue was introduced in some commit. Wthout reference to verison. Discussions as recent as Jan 25, 2011. The Kernel I am using is form Debian Lenny, year ago. What should I do? Is this bug even fixed in kernel? if it's such obvious bug why it happens so rarely? Should I download latest kernel from kernel.org and upgrade? Should I use Debian backports to install new "Approved" kernel? Am I missing something? What to do?

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  • Server Crash Diagnosis...Are there any 'black box recorder' style programs available.

    - by columbo
    My redhat server is crashing every three weeks or so at 4:15am ish on Sunday mornings. (well it was sundays the last two have been Thursday mornings at 4:15ish) Looking at the logs (mysql, httpd, messages) there are no clues as to why. They just seem to stop. I ran a little script to take memory readings every 15 minutes and it too stops (with normal readings) at this time. The server is remote at a provider so I can only access it via the web. I use Plesk. It appears to be a set job or something that is causing the issue. I can see nothing in crontab. So my question is...has anyone else had this and can offer advice? Failing that. Does any one know of a way to get more detailed logging than that offered by the messages file? I was thinking of a black box style recording program or maybe something as simple as an option somewhere to increase the level of reporting in the messages log. Thanks

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  • Fujitsu Siemens V6535 laptop doesn't wake up - crash when going into standby?

    - by marc
    I'm having trouble with my laptop (Fujitsu Siemens model V6535). It runs Windows 7, and after I upgraded from Vista I've noticed something that makes me really angry. When my laptop goes into Standby, the power LED changes to red and starts blinking (standby mode). When I push the power button to wake it up it, the blinking LED changes to green but nothing else happens. Nothing on the display, no HDD sound. When I press the power button for a few seconds and then try turn it on again, it doesn't display anything. I have to unplug the charger, shut it off, and power it on again without the power cable. Then it starts working. A few days ago I upgraded the BIOS to the newest version, but it doesn't help. Does anyone have any idea what can be wrong?

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  • Help, I need to debug my BrowserHelperObject (BHO) (in C++) after a internet explorer 8 crash in Rel

    - by BHOdevelopper
    Hi, here is the situation, i'm developping a Browser Helper Object (BHO) in C++ with Visual Studio 2008, and i learned that the memory wasn't managed the same way in Debug mode than in Release mode. So when i run my BHO in debug mode, internet explorer 8 works just fine and i got no erros at all, the browser stays alive forever, but as soon as i compile it in release mode, i got no errors, no message, nothing, but after 5 minutes i can see through the task manager that internet explorer instances are just eating memory and then the browser just stop responding every time. Please, I really need some hint on how to get a feedback on what could be the error. I heard that, often it was happening because of memory mismanagement. I need a software that just grab a memory dump or something when iexplorer crashes to help me find the problem. Any help is appreciated, I'll be looking for responses every single days, thank you.

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  • iphone os 4.0 and libxml2 and os 2.2.1

    - by g.revolution
    Hi, My project using libxml2. and i want to compile my application with OS 4.0 with deployment target 2.2.1 but i m getting errors for libxml2. what is the way to do this. i want compile on OS4.0 and deployment target to 2.2.1 with libxml2 support. Looking for answers. thanks in Advance

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  • How to get more detailed reason for Thunderbird crashing?

    - by Nick
    I have a computer (10.04) that was previously running Thunderbird 12.0.1 just fine (installed via apt-get via official PPA). I don't know what happened at the time the problem started since this is a multi-user computer and I was not here. However, every time we try to launch TB, we immediately get a dialog that says: We're Sorry Thunderbird had a problem and crashed. Things I've tried: Running thunderbird from a terminal produces no output. I tried apt-get remove thunderbird --purge and then reinstalled Deleting the user's .thunderbird folder and launching still results in a crash Attempting to run thunderbird -safe-mode still results in a crash This problem occurs for all users of Thunderbird on this computer. Is there any way to get more details on why the program is crashing? For example, the specific error that TB is encountering? I tried thunderbird -g but I'm not sure what to do with the debugger.

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  • Chrome OS : déjà un échec pour le créateur de Gmail et de la devise de Google, l'OS accumule les critiques négatives

    Chrome OS : déjà un échec pour le créateur de Gmail et de la devise de Google L'OS accumule les critiques négatives Les premières critiques sur Chrome OS ne sont pas bonnes. Parmi ces testeurs des premiers laptops équipés de l'OS de Google orienté Cloud, deux voix portent un peu plus que les autres. Celle de Paul Buchheit, créateur de Gmail, et celle de Richard Stallman, le père du GNU. La première constatation polémique, bien qu'elle aille dans le sens de la vision de Google d'un OS totalement intégré dans le Web, a choqué plus d'un testeur de la première heure. Chrome OS n'a tout simplement pas d'explorateur de disques durs. En tout cas rien d'équivalent à Windows...

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  • Why Does Ejabberd Start Fail?

    - by Andrew
    I am trying to install ejabberd 2.1.10-2 on my Ubuntu 12.04.1 server. This is a fresh install, and ejabberd is never successfully installed. The Install Every time, apt-get hangs on this: Setting up ejabberd (2.1.10-2ubuntu1) ... Generating SSL certificate /etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.pem... Creating config file /etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.cfg with new version Starting jabber server: ejabberd............................................................ failed. The dots just go forever until it times out or I 'killall' beam, beam.smp, epmd, and ejabberd processes. I've turned off all firewall restrictions. Here's the output of epmd -names while the install is hung: epmd: up and running on port 4369 with data: name ejabberdctl at port 42108 name ejabberd at port 39621 And after it fails: epmd: up and running on port 4369 with data: name ejabberd at port 39621 At the same time (during and after), the output of both netstat -atnp | grep 5222 and netstat -atnp | grep 5280 is empty. The Crash File A crash dump file is create at /var/log/ejabber/erl_crash.dump. The slogan (i.e. reason for the crash) is: Slogan: Kernel pid terminated (application_controller) ({application_start_failure,kernel,{shutdown,{kernel,start,[normal,[]]}}}) It's alive? Whenever I try to relaunch ejabberd with service ejabberd start, the same thing happens - even if I've killed all processes before doing so. However, when I killall the processes listed above again, and run su - ejabberd -c /usr/sbin/ejabberd, this is the output I get: Erlang R14B04 (erts-5.8.5) [source] [64-bit] [rq:1] [async-threads:0] [kernel-poll:false] Eshell V5.8.5 (abort with ^G) (ejabberd@ns1)1> =INFO REPORT==== 15-Oct-2012::12:26:13 === I(<0.478.0>:ejabberd_listener:166) : Reusing listening port for 5222 =INFO REPORT==== 15-Oct-2012::12:26:13 === I(<0.479.0>:ejabberd_listener:166) : Reusing listening port for 5269 =INFO REPORT==== 15-Oct-2012::12:26:13 === I(<0.480.0>:ejabberd_listener:166) : Reusing listening port for 5280 =INFO REPORT==== 15-Oct-2012::12:26:13 === I(<0.40.0>:ejabberd_app:72) : ejabberd 2.1.10 is started in the node ejabberd@ns1 Then, the server appears to be running. I get a login prompt when I access http://mydomain.com:5280/admin/. Of course I can't login unless I create an account. At this time, the output of netstat -atnp | grep 5222 and netstat -atnp | grep 5280 is as follows: tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:5222 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 19347/beam tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:5280 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 19347/beam ejabberdctl Even when it appears ejabberd is running, trying to do anything with ejabberdctl fails. For example: trying to register a user: root@ns1:~# ejabberdctl register myusername mydomain.com mypassword Failed RPC connection to the node ejabberd@ns1: nodedown I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. This happens on two different servers I have with identical software installed (really not much of anything). Please help. Thanks.

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  • Computer crashing after a few minutes of logging in

    - by user88612
    I have a fresh install of 12.04.1 on my machine. It is constantly crashing after logging in. I noticed it crashed repeatedly when using Minitube and would crash in Chrome. It seems to be that anything graphics related is causing it? I've booted the system 7 times and each time it would crash within 5-10 minutes after logging in. I have no swap and it's a dual-boot system with Windows 7. My system specs: AMD Phenom XII 925 8GB DDR3 (new) AMD Radeon HD 7770 GPU (new) Seagate 1TB Barracuda HDD (new) Catalyst Drivers

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  • Apache2 cgi's crash on odbc db access (but run fine from shell)

    - by Martin
    Problem overview (details below): I'm having an apache2 + ruby integration problem when trying to connect to an ODBC data source. The main problem boils down to the fact that scripts that run fine from an interactive shell crash ruby on the database connect line when run as a cgi from apache2. Ruby cgi's that don't try to access the ODBC datasource work fine. And (again) ruby scripts that connect to a database with ODBC do fine when executed from the command line (or cron). This behavior is identical when I use perl instead of ruby. So, the issue seems to be with the environment provided for ruby (perl) by apache2, but I can't figure out what is wrong or what to do about it. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get these cgi scripts to work properly? I've tried many different things to get this to work, and I'm happy to provide more detail of any aspect if that will help. Details: Mac OS X Server 10.5.8 Xserve 2 x 2.66 Dual-Core Intel Xeon (12 GB) Apache 2.2.13 ruby 1.8.6 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 287) [universal-darwin9.0] ruby-odbc 0.9997 dbd-odbc (0.2.5) dbi (0.4.3) mod_ruby 1.3.0 Perl -- 5.8.8 DBI -- 1.609 DBD::ODBC -- 1.23 odbc driver: DataDirect SequeLink v5.5 (/Library/ODBC/SequeLink.bundle/Contents/MacOS/ivslk20.dylib) odbc datasource: FileMaker Server 10 (v10.0.2.206) ) a minimal version of a script (anonymized) that will crash in apache but run successfully from a shell: #!/usr/bin/ruby require 'cgi' require 'odbc' cgi = CGI.new("html3") aConnection = ODBC::connect('DBFile', "username", 'password') aQuery = aConnection.prepare("SELECT zzz_kP_ID FROM DBTable WHERE zzz_kP_ID = 81044") aQuery.execute aRecord = aQuery.fetch_hash.inspect aQuery.drop aConnection.disconnect # aRecord = '{"zzz_kP_ID"=>81044.0}' cgi.out{ cgi.html{ cgi.body{ "<pre>Primary Key: #{aRecord}</pre>" } } } Example of running this from a shell: gamma% ./minimal.rb (offline mode: enter name=value pairs on standard input) Content-Type: text/html Content-Length: 134 <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN"><HTML><BODY><pre>Primary Key: {"zzz_kP_ID"=>81044.0}</pre></font></BODY></HTML>% gamma% ) typical crash log lines: Dec 22 14:02:38 gamma ReportCrash[79237]: Formulating crash report for process perl[79236] Dec 22 14:02:38 gamma ReportCrash[79237]: Saved crashreport to /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/perl_2009-12-22-140237_HTCF.crash using uid: 0 gid: 0, euid: 0 egid: 0 Dec 22 14:03:13 gamma ReportCrash[79256]: Formulating crash report for process perl[79253] Dec 22 14:03:13 gamma ReportCrash[79256]: Saved crashreport to /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/perl_2009-12-22-140311_HTCF.crash using uid: 0 gid: 0, euid: 0 egid: 0

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  • Why does xdebug crash apache on every XAMPP install I've tried?

    - by Ian Cook
    I've installed the Windows XAMPP package on three separate computers, 2 running Windows Vista 32 bit ( 1 Ultimate / 1 Home Premium ) and 1 running Windows Vista 64 Home Premium. After enabling xdebug in php.ini and restarting apache, viewing the default XAMPP localhost index causes apache to crash in the same way every time, reporting 'php_xdebug.dll' as the Fault Module Name. Here's the full report from the Windows Crash Reporter thing: Problem signature: Problem Event Name: APPCRASH Application Name: apache.exe Application Version: 2.2.9.0 Application Timestamp: 4853f994 Fault Module Name: php_xdebug.dll Fault Module Version: 2.0.3.0 Fault Module Timestamp: 47fcd9b9 Exception Code: c0000005 Exception Offset: 00008493 OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3 Locale ID: 1033 Additional Information 1: a34a Additional Information 2: c9c5f4fd744690d388ab9d5b3eb051a7 Additional Information 3: cb2e Additional Information 4: 650bb5690556a17e911375b94d3e16f0 I've tried Googling this issue but haven't found any resolution, only reports of similar errors. EDIT: I enabled the extension line for php_xdebug.dll and that seems to have stopped the crashing so far.

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  • A question for retrieve minix os version

    - by majnun
    Hi guys i'm having a project for the university in which (above others ) i have to get the minix os version from kernell call.I'm not a very experienced programmer so this is what i have come to (with some help ) int main (int argc, char *argv[] ) { char M3ca1[23]; message ml; m.m_u.m_m1.m3ca1= OS_VERSION; char temp=_syscall(MM,69,&m); printf("the os version is %c\n",temp); return 0; } and i get multiple errors.IF you have any ideas it would be greatly appreciated.

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  • Why's a simple change to rt.jar causing the Java Runtime Environment to crash silently?

    - by Tom
    This is what I'm doing: extract contents of my JRE's rt.jar extract src.zip of my JDK (same version) Now, if I copy Runtime.java from the extracted src folder and compile it using javac.exe without any modifications and then put it in the extracted rt folder to finally put everything back in a jar file using jar.exe, everything works as expected. The JRE runs fine. However, if I make the slightest change to Runtime.java and compile it and put it in rt.jar, the JRE crashes whenever I attempt to start it. This is an example of a slight change that causes the silent crash: /** Don't let anyone else instantiate this class */ private Runtime() { System.out.println("This is a test."); } Instead of: /** Don't let anyone else instantiate this class */ private Runtime() {} Could anyone tell me why this is causing my JRE to crash? Thanks in advance.

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  • Ubuntu 12.04 GUI doesn't load after Virtualbox crash

    - by Itamar Katz
    I have Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit installed as a virtual OS in Virtualbox (the host is windows 7). The Virtualbox data file is on a usb drive that lost connection to the PC while a session was running. Now when I try to start the Ubuntu virtual OS, I get a terminal login screen, but no GUI. When I try to login I get the message sh: 1: cannot create /var/run/motd.new: Directory nonexistent Any suggestions? Can I recover the system?

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  • Intel Rapid Storage Technology (pre-OS) driver installation

    - by Nero theZero
    My desktop machine is built on Gigabyte GA-Z87-UD3H and Gigabyte provides the latest driver for Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST), which I installed after installing the OS. Same goes for my Lenovo Thinkpad-T420. And for both machine, checking the controller device under the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers section in Device Manager I see the driver has been updated to the latest version. I set the SATA controller to AHCI from BIOS On the desktop machine I have one WD 2TB BLACK & one WD 3TB Green I don’t use RAID, & no chance of using in near future, but according to Intel IRST improves performance in single disk scenario too. Now I have the following questions – What is the actual purpose of IRST (pre-OS install) driver that doesn’t get served with a post-OS driver that I installed? There must be some difference, otherwise there wouldn’t be a pre-OS version of the driver. Right? In the pre-OS procedure (loading the drivers at OS-installation time) after successfully completing the OS installation, do I need that post-OS driver? Because after installing from that one I got a quick launch icon that runs the IRST configuration application. Where do get that after installing the pre-OS driver? As it is “pre-OS”, when I load it at OS-installation time, does it updates anything at BIOS level or anywhere other than HDD? That’s because I’m going to dual boot Windows 7 with Windows 8.1, and after installing Windows 7 when I install Windows 8.1 & load the IRST driver for that, is there any chance of any “overwriting” or OS-incompatibility? In short, is there anything specific to follow while installing the second OS?

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  • How Exactly Is One Linux OS “Based On” Another Linux OS?

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    When reviewing different flavors of Linux, you’ll frequently come across phrases like “Ubuntu is based on Debian” but what exactly does that mean? Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites. The Question SuperUser reader PLPiper is trying to get a handle on how Linux variants work: I’ve been looking through quite a number of Linux distros recently to get an idea of what’s around, and one phrase that keeps coming up is that “[this OS] is based on [another OS]“. For example: Fedora is based on Red Hat Ubuntu is based on Debian Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu For someone coming from a Mac environment I understand how “OS X is based on Darwin”, however when I look at Linux Distros, I find myself asking “Aren’t they all based on Linux..?” In this context, what exactly does it mean for one Linux OS to be based on another Linux OS? So, what exactly does it mean when we talk about one version of Linux being based off another version? The Answer SuperUser contributor kostix offers a solid overview of the whole system: Linux is a kernel — a (complex) piece of software which works with the hardware and exports a certain Application Programming Interface (API), and binary conventions on how to precisely use it (Application Binary Interface, ABI) available to the “user-space” applications. Debian, RedHat and others are operating systems — complete software environments which consist of the kernel and a set of user-space programs which make the computer useful as they perform sensible tasks (sending/receiving mail, allowing you to browse the Internet, driving a robot etc). Now each such OS, while providing mostly the same software (there are not so many free mail server programs or Internet browsers or desktop environments, for example) differ in approaches to do this and also in their stated goals and release cycles. Quite typically these OSes are called “distributions”. This is, IMO, a somewhat wrong term stemming from the fact you’re technically able to build all the required software by hand and install it on a target machine, so these OSes distribute the packaged software so you either don’t need to build it (Debian, RedHat) or they facilitate such building (Gentoo). They also usually provide an installer which helps to install the OS onto a target machine. Making and supporting an OS is a very complicated task requiring a complex and intricate infrastructure (upload queues, build servers, a bug tracker, and archive servers, mailing list software etc etc etc) and staff. This obviously raises a high barrier for creating a new, from-scratch OS. For instance, Debian provides ca. 37k packages for some five hardware architectures — go figure how much work is put into supporting this stuff. Still, if someone thinks they need to create a new OS for whatever reason, it may be a good idea to use an existing foundation to build on. And this is exactly where OSes based on other OSes come into existence. For instance, Ubuntu builds upon Debian by just importing most packages from it and repackaging only a small subset of them, plus packaging their own, providing their own artwork, default settings, documentation etc. Note that there are variations to this “based on” thing. For instance, Debian fosters the creation of “pure blends” of itself: distributions which use Debian rather directly, and just add a bunch of packages and other stuff only useful for rather small groups of users such as those working in education or medicine or music industry etc. Another twist is that not all these OSes are based on Linux. For instance, Debian also provide FreeBSD and Hurd kernels. They have quite tiny user groups but anyway. Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.     

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