Restore Grub after a windows install

Problem # 10102010a

Note: The repair Grub option has been discontinued from OpenSuse 11.3

Problem : Grub vanishes after a windows installation

Solution : After the windows installation boot into the OpenSuse 11.3 Live CD.

Open the terminal

1. Enter “su -”

2. Enter the root password

3. Enter “grub”

4. Enter “find /boot/grub/stage1″

5.That should return your OpenSuse partition in the form of (hdX,Y), use that

6.Enter “root (hdX,Y)”

7.Enter “setup (hd0)”

8.Enter "quit"

If the computer continues to boot the windows bootloader then,

1. Restart computer with the OpenSuse CD in your Drive

2. In the options that come up select "Boot from HardDrive"

This option should boot your Grub now

3. From your Grub boot OpenSuse that is installed in your hard drive

4.  Navigate to Yast > BootLoader

5.  In the Bottom right "Other" Drop Down selection select "propose New Configuration"

6. In the "Boot Loader Installation" Tab check "Boot from MBR" .

Thats it . Grub should be installed in MBR and this should boot up on restart.

‘lastpass’ A great password manager for web browsers in Linux

 

Lastpass password manager

 

My day started with me hunting for a good password manager for Google Chrome, which  i decided to use as my primary browser in OpenSuse 11.3 . Roboform takes care of my passwords in windows and i was looking for one that was similar in features and functionality . Firefox in Linux has some decent alternatives which does the job, but is not in any way comparable to Roboform . For those of you unaware, Roboform is available only for Firefox and Internet Explorer (windows version only) .

 

Lastpass password manager

 

Thats when i stumbled upon LastPass. A free password manager available to all web browsers and all major operating systems. Lastpass is not an Opensource software which is a major sore point for many Linux users.But they make the encryption available to everybody so as to assure the users of its security .The Lastpass team has a forum where the developers actively take part in the discussions . It should be noted that Lastpass stores passwords after encrypting it in its own servers. Its supposedly claimed that even the developers themselves cannot decrypt these files if they manage to gain access to it.

Feature-wise it has everything you would expect from a password manager and even manages to surpass Roboform in that regard . I have’nt really given its form filling capabilities a try . So i really cannot comment about it. All in all it seems to be an excellent replacement to Roboform and when convinced about its security will replace Roboform in entirety .

No audio problem when restricted media formats are enabled in OpenSuse 11.3

Problem # 08102010a

Problem : No Audio in VLC and other video players including web browser after enabling restricted formats .

Error message  :  Output audio device not chosen

Solution : create .asoundrc file and save it in home folder

Contents of the file:

pcm.!default{
type hw
card 0
device 0

turn up the volume in the video player and speakers/headphone .

OpenSuse

 

Linux

 

OpenSuse is the second Linux distro i am trying the first was Ubuntu and it was a great Linux distribution for somebody new to Linux . I restricted myself to using the gnome desktop environment in the 2 Ubuntu releases i used . Wanting some variety i decided to give a different distribution a try this time . After trawling through various Linux distribution comparing sites i decided on trying out OpenSuse 11.3 KDE . I had heard a lot about it’s fairly tight integration with KDE and its Mac like interface .

First Look

 

OpenSuse

 

I went in for the Live CD download . You actually get 4 options among them is a DVD download whose size is around 4GB and which apart from having the different desktop environments like kde,xfc and gnome also has many additional packages and softwares that you would require for a fully functionung linux system .

The installation interface was simple and looked very professional . Completely unlike the simple Ubuntu interface i was used to . One gripe i did have with it was that the Grub that was installed did not detect the windows boot setting correctly and had made many dummy entries in the Grub menu.

The operating system interface (KDE version) has a very Mac like feel with a fair bit of eye candy . The perfomance is also very good , though i did find that there were some minor anomolies like when the mouse pointer got stuck to a position sometimes for no reason at all . Like in other operating systems restricted packages are not provided with the OS by default and so you ll have to set it up after the installation . The highlight of the OpenSuse distribution is definetly the Yast manager. It is an administartive tool that has a very intuiative GUI and functions very much like Microsoft Windows Control Panel. Just about every adminsitrative task can be carried out from Yast . All in all i find OpenSuse to be a solid desktop system .

This blog was made to be a problem log , so in the following posts i ll be entering the problems that i encounter with my Open Suse installation and their fixes .

Have a nice day 🙂