Sabayon Forensics is built off the current daily ISO image of the x86 Gnome DVD.  I’ve removed and add various packages and you can find a package list here to view.  If you have questions or concerns on this particular project, email me at wolfden@sabayon.org.  As far as a KDE version, still working on that.  I finally have a spec file that is working, still need to work out some bugs.

It’s main use is to be ran live and I highly recommend using a flash drive for best performance and versatility.  I did test an install in VirtualBox and it went flawlessly for me.  Once installed you could use it as a rolling release just like the normal x86 Sabayon releases.  The project started out to help me with working on fixing and repairing computer systems.  I have used it several times on various desktops and laptops to fix.  Just last week I had a laptop come in that nobody could remember the password to.  I booted up Sabayon Forensics and with chntpw I was able to just remove the current password and enable the hidden Administrator account.  5 minutes I was done and able to boot into the windows desktop again.  I carry it around on my 4GB flash drive so I’m always ready to go with it.

I acknowledged Fabio and Joost for Thanks.  Joost provided some neat work arounds/howtos and Fabio helped me more with the technical things, like getting my local cache working and setting it up for the mirrors.  I am thankful for getting to work with those two.  We have our ups and downs, but that is normal.  The entire Sabayon Crew is very dedicated and we are doing our best with what we have to work with.  Thanks to all the donations and community that has helped make Sabayon grow.  I remember when we were struggling to even get the ISOs to a server for download, now we have a small mirrors page growing.

Thanks to everyone that is doing their thing, please continue doing what you are doing.

As root:

We need to sync with portage and this will take some time to do.  Enjoy a nice spot of tea or something while it runs:

• emerge –sync

or you can do some needed edits to the /etc/make.conf file, user your favorite editor as root:

• edit /etc/make.conf
• add line: PORTDIR_OVERLAY=”${PORTDIR_OVERLAY} /usr/local/portage/”
• uncomment: ACCEPT_LICENSE=”*”

the License thing isn’t necessary, but while you are there, might as well

Lets make our directory into our local overlay that you just put into the make.conf file:

• mkdir -p /usr/local/portage/www-plugins/google-talkplugin/

lets change to the directory to keep things simple:

• cd /usr/local/portage/www-plugins/google-talkplugin/

lets get the file now:

• wget -O google-talkplugin-9999.ebuild http://bugs.gentoo.org/attachment.cgi?id=243839

now we need to digest it so we can install it:

• ebuild google-talkplugin-9999.ebuild digest

Once your emerge –sync is done you can get busy installing, but lets do this the proper way to mix it with entropy system.

• emerge google-talkplugin -av
• Calculating dependencies… done!
  [ebuild N ] media-gfx/nvidia-cg-toolkit-2.1.0017 13,410 kB [0]
  [ebuild N ] www-plugins/google-talkplugin-9999 0 kB [1]
  Would you like to merge these packages? [Yes/No] No

We want to select No cause we don’t want portage to install any more than it has to, so lets use entropy to install the deps.

• equo install media-gfx/nvidia-cg-toolkit

Lets double check now:

• emerge google-talkplugin -av
• Calculating dependencies… done!
  [ebuild N ] www-plugins/google-talkplugin-9999 0 kB [1]
  Would you like to merge these packages? [Yes/No] Yes

Now, we can select Yes and soon we see – Recording www-plugins/google-talkplugin in “world” favorites file…   Pretty painless huh?  So now we need to make entropy find it.

• equo rescue spmsync
  >> Scanning Source Package Manager and Entropy databases for differences…
  >> Differential Scan…Are you ready ? [Yes/No] Yes

Yes we are ready.

• >> @@ Someone added these packages. They would be added to the system database:
  >> # www-plugins/google-talkplugin-9999
  >> ++ (1/1) >>> Adding www-plugins/google-talkplugin-9999
  >> @@ Database update completed.

Thanks!

Now you may see portage and entropy complaining about some config files needing updating.

• equo conf update
  Your choice (type a number and press enter): -9

Use -9 to just dump and get rid of them so you will never be bothered by them again.

Open up your browser and see if the plugin is there.  In firefox and chrome use the url and enter in  about:plugins to see and you should hopefully see something like:

• Google Talk Plugin Video AcceleratorFile: libnpgtpo3dautoplugin.so
  Version:
  Google Talk Plugin Video Accelerator version:0.1.43.3

Now, even tho my browser sees it, google still said I still needed the plugin.  Apparently a known issue and is hitting people.  Well I switched out the ebuild in this how to for the one in cj-overlay 1.4.1.0 version, digested and emerged it and it worked just fine.  I did this on the Sabayon KDE 5.3 x86 version and got it to work with 1.4.1.0 version.  Which one will work for you?  I dunno, the guy that created the 9999 version claims it works on x86_64, but wasn’t sure about x86.  I haven’t had time to try it out on a 64 bit version of Sabayon yet.  So your mileage may vary, but at least this should get you 99.95% there.

So what did we accomplish here.  We used a supported method to install a package that is not yet in entropy.  We safely mixed portage and entropy.  We have a working google talkplugin.  I can’t be for certain when it will be in entropy, probably once they get a stable ebuild, but it’s already been request on the Sabayon Bugzilla for the entropy team to take a look at, so no need to go requesting it.

Happy Chatting!

I’ve also been working hard on a mini wiki for Sabayon Forensics and getting that ready.  Fabio is getting it set up so our build server will have the spec file and will build the isos and kick it out to the mirrors for download.  I’m still trying to figure out when and what on it.  I think I will only kick out a new release as a new kernel comes out.  I need to update it to 2.6.35 now that the dailys on the build server have been migrated to 2.6.35.  Than I should be good to 2.6.36.  I only have the gnome version done and I took a look at doing a KDE one, but having some serious doubts about doing it as the file size is getting heavy.  I’ll see and take a closer look at it when I get out of vacation mode.  So far my vacation has been nothing but fixing and working on computers, need to get out and have some fun.

I will post update when Sabayon Forensics hits the mirrors.  I first need to catch up to Fabio who is also in vacation mode, but first some fun.

Have fun!

A quick and easy command to issue is:

# equo update && equo install linux-sabayon && equo world

Reboot to new kernel.

What does that do?  It will update your repository, install a new kernel if one is available and than it will install the modules/drivers  that fit your new kernel.  A kernel should never be automatically pulled, if it does, file a bug on our bugzilla immediately.  It will also update your grub.cfg file and add the new kernel.  So if you are one that is editing /boot/grub/grub.cfg by hand, make a back up of that file so you can edit and restore it.  It doesn’t hurt to make a back up of it anyway just incase.  Grub2 is about as stable as an active volcano near a plate line.

# mv /boot/grub/grub.cfg   /boot/grub/grub.cfg.backup

Now you have a file called grub.cfg.backup to always refer to.

Please pass this info on to all your buddies, help save the support crew.

If you are the devel mailing list you will have seen this already in the ongoing debate over “What is Sabayon” with regards to user group focus and the website. If you have any opinion on what Sabayon is, please leave it in the comments.

Originally, it was Ubuntu with out the “evil Mono(tm)”, now of course mainline Ubuntu has no mono either, so their USP was gone! So they changed their main idea.

The latest release is based on Kubuntu (which makes it a 4th generation distro) and aims to improve the KDE that is provided by Kubuntu by, this is what really got me, integrating more of Gnome into KDE.

Yes, really. Dolphin for instance is replaced by Nautilus, because Nautilus is more “Feature complete”.  I’m not sure how they came to that conclusion at all and especially within KDE Dolphin really shines, its integration with tech like Nepomuk and friends is a big plus.

In fact, which missing features of Dolphin? You mean the integrated terminal? No forced breadcrumb navigation? On wait, they are things Dolphin can do and Nautilus can’t. If anything, nautilus is getting worse, espesially with Gnome’s ongoing war against features that could confuse anyone with less mental power than a domesticated turkey.

(Domesticated Turkey fact: Young Turkeys don’t know how to eat. Turkey farmers make use of the chick’s natural attraction to bright colours: marbles or strips of foil are placed into their food, or their food is sprayed with green food colouring. In pecking at the colours, the turkeys learn to eat. )

One idea on their suggestions forum was to ship Windows apps pre-installed, uTorrent in fact. Native applications aren’t feature complete either?.

I suppose this is the strength of Linux – if you are looking for a Linux flavour for any particular purpose there will be one available -  even if what you want is a KDE/Gnome/Windows cross-breed Mongrel.

Our crew, is happy to announce the immediate availability of XFCE, LXDE and SpinBase/OpenVZ Sabayon 5.3 “Spins” built on top of Sabayon “SpinBase” ISO images.
Under the “Extra Spins” umbrella, the Sabayon developers are going to experiment new Stable Releases with different package compositions.
Consider these “Extra Spins” an appetizer of what you will get in the upcoming months: more “Spins” are planned and more external contributions will be accepted.
Just like the other regular Sabayon releases, these “Extra Spins” are also daily built by our Build Servers and available in our mirrors inside the “iso/daily” directory.

Features of Sabayon 5.3 XFCE Spin:
• Bootable Image suitable for a CD or USB thumb drive (<700Mb)
• Linux 2.6.34 Desktop kernel w/Tuxonice and AUFS support
• XFCE 4.6.2 Desktop Environment
• NetworkManager 0.8 as default networking tool
• Out of the box NTFS support via NTFS-3G
• Mozilla Firefox 3.6.6
• Basic VirtualBox Guest integration
• Very fast installation via our Live Anaconda Installer (which gained stability improvements and several new minor features)
• Very minimal setup to fit into a CD, no fancy features and drivers. Designed for low-end computers.
• Package list: amd64
• Package list: x86

Features of Sabayon 5.3 LXDE Spin:
• Bootable Image suitable for a CD or USB thumb drive (<700Mb)
• Linux 2.6.34 Desktop kernel w/Tuxonice and AUFS support
• LXDE 0.5.0 Desktop Environment
• NetworkManager 0.8 as default networking tool
• Out of the box NTFS support via NTFS-3G
• Mozilla Firefox 3.6.6
• Basic VirtualBox Guest integration
• Very fast installation via our Live Anaconda Installer (which gained stability improvements and several new minor features)
• Very minimal setup to fit into a CD, no fancy features and drivers. Designed for low-end computers (and Windows-addicted users).
• Package list: amd64
• Package list: x86

Features of Sabayon 5.3 SpinBase/OpenVZ templates:
• To be used with OpenVZ servers (or Sabayon OpenVZ installations with sys-kernel/linux-openvz kernel)
• Very small footprint, yet providing a full feature OpenVZ guest Virtual Machine
• OpenVZ template installation howto available at planet.sabayon.org
• Package list: amd64
• Package list: x86

Download sources
Our Mirrors Page:
Just choose a link from the list and get to the “iso” directory
- http://www.sabayon.org/download
Bittorrent:
- http://tracker.sabayon.org

MD5 hashes of released files
71923122a703af647cf9128356edf103 Sabayon_Linux_5.3_amd64_LXDE.iso
dba2212e09764186ab56c74fdeb70922 Sabayon_Linux_5.3_x86_LXDE.iso
66c54177b3c26226689b571bb6eb9aa2 Sabayon_Linux_5.3_amd64_XFCE.iso
ec605701b7cbd24c07c82d956377be3e Sabayon_Linux_5.3_x86_XFCE.iso
ee2b3e08ab98e99713df9fa0c2f0fad3 Sabayon_Linux_SpinBase_5.3_amd64_openvz.tar.gz
aec80516bf2992d70960e337842eb8ec Sabayon_Linux_SpinBase_5.3_x86_openvz.tar.gz

But what is OpenVZ?

“In short, OpenVZ is the only highly scalable virtualization technology with near-zero overhead, strong isolation and rapid customer provisioning that’s ready for production use right now. Deployment of OpenVZ improves efficiency, flexibility and quality of service in the enterprise environment.” [from: http://wiki.openvz.org/FAQ]

How does it work?

How do I install all the fancy stuff on Sabayon?

equo install sys-kernel/linux-openvz vzctl vzquota vzdump
rc-update add vz default

You may want to turn NetworkManager off and switch to plain /etc/conf.d/net configuration (replace net.eth0 with your NIC id)

rc-update del NetworkManager default && rc-update add net.eth0 default
nano -w /etc/sysctl.conf # and set net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
reboot

Remove the Sabayon standard kernel and drop all the proprietary/external_driver stuff

equo remove sys-kernel/linux-sabayon

OpenVZ will read configuration defaults from /etc/vz/conf/*-sample files [ve-light.conf.sample, ve-unlimited.conf-sample, ve-vps.basic.conf-sample], make sure to edit the desired file and tweak DISKSPACE and DISKINODES parameters to make your Sabayon OpenVZ template to fit (I advice to set DISKSPACE to at least 4194304:4612096 and DISKINODES to 800000:880000).
Now download, for example, the amd64 OpenVZ template from our mirrors: Sabayon_Linux_SpinBase_DAILY_amd64_openvz.tar.gz and place it into /vz/template/cache.
Now you’re ready to install the template!

vzctl create 101 --ostemplate Sabayon_Linux_SpinBase_DAILY_amd64_openvz \
  --config vps.basic

NOTE: 101 is the so called “veid” that will be used to identify your virtual machine (it’s a virtual machine ID). You can omit the –config parameter or set it to “unlimited” (for unlimited virtual machine resources) or to “light“.  But really make sure that the disk quota assigned to the veid is enough to make the .tar.gz content to fit.

You’re done! Just start the virtual machine with: “vzctl start 101” and enter it with “vzctl enter 101“. The newly created virtual machine will start at boot. If you want to change its settings (adding more RAM or disk space), you can either use “vzctl” or edit /etc/vz/conf/101.conf.

Have fun!

Let’s for example use Italy – Garr mirror.  You will notice rsync://na.mirror.garr.it/sabayonlinux [1000Mbit/sec].

This is what you are looking for.  I myself have created in my home directory two directory structures /home/wolfden/isos/x86 and /home/wolfden/isos/64.  You have the option to rsync the entire directory which will grab all the iso images from the server.  I do not want to do that.  I only want the 64 bit ones as that is all I use.  So I rsync the Gnome and KDE editions of the x86_64 isos.  You will have to decide what you want to do.  Either do all or pick the one(s) you want.

Now I just need to run a simple command via terminal:

rsync –progress -av rsync://na.mirror.garr.it/sabayonlinux/iso/daily/Sabayon_Linux_DAILY_x86_G.iso /home/wolfden/isos/x86  (it’s a double dash in front of progress)

That will go out and fetch the iso file and place it into the directory.  I always grab the md5 file also and check the iso image.  Just like this:

rsync –progress -av rsync://na.mirror.garr.it/sabayonlinux/iso/daily/Sabayon_Linux_DAILY_x86_G.md5 /home/wolfden/isos/x86

than to verify

md5sum -c Sabayon_Linux_DAILY__x86_G.iso

Now that you have the file, in the future when you run the above commands, it will update your iso and md5 by downloading only the changes instead of the entire iso file again.  You can of course download your first iso(s) off the ftp side of the server and move it to the correct directory and than run the rsync.  As long as the iso and path all point correctly it will update.

If you want to download all the isos, you can simple do something like:

rsync –progress -av rsync://na.mirror.garr.it/sabayonlinux/iso/daily/Sabayon_Linux_DAILY_x86_G.iso /home/wolfden/isos

That will grab everything in the directory.  To get a directory listing:

rsync –list-only rsync://na.mirror.garr.it/sabayonlinux/iso/daily/

I like to use unetbootin and a flash drive for testing iso.  Save a blank cd/dvd-r and use a flash drive if you can.

Maybe you don’t want to test iso(s) and just want to test packages.  We have the entropy limbo repository that is the testing ground for packages before they get moved into the main line repository. One of the entropy team members will give a shout out here and there for specific testing of limbo packages even.  You can enable the limbo repository through sulfur or by editing the /etc/entropy/repositories.conf, please see our wiki for that.  Also make sure you are on the Sabayon Dev Mailing List to stay in touch with announcements and changes for testing.  Getting on the Dev ML should be your first step.

So now you are testing and find an issue or bug and need to report it.  You can use the Sabayon Dev ML, Sabayon Bugzilla or discuss testing in the special forum section devoted to just testing. When reporting, try to keep in mind a few important things that are needed:

• Which Sabayon Linux are you running – x86, x86_64, gnome, kde, core ?
• How to reproduce the issue? Give us the steps on what you did to get the issue(s) so we can try and reproduce it.
• Any and All Log files that pertain to the issue.
• Hardware List

The more information you submit, the easier it is for us and there is no cat and mouse chasing to get the required information.  Stating that the latest entropy limbo update crashed your desktop isn’t what we want to see.  Reports like that are usually deleted as they are useless.  So try and remember that the more information you can give, the better.  Someone will usually try and recreate the issue to confirm or deny the issue.  Feel free to confirm or deny the issue(s) as they are posted.

Being a tester is usually for experienced users and you usually don’t want to run it as your main operating system.  Some ask that they don’t have enough hard drive space to test and want to know if they can use Virtual Box.  Yes you can.  We need all aspects tested.  This includes things like virtualization, running it in live mode, and doing actual installs.  New users are gonna get their first impression from the Live mode, so we need that working flawlessly.  I like to use unetbootin for this.  Just let us know how you are running it, again, the more information you can provide, the better.  Test anyway you can and help make a stronger Sabayon and be apart of that.

Thanks to all that do already and will be in the future.

The next Sabayon Linux release will be 5.4 as usual it will have the usual skew of package updates and bug fixes. We are tracking the bugs earmarked for fixing before 5.4 using the Sabayon 5.4 Tracking Bug. This means that you can see which bugs will be fixed for 5.4 and the status of each issue individually; it also means you can report bugs and we can easily target those before each release. This is a new public approach for to nailing down issues before release and is due in part to structural changes within the Sabayon testers group.

Previously the Sabayon testers team (who are one of Sabayon’s most valuable assets) had a closed mailing list and IRC channel, as of this week both of these are being closed and all activity will be moved over to the existing public infrastructure of the Sabayon-dev mailing list and #Sabayon-dev IRC channel on freenode. The ‘opening up’ of the process was done to improve communication with the wider community, ideally it will  get some more testers involved in testing and encourage more widespread input on the varying aspects of the the distribution. If you want to get involved, just grab one of the Sabayon daily images and hop on the devel mailing list with any issues.

I have decided to pick my artwork duties back up for 5.4 (as no else has volunteered to do art!) which means I can also reveal some things regarding the theme for 5.4. Firstly there will be a new theme which shares a colour scheme with the current 5.x theme, hooray! Secondly, the Sabayon “hens foot” logo will be brought back as the official Sabayon logo! Woot! There will also be a brand new KDM theme and wider KDE will be getting some theming love too.

In conclusion then, there is a lot to look forward to in Sabayon Linux 5.4, stay tuned for more information.