I have been using the knoppix live cd for more than four years now and it has worked well to retrieve data off corrupt hard disks that will not boot windows anymore, read and write to file systems not natively supported by windows like xfs ext2 and ext3. I however have had problems using knoppix in Windows virtual pc as it would not capture the mouse.

Due to the inconvenience of having to hard reboot into knoppix to work on my projects then hard reboot again to access windows I started exploring my options as I am setting up a development environment to work on linux embeded OS’s on FFS (Flash File System) and modify my different linux based images. More rational to setup a colinux environment includes the tediouse process of creating a new dynamic vhd and imaging it with the image I want to work on each time
The Flash File System is used for routers, phones, usb devices and pretty much anything that uses flash based media

More on my reasoning and need for this environment later.

Here I will explain what I did:

First we downloaded and installed colLinux-0.7.5.exe
During the install when prompted to select a root filesystem I selected Gentoo Deluxe.

I then installed WinPCap_4_1_1.exe

I jumped ahead and configured my newly created network adapter in Windows by setting the ip address in properties>tcp/ip>options> to
read IP= 192.168.11.10 ; SUBNETMASK = 255.255.255.0 I did not set the gateway as the documentation said it may cause problems.
We will use this adpater later!

After the install I started it from the prompt in the directory I installed my colinux in, by typing
colinux-daemon.exe @colinux.conf
I seen that it worked and knew I must set up the conf file in the colinux directory for everything to work properly and make some adjustments to get internet and connect to my windows host.
So I exited the terminal and opened my conf file in notepad++, my source editor of choice.

To jump ahead again: I downloaded colinuxSwap_1024Mb.bz2 unzipped it to my colinux directory with winZip Made sure the unzipped file was not in its own subdirectory but directly in the colinux directory which is not neccasary depending how you set up your .conf file. Some may opt to put there mounted partition.fs files in a folder named drives and the swap in its own folder but I liked placing the swap in the root colinux folder as all other installs and filesystems will use the same swap partition

In the conf file I set the parameters for gentoo as outlined in the colinux get started wiki My first feet was to accomplish getting the host connection working so I commented out and disabled the swap partition in the conf and made eth0 = tuntap

Know that I specifically chose not to use the xml configuration, which is good as it has been deprecated.

Here is the current .conf

#########################################
#gentoo.conf for colinux

#########################################
# The default kernel
kernel=vmlinux

############################################
# File contains the root file system.
# The name of the root file system I used yours may be different
cobd0=C:\colinux\gentoo-root

################################################# Swap device, should be an empty file with 128..512MB.
# Inside coLinux run “mkswap /dev/cobd1 ; swapon cobd1″
# You can comment this out if you havent downloaded or created it yet
cobd1=C:\colinux\linux-swap

##########################################
# Tell kernel the name of root device (mostly /dev/cobd0)
# This parameter will be forward to Linux kernel.
# Take not this is slightly different than the standard linux hdaXX format
root=/dev/cobd0

############################################
# Initrd installs modules into the root file system.
# Need only on first boot. Should exist from installation
initrd=initrd.gz

############################################
# Maximal memory for linux guest Defaults if commented out to ?
# notsure, but it wont hurt it is just the memory allocated to colinux
#mem=768

##############################################
# Slirp for internet connection (outgoing) on second linux adapter.
# Inside running coLinux configure eth0 with this static settings:
# ipaddress 10.0.2.15 broadcast 10.0.2.255 netmask 255.255.255.0
# gateway 10.0.2.2 nameserver 10.0.2.3
# just using tuntap nto connect to windows host first
#eth0=slirp

##############################################
# Networking (tuntap as private network between guest and host)
eth0=tuntap

##############Did Not Change####################################
# Setup for serial device
#ttys0=COM1,”BAUD=115200 PARITY=n DATA=8 STOP=1 dtr=on rts=on”

# Run an application on colinux start (Sample Xming, a Xserver)
#exec0=C:\Programs\Xming\Xming.exe,”:0 -clipboard -multiwindow -ac”

I then rebooted but when doing that I also added the service for colinux this is the cmd to install the service from colinx directory dos

CMD colinux-daemon.exe @gentoo.conf –install-service “CoGentoo
Then if it hasn’t started do a
CMD colinux-daemon.exe @gentoo.conf

Now move on to makeing network settings and adjustments in gentoo Linux
CMD cd / (change directory) to root
CMD ls (list directory content) to see whats there
CMD cd /etc
CMD ls | less (I call this less is more)
CMD cd /conf.d
CMD ls

Before we edit any of the files here we should probably look at what adapters we have up, do this by:
CMD ifconfig

You may or may not see eth0 thats alright, but you should see
an interface for “lo” this is your local 127.0.0.1
CMD nano net

This opens the net file add the following interface for eth0 based on the .conf file I just specified, and the IP settings in WinPCap adapter
NOTE: Comment out the old one with #

config_eth0=( “192.168.37.20/24″)
config_eth1=( “dhcp” )

ctrl+0
ctrl+x

CMD exit

Now close the terminal window
(for help leave comments or use andLinux)
close the cmd prompt END

winKey+r
start dos cmd
CMD cd
CMD colinux-daemon.exe @gentoo.conf
(Make sure you use the directory and name you gave the .conf)
TERMINAL POPS UP
Runs Boot

CMD ifconfig

your interfaces should now be there

CMD ping 192.168.11.10

Does it work GOOD now

Go back and nano /etc/conf.d/net

And add the slurp adapter by commenting out the old one and
changing the interface number of the host you added last time
to eth2, change the dhcp to eth0 and make the slurp eth1 adjust
your gentoo.conf in the colinux directory to reflect these changes.

exit terminal, close and reboot

Do an ifconfig again you should see eth1 and eth2, eth0 is not in
the .conf file so it will not show up.

ping your home router that goes to the internet from colinux terminal or ping google or somthing typically

ping 192.168.1.1

Now you can get online.

then

CMD emerge world
CMD emerge xorg-x11

fails when downloading eselect, cant find it on any mirror I add and can’t find it on web for wget eather, but if I did you put it in a /portage/ directory not subject to emerg update or emerge –sync as it will just be overwritten the exact method I am unsure of but it has to do with versioning the files and nameing directories to directly corespond to eachother, files must be chmod -x to enable execute also you will unpackage with tar xvf file.tar.gz, this is a problem with not only this install but others as well. Though connections and everthing work, installing the xserver neccasary to display graphical interface in windows with x window protocol over tcp/ip was not possible. Suggestions are to wait untill the mirrors are updated.

I then tryed ubuntu, connected to internet and host by modifing configuration in /etc/networks/ and using other info from google and the .conf I used with gentoo.

I liked the command process and ease of browsing the file structure in this distro better, but had the same problems with apt-get install packages, then tryed fedora.

With fedora everything worked perfectly, I got the x-server up and running with yum and finnaly had a terminal in x-ing but needed to make adjustments on my method of connecting from xing instead of connecting I should have been listening and starting the x-session on startup after all networks had been established in fedora. I made some adjustments rebooted and lost my connection though my configurations were the same. I had just been shutting off the firewall when problems arose, decided to move my configured filesystems and .conf files into respective folders and move them to my external drive, then install andLinux where I may be able to find the neccasary configurations to build my own x-server later. I do not want a full blown gui just x-apps that can be displayed remotely with the x protocall on xing or another x-server listening for and serving requests.

andLinux works awesome but seems slow even though it has a host connection. Remote PC is faster on a local connection, I will have to look furthure into this, but at least I can now work with my different file systems and have samba set up to transfer file back and forth along with a cof0 partition and big ++! I can copy past to my terminal window

further testing and additions to include compiling the kernal and recompiling different distro’s to work with other kernals including dd-wrt. The next feet will be a dual boot with fedora and dd-wrt along with researching the directory and file structure of different linux images and router flash images with my andLinux installation. I would really like to speed up the connection between host and colinux.

I have manny details in regards to the fedora setup that I will book mark here as a number of files had to retrieved with wget

continuing to work with the andLinux ubuntu setup, to first help me resize the partitions on my dd-wrt x86 image and setup a dual boot with a knoppix install on grub. already have a good working grub install but unsur if it is on the member or not, Questioning if I can flash grub within my bios, we will see what happens with this new found knowledge I have.

Trying to create a three column layout that sizes by percents can be fairly tricky, so I have put together my best attempt at it for review. I still suggest to use a fixed width for your middle column, but it is not necessary

This layout uses a CSS hack for Internet Explorer due to the display limitations with IE. As shown here using a percentile width for the middle column rather than fixed, wherever your floated left or right columns stop in height IE will allow your middle column to spill over to take up the unused space where the middle column is larger in height than the other columns. This may sound like what is supposed to happen when you have a float, and an inline element, however this inline element should take it’s percentile size from the main div wrapping the 3 columns, which is the case with firefox. By modifying the css height property for the selector #left_nav to read height:10px; you can test this prior stated problem. The only way to fix this problem is by giving the middle column a fixed width. Below is the code and demonstration for a percentile width. I hope this helps anyone pursuing to create a 3 column layout with percents and css.

Notice that the middle column is given the css display property of display:inline-block; if this is not done attempting to clear the floats within the middle column will clear the floats outside of it pushing the middle column below the floats and that is not good. Because of the inline nature of this layout it is a must to have your left and right columns appear prior to the middle column in your html code.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Tags: Firefox, Float, IE, Inline, Margins, Percent, Size, Three Column, tricks