Chris

How to Zen a Parallels VM

This process was discovered researching how to Zen a Boot Camp partition. Those instructions can be found here.

One of the concerns when trying to deploy a Zen image is the HAL. Our base image has a standard single processor ACPI. However some of our new machines are dual-core, and as such need the ACPI updated. Corey Webb, our Zen guru, created an add-on image to swap out this ACPI to Multiprocessor. I stumbled across this when I was having an issue with an IBM T60 that wouldn’t wake from sleep. Thinking this might help our success with imaging the Intel Macs I applied the add-on and was met with great success.

Taking this one step further, I noticed that my Parallels VM of just a standard Windows XP install had a ‘Standard PC” HAL. I asked Corey to create an add-on image that would swap out the HAL with ‘Standard PC’. That’s it!

Just boot your VM off the zen imaging CD, pull down your base image and an add-on to replace the HAL. You’re done. Once you’re up and running you can send ctrl+alt+del to login from the VM menu in Parallels. After installing the Parallels Tools (an MSI that could be deployed to the maching via Zenworks) you can press (in this order, holding each one until they are all depressed) alt then ctrl then fn then delete.

How to Zen an Intel Mac Part III

See previous endeavors

Zen and Intel Mac Part I
How to Zen an Intel Mac Part II
How to Zen a Parallels VM

This week we’ve discovered some additional noes about getting a Zen image onto (into?) a Boot Camp partition. The process is well documented but is rather time consuming. The 3 biggest parts are 1) swapping out the ACPI HAL from our base with a multi-core ACPI. 2) The boot.ini pointing to the 3rd partition on the Mac HD 3) Using the sync tool in rEFIt to sync the mbr after imaging.

Hopefully in the near future I’ll be able to test if pulling down an image directly is possible. (img rp $PROXYADDR //$PROXYADDR/baseimg.zmg a1:p3 + an add-on image with Multiprocessor ACPI is a hint)

Here’s a basic rundown:

From Start to Finish

1) Prepare the Intel Mac
a) Bootcamp, NetRestore, rEFIt

2) Prepare the add-on images:
a) Create an add-on image for XP drivers, correct boot.ini (partition 3) and correct muli-core ACPI

3) Prepare the Windows Disk Image
a) Install the Zen base and add-on images using the ZenWorks Imaging tools. Shutdown and boot into Target mode
b) Create an NTFS master disk image (base.ntfs) using NetRestore Helper

4) Restore the NTFS disk image to the Bootcamp partition

Future Deployment

Once you have a base NetRestore image, you can simply follow the following directions.

1. Install Bootcamp on the Mac meant for deployment.
2. Partition the HD as you like.
3. Restart into OSX and restore your base NetRestore image to the Boot Camp partition.
4. Install rEFIt and restart
5. Resync the MBR if needed and boot into Windows
6. Let sysprep run.

Additional Notes

You can’t use a Macbook as the main imaging machine. The keyboard does not work with the Zen imaging CD. Nor does an external keyboard. This limits you to an intel iMac, Mac Mini, or Mac Pro.

Once the XP drivers have been installed you can press the following key command for Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

Fn+ctrl+option (alt)+command (Apple)+delete

To right click, after the XP drivers are installed press the following key command:

Right command (Apple)+Trackpad button

RSS OMG WTFBBQ!!!!!!111

I’ve been an avid user of ~~Ranchero~~ NewsGator’s NetNewsWire RSS (Lite) reader. It’s a great app and it has a huge user base. However, as of this evening that has all changed. I’ve found a kick butt replacement that’s a million times better. It’s called Vienna.

Vienna is an open source aggregator that has some cool features.

First, it allows me to archive feeds. This was one of the features lacking in NNW Lite. Feeds would fall off into the void way too quickly. Now I can horde my information FOREVER.

Second, I like the UI more so than NNW. It looks like an iApp. NNW looked very ancient, in a 10.2 vs 10.4 Finder kinda way.

Smart Folders. Holy Cow. I can now create folders with keywords like “silly string” and “brown toed shoes” and any articles that contain those phrases will instantly appear in my silly string and brown toed shoes folder*
Pretty sweet deal.

If you’re a Mac user and you’re looking for a robust and well put together RSS reader, look no further than Vienna. It’s open source (ergo free), has a great feature set, well thought out UI and is capable of importing your subscriptions from NNW. Highly recommended!

*I had to think of something I’d want to filter. Silly string and brown toed shoes were the first things to come to my mind. Kids, don’t blog late.

HALO

A friend wanted me to throw together a quick edit for a poster. Being the nice guy I am I said sure and went to work on the image she sent me.

This is the result:

I wasn’t aware of the photo’s origins until after I sent her the completed work. I feel bad and would like to give the orginal artist credit. The original image belongs to harbaugh79.

How did I find the original artist? Images from Flickr have a distinct filename. They look something like this:

258080280_187bf237ed_o.jpg

If you take the first section of that file name and add it to www.flickr.com/photo.gne?id= you get a complete URL pointing to the page where the image originated. (e.g. www.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=258080280) Pretty neat huh?

All my images are gone.

I nuked the dir that contained the images that were in all my previous posts. Unless my host has some magical backup, they’re gone. So for all my old posts you’re just going to have to close your eyes and imagine what I was talking about.

Who let me on the internet?