Disabling a Dell PointStick (TrackStick) in CrunchBang Linux

I recently discovered CrunchBang Linux, an awesome Debian based distro, and have been testing it as an alternative to Windows 8.

I installed it on a spare Dell D630 notebook at work and found out the the little pointstick caused the pointer to randomly wander around the screen.  Since I never use the PointStick I wanted to disable it.  In Windows, there is a nice little Dell utility that allows you to customize the behavior of the PointStick and TouchPad.

However, in Linux, it’s a little different (command line), but almost as easy.

The key tool is xinput (thanks to this post on ceder’s blog)

You can disable the device via a couple simple commands:

"xinput list"
# xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                        id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                  id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Microsoft Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse® 1.0A    id=10    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ DualPoint Stick                             id=12    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint TouchPad            id=13    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Macintosh mouse button emulation            id=14    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                       id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard                 id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                   id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                   id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                                id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                                id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard                id=11    [slave  keyboard (3)]

to find the “DualPoint Stick” device

# xinput -set-prop "DualPoint Stick" "Device Enabled" 0
to disable it

Linux Integration Services 3.2 released for Hyper-V

New version of the IC was released yesterday (1-Dec-2011).

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28188

Overview

When installed in a supported Linux virtual machine running on Hyper-V, the Linux Integration Components provide.

Driver support: Linux Integration Services supports the network controller and the IDE and SCSI storage controllers that were developed specifically for Hyper-V.

Fastpath Boot Support for Hyper-V: Boot devices now take advantage of the block Virtualization Service Client (VSC) to provide enhanced performance.

Timesync: The clock inside the virtual machine will remain synchronized with the clock on the virtualization server with the help of the pluggable time source device.

Integrated Shutdown: Virtual machines running Linux can be shut down from either Hyper-V Manager or System Center Virtual Machine Manager by using the “Shut Down” command.

Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support: Supported Linux distributions can use up to 4 virtual processors (VP) per virtual machine.

Heartbeat: Allows the virtualization server to detect whether the virtual machine is running and responsive.

KVP (Key Value Pair) Exchange: Information about the running Linux virtual machine can be obtained by using the Key Value Pair exchange functionality on the Windows Server 2008 virtualization server.

Integrated Mouse Support: The cursor is no longer bound to the VMConnect window when used with the Linux Graphical User Interface.

====

New/updated from 3.1 release:

• Synthetic Mouse Support: The virtualized mouse device is no longer bound to the VMConnect window, and can now be used with a RDP session.
• Merged Device Drivers: We now present a single device driver for both IDE and SCSI devices (hv_storvsc).
• Windows 8 Fix: The synthetic network device (hv_netvsc) can now be used with a Windows 8 host, eliminating the hang on boot that was previously seen.
• SCVMM Fix: This release fixes the issue as described in KB2586286.
• Improved Setup Experience: Users now only need to run install.sh (as root) to automatically detect the correct architecture and install the appropriate drivers.

 

Parallels Workstation 6 for Windows and Linux released!!

It’s been a long time since Parallels gave the Win/Linux community any workstation love!

I bought the upgrade to 4 back in 2009!  They had a small booth at the Cloud Expo in Santa Clara.

Too bad I missed Kurt S. from the Connectix days.

http://www.parallels.com/products/workstation/

Top Features Include:

Tested and certified on a wide variety of Windows editions and  Linux distributions to support your efforts across multiple environments.

• VM configuration capabilities for CPU and RAM allocations on a  per VM basis to help enforce good neighbor policies.

• Configurable VM isolation for advanced testing scenarios.

• Adaptive hypervisor improves performance for active window  applying the computers power where you need it most.

•  Fast virtual machines with Intel VT-x2 support (VPiDs, EPT & Flexpriority) taking  advantage of the latest hardware improvements.

• Plug and play support for a wide range of USB 1.1 and 2.0 devices.

• USB smart connections remember assignments or default to your desired configuration  eliminating reconfiguration.

• Easy virtual networking to enable moving between offices, networks and more.

• Drag and drop, copy and paste, share files between Virtual Machines as well as the host OS to simplify the movement of data.

• Coherence simplifies interaction by integrating application from multiple VMs onto the host desktop for easy access.

• Configure undo-disks to automatically reset VMs to their original starting state enabling rapid testing scenarios and share computer support for labs and  classrooms.

• Remotely start, stop & reset virtual machines without physically sitting at the computer extending administrators management reach.

• Access VMs and their applications from iPads and iPhones with Parallels Mobile allowing you to take your workstation with you, virtually.

• Easily convert physical environments into virtual machines with the Parallels Transporter application.

• Automatically encrypt virtual machines to improve privacy and security.

Supported Host OS Software

32-bit:

• Windows 7

• Windows Vista SP1, SP2

• Windows XP Pro SP3

• Windows XP Home SP3

• Debian 6.0

• Fedora 14, 15

• RHEL 6, 6.1

• SLED 11 SP1

• Ubuntu 10.10, 11.04

64-bit:

• Windows 7

• Windows Vista SP1, SP2

• Windows XP Pro SP2

• Debian 6.0

• Fedora 14, 15

• RHEL 6, 6.1

• SLED 11 SP1

• Ubuntu 10.10, 11.04

CentOS 5.2-5.6 Hyper-V support announced

http://blogs.technet.com/b/openness/archive/2011/05/15/expanding-interoperability-to-community-linux.aspx

“Specifically, effective immediately, Microsoft will support Windows Server2008 R2 Hyper-V to run CentOS. CentOS is a popular Linux distribution for Hosters, and this was the number one requirement for interoperability that we heard from that community. “

Installing VirtualBox 3.2 in Debian-based Linux Mint 9

I have struggled with this in the past, since VBox requires some different versions of packages that aren’t easily accessible/installable…at least until I found this hint.

1. Download VBox
2. From a terminal

      sudo dpkg -i "vbox-version".deb
      sudo apt-get -f install

That's it

More Hyper-V and Linux info from Matthew Mattoon

Matthew has posted a bunch of new info on using various Linux distros for Hyper-V: Debian and Ubuntu

Including Ubuntu 10 Alpha

Hyper-V and Linux

Yes, you can run Linux distros on Hyper-V, including more than the 4 supported

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Service Pack 2 (x86 Edition or x64 Edition)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Service Pack 1 (x86 Edition or x64 Edition)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Service Pack 2 (x86 Edition or x64 Edition)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (x86 Edition or x64 Edition)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.2 and 5.3 (x86 Edition or x64 Edition) (Emulated devices only)

Check out Matthew Mattoon’s blog: http://blog.allanglesit.com/ He’s done a lot of hard work on the Hyper-V ICs and “unsupported” Linux distros

Installing VirtualBox 3 in LinuxMint/Ubuntu

I have a second computer set up as a triple boot system (LinuxMint 7 x64, Utlimate Linux 2.3 x64, and Windows 7 Pro x64).

After installing VBox 3 inside VBox 3 running on my main Win7 system.  I thought I’d install VBox on my native LinuxMint system.

I thought I’d just downloaded and installed VBox, but alas, that simple 1-step operation is still missing (at least for VBox) with Linux.

There’s a good set of steps for doing this here: Installing VirtualBox 3.0 on an Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop

It’s not difficult, but you can’t right-click your .deb file and just install with Archive Manager or GDebi.  LinuxMint does provide a simple install if you want to go all the way back to version 2 of VBox.

Next step:  adding my Windows server shares to Linux.

LinuxMint 7 runs under WinVPC

Since its very similar to Ubuntu, but IMHO, superior in many ways, you can use the same “trick” to get LinuxMint 7 to boot in WinVPC.

I selected “Start Linux Mint (compatibility mode)” pressed “tab” to edit options,  I deleted the end “–” and replaced with “vga=791 noreplace-paravirt”, then press “enter”

Full installs for both Ubuntu 9.10 and LinuxMint7 are in progress now.  Once completed, I’ll try and get an update here and on my site.

Edit: installs completed, but are not accessible.  I’ll need to set aside some time to figure this out.

Ubuntu 9.10 works under Windows VPC (Sort of)

Thanks to Matthew Guay, Ubuntu 9.10 was found to work under WinVPC  http://www.flickr.com/photos/42564061@N06/4059419695/. 

More OSes that work in WinVPC: http://www.essjae.com/virtualization/wwadw.htm

Edit:  I haven’t had any success in getting this to work yet

Edit2: I was able to get Ubuntu 9.10 to boot by using the old VPC2007/Ubuntu 9.04 trick:

On the first screen, choose [English].
Press [F4] and select [Safe Graphics].
Press [F6], press [Escape].  This will reveal the command line. Remove “quiet splash –”replace ”vga=791 noreplace-paravirt” without the quotes.
Press [Enter] to start the installation.