Command Line Methods to Completly Delete a Hard Drive in Linux

Here are 2 methods to completly dlete the content of an hard drive with dd and shred commands. With those methods you won’t be able to recover the data. This can be useful in case you want to sell,  throw away your hard drive / computer or have doubtful activities. If the partitions you want to delete are system (boot) partitions you’ll need to start your system with a live CD / USB such as SystemRescueCD or GParted. Finding the location of a drive or partition In order to know the exact path for your drive, you can use the fdisk command as root or sudoer: # fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 1887.4 GB, 1887436800000 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 229467 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System /dev/sda1               1          25      200781   83  Linux /dev/sda2              26      229335  1841932575   83  Linux […]

How to Install Windows 8 in Linux with QEMU

Microsoft has just released Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Here’s a method to install Windows 8 in Linux using KVM and Qemu. You can use this beta version of Windows 8 until the 15th of January 2013, after which it will be unusable. Here are the requirements to install Windows 8: 1 GHz Processor or greater 1 GB RAM 20 GB free storage for the 64-bit version Before you start, make sure your processor supports Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) or AMD’s AMD V CPU virtualization extensions. Type this command to check vmx or svm flags:

If this is the case, you can install KVM. Type the following command for RPM-based distributions such as Fedora:

or the following command for Debian or Ubuntu:

Then download the ISO image of Windows 8 on Microsoft website (64-bit version) :

Create a 20 GB virtual hard drive to install Windows 8: […]

Free Electrons Releases Embedded Linux Training Materials

Free Electrons, a technology company offering embedded Linux consulting services as well as embedded Linux training, has released their training materials for Linux and system development for embedded systems including their Lab sessions. The training materials are available in their git repository in LaTeX format. If you want the latest documentation in PDF, you’ll need to build it by following those steps: Install the required packages:

Get the embedded Linux slides source:

Build the training materials:

The last three commands will generate the PDF files respectively: full-sysdev-labs.pdf – Embedded Linux Training Lab Book (58 pages) with instructions for the IGEPv2 board based on on TI DM3730 or OMAP3530. full-kernel-labs.pdf – Linux kernel and driver development training Lab Book (37 pages) full-sysdev-slides.pdf – Embedded Linux system development presentation slides (506 pages) Free Electrons also have slightly older version of full-kernel-labs.pdf and full-sysdev-slides.pdf available for download as PDF so […]

Boundary Devices Unveils Nitrogen6X Freescale i.MX6 Development Kit (aka i.MX6q Sabre Lite)

Arrow Electronics and Boundary Devices have launched the Nitrogen6X, a low cost development kit based on Freescale i.MX6 quad-core cortex A9 processor. Here are the technical specifications of the Nitrogen6X board: Quad-Core ARM Cortex A9 processor at 1GHz (i.mx6Quad) 1 GB of 64-bit wide DDR3 @ 532MHz Board Dimensions: 4.5″ x 3″ 2MB Serial Flash Three display ports (PRGB, LVDS, HDMI) Parallel camera port with OV5642 Interface Multi-stream-capable HD video engine delivering 1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode and 3-D video playback in HD Superior 3-D graphics performance with quad shaders for up to 200 Mt/s Separate 2-D and/or Vertex acceleration engines for an optimal user interface experience Serial ATA (SATA) Dual SDHC card slots PCI express port Analog (headphone/mic) Audio 10/100/1G Ethernet with Power over Ethernet support 2 RS-232 Serial ports 10-pin JTAG interface I2C/GPIO/SPI 3 High speed USB ports (2xHost, 1xOTG) CAN port TiWi 802.11 b/g/n WiFi+BT optional Supports Android […]

Linux on eMMC: Optimizing for Performance – ELC 2012

Ken Tough, principal engineer at Intrinsyc Software, discusses Linux on eMMC at Embedded Linux Conference 2012. Abstract: Embedded devices are increasingly choosing eMMC instead of raw NAND flash as their main storage, for increased independence from component vendors and changing storage densities. This presentation examines Linux configuration for eMMC, how to effectively measure your eMMC performance, and tips to improve it. Topics covered include: filesystem bearing on MMC/SD performance, IO scheduler configuration, and optimal partition layout. Target audience is embedded systems developers or users interested in getting the most out of their eMMC/SD card. You can also download the presentation slides on elinux.org. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

Adapting Your Network Code For IPv6 Support – ELC 2012

Mike Anderson, CTO and Chief Scientist at The PTR Group, discloses how to bring your network code up to speed for IPv6. Abstract: IPv6 support is no longer a “sometime in the future” thing. We’ve exhausted the IPv4 address space and need to start transitioning our code to support IPv6. But, is this a big thing or a little thing? This presentation will outline the typical changes that need to be made to networking code to support IPv6 and describe transition strategies to enable use in a dual-stack environment. The target audience for this presentation is developers who want to take advantage of the new IPv6 address space. This presentation is targeted at intermediate-level developers with some understanding of the IP protocol stack. You can also download the presentation slides on elinux.org Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a […]

LAVA Project Update – ELC 2012

Paul Larson of Linaro gives a LAVA Project update at Embedded Linux Conference 2012. Abstract: The Linaro Automated Validation Architecture (LAVA) is an open source framework used at Linaro for running automated tests on Ubuntu and Android based images, kernels, and more. I introduced LAVA at ELC a year ago. Since that time, considerable progress has been made on the project, and many new components have been added to it. This talk will briefly re-introduce the project to those who may not have heard about it, as well as introduce the new developments. You can download the presentation slides at elinux.org. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

Ubuntu on ARM: Improvements and Optimizations Done by Linaro – ELCE 2012

Ricardo Salveti de Araujo, developer platform lead for Linaro, displays the improvements Linaro have added to Ubuntu on ARM. Abstract: Since Linaro’s start, there was a need to have a supported platform for ARM, that could use the Linaro changes, to improve the ARM experience in general and to show the results of the work done by Linaro. In this session, it’ll be presented why Ubuntu was selected as the base platform for Linaro, describing the benefits and the areas Linaro is continuously investing to improve it. It’ll also be described the current state of the platform, showing some of Linaro’s achievements and also how we’re working to support the main SoC boards available, like Panda, Beagle, Origen, iMX53 and Snowball with the latest development by Ubuntu and Canonical, like Ubuntu TV, Phone and Tablet. You can also download the presentation slides. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC