So I got there a bit early today, at 7:40 AM, I was in the library looking at the PC, it was the screensaver of Windows VIsta. Naturally, I pushed the power button, waited a bit, and then saw GRUB showing up normally. The weird thing was that when it started booting, kubuntu 9.04’s loading bar was there. I know, the kubuntu desktop installation might have changed that, but it shouldn’t be 9.04’s!!? Anyhow, the desktop was up in seconds, but it wasn’t like the last time I saw it! Files were everywhere, pictures and PDFs. I was glad that somebody used it. The first thing that caught my attention was a text file named “info”. I double-clicked on it aaand it turned out to be a log. It wasn’t any log, it was this PC’s log, all of our work was written in it, by work I mean updates and softeware installations. It was made by DeathGram, Thanks . The idea really did amaze me! After seeing that I wrote everything I did to keep ourselves uptodate

As last time I said about this time, I’d be installing MS Office 2007 for those students who are scared from using OpenOffice. Before I started doing this I saw that DeathGram installed code::blocks, so I had to waste some time on it. After some time I knew that IDEs do not suit me, gcc and gedit are enough for me, so I closed the application. Moving on.

Before starting the M$ Office installation process I realized that the place was getting more crowded by the minute. I knew I should leave the PC for the students, I mean I had my netbook with me. So I installed Secure Shell(SSH) Server, so that I can stay aside and do the dirty work. It went okay, I SSHed and had a hold of the whole PC, then stepped aside. Getting ready for starting the Office installation.

I first though about PlayOnLinux so I installed it, fired it up, and then chose “install new app”. Navigated to MS Office 2007 and clicked install. It started, but after a short while I asked me the path of the CD ROM. I didn’t have the CD they wanted, the official one, instead I had the installer burned on a CD. I tried to fool it, but it didn’t work . I then though that I should do it the good old way, manually. I found the tutorial I had followed and worked, then started the process. Installed the specified WINE version and so on until I reached the part where I should start the installer. I tried to copy the file from the CD I had, but it was giving errors! I got out the CD to take a look at it, I wish I hadn’t seen it. The scratches on it were unbelievable, I don’t know how, but there was no way for that to work whatsoever!

I though about the solutions I had, they were few. I couldn’t SSH to my PC at home to get the file from it, cause my main PC is currently disconnected from the network for some reason. So the solutions were I either return to home and get the file, which was impossible since I came with Q8BKman and he had classes to attend(my only ticket to get in) or, my other option, I can re-download it! I chose to download the file. At that time I exited the SSH connection and started dowing stuff on my netbook, I’d copy the installed at the end to the PC. I got to M$ website and clicked on “download Office 2007 trial”. Entered my email and password and it then gave me a trial validation key and a link to download the office suite. The .exe file was downloaded in seconds. I launched it, but it turned out to be one of the most stupid things Microsoft like to do, which I really hate, it was a program to download the Office setup.exe. Just like the .net framework installers, VisualBasic2008 free edition, and Windows7 professional (from msdn academic alliance). Since I started the dumb application in ubutnu, I thought I should leave it. It was as slow as a slug (wait, maybe the slug is faster, yeah definitely!). But what else could I have done, so I minimized the application and started to do my own stuff. After almost 30 minutes I got frustrated, so I wanted to know to where it was downloading. The sizes of the files which were created , from downloading, were not increasing while the download percent was increasing. Something was fishy, I had to know.

So what I did was executing some commands:
locate "" | grep mohammed > file1 #stores a list of all the files in my home directory in file1
sudo updatedb #updated my database to include new files
locate "" | grep mohammed > file2 #stores a list of all the files in my home directory in file2
diff file1 file2 # shows the difference in files


Yes, it did give me the changed files. I navigated to them, but they were the ones which their sizes were not changing FAILED! So I said I don’t want to waste 20 minutes to finish downloading and might not work, so I canceled the downloading, planing to download it using Windows. I rebooted and started Windows 7, the one I got for free after KUNIV’s InstallFest, when it showed the login screen I said “AU’A OWW”. I forgot the password, I tried and tried, but didn’t work! You can’t blame me, I don’t use it!! I rebooted and chose Windows XP this time, I didn’t assign a password for my XP so it was okay, and I don’t use it either. I launched the program again to download the office. This time when it was launched I didn’t recognize it, the look was completely different from the one which ran under WINE. This one actually had a progress bar and was estimating the remaining time, I guess WINE isn’t good at this one. Oh yeah, as given by the application, the download was to be completed after an hour and 10 minutes!!! SLOWER THAN EVER! That was insane, but it actually did take that long, maybe some people over there started their bit-torrent downloads, I dunno. I minimized it and moved to the PC, updated the system, commented on the MeeGO post, and surfed the web. After an hour and a lot of minutes, it finally finished, I was then able to take the file over to the PC. Launched it, entered the trial validation key, installed it, closed it, configured it, and messed with wine to make Powerpoint work better and not to crash.

I opened word to check that everything was working, printing was okay, but it told me that the trial will end after two months. I had the solution a long time ago. I backuped the .wine directory which has all the necessary files, including the registry files, so that whenever this trial ends, we can replace it with the backup and have another two months. OFFICE FOR FREE!!! I knew that I wouldn’t be free at the beginning of each two months to go to GUST and replace the backup with the original .wine directory, so I knew I had to put it in schedule. I had the backup of the .wine directory in “dot wine” directory under “.backup” which is in the home folder(PATH=”~/.backup/dot wine/.wine”). So I installed gnome-schedule which is a simple front-end GUI for cron. I added the command “cp -r ~/.backup/dot wine/.wine ~/” and chose to be executed every month. So now I can lay back relaxed.

So now I have installed all what students need, all what remains is maintainance. Sorry, but I can’t let an eye on it since my school is going to start on 21st of this month! So I hope you, DeathGram, can look after this baby! This might be my last episode though, but not for sure maybe I’ll be free on someday and come over to GUST! But I think DeathGram can do a great job if he’s not busy. Anyways, here’s the info/log file so far:

Log:
	09 Feb 2010 by deathgram
		-installed code::blocks
		-updated the system

	18 Feb 2010 by AnxiousNut
		-installed openSSH-server, enjoy ssh-ing 
		-installed wine
		-installed playonlinux (installed M$ fonts)
		-updated the system
		-installed adblocker plus plugin
		-installed m$ Office 2007

Comments:
	18 Feb 2010 by AnxiousNut
		I think it's up to you now to take care of this baby! My school will start on 21st of Feb 2010!

BTW DeathGram, I was sitting on the PC from 7:40Am till 2:35PM today, we could’ve met! maybe you saw me, did you?