In addition to booting on my new motherboard, Fedora 21 (unlike Fedora 20) will boot on my laptop. So after almost a year of having to live with Windows 8.1 on the road, I’ll have a dual-boot machine again after I get it installed and configured.
Category Archives: Administrative
Weird Linux Problem
Anyone have any ideas why I can’t do a yum update in Fedora? Or rather, why I can’t write to the disk as root?
# yum update
Loaded plugins: langpacks, refresh-packagekit
Cannot open logfile /var/log/yum.log
Repository google-chrome is listed more than once in the configuration[Errno 30] Read-only file system: ‘/var/cache/yum/x86_64/20/adobe-linux-x86_64/repomd.xml.old.tmp’
Here’s what I’m seeing at /:
# ls -l
total 65
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 7 Dec 11 2013 bin -> usr/bin
dr-xr-xr-x. 6 root root 4096 Dec 22 14:47 boot
drwxr-xr-x. 21 root root 3520 Dec 24 09:15 dev
drwxr-xr-x. 140 root root 12288 Dec 24 09:15 etc
drwxr-xr-x. 4 root root 4096 Dec 20 2013 home
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 7 Dec 11 2013 lib -> usr/lib
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 9 Dec 11 2013 lib64 -> usr/lib64
drwx——. 2 root root 16384 Dec 11 2013 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Nov 7 16:53 media
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 Dec 20 2013 mnt
drwxr-xr-x. 4 root root 4096 Oct 29 15:18 opt
dr-xr-xr-x. 222 root root 0 Dec 24 09:14 proc
dr-xr-x—. 12 root root 4096 Dec 22 15:33 root
drwxr-xr-x. 34 root root 900 Dec 24 09:17 run
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 8 Dec 11 2013 sbin -> usr/sbin
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 7 2013 srv
dr-xr-xr-x. 13 root root 0 Dec 24 09:14 sys
drwxrwxrwt. 12 root root 280 Dec 24 09:21 tmp
drwxr-xr-x. 12 root root 4096 Dec 11 2013 usr
drwxr-xr-x. 21 root root 4096 Dec 24 09:14 var
Here’s /var:
# ls -l /var
total 112
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Dec 11 2013 account
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 7 2013 adm
drwxr-xr-x. 14 root root 4096 Dec 20 2013 cache
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 5 21:27 crash
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 2 2013 cvs
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 Oct 2 09:32 db
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 Dec 11 2013 empty
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 7 2013 games
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 7 2013 gopher
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4096 Aug 7 17:19 kerberos
drwxr-xr-x. 46 root root 4096 Dec 24 09:14 lib
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 7 2013 local
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 11 Dec 11 2013 lock -> ../run/lock
drwxr-xr-x. 15 root root 4096 Dec 24 09:15 log
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 10 Dec 11 2013 mail -> spool/mail
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 7 2013 nis
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 7 2013 opt
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 7 2013 preserve
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 6 Dec 11 2013 run -> ../run
drwxr-xr-x. 10 root root 4096 Dec 11 2013 spool
drwxrwxrwt. 539 root root 36864 Dec 24 09:15 tmp
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 7 2013 yp
I tried to just create a file in /root, with no success (though that’s not really surprising, given the permissions). What’s really weird is that I have no problems writing as a normal user. It’s just a problem with root. Which is, of course, a big problem. I’ve tried rebooting, with no joy.
[Later afternoon update]
OK, I’ve gotten the machine beaten into submission. I loaded Fedora 21 on a live USB, and (unlike Fedora 20) it will actually boot with my new motherboard. So I cleaned up the drives, then installed the new OS on the new SSD. I overmounted my old /home drive onto the new /home, and I’m reinstalling software, which is going very fast, because the SSD is very fast. With the new quad-core processor, I’m cooking with Crisco. Nice Christmas present to myself.
[Update a few minutes later]
Wow. Just did a reboot after a bunch of updates. Ten seconds.
PC Question
No, not political correctness — personal computer. I’m doing a mobo/processor upgrade. I notice that almost all the AMD processors have Radeon graphics built in. I assume that in order to take advantage of this, I have to have a mobo with video support? I’ve been operating off an old PCI express card for years, and have no problems with it, but if I can get significant performance improvement from the new built-in GPU, it might be worth spending a little more for a video mobo. I don’t do any heavy graphics, but maybe it would be nice to go to full HD and fast processing.
[Update a few minutes later]
OK, all the boards have video outputs, so when it says it has no on-board video support, that just means that it has no dedicated graphics chips, and relies on the processor, right? So the GPU built in to the CPU would work, and be better than my old PCI express? Or is the separate card better because it has its own memory?
Heading Back To (Rainy) California
Now that the Cromnibus is crumbling, my work here is done.
Just kidding. It’s that anarchist terrorist Elizabeth Warren’s fault. She’s not only taking hostages — she’s scalping them.
Light Posting
I’m at the Galloway Symposium on Space Law this morning, then off to NASA for a LEO commercial workshop in the afternoon. Haven’t decided whether to schlep computer.
California Rain
The good news. We got some, finally.
The bad news. It revealed a new leak in the roof, that’s showing up on a downstairs ceiling and back wall of the master closet.
Off The Air
Heading up to Stinson Beach for the weekend. I may blog from there, but probably not on the road.
Taxing
Blogging will probably be light for a few days. I’m pulling my books together to pay taxes next week.
The Tenants From Hell
Posting has been light because we came down to Florida last week to get our house ready to put on the market. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to extricate the tenants, who had previously agreed to vacate on the 31st of July. We’re finally playing legal hardball with them, but it’s been a lot of wasted time to date, and we have tickets back to CA tomorrow.
Just if you were wondering why posting has been light.
Off To Florida
Taking a red eye to West Palm Beach tonight, for a week and a half of misery. I’ll have a laptop, but not sure when I’ll check in again. There’s a possibility we’ll drive up to the Cape for the SpaceX launch on Tuesday, but it’s at a gruesome hour: 1:15 AM.
[Tuesday-morning update]
Blogging will be light this week. We’re prepping a house to get it on the market.
Glad I didn’t attempt to watch the successful launch. It would have been an all nighter, with the delay.