[mdlug] Linux Computers at Computer Direct - Update

[Robert Adkins]

	There is another model being put together and tested which I am
calling the "Gaming Penguin" for now. It is a middle range gaming PC with an
accelerated graphics card, a Duo-Core Intel Processor, 500GB SATA HD and 4GB
of RAM.

	The price is going to be south of their Power Gamer Windows system,
which I recall being either $599 or $699... (My memory isn't the best.)
Anyway, the specs for both systems are very similar.

	Recently, a small issue has been discovered with the recovery media
and there is a solution being worked on to correct it. Apparently the tools
don't like to work with 3D Graphics Card drivers installed in the system and
it actually performs a fresh install.

	So, what's going to be done is the creation of an image of the hard
drive from the base install that will be coupled with a basic Linux Live
boot CD that will immediately launch a script asking the user how they want
to restore their system. The choices as of now will involve doing a full
factory restore, wiping the entire hard drive, restoring just the / drive,
saving the home directories AND also restoring the currently installed
passwd, group and shadow files.

	How will restoring those files work?

	The computers will be set to run a script during shutdown (and maybe
a few times a week if never/rarely shutdown) to make a copy of the shadow,
group and passwd files and store them in a hidden directory on the /home
partition. This directory will only be root rw permissioned.

	When the restoration process completes, the still running live DVD
will mount the recovered / partition and the existing /home partition and
copy the backups over to /etc. This should provide a seamless restoration of
the system for the end user.

	If the HD is totally dead and needs to be replaced, the scripts on
the restore DVD will be used to create a new partition table and then dump
the image onto the drive for both the / and  /home. Both of which will be
stored as separate images on the DVD restore media.

	There's going to be some logic tests involved to test the current
state of the HD, as in is the drive blank or is it containing data. The nice
thing is that the parition table will be "known" by the CD since each system
will be setup with the exact same partition scheme of at least a 50GB /, a
swap of at leat 4GB and the balance of the disk used as /home.

	A little bit of work and this will be all set to run quite nicely.

	Later,
	Rob