[mdlug] Linux Computers at Computer Direct - Update

[Peter Bart]

On Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:10:53 -0400
"Robert Adkins" <radkins at impelind.com> wrote:

> 	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.
> 

	This all sounds very very cool. Are there any plans to do the
	same for notebook computers?

Best Regards,
-- 
Peter The Plumber sm
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