Recently I was building a VM box using VirtualBox. I needed to add myself to the vboxusers group so I could get access to the USB devices. I left off a flag to usermod and accidentally removed myself from the “sudo” group, leaving me without root access. Crap. In the past, I would reboot and then drop into a root shell to add myself back to the “sudo” group. I tried that and I found that in a recent release, Ubuntu started requiring a password to get access to the root shell. Because of this, I needed another way to add myself to the “sudo” group. After much Googling, I found this:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/121698/how-do-i-reset-a-lost-password-using-recovery-mode-requires-me-to-type-the-pass
The first answer has some good stuff, but the only incorrect command is that at the end it says to add yourself to the “admin” group. That should be the “sudo” group. To make sure the steps are saved for myself and whoever wants to use them:
1. Grab an Ubuntu live disk and boot in “try ubuntu” mode
2. Mount the drive (in my case, sda1)
3. chroot to the mounted drive.
4. We now have a root shell, execute “ usermod -a -G sudo username”
Voila. Then unmount the drive and restart.
Eric Tech
I few weeks ago I received an American Express gift card at work and I set out to blow the money. I had been thinking about getting an ebook reader for a few months, but didn’t want to spend the money because I’m not really an early adopter. Since this was someone else’s money, I deciding to take the plunge. I spent a few weeks weighing the different ebook reader offerings. I looked at the Kindle 2, the Kindle DX, the Sony readers, and the Barnes and Noble Nook. Ultimately I ended up buying the Nook by Barnes and Noble, and here’s why.
I was attracted the the Kindle early on, but about the time I was looking was when they took a bunch of books out of their ebook store in a power play against Macmillion Publishers. I don’t like that kind of instability, so that was an instant con. B&N is a brick and mortar store with more leverage, so I don’t think this type of crap will happen with them. I also didn’t like the fact that you had to buy books from Amazon in their proprietary format. This Apple like behavior was a real turn off (notice the Ipad was not considered). B&N has more ebooks, so this decision was easy for me.
Pros
- Runs on Android I’m a big fan of Google’s Android OS, so this was a big pro for me. Even though the Nook does not currently have apps, it likely will in the future. I can then write more apps to extend what I can do with my e-reader.
- Can Lend Books Something the Nook offers that other readers do not is the ability to lend books to other Nook users to read. I am constantly borrowing/loaning books from friends and family, so this is a cool feature. I should be able to loan it to more than one person and for more than two weeks, but 2 weeks is better than nothing. I know they want to make more money, but come on…
- Great Battery Life The battery life is not as good as the Kindle because of the color touch screen, but it has been fine for me. I usually get around 5 days of battery life with heavy usage.
- PDF Support The PDF support so far has been good. Granted the e-reader is not the best way to keep reference material, but reading PDFs has been fine. Even my technical books have looked good. More than likely I will still buy hardback technology books and read the rest on the nook.
- E-Pub Support E-Pub support is a huge pro. You can get E-Pub books in a lot of different places, so I don’t have to just get books from B&N.
Cons
- Advertising Why is this a con? I was in an airport last week and I had 5 people ask me “is that a Kindle?” I had to explain to them that it was a Nook from B&N. Amazon has gained the name recognition, so B&N needs to step it up a notch. I thing that the Nook is a superior reader, so they need to advertise that. It’s in everyone’s, Nook customers and B&N, best interest for the community to grow.
- Lack of Backing from B&N This is speculation on my part, but the Nook seems like an experiment by B&N and it does not yet have the full backing of the company. The reason why I say this is that it seems like they are not ordering enough Nook readers and the accessories to meet the demand. I decided to buy the Nook, but they were not available until early February so I had to wait. When I made the order, I also purchased the Neoprene sleeve that they offer. I lost that sleeve in the airport last week and needed to purchase another one. They are sold out and will not have more until April! If B&N wants to really push this product they need to get behind it. The lack of inventory is not encouraging. I’m envisioning a small room in B&N HQ with a few shelves of accessories and readers with a staff of 2 people for order fulfillment. I hope I’m wrong…
All in all, I love my Nook. I can download ebooks while on the road with the included AT&T wireless. I haven’t tried out the periodical subscriptions yet, but likely will soon. I still have some gift card money, so will be loading up the nook with more ebooks.
Eric Tech