This guide came about from a post on the Linode forum (http://forum.linode.com/viewtopic.php?t=7454) and I thought it might be useful to have on file for myself and anyone else that might find this blog. The below are steps needed to change a CENTOS 6 server over to a Scientific Linux 6 server as they are both based on RHEL sources but SL is updated more often and seems to be gaining traction as CENTOS loses it with slow updates & releases. I did make a minor change from the initial post (changing distroverpkg) and then the formatting but otherwise the steps were laid out by tolle.

First, Install the yum repository

rpm -ivh http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/6x/i386/os/Packages/yum-conf-sl6x-1-1.noarch.rpm

Then install the signing keys for a 32bit installation

rpm -ivh --force http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/6x/i386/os/Packages/sl-release-6.1-2.i686.rpm

For a 64bit installation run

rpm -ivh --force http://ftp.scientificlinux.org/linux/scientific/6x/x86_64/os/Packages/sl-release-6.1-2.x86_64.rpm

Edit /etc/yum.conf and change

distroverpkg=centos-release

to

distroverpkg=sl-release

Have your CentOS installation pull all the updated packages from the SL repositories

yum erase centos-release
yum clean all
yum distro-sync

Run this to update all centos packages to SL

yum reinstall \`rpm -qa --qf "%{NAME} %{VENDOR}\n"|grep CentOS|awk \'{print $1}\'\`

And you are done. I reboot after all of this just to ensure everything was working properly. I would also probably recommend this be done on a clean install of CENTOS if at all possible (ie: you use Linode which only has CENTOS or some other provider) just to reduce your problems but it should be possible on a previously deployed server as well, just be sure to get backups done first.

If you use Chrome / Chromium and Google+ but hate the stream being cluttered and hard to follow, there is an extension that should make your life much easier.

Plus Minus allows you to collapse posts in your stream down to just a few lines making it easier to follow and see what you have already read and what is new. Additionally, it allows you to expand the width of the stream to take advantage of your resolution rather than just taking up the middle of the screen. You can also shrink the entire stream at once as well as other options like selecting which circles to show or hide.

Get Plus Minus for Chrome / Chromium

I had this issue the other day and wanted to write it down both as a reminder to myself and a hint for anyone that might be suffering from it.

Basically, some programs (I had it with Broderbund Print Shop which seems to be the most commonly found option) that burn things to disc mess with settings that hose the pagefile, making the computer running badly and having the window to change it popup after every boot.

The fix is actually very easy and quite painless. Just drop to a command prompt and type:

sc config afs start= disabled

Reboot the computer and that should solve the issue, it did for me.

When a computer is in safe mode, the Windows Installer Service isn't started. This can cause some issues as some malware can be removed easier through safe mode or maybe other issues in uninstalling a program force you to use an alternate method. However, if you just try to start the service in safe mode, it fails with an error message (Could not start the Windows Installer service on Local Computer. Error 1084: This service cannot be started in Safe Mode).

Enter SafeMSI.exe, a tiny (and portable) free app that starts up the Windows Installer Service for you. In reality, it's simply running a registry tweak and starting the service but this makes it a lot easier than editing the registry & starting the service on your own.

You can download the program here

This is just a quick tip to remind myself and in case anyone else stumbles upon the same problem.

While installing Windows 2008 r2, I encountered a 0xc0000225 error immediately after starting the boot from the iso. It turns out that you need to edit the settings for the VM to turn on IO APIC (Under System, Motherboard tab) in order for the install to complete. Soon as I did that, the install continued as normal.

Simple fix, hopefully it helps someone pulling their hair out in frustration.