IP Addressing made simple, hopefully!

I am now going to focus on a topic that many computer users wish to know, but can't really seem to get the hang of. This of course is IP Addressing.

Basically all an IP Address is, is your computer's Social Security Number or street address number, that it uses to communicate on a network/Internet. (Of course the Internet is a network, just the biggest).

Unless your computer is not on a local network (Local Area Network(LAN)) or the Internet, your computer will not have an IP, because like I stated above, it's used in networking.

All machines must have different IPs. It's the same principle as SSNs or house numbers. Neither of these can be the same either because of identity issues (SSN) and mail would get screwed up (house number).

There are 5 different classes of IP addresses. They are A-E.

Class A - 0.x.x.x - 126.x.x.x
Class B - 128.0.x.x - 191.255.x.x
Class C - 192.0.0.x - 223.255.255.x
Class D - 224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255
Class E - 240.0.0.0 - 255.255.255.255

Note: 127.x.x.x is missing because it's used only for loopback, or going back to your own machine. Basically if you type in your web browser, http://127.0.0.1 you will go straight to your own machine, no matter what machine you go to.

Note: There are some IP classes that are for LAN use only and not for WAN (Wide Area Networks, which includes the most popular one, the Internet).

10.0.0.0-10.255.255.255 - Class B subnet by default

169.254.0.0 - 169.254.255.255 - Class B subnet by default - This is Zeroconf, and normally is an IP address you get in Windows if you don't set your IP either by telling it you have a DHCP server or by defining a static one.

172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 - Class B by default

192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 - Class C by default and the notorious in home networks

Now in networking, you normally only work with Class A-C, because D is for multicasting and E is reserved, so in other words both are not used in every day networks.

Before I define how the classes have default subnets I must explain what a network id and host id is.

Network Id - The portion of the IP address that identifies what (logical) network you are on.
Host Id - The other part of the IP address that identifies the host/device, such as a computer, printer, server, etc. Any of these devices are normally called nodes.

In most home networks, the IP address go as such, 192.168.1.x. In home networks, set by the default standard, though it can be changed, a Class C subnet is used. I will explain subnets later.

The octets of an IP address are from 0-255, though when it comes to the host section, 0 and 255 cannot be used although sometimes, in the network id, it's acceptable to use 0 and 255, like 207.255.x.x or 192.168.0.x, it's best to just stay away from 0 and 255 completely.

There are 3 different default subnets.

Class A - 255.0.0.0 - allows for 16,777,214 hosts
Class B - 255.255.0.0 - allows for 65,534 hosts
Class C - 255.255.255.0 - allows for 254 hosts

An easy way to remember what the 255s and 0s even do, is just to substitute them for network id and host id. Basically, 255 means network id and host id is 0 (zero).

So if you are using a 192.168 network, with class A, 192 is your network id, so any machine starting with 192 is all one logical network, not mattering what's in the last 3 octets, which are the host id. This enables you to 16,777,214 machines, which I think is a little much for a home network.

Then if you have a class B, only machines on that their ip start with 192.168 will be on the same network, so machines that may have 192.167 or 192.169, are on a completely different network. The last two octets are host ids. This also normally is way too much for a home network.

Then of course, a Class C, makes it that machines that start with 192.168.1 one network, but machines that may be 192.168.0 or 192.168.2 or whatever else are different networks. Only the last octet is the host id. This is usually ideal for home networks, unless for some strange reason, more then 254 nodes are needed.

My way to remember how many 255's go in each Class, is A is the first letter of the alphabet, so one 255 and the rest 0's. Of course B is the second letter, so 2 255's and the rest 0's. Then C is obvious, it's the third letter, and 3 255s and one 0s.

Now you are not forced by default subnets, meaning even though home networks, 192.168.1.x are almost always Class C, you could easily create a Class B, if for whatever reason 254 hosts machines are not enough. When it comes to IPs, more is better than not enough.

Now all of this information deals with how IP addresses work, but you don't have to literally set all of your machines and devices by hand, you can also use what's called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), which is a server that will run and by default most devices/nodes are set to DHCP, so even if you don't realize it, your devices will get IP address that the DHCP believes are free. Basically your node queries the DHCP server and sets it self to whatever the DHCP server told it to.

Note: Be extremely careful in a DHCP and Static IP mixed environment. You need to configure your DHCP server, so that it can't assign host ids in the range you want to be static. A conflict of address, will create a sitation where both nodes collide and cause all kinds of networking problems.

Notice: I do not claim this is a complete study of IP addresses and subnetting, but I'm just trying to give the normal every day user a glimpse in to the world of IP addressing so that it's not as confusing as it may appear. Also, there are different subnets than just those I describe, due to "borrowing" which were not discussed in this article, because for the normal user, there is no reason to throw away the defaults.

Photo Scanner: A great tool for elimating those huge paper stacks.

Do you have a ton of paper stacks that you wish were on the computer instead?

If you have a computer photo scanner, either a standalone or one in an all-in-one printer, just scan each page in to image format (I use jpg) or PDF, or some other electronic format that you like.

Now that you have electronic copies of the documents, you can use these locally, on a website, or even if you need to reprint out a page eventually.

So as you can see, this is so simple, no real instructions are needed.

Network Card Bridging

So you have Windows XP or Vista and you wish to bridge two or more physical or virtual network cards together? Well you can.

The reason for bridging, which just means sharing the network cards together in to one network, can be useful for various reasons. One major use is with virtual machines, if you already made the Microsoft Loopback Adapter or Tap-32 adapter and want the virtual one to access a real network, bridging can be great.

To bridge two or more network cards together in XP, all you need to go is go to your Control Panel, then Network Connections, select two network cards (hold down Ctrl as you click both cards to selet both at the same time), then right click either one of them, and choose Bridge Connections. That's all you need to do.

Now for Vista it's a little bit of more steps, you have to go to Control Panel, Network and Sharing Center, then Manage Network Connections, then do the same steps, but it works the same.

Now being that it's now a bridge, each card no longer has it's own individual IP address, but one now just for the bridge. So if it's two cards or twenty, it's one IP.

You will still be able to browse the LAN/WAN(Internet normally) with no problems on your machine, yet your virtual machines will now have access to the LAN/WAN. This is if you are actually bridging for virtualization purposes.

Two must have programs for managing Windows Startup.

I was watching TechTV (now G4) one day and I believe it was on The Screensavers show, where they would show off a really cool piece of software.

They had shown Startup Control Panel which is a very cool tool. What it does is, it manages what you want and do not want to start up on your Windows machine. It does way more than msconfig. It actually allows you to add things to startup vs msconfig that only allows you to modify things already added. What's really cool however, is how to adds it self to your control panel where you adjust other Windows things. This is of course, why it has Control Panel in it's name. I also like the feature that if you delete an item from startup, it puts it in Deleted, until you permently delete it, kinda like the Windows Recycle Bin. This is nice for accidental deletion.

The other cool program is called CodeStuff Starter which does basically everything that Startup Control Panel does, except it is added to the Start Menu -> (All) Programs. I prefer this program because it seems to give you way more options. This program allows for way more customization then Startup Control Panel although, I wish it went to your Control Panel also.

So you want a Virtual Networking Card to play with?

There is a feature inside Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and possibly others, called Microsoft Loopback Adapter.

To add one of these virtual adapters do the following:

1. Go to your Control Panel then choose Add Hardware.
2. In the Add Hardware Wizard, click Next.
3. Wait for the wizard to fail on finding new hardware attached to your PC but not added
4. Choose, Yes I have already connected the Hardware. (No will exit the Wizard).
   
5. Go to the very bottom of the list and choose "Add a new hardware device" then click Next.
   
6. Choose "Install hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced)"
7. Choose Network Adapters
8. Under Microsoft, choose "Microsoft Loopback Adapter"
9. Click Next, then Next.
10. Then after it completes, choose Finish

Now if you go to your Control Panel then Networking Connections, you now have a "new" network card that you can use with Virtual PC or VirtualBox. You can also use it for various tests you need to perform, but don't want to screw up your actual Network Card. The list of what you can do with Microsoft Loopback Adapter is just so long, that if I tried to even list all of them, I couldn't and even if it was attempted, the list would be extremly long.

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet

I recently bought a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet that basically is the size of a Smartphone yet it's actually a mini-computer. I can do everything that is vital to me on the go, as long as their is WiFi Internet available somewhere around me, which there always seems to be.

I use my N810 for everything from just browsing the web to look up quick information to remoting in to various PCs using VNC.

The tablet runs Maemo as it's OS, which is based on Linux and it contains a bunch of free and open-source software.

I can even listen to Shoutcast streams, so I can basically even listen to 2pac all day long or the NYPD SOD (Special Operations Division) if I feel so inclined, which I normally am.

I also sent Instant Messages (IMs) out with my N810. It has Pidgin as it's addon, which is really nice. Though, since I run my IMs through Pidgin on only one machine now so that I have universal logs, I do not do this anymore. How to do this is what I will discuss in another post soon.

I love how this device does not rely on a cell phone plan. It relys soley on WiFi, which is free in a lot of places but sometimes not avaible in the current place you are. Though, how can you complain about a free service?

I use my device as a navigator through various places, because it has GPS included and maps included, so I can help navigate myself through various cities. Also, I can even load PDFs on to it, so I can save public transit maps and schedules for easy access. That beats carrying all that paper around.

Only problem I have is, I hate having a device so small for fear it can get easily damaged, but I got 2 years of accidental issurance on it anyway.

Anyway, I love my device and I am glad that I bought it.

Open-Source (and free) software that is a must for any user!

Open-Source software is software that is "free as in speech" and it can be edited to take out bugs, make a spin-off piece of software, or just to modify the software slightly to better fit what it is needed for. Often you can redistribute your changes as long as you somehow offer or link to the original source code. Though check the software license to make sure.

I am taking "free as in beer" software, which means it necessarily doesn't have the source code available but it may, but it is at least completely free for the user to use.

Though the software I am talking about here is open-source and free meaning it's free as in both speech and beer.

My list of great Open-Source and Free software is as follows:

OpenOffice.org - This is a complete Microsoft Office replacement suite. It is based on Sun's StarOffice which in turn is based on OpenOffice. StarOffice is essentially the same except it has a different spell checker, clipart, you have to pay for it, and some other various differences. This suite has a word processor (called Writer and replaces Microsoft Word), slideshow creator (called Impress and replaces Microsoft Powerpoint), spreadsheet program (called Calc and replaces Microsoft Excel), and a database program (called Base and replaces Microsoft Access). This program is so advanced that it even opens and saves Microsoft Office formats. So you can easily and without much effort, share between users who use Microsoft Office, while you use OpenOffice.org. This program runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and UNIX.

Mozilla Firefox - The popular web browser that is slowly replacing Internet Explorer. This web browser has proven to be less annoying and more secure then it's rival. It has so many addons that make browsing fun. CoolIris, which allows you to see your news or YouTube videos in 3D is just cool. It even has ad filtering addons to even make your web browsing cleaner and safer. This program runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and UNIX.

Mozilla Thunderbird - This program is a really nice replacement for Microsoft Outlook Express or even Microsoft Outlook. It supports more then the two previous mentioned in the sense that it does RSS feeds and make it easily to add GMail email accounts. This program runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and UNIX.

Linux - Linux it self, the operating system is free and open-source software itself. Linux is technically the kernel and the distributions are collections of the Linux kernel and other software mixed together in to one nice working system.

UNIX - UNIX it self, the operating system is free and open-source software itself. It comes in various flavors says as FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD. This is a truly great OS just like Linux. Since they both basically do very similar things, it's up to you to decide with OS you truly want to use all the time.

If you have any other software that you believe that should be added to this list, please add a comment or get a hold of me, and I will see what I can do about adding it.

VirtualBox from Sun, basically as awesome as Virtual PC but not only free but open-source as well

I have already reviewed Microsoft's Virtual PC product but I have run across another Virtual Machine product that I can't say I like better, but I love just as well. Both products are great in their own way, but it since Virtual PC only runs on Windows and seems to mainly support only Windows guest OSes, it's nice to have Virtual Box that both runs on Linux/UNIX and completely supports them as guest OSes allowing for a nice and easy GUI install that on Virtual PC can be a nightmare and resulting in editing a bunch of config files.

Virtual Box is basically configured the exact same way as Virtual PC except some minor differences. For example, even though it mounts CD/DVD and floppy images, it has a different interface and way of doing it.

I will not go through the install of VirtualBox for Linux/UNIX, not because I feel it's way too simple or that it doesn't deserve it, but it's completely different depending on what Linux/UNIX distribution you install it on. Though, how to install a guest OS will stay the same as the Windows information, it's just how you install the program to begin with on your system.

BTW, Open-Source means that you can download the source-code or original code of the program and edit it to your hearts desire and can even redistribute the modified version, as long as you provide the original source code, even if it's a link. There are some features of VirtualBox that are awesome yet not open-source, so the source code will not have those features. This link explains what I mean.

A quick getting started guide follows:

1. Download the program from the "Downloads" section of VirtualBox.org and get either the x86 (32-bit machine) or AMD64 (only for AMD 64-bit processors) version. Most likely you will need the x86 version, because even if you have an AMD 64-bit processor, your machine probably is running a 32-bit or x86 OS. You will have to go to your System Properties in your Control Panel to find out which one.

2. Run the installer

• 
  
• Click Next
• Read and accept the license agreement
• You can just click Next again although if you want to remove a feature you can in this window.
• Click Install
• When a software installation window comes up warning you about not passing the Windows Logo test, say Continue Anyway.
• Do Continue Anyway again.
• Click Finish

3. Start VirtualBox

1. If you are using Windows XP or Vista (non-classic Start Menu), it is Start -> All Programs -> Sun xVM VirtualBox -> VirtualBox
2. If you are using another version of Windows or the classic Start Menu, it's Start -> Programs -> Sun xVM VirtualBox -> VirtualBox

4. To Register or Not To Register, is the question here. You decide, if you want to, do it, if not, hit cancel.

5. Create a new virtual machine

• Click New, the button right before Settings.
• In the Wizard, click Next.
• In the Name box, give your machine a name, most name it what guest OS they wish to install.
• In the OS type drop-down select the OS that you are installing, yet if it's not on the list, choose Other/Unknown.
• Click Next
• Choose what amount of RAM you wish to use, remember don't go insanse because you will be taking that chuck away from your host OS, and if you run multiple guest OSes, they all get their share. So way too much could cripple your host OS.
• In the Virtual Hard Disk section, click New.
  
• In the Welcome to the Create New Virtual Disk Wizard, choose Next.
• Choose either if you want a Dynamically-expanding image, or one that at first is an empty file and only grows when you add data, stopping at the limit you give it, or choose Fixed-Size image, where the file is always the size you give it, even if you are not using the complete disk on the guest OS.
• Click Next.
• You can either Leave Image name alone, or you can browse for another location to put the Virtual Hard Disk in case you want to put it in another folder or another drive. If you choose to put it in another place besides default, click the Browse Button that's right next to the name, choose a path, type in a name to save the file, then Save.
• Then click Next.
• Then choose Finish.
• Then click Next.
• Then click Finish again.
• Now you will be back in VirtualBox and your machine will be selected along with a whole bunch of options that you can now change on the new virtual system(s).
• If you click Network on the right, you will be able to change what networking scheme you want. You can normally leave the adapter type alone, but the Attached To is the most important. NAT means that it uses Network Address Translation and allows for the guest OS to get on the Internet but does not allow for running servers or anything on the guest OS. Host Interface will install a new Virtual Networking Card on your machine in your Host OSes networking connections, to then have it access the Internet/Local Network, you will have to bridge your real card with the virtual card if you want the guest OSes to see the LAN or Internet besides just the host OS, which will be covered in a later guide. Internal Network will also make a Virtual Networking Card on your machine but it's only Internal meaning between guest OSes and between guest OSes and the host, no external access the LAN or Internet. To create a Virtual Networking Card for the second and third option, under the Host Interfaces click the + or add button, name it what ever you want, then click OK. You will get another failed Windows Logo test, but click Continue Anyway. When the Network is setup just the way you want it click OK.
• To start the install of a new OS, you will need to either mount a CD/DVD image, use a physical CD/DVD, mount a floppy, or use a physical floppy. To use either CD options, click CD/DVD-ROM, to do floppy, click Floppy. Click the checkbox that says "Mount CD/DVD Drive" or "Mount Floppy Drive" Select Host CD/DVD Drive or Host Floppy Drive and select the letter of the drive you want. If you have an image, Select Image File and the Browse button the Virtual Disk Manager wizard will appear. Click Add, browse for the image, click open, then select it in the list then click Select. Then click OK.
• Then after exiting all Wizards, just select the machine you want and then click the Start button (the one in Sun xVM VirtualBox not the Windows Start Menu Button).

6. You machine will boot up to the CD/DVD or Floppy hopefully and you just go and install the OS as if you were installing it at a real physical machine.

RadioReference.com: A totally great site for those interested in radio (police) scanners.

There are some people who are truly interested in radio (police) scanners. By that I mean, they do not just listen to find out who is getting the police called on them, who needs EMS attention, or who's house is on fire, although this is a "benefit" from being in to this hobby.

There are many who just enjoy setting up two-way radios, also known by some as handie-talkies or walkie-talkies. Handie-Talkies is a term that has been coined by Motorola. Others just really find it cool how a radio scanner works, such as myself.

Anyway, if you wish to find radio scanner frequnecies for your area or just talk to others who are in to radio scanning please visit RadioReferece and I assure you, you will totally love the site.

Note: Anything discussing radio waves are also discussed on the site, such as shortwave and Over-The-Air TV signals.

Netsh: Awesome but hardly known/used Windows command line tool, netsh.

Netsh is a wonderful command that I have known about for a while but have just finally realized how to properly format the command so that it actually does what I want it to do.

Netsh is simply a command-line (runs inside Command Prompt) tool that allows you to manipulate or change the settings for your wired and wireless network cards.

What I really find awesome with this tool is how it can allow you to use a batch file to set a static IP along with the netmask, gateway, and DNS servers. You can even setup a batch file to turn windows firewall off, a nice feature to incorporate in to a logon script if it is necessary to turn the firewall off for remote administration or something else.

An example of how to set a static IP with a batch file is as follows:

First Line: netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" static 192.168.1.100 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1 0

Second Line: netsh interface ip set dns "Local Area Connection" static 192.168.1.1

Third Line: netsh interface ip add dns "Local Area Connection" 192.168.1.2 index=2

In this example, the first line basically states, set the wired interface "Local Area Connection" with an IP of 192.168.1.100, netmask of 255.255.255.0, gateway of 192.168.1.1 (normally your home router), and finally to give that gateway a metric of 0, meaning it's the default gateway and normally you only have one gateway on a home network. The second line is just saying for the same interface add 192.168.1.1 as the primary DNS server, and obviously the third one is just saying add 192.168.1.2 as the secondary DNS server.

An example of how to easily set an interface to DHCP from a batch file after it has been set to to static is as follows:

First Line: netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" dhcp

Second Line: netsh interface ip set dns "Local Area Connection" dhcp

I figured this example basically needed no explaination but first line says dymanic IP, second says dynamic DNS.

You could easily combine both examples if for example you want to have a DHCP ip but static DNS you could use:

First Line: netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" dhcp

Second Line: netsh interface ip set dns "Local Area Connection" static 192.168.1.1

Third Line: netsh interface ip add dns "Local Area Connection" 192.168.1.2 index=2

These lines have already been explained in the above example.

If you would like to turn on and off the Windows Firewall using netsh as well the commands are as followed:

Firewall On: netsh firewall set opmode mode = enable interface = "Local Area Connection"

Firewall Off: netsh firewall set opmode mode = disable interface = "Local Area Connection"

Another cool way to use netsh when it comes to the Windows Firewall, is to use the following commands to enable or disable the firewall for every interface at once.

All Interfaces Firewall On: netsh firewall set opmode enable

All Interfaces Firewall Off: netsh firewall set opmode disable

Tip: Of course, you do not need to use these commands only with your wired network card and can use them with your wireless card by simply changing the name to "Wireless Network Connection" or whatever the name is in Network Connections in the Control Panel.

Also if you do not know how to write a batch file, you just can simply open notepad or wordpad and type in any command you wish to execute, then when you want to save the file, tell notepad or wordpad All Files instead of just *.txt or *.rtf and save the file as whatever.bat you must include .bat so that Windows knows that you have just created a batch file and that it's to run using the command prompt.

I hope that these tips and tricks can help make your life Network Administration much easier, as not only can you use these batch files, but can incorporate them in to logon scripts if you run Windows Server or even a Samba Server running on Linux configured as a Primary Domain Controller.

Happy Network Administrating forever!

Virtual PC 2007

Virtual PC 2007, and it's older sibling Virtual PC 2004, are both available for free download from Microsoft.com. They are both extremely cool and valuable tools. Both tools allow for the creation of "Virtual Machines" which are emulated machines that appear to be just another Windows program running, but actually are true working machines, that almost make you think you bought another physical machine. Virtual PC is very similar to VMWare, VirtualBox, Bochs, and may other pieces of software that do the same, except Virtual PC is now for the most part Windows only, while it used to be Mac also. If you are not using Windows, perhaps VirtualBox or Bochs may serve you better in your testing.

There are terms you will see repeatedly over and over when it comes to virtual machines. The two main ones are "Host" and "Guest" OS. The host OS is just whatever your physical machine is running or in other words, the OS that is running Virtual PC. The guest OS or OSes of course are then the OSes you install in Virtual PC. There may be other terms one hears when it comes to Virtual PC, but these definatly are the two main ones that one basically has to know.

The following is a very simple but to the point howto to install Virtual PC 2007/2004 on your machine and then install a guest OS. Even though the screenshots are 2007, there is no noticable difference, and the same howto will work in both versions. Most people will decide to use the 2007 version because it's newer, updated, and 2004 is really only necessarily on perhaps and older machine that is running Windows 98 or something to that nature.

1. First download Virtual PC (also, please read the system requirments for either).
Virtual PC 2007
Virtual PC 2004

2. Run the installer

• In the first dialog, just click next.
• Then read then accept the license agreement, then next again
• Then if you wish enter a username and/or organization or just accept the default, either way hit next.
• Click Install to begin the installation
• After install completes, click Finish.

3. Open up Virtual PC via the Start Menu.

• If you are using XP or Vista, it will be Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Virtual PC.
• If you are using an older OS or just the classic start menu, it will be Start -> Programs -> Microsoft Virtual PC.

4. A "Welcome to the New Virtual Machine Wizard" should appear, but if not, go to File -> New Virtual Machine Wizard in the Virtual PC Console.

• In this wizard, hit next.
• Keep "Create a virtual machine" or the first option selected and hit next.
• Then give your machine a name. If you just type in a name like "Windows 98" it will store all files in the default location of My Documents -> My Virtual Machines. If you do not want this you can click the Browse button and name it and save it in any location you care to. Either way, put a name in and click next.
• In the Operating Systems drop-down list, select what operating system you are wishing to install. If it is not listed, choose Other. For Linux/UNIX it would be Other. Next to the drop-down it will show you what defaults it will create, though by clicking Next you will see how you can change those defaults.
• You can either use the amount of RAM it suggests or give your machine more RAM. Don't go insane with giving the guest OS RAM because it takes that chuck you select away from your real machine and each guest OS takes it's own chuck of RAM in case you run more than one at a time. It's best to stay with the default here, but either way click next.
  
• Select "A new virtual hard disk" then click Next.
• Again as before, you can just go with the default, rename it at the end to give the hard drive a different name, or click the Browse button to save it in another location. By default it will go to My Documents -> My Virtual Machines, but you may want to store them in another location. Either way, when done, click Next.
• Finally click Finish.

5. Your new machine should now show in Virtual PC Console, in which you can select it and go to settings and do whatever you want. You can add another hard drive, disable the CD/DVD ROM, add multiple network cards, etc. What we mainly care about here is network. If you are just testing out a desktop OS, you can just leave it one network card, but in case you have a machine with both Wireless and Wired cards, make sure you have select the card you want the machine to use for Internet, if you want it to be treated as an another machine on your network. The other two options are explained here:

• Local Only - The network card inside the guest OS will only see other guest OSes, if there are any.
• Shared networking (NAT), will use NAT or Network Address Translation to create a private network between the guest OS and host OS, and will allow for such things as Internet access on the guest OS, but doing server things like port forwarding or using other physical machines on your network to access the guest OS will fail. In other words, outbound functions but inbound is disfunctional. This option is perfect to just allow outbound Internet access to the guest OS but there is no reason to have an other machine access it, inbound.

6. Now comes the part of installing the guest OS. After you get the settings the way you want, click OK.

• Decide what way you want to install the OS, from a real CD/DVD, from an ISO of a CD/DVD, a real floppy (if you have a floppy drive, since many new PCs do not), or just the image of a floppy. Either way the steps are essentially the same.
• Select the machine in Virtual PC Console and click the Start button (the one on Virtual PC Console, not your Windows Start Menu Button).
• Immediately when the Virtual PC beings to boot, either select the CD or Floppy menu. Then if it's a real CD/DVD or floppy, choose "Use Physical Drive" but if it's an ISO or image, select Capture Floppy or CD/DVD image and browse for and select the image.
• Then the media you select should boot up and then you just install the OS just as if you were using an actual physical machine. If it did not boot up and you see "Argon Boot Agent" and "Client MAC Address" on the screen, you simply missed the time to mount the image or capture the real media. To fix this, simply go to Action -> Reset, and in the dialog click Reset. Then this problem should be fixed.

Tip: When using Virtual PC, your mouse and/or keyboard will be "captured" or they will appear to be stuck inside the virtual machine or guest OS and you can not use them for the host OS anymore. You simply need to release them by hitting the "Host Key" or the Right Alt Key. The Left Alt Key will not work.

Tip: VirtualPC does not support 24-bit video which is normally what UNIX/Linux's X servers try to enable. So if you wish to have UNIX/Linux with a GUI, you may be required to manually edit your X server config file to enable 16-bit color, the common solution to this problem. If you really want a GUI for your Linux guest OS, I recommend VirtualBox from Sun, because this program does support 24-bit color and I have used it with great sucess with Fedora, Solaris, etc.

I hope that you have learned how to properly use Virtual PC thanks to my howto. I also hope that you will be able to use Virtual PC to help you in your study of computers or in other needs, just as it helps me all the time for testing out various OSes and doing other miscellonus testing.

FreeBSD

Today, I will be discussing FreeBSD. FreeBSD of course is a UNIX-derived distribution based on the Berkeley Software Distribution that was developed by the University of California in Berkeley, California.

Even though, the name FreeBSD, may not ring a bell with you, it actually is a very well known and trusted secure operating system. In fact, it is even used by Yahoo to run their servers. Proof of this is not only on the FreeBSD site but also on other sites.

As stated on the FreeBSD website:
"Yahoo Inc. runs the ultimate index of the Internet, serving scads of daily net surfers with information about the World Wide Web. Yahoo, as well as the companies that advertise on Yahoo, rely on FreeBSD to run reliable and responsive web servers." (Link)

Also, you can just enter the search terms "FreeBSD" & "Yahoo" in to the Google and get other results to prove this statement. Some sites even claim that the webmaster(s) of Yahoo felt that no other OS besides FreeBSD could handle what they wanted in the Yahoo site.

But enough with all of the talk about who uses FreeBSD, but now down to what FreeBSD is known and trusted for.

FreeBSD is said by many to be rock solid and stable. Also, it is said to be wonderful in a networking environment that many only trust it to be there server. Again these statements can be proven just by searching Google.

I have slightly used FreeBSD before, but always found there to be a learning curve. By this I mean that even if you are basically a Linux Guru or have experience in various versions of Linux, you may very well have to learn a whole new way of doing things for FreeBSD. Though, from what I understand about FreeBSD, it is well worth it, because even if you don't end up loving FreeBSD, you could easily encounter it at a job or elsewhere.

I have recently installed FreeBSD without a GUI on Virtual PC 2007, which of course is free to download from Microsoft. Virtual PC is great that like the name implies it truly is a machine in a machine, perfect for testing out different operating systems or using two or more operating systems at the same time.

As I being to teach myself FreeBSD by using the various sources available, which include Google Search, Usenet/Newsgroups via Google Groups, FreeBSD mailing lists, and various forums I find across the net most likely with Google Search. I may possibly if needed use the FreeBSD IRC Chat, FreeBSD Wiki, FreeBSD Blogs, FreeBSD User Groups, or FreeBSD Social Networking Sites.

As you can obviously see, FreeBSD has a ton of different support options available. I myself, was even amazed because until I researched the support options for this article, did not realize how much support one who uses FreeBSD had. So I nor you, will be left in the dark when trying to learn and use FreeBSD.

The more I learn about FreeBSD and come up with solutions to help the every day user more easily learn the OS, I will make posts on this blog.