Use SSD for bootable USB stick Linux liveboot

If you flash a Debian-style Linux live-boot image that’s intended for USB stick on a USB-SSD itself (for speed), it will get stuck at initramfs on boot because unlike USB sticks, USB SSD drives are not considered removable drives, yet the live-boot parameters (scripts) set to search only removable media, hence it cannot find the right device.

The solution is to remove live-media=removable as boot parameter (typically under append initrd). You can do that quickly on each boot by TAB key to modify this key-value pair out of the boot parameters and hit enter.

To make it persistent, you have to edit the scripts where these boot parameter lives. The live USB stick/CD was supposed to be mounted as a read-only volume, so we need to first remount it as writable in order to modify the scripts:

mount -o remount -w /lib/live/mount/medium

Note the -w parameter which means writable. -o means options. -o remount,rw means exercising the remount option as a writable drive (-w is alternate syntax for writable).

Make sure you have root access (to modify these files), and edit these live*.cfg files if it shows up in the following folders:

/lib/live/mount/medium/syslinux/live*.cfg
/lib/live/mount/medium/EFI/boot/live*.cfg

Then take out live-media=removable in for the boot menu item you normally use for each of these script .cfg files. Reboot after you are done.

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Nested Ordered List Plugin Conflicts

I recently had problem with Enlighter plugin (for displaying code) being misaligned after upgrading my WordPress. The Enlighter text went outside the boxes in desktop browser mode and I contacted the author of the plugin for help in the forum, and learned it was actually Nested Order List (NOL) plugin that’s overriding the CSS rules that defines the margins.

Another user had similar problem NOL conflicting certain templates and the author of NOL suggested similar causes that the CSS style from the plugin messed with other styles:

.nested-list .entry-content ul,
.nested-list .hentry ul {
 margin:.8em 0 .8em 1.4em
}

The author suggested that the NOL plugin itself is not complicated to start with (it’s just adding a CSS), and the same functionality can achieved by adding this CSS to my WordPress theme template (pasting the following text under “Additional CSS”):

.entry-content ol,
.hentry ol {
 counter-reset:level1;
}
.entry-content ol ol,
.hentry ol ol {
 counter-reset:level2
}
.entry-content ol ol ol,
.hentry ol ol ol {
 counter-reset:level3
}
.entry-content ol>li,
.hentry ol>li {
 list-style-type:none;
 line-height:1.4;
 text-indent:-1.5em
}
.entry-content ol>li:before,
.hentry ol>li:before {
 content:counter(level1,decimal)'. ';
 counter-increment:level1;
 display:inline-block;
 text-align:right;
 text-transform:none;
 width:1em
}
.entry-content ol ol>li:before,
.hentry ol ol>li:before {
 content:counter(level2,lower-alpha)'. ';
 counter-increment:level2
}
.entry-content ol ol ol>li:before,
.hentry ol ol ol>li:before {
 content:counter(level3,lower-roman)'. ';
 counter-increment:level3
}

It worked like a charm!

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OKI C3200N Color LED Printer Toner Reset

I’ve had my C3200N printer as a workhorse for a decade until it died. Before I toss out the service manual and the instruction to reset the toner, I’ll put it here for those who still got mileage left for the printer

Here’s the service manual:
http://upload.evocdn.co.uk/olivetti/uploads/download/d-ColorMF200-240_sm_Y105560-07.pdf

Back up here:
C3200N_Service_Manual

The important pages where the service menu is in page 124-125 (Maintenance Menu), 134-136 (Menu Tree), 152 (Factory mode = Do not cut fuse of consumables)

 

Summary (https://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/laser/23029):

*** Do NOT use NV-RAM INITIAL RESET. It’ll screw things up (like losing MAC address). You can go into the service menu to reset toner, drum, fuser and belt individually***

Here’s the directions by user “Nono” which I think it’s the best:

A C3200N here…

I never wanted to do the NVRAM complete reset because I was scared of losing the network MAC address as mention somewhere else on this forum. And basically controlling the consumable level independently was interesting… My c3200n printer was bought last month (09/2006), guessing here that the bios may be different depending on release date (this walkthrough might not work for everyone).

Sooooo, after much button pressing, restarts and coffees.. here it is:

Get to the standard “Diagnostic mode” as describe on this thread:

1) Turn off printer.

2) Turn on printer, while holding the + and – buttons.

3) The LCD Shows “OKI User”, Scroll to “Engine Diag Mode”, press “enter”.

The display shows “Diag Mode 01.02.02 S-Mode” as mention multiple times on this thread.

At this point you should wait for the initialization cycle to complete. I mean for all the motors and gears to have finished their noises and cycles – otherwise you will end up with a LCD switching between two different info screens – not a big deal but still annoying.

Now we want to go in “regist mode” by:

1) Pressing the “Online”, “Cancel”, “Enter”, “-” and “Back” AT THE SAME TIME (not in any sequence – at the same time). Yes! That is 5 buttons.

2) After within two seconds the LCD menu will show “READY”. If it doesn’t, release button and repress buttons again.

3) The buttons release sequence is important. So, read this before letting go your five fingers: Release the “Enter” button first and THEN the four others. LCD is still showing “READY”.

4) Press the “Online” and “Cancel” button at the same time BRIEFLY. Don’t wait before pressing them after the five fingers sequence otherwise you will miss your time slot.

You can always switch back from the “READY” to the “Diag Mode 01.02.02 S-Mode” menu by pressing the five buttons again.

Don’t laugh. I know it seems a lot of gymnastic. Well I guess they didn’t want the user to find that one easily.

Now you see “Eng Diag Level 2”

Taking from someone else on this thread (with some modifications for the c3200n):

Press either the + or – button until “CONSUMABLE COUNTER SET” is displayed, press the Enter button; you are now in the menu to set various consumables.

1) Press either the + or – buttons to scroll through the various consumables, at the desired consumable (ie. “K-ID UNIT …” for the Black Image Drum Unit, “C-Toner” for cyan toner, etc.), press the Enter button and the last digit of the count will start flashing.

2) Press the Cancel button to decrease the digit amount or press the On-line button to increase the digit amount; press the + or – buttons to move along individual digits in the count. Note that it will not show the remaining but the usage (100\% means it is empty).

7) Once the count is at the level you desire, press and hold the On-line, Cancel simultaneously until the numbers stop flashing; you have reset that consumable’s count to the number you specified. Note that you may end up with a different value then the one that was entered when saving. The printer engine is probably jumping to the nearest registered/acceptable value. If someone find a way to save the exact value, let us know.

8) Press the + or – buttons to move to the next consumable and repeat at step 5.

9) Once all consumable counts have been set to desired amounts that are below their end-of-life thresholds, you can use the Back, +, & – buttons to exit through the menus (reverse of steps 2 through 4) until “INITIALIZING” is displayed. Or turn printer off and on.

10) You’re finished! Now log in to the web interface with your browser and check to see the remaining life of your consumables.

There is another way to get to the “Eng Diag Level 2” menu – I did it at one point but wasn’t able to reproduce. But this method worked for me even if you may need some practice. You can also get to level 3 and level 4 after the release of the five fingers step by pressing something else then the “online” and “cancel”.

Good luck.
Nono

by unknown on Oct 19, 2006 at 12:46pm

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termdd.sys BSOD because of remote hack attempts

Recently my computer keeps ‘randomly’ getting BSOD over “termdd.sys” and “IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL”. Upon some research on “termdd.sys”, I noticed there’s a RDP heap corruption attack (https://securitynews.sonicwall.com/xmlpost/rdp-vulnerability-cve-2019-0708/) for RDP services.

In the past, I opened up my computer’s RDP service to the wild (bad practice) by routing the traffic to the right computer. The attempts did not successfully break into my computer, but in the process, these villains are corrupting my computer memory (heap) thus causing the BSOD.

Instead, I plugged the bad practice of opening up web services that are only for me to use. Instead connect to my home network using VPN when I need to access my computers. Since then the BSOD disappeared.

Lesson learned: Your computer is not hacked by a remote exploit (probably patched enough) doesn’t mean the exploit won’t trash your computer memory till it crashes. Better use a VPN than directly opening up RDP to the wild internet.

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