How to wake up to music with Linux

I remember that, to finish my thesis, I had to get up at 3AM for over two weeks. I had to sleep in my office and I used my computer to set and fire several alarms: one to play a song at the desired time, another one to launch the browser, and a third one to open the thesis document. Back then, I thought Windows was a great OS because I was able to do all that. However, to be honest, it was not Windows that was doing the trick, but third-party software.

Now that I migrated to Linux, I realized that you can achieve exactly the same but directly from the OS, that is, without resorting to third-party software at all.

This is the way to do it:

1. Before the OS loads, press the key that the computer tells you to get into the BIOS. It can be DEL, ESC, or any other key that the system indicates. You have to press it quickly; you will be taken to a screen that looks like this:



2. Once in the BIOS, look for the Power Management page and follow the screen instructions to get "Resume by Alarm" or "Power On Alarm".
Set the desired time. Save (normally by pressing F-10), accept (yes) and then the computer reboots.


With this, the computer will turn on by itself at the desired time as long as it is plugged to a power outlet. That should be enough if you want the computer to wake you up. However, the idea is to make it play a song that you like and launch the programs that you need. To do that, you need to set some alarms in KOrganizer.




3. KOrganizer is hidden in Mandriva 2010 Spring. To find it, go to the bottom-right panel and click on the arrow to display it. KOrganizer, which is the program that will fire the alarms you set up, is a nice organizer that works pretty much like Outlook, only that KOrganizer is not so heavy on computer resources.







4. Once you find it, click to launch it and input the date and the time. You can just select the time periods as blocks on the schedule. Once you have set the time, you need to choose whether you wan to add an event or a "to-do" task. Actually, there is little difference for our purposes, but I normally go for "Add new event".







5. The following step is very easy: the alarms. There is a red icon that indicates the reminders.


You must click the box to be able to configure reminders. Once the box is checked, some options are enabled. Click on "advanced" to configure the time. Take into account that if the event is set at 8:30AM and you choose the reminder "5 minutes before the event starts", your alarm will go off at 8:26AM.

Now, if you want the computer to play a song for you, select "sound" and look for your song.
Obviously, you have to click OK to confirm and your sound alarm will be ready. If you want to launch your browser, select "application" instead of "sound" and specify the name of your browser. You can do the same for any other program.


I hope this tutorial saves Linux newbies like me some time when there is not any to lose ;-)

How to Boot Mandriva 2010 from a USB drive

UPDATE: You can follow the same process to boot Mandriva 2010 Spring or any other distro. Only download the iso.

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Live CDs are great tools. You can run Linux distros without having to install the OS to your hard disk. Hence, you can test compatibility with your computer's architecture, software, and take a glimpse at the distro's look and feel.

However, Live CDs have a disadvantage: you cannot normally use them on netbooks because the little machines do not have a CD drive.

The solution: You CAN set your computer to boot from a USB drive that has Mandriva in it and run Linux without having to make any changes to your hard disk.

To do this, you need to lose your fear and learn a bit about how your netbook works. You are going to need a 1 GB USB drive, the Mandriva One ISO, and Mandriva Seed.

Step 1: The Hidden BIOS
In IBM computers, BIOS is the Basic Input/Output System, the code that lets the computer recognize the hardware and prepares it for the software to use it. You can access it by pressing F2 or the key that the system indicates when you turn the computer on. Once there, look for Boot options and set it to read USB. Make sure you also set the computer to boot from USB before it boots from the hard disk. Then save and exit (by pressing F10 and then YES). Your computer is going to start normally and then you get into the OS to be able to get the Mandriva One and Mandriva Seed.

Step 2: The ISO Image
An .iso file is basically a disk image that you can burn to a CD as a single track. You get it from the Mandriva site at:
http://www2.mandriva.com/downloads/?p=linux-one
Keep it in /home

Step 3: Mandriva Seed
Mandriva Seed is a script to prepare the USB to boot and to copy the ISO to it. Once you use it, your USB drive will become a bootable device and, hence, you cannot use it to store information (that's why you should use a 1GB drive!)
To download Mandriva Seed, go to http://www2.mandriva.com/downloads/?p=seed


Once you have it, copy the file to your USB. Run it from the USB drive and wait until you see a window (graphical interface) that prompts you for the ISO (go to /home ) and, when the program detects your USB drive, click on "Create Live USB". Then wait until the process finishes and close the program.

By doing that, your Mandriva One Live USB will be ready. What's the practical application of all this, you say? Well, you'll find out next time your Windows system dies on you and you have something urgent to do, such as typing a paper or sending a vital email. Yes, your computer will come back from dead-chip land!

Of course, if you do not want to go through all this process, you can always buy the Mandriva One USB from the Mandriva site (www.mandriva.com). However, that defeats the purpose of learning about your computer... Now, if you think that you'd rather spend some money helping the company, buy the Mandriva Flash, not the Mandriva One USB, as the former gives you all the advantages of the latter plus it is a mobile Linux desktop. This means you can actually SAVE documents to the Flash drive!