You will need:

• WSL2 setup with Firefox installed (mine uses Ubuntu 20.04)
• VcXsrv
• geckodriver

How it works

VcXsrv starts up an X server on the Windows host machine, and what WSL will do is connect to this server to pass on the details of what programs need to be displayed (in this case, the browser window). Geckodriver is there purely as a middle layer for Selenium to be able to interact with Firefox.

VcXsrv setup

This setups the X server so that Windows can display graphical data coming from the Ubuntu instance.

1. Download and install
2. Start it up with the the command line parameter “-ac”. This flag removes access control restrictions for connecting clients (which is okay as long as this server isn’t exposed on the open Internet and that the only client connecting is the Ubuntu instance)
3. Allow connections to VcXsrv on Windows Firewall

The “-ac” flag and allowing the program through Windows Firewall is pretty important. When I didn’t do this, Ubuntu would give me cryptic error messages like “Broadway display type not supported”, but once I set up these access controls, everything was fine.

Bash setup

Install firefox

sudo apt install firefox

Export DISPLAY variable in .bashrc (or for whatever terminal you use, maybe .zshrc, etc.)

export DISPLAY=$(ip route | awk '{print $3; exit}'):0

This will configure your DISPLAY variable to use the IP address listed in the resolv.conf file. The IP address listed there is the IP address of the X server that will be used for displaying the browser window.

Start up VcXsrv as described in the above and then try to open Firefox. The Firefox window should open.

Geckodriver setup

This acts purely as the API interface that allows Selenium to interact with Firefox. Selenium looks for this executable when controlling the web browser.

1. Download geckodriver (make sure to get the Linux one and not the Windows one)
2. Put it in /usr/bin (or alternatively some other folder in your PATH)

Selenium sample on Python

I tend to use Python when running Selenium code, and I haven’t tried it on another language (I imagine the principles are similar). Here is a piece of sample code for starting up the browser and opening up a website, but really any Selenium code can be used.

import time

from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver import DesiredCapabilities

def execute_with_retry(method, max_attempts):
    e = None
    for i in range(0, max_attempts):
        try:
            return method()
        except Exception as e:
            print(e)
            time.sleep(1)
    if e is not None:
        raise e

capabilities = DesiredCapabilities.FIREFOX
capabilities["marionette"] = True
firefox_bin = "/usr/bin/firefox"
browser = execute_with_retry(lambda: webdriver.Firefox(
    firefox_binary=firefox_bin, capabilities=capabilities), 10)

browser.get("https://www.google.com")

time.sleep(10)

browser.close()

1. Install Docker on your machine
2. Get a Docker image for a CS 1.6 server (I created this one, which is based off of an existing one. Mine has:
   • A lot of maps
   • Metamod
   • AMXModX (with high ping kicker, podbot control menu, round money, rock the vote, and admin all in one)
   • Podbot
3. Customise the server (e.g. editing the server.cfg, amxx.cfg, and other config files, etc.)
4. Start it up! (the README.md in the above linked Git repos has more info on this)

As far as ports go, I only needed to forward 27015 on my machine, but your mileage may vary. Others have reported that some more ports must also be forwarded on some machines.

Then optionally, if you’re running Ubuntu and you want this server to start up like a service via systemd, you’ll need this:

1. An executable script with path /usr/local/bin/hlds with contents (make sure the DIR variable matches your installation directory):

#!/bin/sh

# Do not change this path
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin

# The path to the game you want to host. example = /home/newuser/dod
DIR=/opt/cs-16-server/bin
DAEMON=./server

start()
{
    echo  -n "Starting HLDS"
    if [ -e $DIR ]; then
        cd $DIR
        $DAEMON start
    else
        echo "No such directory: $DIR!"
    fi
}

stop()
{
    echo -n "Stopping HLDS"
    if [ -e $DIR ]; then
        cd $DIR
        $DAEMON stop
    else
        echo "No such directory: $DIR!"
    fi
}

reload()
{
    echo -n "Restarting HLDS"
    stop
    sleep 1
    start
}

case "$1" in
    start|stop|reload)
        "$1"
        ;;
    *)
        echo  "Usage: $ 0 {start | stop | reload | status}"
        exit  1
        ;;
esac

exit  0

2. A script with path /etc/systemd/system/hlds.service with contents:

[Unit]
Description=HLDS

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/hlds start
ExecStop=/usr/local/bin/hlds stop
ExecReload=/usr/local/bin/hlds reload
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

3. Then execute:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable hlds
service hlds start

Feel free to check out my server that’s running right now with the same Docker image! Here’s the command to connect via the console.

connect henrypoon.com:27015

I already have Ubuntu as my main OS, so copying the disk was easy using dd, which allows copying all the contents of one disk to another. This works well when the new hard drive is greater than or the same size as the current hard drive (I upgraded from a 80GB HDD to a 128GB SSD).

First I run this to see which disk I am copying from and to

fdisk -l

Then I run dd. If I am copying from /dev/sda to /dev/sda, then it’s:

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb

But sometimes the disks don’t have the same size, so I used gparted to move/resize the partitions to make use of the extra space on the new disk. gparted complained that it might make my disk no bootable, but the disk was still bootable for me nonetheless. I didn’t even have to mess with any grub bootloader settings either. I simply unplugged the old disk, and left the new disk plugged in and booted into the new disk no problem.

UPDATE 7. JULY 2015: Since this post, my version of LINE has been updated to 4.0.3.367, and it looks like stickers work now!

UPDATE 31. JULY 2016: Looks like in July 2015, LINE released a Chrome app.  Users of Chrome can just use that extension instead of using this method: Link

Running LINE in Ubuntu 14.04

1. Install Wine

sudo apt-get install wine

2. Install VC++ 2008 Redistributable

winetricks vcrun2008

3. Download and install LINE for Windows

Without installing the VC++ 2008 Redistributable, LINE would intermittently crash (even though it was able to start correctly).  This worked on my Ubuntu 14.04 x64 system.

LINE Version: 3.9.1.188
Wine Version: 1.6.2

This post from askubuntu.com hits this issue right on the head: http://askubuntu.com/questions/333534/installing-epson-wf-3520

I thought I’d leave a post here, just so I know where to find it again in case I forget.

Switching the Language for Windows

To do this, go to the Control Panel and open the Regional and Language Options.  This might be hard to do when Windows is in a different language so just look for the icon that has a globe on it.  Depending on the version of Windows, switching the language may not be possible.  And also, different versions of Windows put these buttons in different places within the Language Options.  Click around the tabs, and there should be a drop down box for you to change the language.  Once that’s done, restart the computer.

Switching the Language for Office

Hopefully switching the language for Windows worked, because it would really help for this part, although it isn’t necessary.  Not every version of Office supports changing languages.  It depends on the version that was installed.  Go to the Start Menu, find Microsoft Office, and then Microsoft Office Tools.  Under there, there should be an icon for Language Settings.  The icon has a globe and an A on it under Windows 7.  Open it and change the language.

• RXTX
• JavaComm

Unfortunately, the current version of JavaComm does not support Windows, and only supports Solaris SPARC, Solaris x86, and Linux x86.  Since I use none of those operating systems, this article will only discuss how to install RXTX in Windows.

UPDATE: 12 Sept 2011 – Thanks to a comment from Kurt Zoglmann, there are instructions on how to do this with a Mac!  I never tried this myself because I don’t have a Mac, but the procedures stated there look good to me (see comments).

A 32 and 64 bit version of the library exists.   I’ve updated this article from when it was first published to include the new locations for where to download the libraries, but I have not gone through the installation of the libraries again, so I’m not surprised if the rest of the content on this page is outdated too.

32-bit version: http://rxtx.qbang.org/wiki/index.php/Download
64-bit version: http://fizzed.com/oss/rxtx-for-java

To install the libraries (instructions from JControl):

1. Copy rxtxSerial.dll to %JAVA_HOME%\bin, (%JAVA_HOME% is the folder where JRE is installed on your system; e.g. c:\Program Files\Java\j2re1.4.1_01)
2. Copy RXTXcomm.jar to %JAVA_HOME%\lib\ext

Once installed, the IDE will need to know where to look for these installed files.  Even though the files exist in the JRE directory, each project needs to know about these files.  More information on this website.

In order to start coding with this library, import gnu.io.*.  For more information about Java Serial Programming, look here.

Happy coding!

The application failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect.  Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool.

I used my Google-fu and found that the cause of this error is due my computer not having the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable.  A copy of the setup file for this is in the SolidWorks 2010 disc.  It is in the folder (DVD Drive):PreReqsVCRedist.  After installing that, the error disappeared and SolidWorks starts properly.

Computer Specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 Processor
2 GB RAM @ 667 Ghz
Intel GM965 Chipset
nVidia GeForce 8600M GT
Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g

Installation

I was lucky enough to only need the Retail Snow Leopard Disc (10A432) and the myHack Installer 1.0.1.  I pretty much followed METHOD 2 in this guide (method 1 didn’t really work out for me, but it might have had something to do with the disc restoration part of the guide):

http://prasys.co.cc/2009/08/installing-snow-leopard-for-osx86/

For the myHack installer, check the box for the kext that says something about PS2 in it.  It will enable the laptop touchpad and keyboard.  Also, read the description for each kext to see if you need it or not.

When I used method 1 in the guide, I had some trouble with an installation error that said “Could not verify BaseSystem.pkg” or something along those lines.  That error appeared at about 10-15% installation progress.  It went away then I used method 2.  I did read somewhere that it may have had to do with the restoration in Disk Utility.  Either way, it worked the second time around.

Once SL was installed, I ran the myHack Installer on my drive to get the Chameleon Bootloader on there so I wouldn’t have to use my USB to boot all the time.  Also, be sure not to install GraphicsEnabler as it will prevent your computer from shutting down completely (more on that later).

Graphics

Since my laptop uses an nVidia card, there is an issue that prevents the computer from shutting down completely if the “GraphicsEnabler” option is used in the myHack Installer.  I believe NVInject, NVKush, and NVDarwin all suffer from this same problem.  What happens is that when the shut down command is invoked, the computer’s screen will turn off, the HD will turn off, but the power stays on.  When the nVidia graphics kexts aren’t used, this problem goes away.

I’ve tried generating an EFI String and loading that with EFI Studio, but it didn’t do the job.  The resolution is still 1024×768 and I have no QE, CI or OpenGL support.  What I did later on was install PC EFI to see if that would fix things (I didn’t really know what I was doing here at this point).  That didn’t really work, but I did later find out that EFI Studio allows me to add boot flags.  I added “Graphics Mode”=”1280x800x32” to the boot flag so now it boots with the proper resolution.  It gives the proper resolution, but still no QE/CI or OpenGL.  This guide has information on how to test for QE (Quartz Extreme) and CI (Core Image): http://prasys.co.cc/tag/enable-qeci/

Another thing I tried was to modify my DSDT to get my graphics card working using this link: http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/01/advanced-dsdt-fixes-nvidia-graphics.html.  I managed to get the card recognized using the DSDT code, but when I got rid of the graphics kexts, and the boot.plist options as specified in the guide, I lost my graphics acceleration.  I know my DSDT code is working here still since System Profiler tells me what card I have with the exact same names that I gave in the DSDT.  It seems that having graphics acceleration and shutdown/restart working properly just isn’t meant to be.

The tradeoff:

I either could have proper graphics acceleration and no shutdown, OR I could have shut down and no graphics acceleration.  Graphics is the clear winner here, but I still hate having no shutdown.  I have not found a fix for this.

Power Management

There was a problem with high CPU temperatures with the laptop.  I installed the VoodooPowerMini kext located here (http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,1095.0.html)

Audio

After looking for various kexts, I found that VoodooHDA worked for me.  It can be found here (http://www.kexts.com/view/70-voodoohda_(32–_64-bit,_recompiled_by_prasys).html).

Wireless

Works after installation.

USB Ports

They work since it can recognize my mouse and USB drive.

Battery Indicator

I used the VoodooBattery kext located here (http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,1092.0.html)

Card Reader

I don’t use this so I didn’t install the kext for it.  It can be found here: http://www.dailyblogged.com/retail-snow-leopard-installation-guide/ or SD Card Fix (more direct).

Touchpad

I had an issue where I couldn’t tap the touchpad in order for it to “click”.  I fixed this issue by installing the VoodooPS2Controller kext (check the Trackpad option during the installation) (http://forum.voodooprojects.org/index.php/topic,235.0.html).  Then I installed the preference pane (this allows configuring the Trackpad through System Prefs) here http://www.dailyblogged.com/retail-snow-leopard-installation-guide/ (command -f to find it).  I opened System Preferences and pressed the Show All button, and I saw a “Trackpad” option, so I opened it and the option was there.

Webcam

Works after installation.

Conclusion

Everything I listed here works except for video and the card reader.  There are other things like Ethernet, but I don’t really use it.

Here is an article that teaches you how to install Snow Leopard in VMWare using a Windows host.

http://www.ihackintosh.com/2009/12/install-snow-leopard-in-vmware-7-windows-edition/

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/mac-os-x/install-snow-leopard-on-pc/

Note:  the darwin_snow.iso must always be mounted in the VM’s CD/DVD drive in order for the OS to boot.   Shutting down the VM by pressing shut down in the OS will cause a kernel panic.  The around it is to open the .vmx file associated with the virtual machine and change smc.present from true to false.