Category Archives: Linux

Install Amazon WorkSpaces on Linux (Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 64-bit)

Posted by Cory Calahan on

Happy Friday the 13th…

UPDATE: AWS now publishes a client. Check it out here: https://clients.amazonworkspaces.com/linux-install.html

1. Download the Windows .MSI installer from: https://clients.amazonworkspaces.com/
At time of this post, the Amazon WorkSpaces Client was:
Version: 2.4.7.804
Updated: 6/7/2018

Information about the Ubuntu release:

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
Release: 18.04
Codename: bionic

Perform a quick package update check:

$ sudo apt update

Install wine:

$ sudo apt install wine64
$ wine64 --version
wine-3.0 (Ubuntu 3.0-1ubuntu1)

Install the Amazon WorkSpaces MSI file into the default .wine prefix:

$ wine64 msiexec /i ~/Downloads/Amazon+WorkSpaces.msi

Afterwards, remove a file that causes an application crash. (Replacing “username” with your account’s username and “.wine” if you used a different prefix):

$ rm /home/$(whoami)/.wine/drive_c/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)/Amazon\ Web\ Services\,\ Inc/Amazon\ WorkSpaces/vchan_plugins/pcoip_vchan_remoteprintclient.dll

Start the Amazon WorkSpaces client and enjoy that sweet AWS cloud WorkSpace!

Windows Anniversary – Enable Bash

Posted by Cory Calahan on

Hurrah! Windows 10 (Version 10.0.14393) is here.

Prerequisites: you will need a 64-bit installation of Windows. Then you will need to have enable Developer Mode .

Start a new PowerShell window running as an Administrator. Run the following to enable the feature:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName 'Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux'

Reboot your device and log back in.
Open the Start Menu, and type in “bash”.  (It points here: C:\Windows\System32\bash.exe).

The following prompt will appear:

-- Beta feature --
This will install Ubuntu on Windows, distributed by Canonical
and licensed under its terms available here:
https://aka.ms/uowterms
Type "y" to continue:

If you agree, type in “y” and press <Enter>. A download will begin:

Downloading from the Windows Store... 100%
Extracting filesystem, this will take a few minutes...
Please create a default UNIX user account. The username does not need to match your Windows username.
For more information visit: https://aka.ms/wslusers
Enter new UNIX username: <username>
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
Installation successful!
The environment will start momentarily...
Documentation is available at:  https://aka.ms/wsldocs
<username>@<hostname>:/mnt/c/Windows/System32$

Then go to town! You’ll get a new shortcut labeled ‘Bash on Ubuntu on Windows’ which points at the bash.exe and get the initial package updates out of the way.

<username>@<hostname>:/mnt/c/Windows/System32$ sudo apt-get update
<username>@<hostname>:/mnt/c/Windows/System32$ sudo apt-get upgrade

And does ‘cmatrix’ work…?

<username>@<hostname>:/mnt/c/Windows/System32$ sudo apt-get install cmatrix cmatrix-xfont
<username>@<hostname>:/mnt/c/Windows/System32$ cmatrix

It does!

If you want to poke around from Windows, the root filesystem is located here: 

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Lxss\rootfs

Linux Adventures With Debian

Posted by Cory Calahan on

1 – Install your distro, I am using Debian NetInst and then adding in some XFCE. A nice Terminal command for some more info:

uname -a && cat /etc/*release

2 – Patch!:

apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y

3 – Customize your Terminal (bash) prompt:

a. Yours:

/home/<username>/.bashrc

(Hidden Path) a.k.a.

~/.bashrc

b. The “root” account’s is located here:

/root/.bashrc

I used this: http://ezprompt.net/

4. Install some themes:

/usr/share/themes

5. More visuals: conky :

apt-get install conky-all

a. Custom conky files –

Your conky preferences are stored here:

/home/<username>/.conkyrc

Additional add-on files/scripts can be placed here (?):

/home/<username>/.conky

6. Adding/editing repos:

/etc/apt/sources.list