Installing a Windows 10 in VirtualBox on Linux!

Paul
Windows 10 in Virtualbox (LinuxMint)

Windows 10

Sometimes I hate to admit this but I need Windows 10 to do stuff with. Like making a multiple bootable USB key or Something like that! If you are like me and need it for a certain app that isn’t available on Linux. This solution seems to work well. It also doesn’t hurt that Microsoft is giving away Free Windows 10 to people. I didn’t have to do anything but put my email address in the system and it activated without a problem. It could just be that I have been in the beta for Windows 10 and it is associated with my account. Either way its a win for me. I decided to install Windows 10 because Windows 7 end of life was January.   I’ve never really liked Windows operating system so I tend to use it from time to time.  You could possible make it a dual boot also where Windows 10 and Linux Mint boot separately.   If that’s an option for you than it will be a whole lot faster.

Install VirtualBox on Linux

The first part of this post is how do you install Virtual Box on your Linux Mint Machine.  This might seem hard to understand but once you do it a few times you will understand it.

sudo add-apt-repository “deb [arch=amd64] https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian <mydist> contrib”

Now to install the right version of Virtual box you will need to know your distro of your Linux Mint. You can easily find that out by doing the “lsb_release -cs” command and it should say Tricia, Tina, Tessa, Tara, Sylvia, Sonya, or Serena”.   You’ll put that instead of the <mydist>  So like mine it would be:

sudo add-apt-repository “deb [arch=amd64] https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian tricia contrib”

It would also be a good idea to know if you have a 32 bit or 64 bit system Linux System.   You can find that out either through command line or desktop.   The command line is “arch“.  You might have to change the arch line to 32 but more than likely you are running a 64 bit system.

Now you need to Add the Keys to the repository and that command is easy.

wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add –
wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add –

The last step is to install Virtual Box on your Linux Mint system.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-6.1

A Good tip for those who might want to install an older version is to hit the tab button after you type the app you are wanting to install it will show you all available versions that you can install.

Installing Windows 10

You’ll need an ISO of windows 10.   I got mine from Microsoft directly.   You can download the ISO from them directly and get the latest version.  Once you have the ISO, you’ll want to run Virtualbox and set it up.   There are many Tutorials that will show you how to do that.   This one was just install Virtualbox on Linux MInt.

5 ways to stream videos in a Long Distance Relationship

Paul
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

You want to watch videos or maybe even movies with your other half and you don’t know how. It can be very hard to watch a movie or show together. Most of the time it can be very difficult to schedule a time together to watch a movie or to video chat together. It’s important to do things together.  Here are 5 Ways to watch videos together.   In the coming months I’ll be talking about how to do it with more effort on one or both persons.   Here though is the simple ways you can watch videos together.

Youtube

Youtube This is the easiest one of the ways you can watch videos. Most of the times you can find videos or movies that both of you can watch. Some videos will be harder to find or watch because of country restrictions. So you might have a hard time finding the right video to watch or can.

There are plenty of videos or movies that might be copyrighted that you can watch together.   Although it will be taken down relatively quickly, so you might need to watch them as you find them just because you never know when it will be removed by Google.

Netflix

I like Netflix because you can watch movies around the world and maybe you can find one that both of you can watch together. There are shows or movies that one of you can’t watch based on where you live. So it might be a little bit difficult but there are good chance that you can find something or some stuff that you can watch simultaneously.

Sometimes you might have to share your account with the other depending on if she/he can afford to do this. You’ll need to know what you can and can’t do with your account and the TOS that Netflix makes clear.  Just be weary of the consequences is all I can say!

Tubitv.com

TubiTv is great because it can be streamed on any device or region.   The main problem with this service is that you will have advertisements and it might be a time difference in movies.   I’ve not really tried this service but I have looked at it and thought to try it out.   You don’t have to share your passwords or account because both of you can have your own account.  Some of the content is sexual in nature and are rated R but you can both view it them at your discretion.

Twitch.tv

Twitch.tv is great for gamer’s and if you like to game together this is great way to watch videos together. I enjoy watching people play Minecraft and this just is kind of nice to see what people are playing.   Some are playing Fortnight and other games that you can enjoy together.   I know some of you are gamer,  this is why i suggested this service.   It depends on what you do with your other half.

This service can be used around the world so you don’t have to worry about regional selections.

Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime is something I like because you can use it around the world but again you have problems like Netflix where you will either have to pay for the service and give out your account information to the other person.  I’m not sure about the TOS for Amazon Prime.   So you will have to search thoroughly and see if it will work for you.   The good news is that you if you are married or getting married you might not have to worry about the TOS.   The Bad news is that you pay $12.99 per month or 119$ per Year in the US and it can be a different price in other regions.  So it can be very expensive for some people who are struggling to pay bills.

Each one of these services might require you to sign up for their services or pay for their service.   So there is that issue as well as what you might need to do to watch videos.   This is however a common problem with streaming services and as such you will have to figure out which service is best for your situation.

Got a streaming service that works for you?  Why not drop a comment and tell others?  Please feel free to share this post and help others with their streaming problems.

The Hard truths of a Long Distance relationship!

Paul
Photo by @thiszun (follow me on IG, FB) from Pexels

The in-between days!

I’ve been talking about Long Distances relationships for quite a while. I recently got back from visiting my Fiancee and you must be like me. You are really struggling with all these feelings and some even negative thoughts. Each relationship is different and unique, and no one relationship is the same. I am however going to talk about my relationship in hopes to inspire others that it can be done and to bring positive vibes to others.

Staying active is always a good suggestion in a long distance relationship. ‘What are the hard truths of being in one?’ You are probably asking or at the very least thinking about. We’ve all been there and thought about it. I want to share with you some of my problems and thoughts on the subject.

The Feelings are real!

Sometimes I have to ask myself are these real feelings or am I just in a movie or dream? Each time I am with this wonderfully made woman and I get home it is like a dream. It can be hard to quantify it all but I really can’t. I’ve always had people tell me all these negative things about being a relationship. ‘They will not be faithful!’ or my favorite ‘How do you know you love them?’. Each question has been a struggle for me. For those questions have to be answered internally and thought about in one way or another before we can give our answer to others. One of the hardest truths with any LDR is that you will have people asking those questions and you should be ready to answer them.

No touching!

This one is the hardest for those who have a love language of touch. You will find that you can’t touch each other physically. When one of you is feeling down you can’t do anything but listen, and talk about the problem. You can’t even console or cuddle when you want to. You will have to deal with this all the time while in a long distance.

High Anxieties!

When you are in a relationship you have all these doubts and thoughts. Some of the most common doubts that come to my mind are ‘Are they being faithful?’ or ‘What are they doing while I am sleeping?‘. There are several that come to my mind and I am sure you have some, too. What if’s can be terrifying to say the least. Some of the questions even I am asking about are what happens after we are together? Will she love me or want to be with me after we move in together? Anxieties are higher than normal because you have to make more of an effort to trust that person and push those thoughts out of your mind. No relationship will ever have these issues but they seem to be more relevant because of the distance.

Expensive tickets

Even trying to find the cheapest flights can still be a challenge to even me. You have to save money and come up with the time and expense of traveling to see them. You have to get the days off and if you are like me the travel time just sucks. Even I have struggled in the past with getting enough money together to travel to see my Fiancee.

Loneliness

Even I suffer this from time to time after my visits to see my Fiancee. You have days where you are extremely lonely even when you are with a group of people. You also get very depressed and sad, each time I come back from my visits, it takes time to get back into my old routines. I know my fiancee also struggles with this because she has told me.

Sex

This one is really a struggle for every LDR that I’ve talked to. We’ve all want to have that intimate contact with their better half. It is ingrained into us that we want to have that kind of contact and it can be a hard struggle to have to wait for the next time when you are together. Although, those times the sex is even better because you both want it, that I heard!

Missing them!

Last one, no really! We find that we miss those times together once you get home and it makes you even more sad and want to be with them. I can only suggest that you remember those times together and use them to spur you on to the next visit. No one ever said an LDR would be easy and now I realized even more than that is so true.

At the end of the day, you have to decide what you really wanted and just do it. No relationship is without these questions but most of the time it’s even worse because of the distance. Do you have hard truths that you want to comment about? Why not leave A comment and tell people what is on your mind?

How spammers are still able to send your voicemail!

Paul
Photo by Daniel Moises Magulado from Pexels

Spam in my Voicemail

If you haven’t seen this feature or had this feature done to you then your one lucky person.  They seem to be able to avoid being blocked.   Spammers are sending you voicemail and not ringing your phone.   This prevents you from being able to block them or hear their spam or scam.   For instance this came in my voicemail:

Hi this is Caroline Ferguson agent id is two four five one (#2451) I am following back up with you regarding the recent have a lawsuit filing your student loan has been accepted into the settlement which now entitled you to receive some forgiveness on all future payments what screen about this is the settlement offer applies to all loan status is including if your loans are in default a suggested you call today to have this activated before expiration. The settlement line is (202)921-7300. Make sure to supply your personal eligibility validation number one one two zero one nine (#112019) when calling in hope this helps and have a nice day.

This should be an Opt-in feature!

I’m currently using Cricket Wireless as my Cell company and most cellular companies think this is a great feature.   Some cellular companies have a way to send your voice messages to voicemail without calling your phone.   It’s been called send to voicemail and a lot of cellular companies have ways to do this without you even hearing your phone ring.  When phone companies started making this feature well known, you had to know spam was to follow.  I called Cricket Wireless and tried to find a way to disable people from doing this but they couldn’t find a way.   I should be able to disable this feature or it should of been an opt in feature for new customers.

There’s an App!

If you didn’t know, you could easily do this with your phone and make it even harder for people to ignore you.  This is why spammers/scammers are using this feature.   There’s a app that you can download to do just for this called Slydial.  New company that should allow people to be opted out of this wonderful feature.   I can’t even find a way to opt out or have a way to disable them from sending me voicemail.   I am hopeful that they start something like this for people who don’t want to be bothered with spam voicemails.

Have you had this done to you or know how to fix this issue?  Feel free to leave a comment below and tell me your experiences and what you did to solve this issue.    I’m curious to hear our story, why not leave a comment and tell me.   If you find this article informational then please feel free to share it on Facebook or other social networks!

How to Install your Favorite Apps on Linux OS.

Paul
Photo by Markus Spiske temporausch.com from Pexels

Command Line Rocks

I simply love using command in Linux.   I currently using Linux Mint because I didn’t want to upgrade my laptop to Windows 10.   If you know anything about Linux, they seldom install the necessary apps for Laptops or Desktops.   You’d have to install them separately and some of the apps do some really useful things on Linux.   Such as the touch pad inidcator which will disable the touch pad when you are typing or when you are using a mouse.   I hate to use the Graphical User Interface to find and install these apps.  So I decided to create a shell script to install the needed laptop apps for any installation of Linux on a Laptop.  I do like to install programs from the GUI but that is when I am looking to install one program or just curious what they’ve added to the Synaptic Package Manager.   Since most of these apps are open sourced, I thought it would be nice to show you how to create a shell script that you might want to use from time to time.  The nice thing this helps if you are re-installing Linux or installing Linux on a new laptop Linux.

Creating a Shell Script

Before you begin this process, you’ll want to wrap your head around how to create the Linux script.  Once you learn about the process of creating the script.  You will understand more about the next process but you should at least get the basics so you can know what you can and can’t do in a script.   A shell script is almost like a batch file in Windows and you can do a lot of things in it.  Some things you can do are If/then or Echo, or Sudo commands.   If you want to make a complicated menu then that is fine also. I believe simplistic is best.   So I created my own little simple script to install the laptop apps that will help me on my laptop.

Laptop-linuxinstall.sh

echo Installing Touchpad Inidcator
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
sudo apt update
sudo apt install touchpad-indicator

echo installing cpu frequency Inidcator
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:artfwo/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get indicator-cpufreq

echo Installing Battery Optimization
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tlp tlp-rdw
sudo tlp start

echo Installing Laptop Mode Tools
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install laptop-mode-tools

You could easily copy this and paste it into a text editor and start using it right away but I hope you at least learn about scripting.   This script will work with Linux Mint or Ubuntu, but I am unclear if it will work with other Linux OS.  This is why you will want to learn the create your own script because you might have to modify or add new lines into the script.  If you decide to use Laptop Mode tools, I suggest you read about how to configure the tools once you installed it.

Changing Permission in Linux

Changing Permissions

Once you have created the script and saved it to a file you will need to change the permissions of the file so Linux can run it from command line or if you decide to run it from the GUI.   You can either right click the file > Properties then go into permissions (See above for example) and check mark “Allow executing file as a program” or go into terminal mode.

Go to where the file is located and type “sudo chmod +x filename.sh”  and enter your Password.  Once this is done you can now either use the GUI or type “./locationoffile/file.sh” in the terminal.

All is Good!

After you have done all that, You now should keep the shell script on several locations so you can always use it if you need it.   I occasionally like to reinstall Linux to keep the system running smoothly so that is why I created shell scripts to install my favorite programs or stuff I might want to use on my laptop.   Do you have a favorite application or a suggestion please feel free to leave a comment below.   I’d love to hear what you install on your Linux OS and why.