Copying LInux MBR to boot from WIndows BootLoader

To save the current Linux MBR type
dd if=/dev/hdaX of=/bootsect.lnx bs=512 count=1

where hdaX is the device in which you installed the MBR and /bootsect.lnx is the file in which you whant to dump it.

Then, to use it from Windows Boot Manager, edit c:\boot.ini adding
c:\bootsect.lnx="Linux"

Batch Scan and Crop using Irfanview

Windows Batch Script.
Given a folder it will acquire the image with the scanner and crop it in four different parts

@echo off
rem irfanview folder
set ir_view_path=C:\Programmi\IrfanView
rem filename to modify
set filename=%1%
rem irfanview program file
set ir_view=%ir_view_path%\i_view32.exe
rem half of the width
set width=850
rem half of the height
set height=1170
cd %filename%
"%ir_view%" /scanhidden /convert=image.jpg
"%ir_view%" image.jpg /crop=(0,0,%width%,%height%) /convert=1.jpg
"%ir_view%" image.jpg /crop=(%width%,0,%width%,%height%) /convert=2.jpg
"%ir_view%" image.jpg /crop=(0,%height%,%width%,%height%) /convert=3.jpg
"%ir_view%" image.jpg /crop=(%width%,%height%,%width%,%height%) /convert=4.jpg

Windows Backup made easy with SystemRescueCD

Quick solution to add an 'open source' automatic recovery option from the windows boot manager.
Steps:

1- Download SystemRescueCD iso from http://www.sysresccd.org/Download
2 - Extract sysrcd.dat, rescuecd, initram.igz and place them on C:
3 - Download Grub4Dos from https://gna.org/projects/grub4dos/ (tested with version grub4dos-0.4.3-2007-08-27.zip) extract the file grldr to C:\
4 - Modify C:\boot.ini adding in the section [operating systems] the statement:

C:\grldr="SystemRescueCd"

5 - Add the following file to C:\

#======================menu.lst=======================
default 2
timeout 30

# This is a sample menu.lst file for SystemRescueCd
title    Create Backup
root     (hd0,0)
kernel   /rescuecd ar_nowait autoruns=0 setkmap=it docache
initrd   /initram.igz

# This is a sample menu.lst file for SystemRescueCd
title    Restore Backup
root     (hd0,0)
kernel   /rescuecd ar_nowait autoruns=1 setkmap=it docache
initrd   /initram.igz

# This is a sample menu.lst file for SystemRescueCd
title    SystemRescueCd from the NTFS disk
root     (hd0,0)
kernel   /rescuecd ar_disable setkmap=it docache
initrd   /initram.igz
#================================================

#===========================autorun0=============
#!/bin/sh
#Create Backup Script
ntfs-3g /dev/sda2 /mnt/windows
partimage --compress=2 --overwrite --nodesc --batch save /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows/win_backup.bz2
umount /mnt/windows
reboot
#================================================

#===========================autorun1=============
#!/bin/sh
#Restore Backup Script
ntfs-3g /dev/sda2 /mnt/windows
partimage --batch restore /dev/sda1 /mnt/windows/win_backup.bz2
umount /mnt/windows
reboot
#================================================

6 - Resize you C partition and create another one which will contain the backup.

Automatic login in Windows XP

Taken from:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231

Quick command:

Start->Execute-> control userpasswords2

Compress / Decompress initrd files

To Decompress:

zcat initrd.gz > initrd
mount -t ext2 -o loop,rw initrd /tmp/

After the modification of the folder structure, to compress again:
gzip -c initrd > initrd.gz

Hex Edit using VI

Here are some few commands to edit an hexadecimal file using vi:

vi file.hex
#now editing in vi
[esc] :%!xxd
#now editing file.hex in hex
#find some innocuous string or rcsid
#change the values on the hex side
[esc] :%!xxd -r
[esc] :wq!
#Now have a look on the file just created
hexdump file.hex