Installing Microsoft Office 2013 with many licenses

Leave it to Microsoft to screw up a working system...

New for Office 2013 is a brand new method for installing office.
Whether you have created a installation DVD or install through a web browser, the installation procedure follows the same basic really detoured guideline.

During the installation process after you enter the product key, Office 2013 installation utility (again, doesn't matter how you install, web or DVD) retrieves the newly entered product key and populates the product on the screen without any distinguishing identification of that product.  Assuming you only have one product, this process is very simple. If you have more than one product key, say 29 product keys like I do, this process is a very annoying game of russian roulette.

The list that populates with your newely entered product key displays the name of the office product over and over again depending on how many instances of office you have registered under your account.  You have to guess to see which office key is the most recent office key you have just entered.

If you have installed a microsoft office product that has been registered and activated on one machine and you mistakenly clicked on the wrong office line, you now have the possibility of an office install that would not be activated and you will have to uninstall and reinstall to get the new key working.

I have a very long solution that may help in this matter.
The following is followed after the first installation and going onto multiples which now involves guessing.
Make a table that looks like this:

Initial Product Key                  New Product Key                  Computer Identifier             Line Number

While keeping track of which product key goes to which computer, go to https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/MyAccount.aspx
and click "Install from a disc" under one of the products, click "I have a disc", then click view your product key.
This key is NOT going to be the same key you have entered in from the office installation.  It appears they create a whole new product key that stems from the original.  Write this product key as the replacement for the old product key that was used in the office installation and will be called the New Product key in our table.

In your records, find the line# (literally count the instances) in your "My Account page" that does not contain a previously recorded product key.

Using the following line in command prompt to record the last 5 characters of your product key.

For 32 bit Windows:
cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus

For 64 bit Windows (assuming you are using 32 bit Office):
cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS" /dstatus

Record this product key with the computer identifier so you have a link from that computer to the product key.

Using this method there will still be guessing, but a lot less of it.

When you need to change the product key, here are the commands for that

For 32 bit Windows:
cscript "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS" /inpkey:yourkeygoeshere

For 64 bit Windows (assuming you are using 32 bit Office):
cscript "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office15\OSPP.VBS" /inpkey:yourkeygoeshere

If you are reading this and have not bought 2013 but are thinking of doing so, please don't.
Buy or download anything else, MS Office 2010 or lower, Libre office, Open office...

Install Node.js from git

node.js did not work properly for me through apt-get so I installed it from source.

git clone https://github.com/joyent/node.git

./configure
make
make install

npm is already included with node so there is not need to install.

To solve the error:

Error: "pre" versions of node cannot be installed, use the --nodedir flag instead

use the following commands:

npm config set nodedir /directory/to/node

npm config set nodedir /directory/to/node --global

This is because "npm install" needs node's source for binary compilation.  Make sure that directory is permanent.  I have mine so that I can git pull a newer version right in that directory or change versions without any other major modifications.  The first line represents the current user's npm config file and the second represents the global config file.

Macbook Pro 5,5 Brightness Control in Ubuntu

I have verified that the latest installment of Ubuntu 14.04 with the latest Nvidia proprietary drivers fixed the brightness controls

All you have to do is add
Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1"
to /etc/X11/xorg.conf under the device section.

OR

If you do not see a valid xorg.conf, maybe something that looks like this "xorg.conf~", more than likely the new method for Xorg configurations files is being used which involves a conglomeration of "conf" files inside of the xorg.conf.d folder.  Make and add the following:

mkdir /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf

vim 20-nvidia.conf

paste the following:

Section "Device"
        Identifier "NVIDIA"
        Driver "nvidia"
        Option  "NoLogo" "True"
        Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1"
EndSection

save it by hitting "esc" then ":wq" and finally "enter".


Reboot, then try the f1 and f2 keys.  Your brightness should be adjusting accordingly.

Nexus 7 Linux Deploy on OTG USB 32GB Flash Drive

I own a Nexus 7 (2013) and have successfully installed Kali on a 32 GB flash drive.
Linux Deploy is a really neat tool that takes full advantage of chroot to boot many linux distros including Ubuntu, Arch, Gentoo, and OpenSuse.
Your mileage may vary with other tablets, but the following describes my working implementation.

1. In your favorite android rom, acquire Linux Deploy.
2. Format your flash drive to Ext4 using another computer. (I don't believe any android apps have this capability yet)
3. Insert the flash drive into the OTG cable and then into the Nexus.
4. Start up Linux Deploy and create a new profile.  A profile contains all of the settings required to start and maintain the desired linux distro.  1 distro per profile.
5. You can set whatever linux distro you'd like, but the key to keeping the distro on the flash drive is in the installation type.
6. Select "partition" as the installation type and Ext4 as the format.
7. Now to set the installation path.
8. You will see 3 vertical dots on the top right hand corner.  Select this, then press status.
9. A bunch of directories and settings will populate.  On the bottom you will see the device path(s) for the usb flash drive partitions.
10. Copy the device path you want to install the operating system on and paste it into the installation path.
11. Select the Install button at the top of the list of configurations and you should be good to go!

I hope this helped somebody! Props to the developer of Linux Deploy, excellent work.