Did Ubuntu release a Service Pack?

Did Ubuntu release a service pack for Hardy Heron? Yestarday I had 70mbs of crtical downloads, today I had another 20mbs. Don't get wrong I like quick resposes but that seams a little heavy on the mustard. Just two weeks into a new release and we have 90 plus meg of patches. The good thing was I saw the new "Critial Update" Icon, you know the bright red arrow pointing down with a white explantion make inside !. I like this change, it stands out from the interface and makes it plain for all to see that something wants your attention.

I've fixed both problems I've encountered thus far and I like some of the added touches. This release gets an "Upgrade to it" raating or a "Start with this build" award from me.

NOTE: Boot times seam better and shut down times are faster.

Upgrade From 7.10 to 8.04 LTS Hardy Heron

Updated my Ubuntu Laptop from 7.10 to 8.04 LTS Hardy Heron. The Upgrade had two big problems and one minor one. The whole upgrade took about 2-3 hours if you don't count the reading and tinkering. Total Time 5 to 7 hours (I read slow)

Big Problem 1. Upgrading broke my SUDO command. You get an error "unable to resolve host YOUR-COMPUTER-NAME" every time you type SUDO in a terminal window. After hours of poking around I found that you have to go to SYSTEM-ADMINISTRATION-NETWORKS then the HOSTS tab, find your MachineName * in the table and delete anything after it on its line in the table, including the period. For some reason 8.04 does not like your domain or network name after your MachineName in the HOSTS table. This breaks SUDO.
* NOTE - This is your loopback or home address 127.0.0.1

Big Problem 2- No matter what you select during the upgrade install, your wireless network will break if you have a Broadcom Chip set. To fix it you have to unblack list the Broadcom Driver by typing in the terminal "SUDO GEDIT /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist" just add a "#" in front of the last line "blacklist bcm43xx" then save it (when done it should read " # blacklist bcm43xx"). Then goto SYSTEM-HARDWARE DRIVERS and enable "Broadcom B43 Drivers". Which will cause Ubuntu to nag you about these not being FREE drivers. Ubuntu will then download and install the Broadcom drivers (did I mention that you have to have a hardwire network connection working in order to do this). You then have to goto SYSTEM-NETWORK and select the WIRELESS CONNECTION and Properties and add your WEP/WAP key. You then shut down and unplug your wired network and boot up. If you are lucky your wireless will work. If not you will have to change to a STATIC IP. by going back to SYSTEM-NETWORK and select the WIRELESS CONNECTION and Properties and change the DHCP drop down to static IP and fill out the three lines; IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway. This is just guesing but the most common choices for those three fields would be;
IP Address: 192.168.1.21
SubNet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
Those are just guesses. Because your router could be setup differntly which would make these numbers all wrong for you. Don't ask me why I choose 21 as the IP address, it just seams like a nice safe address..
* NOTE: You have to solve problem #1 to fix #2 because you will need the SUDO command to fix problem #2.


Minor Problem - The update for some reason puts FireFox 3 BETA 5 on your machine. Why would you promote Ubuntuv 8.04 as a stable LTS release and install Beta software. I think you should have installed the stable release and let the end user upgrade when Firefox 3 Final ships.


Conclussions:
I have fixed everything I've mentioned as of today. I don't know why problem #1 happened. Problem # 2 should turn out to be a blessing. Ubuntu has started offering NON-FREE-SOURCE drivers that just make your hardware work out of the box. I hope with the addition of the BROADCOM WIRELESS DRIVERS I will no longer have to spend two days fixing them after a new Ubuntu release. I'll admit, "Free would be better, but working is Nice!". One last thing before I go, there was a warning about CUPS (printers) during the install I told it to leave my old CUPS alone. This seams to have worked because I printed to a 7.10 machine's shared printer tody without any problems. So far the only sour note is that FireFox 3 Beta 5 has crashed twice while playing YouTube Videos. Thanks BETA Software.

Gutsy Gibbon

Over all I like the 7.10 update. It's added a couple of things I like and I haven't noticed anything that quit working (for me). This was my third update since I've been using Ubuntu so I understood some of the options offered during the update process more. Gutsy fixed a couple of problems I was having with Feisty.

1. Sharing of a printer
2. NTFS partition access
3. Wireless Network Card worked without resorting to a command line.
4. Use of the priority drivers.

Because of the NTFS support it makes a duel boot machine much easier to do. You can keep your data on the NTFS partition and both OSs can see it.

Not having to resort to the command line just to get my wireless network working was nice. If you've read this Blog you will remember that I almost removed Linux from my laptop because of the difficulty of getting wireless to work.

The inclusion of the priority drivers (video, mp3, WMV, etc..) has kept me from having to put Automatix back on either machine. And speaking of this why all the STUPID warnings about using these drivers/codex? They work, they are needed, and they will help Linux grow. I think the way the warnings about their use are presented were intended to SCARE the very users who need them the most away from using them. Ubuntu should have just shown both drivers and let the end user decide WITHOUT THE WARNING. The Warnings reminds me of something Microsoft would do (Genuine Advantage anyone?).

Over the year that I have been using Linux (Ubuntu) I have come to like it and use it on three machine. With every update Ubuntu gets better and better. The problem that Linux has to over come is it's dependence on the command line. The command line needs to become a Power User Feature not the main way to do things. There are still too many tasks that require the command line. If the next release of Ubuntu did nothing other than make GUI's for every command line function it would begin to be an easy replacement for the joke that is Vista.

Gutsy Gibbon Killed my Beryl Install

When I upgraded to Gutsy I told it to overwrite my custom setting so my desktop lost some setting I changed. No big deal, it was my fault and I like the clean look. I noticed that it killed my Beryl Install too but it was running slow on my system anyway and while it was "cute" it was not very practical especially with the performance hit. I did notice that it has a new name now, Compiz Fusion and is built in to Gutsy. I guess I could turn it back on but I don't want to take the performance hit. You need to install the Manager to get it going. Open a TERMINAL WINDOW and type the following:

sudo aptitude install
compizconfig-settings-manager

Since I don't want to turn it back on I haven't tried it but here's a video of it in action if your interested.

Gutsy Gibbon Sharing a Printer

I installed my Laser Jet 1100 printer on my desktop Ubuntu Feisty Fawn install. The printer worked just fine as a local printer under Feisty but I could not share it. I tried but I couldn't figure it out. You can read about those attempts below in past posts. I tried to hit it through the network with my Ubuntu Feisty Laptop and from a MS Vista machine. Neither worked.

Well I've upgraded both the Desktop and the Laptop to Gutsy Gibbon and decided to try to share the printer again. I figured I was in for another fight but when I went to SYSTEM - ADMINISTRATION - PRINTING I was presented with this screen:
I thought I'd take a chance and checked the SHARE PUBLISHED PRINTERS CONNECTED TO THIS SYSTEM block and Clicked the Apply button on the Desktop. I then went to the Gutsy Laptop and checked the SHOW PRINTERS SHARED BY OTHER SYSTEMS box then Clicked the Apply Button. I few seconds pause and my Desktop Gutsy Printer Share appeared in the list of printers on left in the picture on the Gutsy Laptop. I selected the shared printer and was asked if I wanted to make it my default printer. I did then opened OO Writer and printed a test page from the Laptop. It worked. You can see there are other options here when sharing a printer but they are self explanatory.

A couple of notes:
1. I had already installed the printer and had it working locally under Feisty on the Desktop.
2. I had installed and connected the Laptop directly to the printer once under Feisty so the drivers were already on the Laptop too.
3. I had fought with CUPP and tried so many things I've forgotten most the ones I did try under Feisty (I never did get it to work).
4. Under Gutsy all I did was check the blocks and it worked.
5. I will try to get MS Vista to connect to the printer later this week.

Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 Upgrade

It's within a few days of being one year since I've installed Linux (Ubuntu) on one of my machines. When I committed to trying Linux I decided to use nothing but linux for a full 30 days and I layed out a "road map" of things I've wanted to do.

I've stuck with Ubuntu throughout this trial and I've installed it on two machines, a laptop and a desktop. I use both of these machines on a daily basis (I've given the desktop to my wife and she uses it mostly). I've kept both systems updated and upgraded. I started with Dapper Dan, switched to Edgy Elf then upgraded to Feisty Fawn as soon as it was released and today I've upgraded both to Gutsy Gibbon 7.10.

The upgrade to Gutsy was very easy and was done with no problems. There's not much to notice different about Gutsy but that's how an OS upgrade is supposed to be. If I want the UI (User Interface) to look/feel different I'd upgrade or change the UI. With an OS upgrade I expect better compatibility with hardware and tweaks that make things faster and the expansion of the feature sets that can be added (better software).

So with those goals in mind I'll look at Gutsy over the next few days and let you know what I think about it. Then I plan to do a "One Year with Linux" post and compare it with my "One Year with Vista" experience.

So far I have noticed that Gutsy did a better job upgrading my notebook than Edgy. Edgy messed up my wireless card when I upgraded and I had to spend two weeks without it before I finally fixed it. Gutsy got it right on the first boot.

Under Edgy I couldn't get my HP Laser Jet 1100 to work as a shared printer on the desktop machine but Gutsy promises better printer function so I'll try again over the next few days.

Updated The Links

I added a long list of useful Linux/Ubuntu Links to the right side bar. It a combination of different lists I've found while browsing.

Six Months of Linux

It's really been just over seven months now. I started my Linux experiment on November 1, 1996. One of my friends was singing Linux's praises and told me I should try it.

To be honest I had tried Linux before but never did get any use out of it. I think it was SUSE Linux 6 or 7. I couldn't get it to work with my MS Windows network, couldn't get online with it or do anything productive. To be fair I didn't give it a real chance. I installed it, played with it for a few days, then never used it again.

My friend works in the IT field and told me that Linux had changed since I last tried it. He told me that there was a Distro that he liked called Ubuntu. Well I just happen to have a Dell box laying around that needed it's OS reinstalled, so I took a chance.

I decided to give it a try but remembering back to my first Linux experience, I decided to force myself to use it for 30 days no matter what problems I had. My friend was also Blogging and I thought I'd like to try that too so I decided to combine the two idea.

I forced myself to stick with my pledge to use nothing but Linux for 30 days. At first it was hard and I was tempted to cheat but never did. Every time I hit a road block I would research until I found a solution. In the end I solved every problem except one, the VPN to work, and someone has suggested a solution to that one too but I haven't had time to try it.

I thought that when MS Vista came out that it would set a new bar in the OS field and make Linux look out and tired. That couldn't have been further from the truth. Vista is such a poor OS Microsoft is having to force people to take it.

I had planed to reinstall MS Windows on this Dell box at the end of the 30 days but I had gotten used to Linux and started liking it. So seven months later Ubuntu Linux is still on this box and I've updated it from Version 6 to Version 7. I've taken XP off my old laptop and put Linux on. I've made my work laptop a duel boot Linux/XP and I am thinking about removing Vista from my new laptop and making it a duel boot XP/Linux. We will see.

Added a Printer but Can't Share It with Vista

There comes a time when you want to get information from the computer screen to paper. To do this you have to install a printer. I thought I'd have more trouble than I did but it was easy. I had an older HP Laserjet 1100 that uses the parallel port and I wanted to install it locally. I also want to share it so that my Linux Laptop and MS Windows Laptop can use it. Here's what I've done so far;

Add the printer locally;

0. I had to reset my computer and change my BIOS settings under PORTS-->Parallel setting it to the EPP Mode. (I read on-line before I installed the printer and this suggestion showed up in several articles so I made the change before I started).

1. Goto SYSTEM-->Administration-->Printing

2. This will open a new window. Double Click on NEW PRINTER. Next you will be presented with a three step wizard (Add New Print Wizard)

3. Wizard Step 1. Pick either Local/Detected Printer or Networked Printer. I choose Local, then clicked the Forward button.

4. Wizard Step 2. Pick your printer Manufacture and your pinter Model. Ubuntu suggested a Printer Driver for me (ljet4). The list of printers, models, and drivers looks pretty extensive but I'm sure not every modern printer will be full supported but you should be able to find a combo that will get you working. Click Forward

5. Wizard Step 3. Name your printer, give it a "friendly" Description and a Location. The printer name is the important part here since you will have to use it if you Share it on your network. Ubuntu suggested mine be named Laserjet-1100 and that was good to me. I assume that the name is case sensitive like everything else in Linux. Click Apply

If this is the only computer that will use the printer, you are done. You can Right Click on the printer in the SYSTEM-->Administration-->Printing window and change all the default settings and paper handling options for your printer. You can also change your driver setting and printer name.

I wanted my printer shared on my network So I had to plow on. I've ran into some trouble sharing the printer. I went to SYSTEM-->Administration-->Printing then Single Clicked on my printer (selecting it) and then clicked on Global Settings and checked the Share Printers option in the menu.

I then went to my MS Windows Laptop (running Vista) and tried to add the newly shared linux box printer. I went to START-->Printers-->Add New Printer. I told Vista that it was a Network Printer and it searched for all shared printers on my network. None were found. I figured this would happen so I told Vista that I would manually enter the printer location. I typed //LinuxBoxName/Laserjet-1100 (remember the Name from Wizard Step 3 above?). Vista thought about this for a second, sent out some packets on the network, then asked me for a User Name and Password to connect to this printer. Ok, I figured it wanted my LinuxBox User/Pword. Tried it and it didn't work. I tried the VistaBox User/Pword it didn't work. Remembering how MS windows likes to have DomainName/UserName or ComputerName/UserName, I tried LinuxBox/UserName and LinuxBoxPword , it didn't work !!!

It appears that Vista can see the LinuxBox on the network and can see it's printer but the LinuxBox wants a password to access the printer. I can't figure out how to get Vista to give the LinuxBox that User/Pword. I've read about it online and saw where Linux use a program called CUPS. To access CUPS you start a Browser and type http://localhost:631/printers/Laserjet-1100 as the Address (replace Laserjet-100 with your printer name). I have explored CUPS a little and can even access the CUPS interface from the VistaBox (http://LinuxBoxName:631/printers/Laserjet-1100) but still can't add the LinuxBox Printer to the VistaBox. This is where I'm stuck.

This weekend I will try to add the LinuxBox Printer to the LinuxLaptop and see if it's just a Vista thing.

Installing BERYL on Ubuntu Feisty Fawn

I installed Beryl today and it looks great. Beryl gives your desktop a 3D look and adds tons of eye candy effects to windows moves, opens, closes, etc. The instructions below are not mine but they are ones I followed that got Beryl working on my machine. Here's the original article where I found the Howto. You need to note that the instructions vary with graphic cards. I have an Nvidia graphics card and this script worked for me. I have a 64mb card with 512mbs of system ram on a 2.0 ghz machine. The effects speeds are ok but they are a little choppy. There were some warnings about making your machine unusable if this script (or Beyrl) has problems during installation so use this with care. Read the linked article before you try this.

I've got a new laptop with Vista on it and Beryl puts Vista's effects to shame. Why risk your system? Here's why (some youtube videos of Beryl in action)


INSTRUCTIONS NVIDIA GRAPHIC CARD ONLY

1. Open a terminal. Execute:
sudo echo "Beryl for nVidia installation Ubuntu Feisty 704"

This step will ask for your password and let the rest of the script run without interuptions


2. Copy and paste all the text below into the Terminal in one action.

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup.beryl-script
sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backup.beryl-script
echo "deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org feisty main
deb-src http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org feisty main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install beryl beryl-manager emerald-themes
sudo nvidia-xconfig --add-argb-glx-visuals
sudo cp /usr/share/applications/beryl-manager.desktop /etc/xdg/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop
cp /usr/share/applications/beryl-manager.desktop ~/Desktop/beryl-manager.desktop
echo -e "Logout now and then press \e[0;31mCTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE\e[0m to restart xorg"
echo "Installation completed !"

3. Logout and then press [CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE] to restart.

Someone Take Out the Trash

While playing around with WINE I got some files stuck in the trash can. I kept getting a "You do not have the permission required to delete" error. After a bit of reading I found the following command line will delete these stuck files.

Open a Terminal window and type:
sudo rm -rf $HOME/.Trash

I learned that you should NOT use the -f switch on whims, it will just remove (delete) whatever you tell it too without any undo or warnings.

BTW rm -r DIRECTORY will delete whole directories from a TERMINAL.

Upgraded from 6.1 to 7.04 (Feisty Fawn)

I upgraded from 6.1 to 7.04 (feisty fawn) last night. Everything went well but kinda slow. I started at 1230 am and didn't finish until 3:45 am. Compared to the initial install of 6.1 this seamed like a long time, but it was mostly flawless. I got a couple of pop-up messages telling me that a few pieces of software were no longer supported and Automatrix told me it was the wrong version now, but nothing I couldn't guess the answer to. I haven't noticed anything yet that is broken but I didn't see that much new either. This is my first Linux upgrade so I don't know what to expect. It said it had a fancier windows interface but when I turned it on it took away my minimize and maximize buttons.

After the three hour upgrade I was too tired to test it much, but I'll get into it soon and write about it here. I have NOT upgraded the laptop yet because one of my friends has been fighting 7.04's wireless support. I am using the laptop and don't consider it a test bed anymore so as soon as I put feisty fawn through it's paces on the test computer, I'll try it on the laptop.

p.s. I'm still working on the Pocket PC stuff

How to sync your Pocket PC with Ubuntu

I have a Dell Axim Pocket PC and want to connect it to Ubuntu. Well here we go.

Connect your pocket PC to your Ubuntu machine using the serial to USB cable and power on the pocket PC.

Open a terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal).

Load the USB to serial driver by entering the following command in the terminal.

sudo modprobe ipaq

Issue the following command to make sure Ubuntu detects your pocket PC.

dmesg | tail

It showed /dev/ttyUSB0
as the device name. The next step is to install the packages we need. Enter the command as shown below:

sudo apt-get install synce-dccm synce-serial librra0-tools

This command will ask you to enter the IP addresses for your pocket PC, your DNS server etc. Enter the IP address of your router for the DNS server option (where you’ll get a blank field, whereas for other options, you’ll get a default value). It’s usually 192.168.0.1, but then it depends on the router. Leave the defaults for all other IPs.

Once the installation is complete, run the following command to specify the serial port:

sudo synce-serial-config /dev/ttyUSB0

You’ll get a message that

You can now run synce-serial-start to start a serial connection.

Make sure your pocket PC is connected and on. If your pocket PC is setup to sleep after certain minutes, you may have to switch it on again. Now start the dccm daemon.

You can start it in 2 ways.

dccm -d 4 -f

where -d 4 shows debugging is enabled and -f forces the daemon to run in the foreground.

Once you issue the above command, you’ll see the following in the terminal:

dccm[xxxx]: Running in foreground
dccm[xxxx]: Listening for connections on port xxxx

where xxxx stands for some number.

Now open another terminal and issue the following command:

sudo synce-serial-start

This will start the pocket PC synchronization. If you have firewall enabled, then you might see the warning as shown below:

Warning!

You have firewall rules that may prevent SynCE from working properly!
synce-serial-start is now waiting for your device to connect

In that case follow the firewall steps below. If you don’t have a firewall, then go to Continue after Firewall.

Firewall setting:

I user Firestarter as the firewall for front end. If you are using Firestarter, then go to /etc/firestarter/ directory. Change the file permission for user-pre to rw-r—– using the following command:

sudo chmod 640 user-pre

Now edit the file using

sudo gedit user-pre

Enter the following lines in the file:

$IPT -I FORWARD 1 -s 192.168.131.0/24 -d 192.168.131.0/24 -j ACCEPT
$IPT -I OUTPUT 1 -s 192.168.131.0/24 -d 192.168.131.0/24 -j ACCEPT
$IPT -I INPUT 1 -s 192.168.131.0/24 -d 192.168.131.0/24 -j ACCEPT

Save and close the file. Change the file permission back to r–r—– by issuing

sudo chmod 440 user-pre

The above change will work only if you had gone with the default IPs while installing the packages required for syncing.

Restart the computer and open two terminals. Issue the dccm command as given above in one terminal and sudo synce-serial-start on the other terminal. Make sure your Pocket PC is on before you do this.

Continue after firewall:

Once you issue the command sudo synce-serial-start in terminal 2, you’ll see the following messages (or similar messages) in terminal 1 where you issued the dccm command.

dccm[xxxx]: Connection from 192.168.xxx.xxx accepted
info package (88 bytes):
0000: 24 00 00 00 03 00 a3 2b $……+
0008: 11 0a 00 00 00 00 00 00 ……..
0010: 61 05 f3 56 00 00 00 00 a..V….
0018: 24 00 00 00 2c 00 00 00 $…,…
0020: 3e 00 00 00 50 00 50 00 >…P.P.
0028: 43 00 00 00 50 00 6f 00 C…P.o.
0030: 63 00 6b 00 65 00 74 00 c.k.e.t.
0038: 50 00 43 00 00 00 44 00 P.C…D.
0040: 65 00 6c 00 6c 00 20 00 e.l.l…
0048: 41 00 78 00 69 00 6d 00 A.x.i.m.
0050: 20 00 58 00 35 00 00 00 ..X.5…
0058:
dccm[xxxx]: Talking to ‘PPC’, a PocketPC device of type Dell Axim X5

This shows that the system is talking to the pocket PC. The next step is to setup a partnership. You are generally allowed upto 2 partnership. I have setup a partnership with my Windows machine and one more was remaining. I used that for syncing with Ubuntu.

Issue the following command in terminal 2 to establish the partnership:

synce-matchmaker create

You’ll get a message similar to the one shown below if you are able to establish the partnership.

[rra_matchmaker_create_partnership:xxx] Partnership file not found for ID XXXXXXXX
[rra_matchmaker_create_partnership:xxx] Partnership slot 2 is empty on device
Partnership creation succeeded. Using partnership index 2.

Once the partnership is established, then you can issue the following command to list the files in the pocket PC. You’ll get the list of files if the partnership is established.

synce-pls

Archive 5136 Sat 10 Feb 2007 05:04:15 PM CST House materials.psw
Archive 408 Sun 28 Jan 2007 11:10:28 AM CST Note2.pwi
Archive 408 Sun 24 Dec 2006 06:30:38 PM CST Note1.pwi
Directory Mon 31 Dec 2001 06:00:00 PM CST Business/
Directory Mon 31 Dec 2001 06:00:00 PM CST Personal/
Directory Mon 31 Dec 2001 06:00:00 PM CST Templates/

The above list is the list of folders in my pocket PC. Here is the list of command you can use to access the pocket PC files:

synce-pcp - Copy a file

synce-pmkdir - Create a directory

synce-pmv - Move a file

synce-prmdir - Delete a directory.

Once you are done syncing your pocket PC, issue the following command to kill the daemon and then disconnect the pocket PC.

killall -HUP dccm

That’s it. Next we figureout how to do somethinng usefull with this like sync with Evolved

PhotoShop CS2 On Ubuntu Sorta

I own Photoshop CS2 and have it installed on a Windows XP Laptop. This is the only computer I have it on. I don't think I am violating any copy rights as long as I don't run photoshop on the laptop at the same time I run it on the Ubuntu Box.

I've been trying to get Photoshop CS2 to run on Ubuntu. I have had limited success. Here's what I've done so far;

1. I've installed WINE and it's working fine.
2. I copied my entire Adobe Directory from the MS Windows XP Laptop to a Flash Drive (950mbs)(c:\program files\adobe)
3. I've EXPORTED the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Adobe/" Registery Key from the MS Window Machine to a file call adobe.reg (on the windows machine run REGEDIT navigate to the above key, select it, and then chose FILE/EXPORT it will asked for a name I used ADOBE)
4. I copied this new file (adobe.reg) to the flash drive.
5. I copied all the Adobe files from the flash drive (from c:\program files\adobe) to my Ubuntu Box and put them in the home\USERNAME\.wine\dirve_c\Program Files\Adobe\ driecroty
6. I then copied the adobe.reg file to the same directory
7. I then started TERMINAL and navigated to home\USERNAME\.wine\dirve_c\Program Files\Adobe\
8. I then ran wine regedit adobe.reg to import the registry settings into WINE.
9. I then navigated to the home\USERNAME\.wine\dirve_c\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\ directory and ran wine Photoshop.exe command in TERMINAL

It took about 2 to 3 minutes but Photoshop CS2 started but gave an error saying that the serial number or activation code was wrong. (The start time is long. I thought it had locked up)

10. Well I started searching on Google and found several links to instructions to make Photoshop CS2 run on a flash drive (I searched for Portable Photoshop CS2) I followed these instructions and made a working Portable Photoshop CS2. This worked just fine on any MS Windows Machine that I had Administrator Rights on.

11. I created another directory on my Ubuntu Box in the following location home\USERNAME\.wine\dirve_c\Program Files\PS\ I then copied my Portable Photoshop CS2 directory from my flash drive to this new directory on the Ubuntu Box. I navigated to it and run the following command in a TERMINAL wine Portable_Photoshop.exe .

It worked!! Everything was good but the problem I'm having is that if you touch the keyboard you get an error saying "requested library not loaded" or something like it and everything stops. This might be something I've done wrong with my WINE installation.

Oh, Well, it's a start. Anyone who has any suggestions please post them here.

A Blog For Fun

I know I promised a "How To" on building a DVR computer and I am going to do that (I'm rounding up the parts now) But I got bored and while archiving my photos and reading my friends personal Blogs I decided to do a personal one too. I wanted something different so I decided on a photo blog with a bit of a theme. I will be uploading some of the photos I took as I traveled my state. So please visit it until I get the goods together for the DVR.

Oh! The site name and address? WVpictures.blogspot.com

Extending This Project

I have acquired a Mni Atx motherboard (1ghz cpu firewire/usb2/sound/video etc.) Its only 6 inches square. I have a tv tuner/video capture card too. I think I'm going to build a media PC. I think I will try FREEVO on it. This will be both a hardware and software project along with a little modding. (I might try to stuff it all inside an old VCR for media conversion).

I think this will be an interesting and useful how to project. I should be able to document it with photo's and maybe a little video just for something different.

As soon as I have all the part together I will start the project. I think since FREEVO is a Linux program it will fit in here on this Blog. I will need to find a Linux Distro that works with the motherboard I have since everything is on board except the capture card. I hope this won't be a problem but we will see.

I'll probably start the project after Christmas (I have the week off)

READ FROM THE BOTTOM UP

This Blog reads from the bottom up. I change the look a little and turned archiving back on.

The End?

It's been thirty days (I had a few late work days so the math is a little fuzzy) and this is my first time back on a MS Windows machine. Lets talk about what I've learned and done with Ubuntu 6.1 Linux. I installed it on two computers, a desktop and a laptop. I managed to get 95% of all my hardware working on both machines but it was a fight (more later). The only real problem I had was with a scanner and these are cheap enough to replace.

My over all opinion of Linux was good, not great, not wow, but good. The good things that stick out to me were the application add/remove programs with the Internet updates, the highly customizable desktop, and the nice way Linux handles multiple users. The bad I remember was the command line and the way Linux felt like MS Windows 98 (Windows over DOS). It felt like I was working on two different OS's, one a pretty point and click windows system and the other an ugly command line back end. Ubuntu Linux makes me think of “The Wizard of Oz”, “Ignore the man behind the curtains, I am the great and powerful Oz”, Ubuntu puts a pretty face (windows) on the ugly truth (command line).

I found almost all the applications that I was looking for except a good graphics editor. There is no Photoshop equal in the Linux world (or the mac or windows world either). GIMP is ok but it is not Photoshop. Firefox rules, OpenOffice is great, Evolution was outstanding and Rythmbox did everything I asked it too. I ripped CD/DVD's and burnt them back. I converted the audio/video files to different formats. I edited the imported video, I did work (word processing, spread sheets, ect) with easy. I kept up on my podcasts and moved things around with flash drives. I accessed MS Windows network shares, connected the two Linux machines through Linux shares, and remote desktoped everything to and from everything else. It was a good experience and I enjoyed myself.

The sad thing is my worse experience was with the "old guard" Linux Users. Not newbies or general users, it was the "founders". Their “totally free or not at all” attitude is holding Linux back to the point where the community will not grow, and when new users do show up asking why it can't be easier, we're greeted with “you don't matter, your just a stupid newbie”. If you ask a question from one of these “zealots” you are berated for not knowing the answer and told to figure it out yourself or switch back to MS Windows because the Linux Community doesn't need or want you. I came very close to just giving up because of this. I had trouble with graphic drivers and wireless networking because these “zealots” don't thing you should use non-open source drivers even if they are better, free, and gets your hardware to work. They are perfectly happy forcing their moral choices onto you even if it means that Linux stays stuck in the 1990's.

The biggest question is “Will I keep Ubuntu Linux on the Laptop”? The answer is a simple “yes”. Will I remove MS Windows from any of my other personal computers? No. Would I recommend Linux to be installed on any or all of my work machine? No.

As it stands right now, Linux is a nice “hobby” OS but is not universal enough for the business workstation, until something is done with the “zealots” who sacrifice functionality and compatibility for personal moral choices Linux will remain the THIRD OS behind Microsoft and Apple and be treated as a geeky elitist hobby OS .

There is some hope, on one of the news groups, I notice that Ubuntu in their next release will be including the non-open source graphic drivers. I think this will help attract new users and that will be good for Linux.


Anyone who is on this page trying to get MEDIA (mp3, wma, divx, ect.) or GRAPHICS CARDS to work, visit the link on my menu to the right labeled "WHAT UBUNTU LEFT OUT"

For all those who helped me and gave me advice, I would like to say "thank you" and to those "old guard zealots" I hope you "bend" just a little and get the community growing because without you there would be no Linux. It's been fun, I enjoyed the challenge and I now count myself as a new full fledge Linux user.

Written November 30, 2006.

Solved the Stutter Problem

Remember when I told you about how I had a one second delay when opening new windows, with Ubunutu 6.1 Linux? When you would open a new window it would make the mouse lock up and cause the sound to stutter. After a second or two all would be well again until you opened any other dialog box or window. Well I figured it would be some power saving feature causing this because I using a 1.2 ghz PIII laptop with 512mbs of ram and a 40ghz 5400rpm hard drive. It shouldn't stutter.

My first thought was with the 5200 Nvidia ToGo graphics card slowing down (heat and power protection). I looked all through Ubuntu settings and turned all the power saving features off. That didn't help. My second thought was a BOIS setting. I went into BIOS and made sure all the power saving features were off there too. Still no help. I did notice an INTEL SPEED STEPPING setting but it was set to max performance. On a whim I disabled it. MAGIC !!! No more stutter.

Ok so what did I loose by turning this off? Well speed stepping lets the computer slow the processor down based on what you are doing. i.e. If you looking at web pages and are spending lots of time reading them and not changing pages much, speed step, would slow your processor down to help save batter power and cool the computer. Mine was taking my processor from 1.2 ghz down to 550 mhz. Man, what a hit! So as I was just reading stuff on the screen the cpu would slow down and when it had to go to the graphics card (opening or drawing another window) it would "stutter" while it kicked the processor back up to full speed. With this "feature" turned off the problems goes away. I will get less up time on my battery and my laptop will run a little hotter. I will monitor these "disadvantages" and report them later. Right now the trade off is well worth it to me and to compensate, since this is a brand new bulb in this laptop screen (I put it in) I turned its brightness down by half. That should help with the power some.

This is the last major problem that I was having with Ubuntu 6.1 Linux on the laptop. This weekend I have to move the desktop linux box back to MS Windows (the box is not mine and the owner wants MS windows). It is nice to know that I will be able to keep a Linux box after the experiment. The other nice thing that is nice, with all the removable media working I can easily move data from the desktop to the laptop.

I thought about duel booting the laptop but I came up with another solution. Someone I know has a similar dell 8100 laptop that was almost totally destroyed (don't ask how). One of the few surviving parts is the hard drive enclosure (the drive died though, odd). I think I will take the old 30gb hard drive that was originally in this machine which still has a valid working MS XP Home addition installed on it with MS Office 2002 pro, and mount it in the salvaged hard drive enclosure and make the hard drives switchable. Just a thought.

There is a 3.5 inch floppy drive in here too, wonder if I can replace it with a second hard drive? More reading.

Most of the rest of this blogs posts will be coming from a now "FULLY FUNCTIONING" Dell 8100 Ubuntu 6.1 Linux Laptop. My next project might be on "How to Pimp Out Your Laptop" I think I will break this one down and do a cool Linux paint job on it. Maybe even talk RycheRox into doing some custom graphics for me... hint, hint...nudge, nudge...know what I mean?, know what I mean?...A winks as good as a nod.

The definition of FREE by Ubuntu

The definition of FREE by Ubuntu. While trying to figure out how to make my Wireless work I ran into a few threads of discussions about DRIVERS that are given away at no cost (freeware) but are not open source (the company that made the drivers won't tell you how they made them). Several people were mad and were going to stop using Ubuntu because Ubuntu was going to use theses freeware driver from Nvidia and ATI drivers in their next release. Theses drivers are given away free by both companies but they are not open source.

In a move that reminds me of Microsoft, these Open Source Zealots brand these drivers as "NON FREE". The Zealots admit that the drivers work and are even better then the drivers that are Open Source but they claim that these drivers should not be used because the company that made them will not tell them how they made them. This is clearly a case of the Zealots trying to confuse people into thinking that by using the good working drivers provided for free from these companies that you are stealing or betraying Linux.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that non open source software has some problems (Quicken changes ever 2 years, making you upgrade or lose function), but when it comes to hardware drivers, who cares as long as they work. Who is more qualified to make the piece of software that communicates between your graphic card and you system? The company that made the graphics card or some zealot that has a "it works good enough for me" attitude.

After spending hours reading about the "NON FREE" vs "Open Source" crap, I learned that ever problem that I encountered up to this point could have been prevented if UBUNTU would have used "NON FREE" freeware drivers and codecs. (See how stupid "non free" freeware sounds)

If the Linux community wants Linux to succeeded they are going to have to give a little, companies spend millions of dollars developing the hardware and they have a right not to share that expensive work with you. They are providing you with FREE drivers to get it working and if they stop then you are sitting on a dead end road with last years hardware. You will always be behind, and never attract the critical mass of users that you need to get the big companies to pay attention to you and open up those drivers.

Progress To Date

Since wireless is working on the laptop, I have been able to test Linux to Linux networking, remote desktop, mounted shares, and learned a little about firewalls. I only have 6 days left on this experiment and with networking just coming into play it's going to be tight. I got luck in November and had about 6 work days off but none next week.

Remote desktop works just like it does on MS Windows. The only thing that I have noticed is that I have to use the IP address of the target machine instead of its name. This might just be a delay of the way that Linux networks. I remember the MS Windows 98 days of having to wait 5 to 10 minutes before machines "saw" one another.

To use Remote Desktop you have to ALLOW it on your machine. SYSTEM/PREFERENCES/REMOTE DESKTOP will get you to the ENABLE REMOTE DESKTOP there are just four check blocks here and a text entry box.

1. Allow other users to view your desktop
2. Allow other users to control your desktop
3. Ask you for confirmation
4. Require the user to enter a password
5. (text box for that password)

That is it. To test this I checked 1, 2, 4, and then typed in a password. I then closed this window.

I then went to the laptop and RIGHT clicked on my PANEL and selected ADD. I then choose TERMINAL SERVER CLIENT APPLET. It appeared on my PANEL. I clicked on it and got the familiar TERMINAL SERVER CLIENT window (see photo).

I tried to just type the computers name but that did not work, so I tried the remotes IP address (TERMINAL then type IP ADDR on the remote to get this). That worked but I had to change the PROTOCOL to VNC. I was then asked for the password I set earlier. I enter it and the remote machines desktop appeared in a window before me. I moved my mouse, it's cursor moved, I click on a program, the remote machine started that program. Very nice. You can even transmit sound from one to the other. There are a lot of settings here to play with but this is bulk of it.

When I first tried to connect to the remote system it failed and would not work no mater what I did. I then remembered the firewall. I turned it off and everything worked fine. I read more about the firewall program and VNC and punched a hole in the firewall for VNC and all was well.

WIRELESS working on the LAPTOP!!!!!!

I've done it! I got mad at Ubuntu 6.1 and refused to allow it to beat me. I went to my laptop and decided that I would either get Wireless working on it or Ubuntu 6.1 was leaving this laptop for good. I have spent about 5 hours reading and internet hunting to figure this out. As I read I reliazed that Ubuntu 6.1 did not work with BCM (Broadcom Chip Set) chip set which includes LINKSYS and DELL built-in wireless card. Now I could understand missing a few off brands, but DELL built-ins and Linksys are the two most common out there. Ok, enough of the rant, how did I do it?

I installed a MICROSOFT WINDOWS DRIVER, let me say that again, I used a driver designed for MICROSOFT WINDOWS. In addition I had to downgrade my Ubuntu install to use something called ndiswrapper. This method is not mine, I have just compiled it here from various news groups for your easy use:

HOW TO INSTALL A MOTOROLA WN825G WIRELESS CARD ON UBUNTU 6.1 LINUX

HOW TO READ THIS
1. STEP - Wait until your computer completes each STEP until you go to the next.
2. commands - these will be in red and this is exactly what you type in a TERMINAL window.
3. adding text to text to files - some of these commands open a file in a text editor. What you type will be in blue. After you typed in your text make sure to SAVE the file.
4. programs - that run in the windows envirmont (no command line needed).
--------------------------------------

STEP 0 start a TERMINAL windows (application / Accessories / TERMINAL)

STEP 1 (downgrade) unload the bcm43xx module.
sudo rmmod bcm43xx

STEP 2 add it to modprobe.d's blacklist to ensure that it is never loaded again, even by accident.
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

This opens a text editor, at the bottom of the file that is opened type the following then save it
blacklist bcm43xx

STEP 3 install the ndiswrapper-utils package.
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils

STEP 4 change the ID for your wireless nic to wlan0 from the default eth1.
sudo gedit /etc/iftab

This opens a text editor you change "eth1" to "wlan0" in this file and save it.

STEP 5 restart the network.
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

STEP 6 get your MICROSOFT WINDOWS DRIVERS for your wireless card.
Mine is a Motorola WN 825G and was found here

Motorola WN54G Drivers

STEP 7 extract your MICROSOFT WINDOWS DRIVERS and put them someplace you can find again.

I put mine HOME\DOWNLOADS\DRIVERS\WIRELESS

NOTE: if your driver is like mine you will have to extract the file on a MS Windows machine and then copy the files to your linux box or burn them to a CD. I cheated and renamed my WN-WPCI-Web-Update-v1.1.exe file to WIRELESSDRIVER.ZIP then used the Linux Archive Manager to extract it.

In the end you are looking for a file called bcmw15a.inf. I assume other .inf files for other cards will work the same way just change the name.

STEP 8 change to the directory where your .inf file is located.
cd DOWNLOADS
cd DRIVERS
cd WIRELESS

STEP 9 creates the driver wrapper.
sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5a.inf

STEP 10 create the module in /ect/modutils.d.
sudo ndiswrapper -m

Step 11 move the module.
sudo cp /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper /etc/modutils/

Step 12 update the module.
sudo update-modules

STEP 13 restarts your network.
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

-------------------------------------------------
Ok that should be it if you do not have WEP enabled. I have WEP enable ...sigh... But I did see that my wireless cards lights were on. I remember what my friend El Gee told me he used to help him, WIFI RADAR. I downloaded and installed WIFI RADAR (add/remove applications) I ran it and it saw my wireless network !!!!

I then disconnected my WIRED Lan line and rebooted becuase I'm a MS Windows person and have to reboot all the time and besides it doesn't hurt anything. After the boot I ran WIFI RADAR and selected my WIRELESS NETWORK (home) and then clicked connect. It told me there was no configuration file for (home) and asked if I'd like to create one. I said YES and was presented with a standard WIRELESS config setup. (SEE Photo) it wanted MODE, CHANNEL, KEY, SECURITY. I set MODE and CHANNEL to AUTO, entered my 26 digit wep KEY, and selected OPEN for SECURITY. There was a small delay and then I was CONNECTED with WEP!!!!

You will notice in the screen shot it says I'm connected in the B mode (11mbs) hmm... this is a G card (54 mbs) ... At least I have wireless on the laptop.

IMPROVING THIS GUIDE
I'm sure there is a command line to configure the WIRELESS card (MODE, CHANNEL, KEY, SECURITY) but I couldn't find it and the WIFI RADAR program has other uses too and is worth getting.

NOTES
1) gets help with the ndiswrapper command
ndiswrapper --help

2) to run WIFI RADAR you have to enter your password like any sudo command.

3) This is not my work. Other people smarter then me figured this out. I just put all the small pieces together in one place in a step by step guide. Some of the steps take a few seconds to complete and will display lots of information in the TERMINAL window. I read it and understood some of it but it did not impact what I did.

Day Off, Yea Right!

I had big plan for some Linux tests over the holiday but I had to work. I got called out at 9:30 pm on Thanksgiving Day and did not get back home until noon on Black Friday. Once home I had to sleep and didn't get up until 830 pm Friday and had to go back to work to finish somethings. Today, Saturday, Nov 25, 2006 is such a nice warm day here I spent the morning out riding in my Jeep without the top on it. Even Computer Geeks Need Sun.

FSCK Forced File System Scan

I went to my Linux box today and it told me that "drive dev/hda had been mounted 30 times without being scanned, forced check" and then began running what I think was a disk check with the FSCK command. The process took about 3 minutes.

Ok I understand checking the disk for errors or on bad shutdowns but why FORCE me to do it. Linux, for an OPEN operating system is awful pushy. Why not just install and force virus scan, force a fire wall on me too, hey while were at it, hide my admin account and generate random 20 charter passwords and randomly rotate them a couple of dozen times over the year. This sure does FEEL like the way Microsoft treats me. If you are truely OPEN explain it to me then let me PICK what I want to do, not what you think is best.

I thought open meant choice. Don't get me wrong this fsck might be a good thing, and if it was explained to me before it JUST RAN and offered me a CHOICE, I might have opted in. If you keep protecting me from myself how am I to learn. I've had Hard drive crashes before, I know how to backup my data, I learned from those crashes.

Visioneer OneTouch 9220 USB Scanner

The Visioneer OneTouch 9220 USB Scanner does not work with Ubuntu. I plug it in and get nothing. I run Xsane and it says it can't find a scanning device. That's too bad, I really wanted to try Xsane and I had some photo's I wanted to scan. Oh, Well.

If some reads this and knows how to get this scanner to work let me know or post the name/model number of a scanner you have working.

Day 21 of Ubuntu 6.1 Linux

This is day 21 of 30 of my Ubuntu Linux experiment and I barely remember to write my weekly review. This is a good thing because if I have become so use to using Ubuntu that I almost forgot to review it, I must not miss MS Windows much.

I have used the Internet without trouble, figured out multimedia (with some trial and error), did word processing and spread sheet work without incident, burnt CD/DVDs, ripped the same, utilized digital photo's easily, viewed and organized the same, download, listened to, and transfered MP3s and Podcasts, and networked with MS Windows shares. All of this in just 63 hours of "on keyboard time" (21 days of about 3 hours a day). This is pretty good.

So lets break it down:

Office Productivity - 9 of 10
(word processing, spread sheets, email, presentations, PDFs)

Multimedia - 8 of 10
(play cd/dvds, play/record music/video files )

Graphic Software 8 of 10
(view/organize photos)

Graphic Editing 5 of 10
(GIMP there is nothing else close and I'm a photoshop guy)

Web Development/Programing 8 of 10
(These tools all work well nothing stands out here)

Internet - 9 of 10
(Firefox 2.0 and anything else you want)

Hardware Compatibility - 7 of 10
(Most things work well but if they don't figuring out how to fix them is very hard)

USB Function 9 of 10
(Everything I've thrown at it worked)

Networking Wired ? of 10
(I really haven't tested it much yet)

Networking Wireless 0 of 10
(I have now tried 3 wireless cards and none work)

Installation 9 of 10
(I had a bug when I tried to change my time zone)


Over all Linux (Ubuntu 6.1) on a desktop computer I give a 8 of 10
It installs easily, has 90% of what you need and is free.

On a laptop 4 of 10.
Wireless does not function for me and is too hard to trouble shoot. This is a noticable stutter on the user interface. It's a memory hog, yes its a memory hog, it requires 192 mbs of ram to install on it default settings. I am going to try Knoppix on my laptop.

Streaming (internet radio)

Lets talk streaming. On my MS Windows machine I usually listen to MP3s I've made or Podcasts I've downloaded, very rarely do I listen to live internet radio(Shout Cast, Live 365, ect...) because I couldn't find a stand alone player I liked. Winamp came the closest to what I wanted but you still had to use a web browser to find the stations.

I saw an application in the AUTOMATIX Package Installer called STREAMTUNER and it came with a player called XMMS. I took a shot and installed them. What a suprise, I like them both. XMMS (the little black Winamp looking player in the upper right in the screen shot) is very winamp like in its look and function. Its small and easy to use and if you like Winamp you'll like XMMS (I had an anonymous post suggesting I try XMMS a week ago, thanks, I love it, I'm just sorry I waited until now to get it).

Now for STREAMTUNER. It is very easy to use. You can see the list of Services (plugins) it knows (SHOUTcast, Live 365, Google Stations, Basic.ch, Punkcast, and Xiph). It also supports bookmarking you favorite stations, and I'm sure you can add your own but I haven't needed to yet. Basically you just select your service (i.e. SHOUTcast tab) then a list of music types (rock, county, talk, alternative, ect) appears on the left side, you then click on the music type you like and a list of all the stations appears in the main window. Double click on the station you want to listen to and STREAMTUNER launches XMMS player and your selected station starts playing. Very, Very easy. and lots of choices.

You'll notice that the main window provides you with the station description, currently playing song, number of listener, and bit rate of the stream.

Hey, I wonder what that RECORD button does??? (upper left in screen shot)

DVD Ripping

I wanted to rip a DVD to watch on my laptop later. I own the DVD. It's Season 1 of "The Tick". I decided to just rip one 22 minute episode to test Ubuntu with ripping. I end up using two different programs. One worked for me and one didn't.

The first was "DVD::RIP". It's interface was confusing and I had trouble finding the setting I wanted to change. I couldn't tell if I was ripping the whole DVD or just a single file. But hey, I'll try it. I changed the settings I needed then started the process. I got one frame in ten minutes and my DVD was locked. I had to reset the box to get the disc out. Well I figured that the DRM got me again so I got out one of my very early DVDs, "Dark City", and tried again. NOPE. Lockup, again. Ok, this is a new OS for me and maybe it was just the program I was using so I checked the built-in "Add/Remove Applications" and the very first app I saw was ACID RIP.

ACID RIP: It's interface was complex but understandable. Everything was there, I could pick my final format, bit rates and max file size. I put my DVD in and changed a few setting. I left most everything default except the output file type, I changed this to Xvid. This setting is under the Video Tab. The other settings here are LAVC, COPY, RAW, NUV, VFW, QTVIDEO, LIBDV, X264. Well I wanted something compatible with MS Windows too, so I chose the XVID becasue I had seen it on MS Windows and know it works. Once I made my changes I pressed the START button. The DVD spun, a status bar moved, the bit rate counter moved, the Frames Per Minute showed about 10 and the hard drive spun.

I could tell it was doing something! I looked at the ESTIMATED TIME TO COMPLETE and it said 52 minutes. hmm... 52 minutes for a 22 minute clip. That's well over what I'm use to. This is a 16X Lite-On DVD +/- Burner. On my MS laptop with a 8X burner, I could do a whole 2 hour DVD in 52 minutes! And don't tell me "your recoding it too" because my MS Laptop does that too and in under an hour. So at this rate a whole 2 hour DVD would take about 300 minutes? FIVE HOURS to rip a DVD (not counting burning time)? This is a 2.4ghz P4 with 512mbs ram and a 16X DVD. This is way too slow but I guess it worked.

BTW the Video did look good and is in a NON-DRM AVI format that I can watch where and when I want on whatever I choose. No pirating, no file sharing, just my DVD on my laptop without having to take my DVD with me.

ACID DVD: It ran slow for me but it worked.

NOTE: Turn off any screen savers, this will help some with the speed.

p.s. I took the background photo on Saturday, Nov 18, 2006, at Audra State Park, WV, but it could have been any wet pile of sand :-)

Got Busy

I got kinda busy last week and didn't get much done. I'm off from work the rest of this week so I will be posting more. I drug out a Cannon Scanner, and an HP 1200 printer. I will hook them up and test them before Friday. I have not removed Linux from my laptop yet and I plan on giving wireless another go. I am using WEP encryption and I think that is what is keeping the DLink card from working. I noticed that the laptop had a Nvidia Go graphics card in it so I am going to try the Linux Nvidia drivers and see if that fixes my stutter problem.

I need to see if FireWire is working on the laptop too. If it is I will try the Samsung camcorder again using firewire DV instead of the priority Samsung divx codec.

I've created a second user account on this box to see how linux/Ubuntu handles multiple accounts. Tonight, I'm going to setup a couple of shares and see how well another linux box will connect to it. (Laptop to desktop) Also on the agenda is a DVD rip and burn (backup).

I'll let you know how it goes.

Hit a Wall

I think I have hit a wall with Ubuntu. I have made it 17 days but I'm running out of things to try. I have given up on WIRELESS NETWORKING for now and VPN ACCESS is a total loss (I can't find my needed VPN Client).

The things I have left that I want to try are Linux to Linux and Windows to Linux Networking but this will require some amount of research. I want to get a USB Scanner working and a USB Printer. I am going to play with some video editing and I want to try DVD ripping and buring.

Other things I have done: I've got full internet access thanks to Firefox 2.0, Email with Evolutions (all PIM function), Cell Phone access through the USB Cable, Digital Camera access, and all the removable media item I need. Open Office 2.x handles all my word processing, spreadsheet and slide show needs. Rythmbox works great for my audio needs and mPlayer does video pretty well. I've found a few surprises too, VYM (View Your Mind), I didn't even know something like this was out there (I'm searching for a MS Windows version for work).

The latest piece of software I installed was SKYPE, it's a very nice voice chat, IP Telephone. I haven't used it much but it works well and I like it.

On the photo editing front, I can use GIMP but I as I said, I'm a Photoshop guy and nothing will change that. With the photo viewers and organizers they are all pretty good and easy to use but nothing special.

I am comfortable using Ubuntu Linux with Gnome but once the windows disappear and I'm left at the command line, I'm at the mercy of other what others have written and just blindly type what they tell me too. I don't like not knowing what the commands I type in do.

Week Two Complete

It's been two weeks of no MS Windows and I'm doing just fine. So far there are just two things that I really miss from MS Windows, VPN access to work and Photoshop. I could, with time, learn GIMP enough to get by but "getting by" isn't what I want in a photo editor. Let's face it, I would only be happy if I could get Photoshop to work on Linux. With VPN, I need Watchguard software client for Linux. It might be out there but I can't find it. Without it I can't get to my work from home.

Linux on a Laptop. I have not had any luck getting my wireless network cards working on Ubuntu. This is a show stopper. I will be removing Linux from the laptop. I hate this but in this day and age, a laptop without wireless is not worth having. I have found some articles on line with hints and tips for fixing the problems I'm having but none work for me or the article is over my head for my level of Linux knowledge. The second problem I'm having with the laptop is the 1.5 second delay of mouse movements when opening windows. This made my laptop stutter. I could have lived with this but the wireless problem I can't accept.

USB support in Ubuntu is very good so far. Hardware support is good, but when you have problems there is never an easy answer. Rewrite the whole kernel, modify some "code", or buy a part that is compatible. These are your choices.

Software selection is pretty good. If you can think of it, you can find a program that will do it for you.

The built-in add/remove applications feature I like a lot. The ability to add other package installers is great. The problem starts when you have to download zipped files, extract them, get the dependencies too, and blah, blah, blah. What I'm trying to say is that if you can't find the program you want in a "package" it gets hard fast.

Over all I like Ubuntu Linux but I'm starting to see some of it's short comings. I have come to think of this Linux Box as more like a MS Windows 98 machine. MS Windows 98 ran a GUI (graphical user interface) over DOS (command line). If you wanted to do anything powerful you had to go to a DOS session to do it. Ubuntu is like this. The windows part is just "dressing" over the powerful command line. The real power lays in the command line. The problem is that most people don't like working with the command line so a windows "dress" was put over this command line. I think this duality is keeping linux out of the mainstream. Both MS Windows and Apple do almost everything through the GUI. Both REQUIRE very little command line action. Linux on the other hand REQUIRES command line access. You can not use LINUX without it.

I find myself comparing Linux to MS Windows. I've wonder why I do this. I have come to realize that this is because MS Windows is STANDARD. There are may things like this, the iPod is the STANDARD in mp3 players, Apple is the STANDARD in User Interfaces and TIVO is the STANDARD in D.V.R.s. These are just some examples, any products developed in those categories are compared to these items. Why are these items STANDARDs? Because they do what they do very well. MS Windows does not do everything right but it does do everything. Vary rarely do you to check computability list when buying hardware for MS Windows. There are usually three varieties of every piece of software for MS Windows (Commercial, Shareware, and Freeware) and they work with almost any combination of hardware. Is it pretty? No Is it cheap? No. IT JUST PLAIN WORKS EASILY.

With all of that said I don't dislike Linux. It's different and it has gotten something right. It's stable, it's fast (command line), and its secure. Those are great things to be, but it's just not user friendly yet. As I said, I think of it as MS Windows 98. It had a pretty windows "dress" on but underneath its still DOS (Terminal).

At Two Weeks of Only Ubuntu Linux, I give it a 7 out of 10.

Firestarter, Clam and ROOT Oh My!

I haven't post much today because I had to read a lot. I installed FIRESTARTER, a firewall, and CLAM, and antivirus. I read about theses apps before I installed them causing the delay in my posts. I figured this would happen as I went forward. The things I want to do now are getting harder and require research. I have medium experience when it comes to firewall so I wanted to make sure FIRESTARTER was something I could use. If you get a firewall wrong you loose your internet, network and more. The firewall installation went easy enough but CALM told me it was out of date and needed to update its definitions. I said sure, and it STOPPED. It told me I would have to log on as ROOT to continue. Hmm.... I'm new to Linux but more than one person told me not to use ROOT as my daily log on but hey, this was an install on VIRUS softwar, I can see where it would want ROOT access.

Now one would assume to get ROOT you log out and then log in with ROOT (root) as your user name. I did that, Ubuntu asked for my password. I never set one up for ROOT during install. I tried mine. NOPE. I tried (blank) NOPE. I tried ROOT. Nope. Well that bites. What now? read. read read. I did a Google search and found some articles about how to log on as root.

It's not hard but while reading the HOW TO article I saw something that bothered me, a lot. The author of the article did a nice job of explaining this task (HOW TO ACTIVATE ROOT IN UBUNTU ) but the response from the "LINUX Experts" was very shocking. They flamed the author for giving out this info. The "Experts" acted like the author should hide this knowledge from NEWBIEs because they "might" use it as their daily log on. They screamed the praises of SUDO (command line function more later) but none told how to use it. Many Newbies don't like or are scared to use the Command Line. The Experts who responded to this post basically told NEWBIEs, use SUDO (and figure it out on your own) or don't use Ubuntu Linux, we don't want you. One even said "Newbies need to learn to figure things out for themselves". I thought LINUX was an OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY. Was I wrong? Should the Experts hide the knowledge from newbies, else we use it wrongly? Or worst yet FORCE users to do it their way or not at all? Even though some of us are NEW to LINUX (Ubuntu)most are very EXPERIENCED COMPUTER USERs just looking for something different. We know better then to use ADMINISTRATOR or ROOT as a daily log on account.

Here's something that EVERYONE that uses ANY LINUX DISTRO should remember and never, never, never forget, SOMEONE GAVE YOU THIS WHOLE O.S. FOR FREE TO DO WHAT EVERY YOU WANT WITH IT SO GIVE BACK! If a newbie asks you how to do something tell them, give them the warnings and let them have at it. If they break their computer or it gets hack and used for evil so be it, it's theirs to break and learn.

I know "but their hacked computer can be used for DOS ATTACKS, Child Porn FTPs, (insert computer evil here) and that affects more than just them". Well I have NEWS for you, if every Linux machine in the world was hacked tomorrow, their sum would still be very small when compared to the number of MS Windows Systems OWNED right now.

Rant over, resuming normal operations.

The Road Map for the next 18 Days

This was created using VYM View Your Mind. I have gotten a lot done so far and really like Ubuntu on this desktop machine. The laptop is a different story. It looks cool. runs ok. but has some troubles. I need my VPN client so that I can do work stuff from home. Wireless is a Most have. This is a show stopper. But if you notice you'll see more working items then not. Next week is Hardware week. Printers and Scanners oh! my! I still see that I have lots of items that I need to explore so I will get it gear and start tomorrow.

This Week will be an important test week and will decide the fate of this machine. The person who is going to keep this machine when these tests are over wants an account put on here for her. So I will. She has agreed to try this Linux. She has two demands, One her Cannon i9900 Wide format printer must work without error. Second her Cannon USB scanner must work. She requires the ability to print photos from 2X3 up to 14X19. She has to have a photo organizer that is easy to use, and features rich. She wants to do some CD Riping, encoding to MP3s. DVD Ripping to iPod format. light Open Office Work, and some page layout. Internet and Email .

I see no reason that this can't happen. I will buy her a room 300-500mb external drive for storage and leave the two 80bgs in it for local stuff.

RIp and Burn CD

I wanted to end today on a high note. I wanted to RIP a couple of CDs. I wanted them in MP3 format at 192 bits rate. I wanted the MP3s be named ARTIST-ALBUM-TITLE-TRACK. I put a good CD in and CD JUICER popped up offering to RIP the CD for me but it did not offer to do it in MP3 format. I had my choice of OGG WAV FLAC and a few others. No MP3.

Well I went to the add and remove applications and added two programs GRIP and RIPPER X. Both look like they would work but Ripper X would not connect to FREEDB.ORG (track naming site) so I went with GRIP. I made a few changes (and there are a lot of options) Well I found the LAME encoder set it to be default then went to the ENCODING Tab and set it up to be 192 bit, Rip to Wav, Convert to MP3 , then Erase WAV. GRIP is not a MS Windows program and you have to have a little command line knowledge and not be afraid to play a little. This is more like I was expected from Linux. You get a nice mix of both command line and windows making it very customizable.

I recommend GRIP for your Ripping pleasures. After ripping and moving the new MP3s to my IPod I decided to see if I could convert the MP3s back to an audio CD. (I know I'll loose quality but this is just testing). I ran Serpentine Audio CD Creator who offered to help as soon as I put a black CD in. It created the CD just fine and I tested the newly created disc on a boom box left over from the 80's.

VPN

I tried to find a Linux Client of my VPN software, its to connect to a Watchguard firewall box. I had no luck. This surprises me, the Watchguard Box itself runs on Linux. The Watchguard Site is not that friendly either. This will require more reading.

I have moved back to my desktop Ubuntu Box because of the lack of wireless on the laptop right now. I also noticed a bad stutter when new windows open on the laptop, any window or dialog box does it. What happens is the mouse locks up for about a second and a half anytime a new windows or dialog box opens. There is also a quarter of a second delay when you click on a button (back/forward/ect) in Firefox. It reminds me of work on a REMOTE Desktop. It's not horrible but it is noticeable. If I get the wireless working I'll start using the laptop again.

Its been a bad Linux Day.

Dell Inspirion 8100 Laptop

While I'm complaining (and to just get it all out) the Dell Inspirion 8100 was made in about 2000? so it's six years old. It has nice features, but the screen is a 15 inch and has its resoultion set to 1400 X 1050. Text appears very small on it. Most people would think this is nice, but it won't rescale, it just makes the screen smaller with a black border (like letterbox on a standard TV).

There are only 2 USB ports (USB 1.1), but it does have a CD Burner, both touch pad and joystick mouse, Built-in 56K modem, 100mb Network Wired, Firewire, and a floppy drive. (not to mention the legacy Serial/Parallel ports. The complaint isn't with the features but with their locations. CD Rom left side, Floppy Drive front beside removable battery, USB back, external keyboard beside CD rom, Firewire and external auido jacks below PCMCIA Slot. and the worst is the NETWORK Jack. It's on the front, right. As you see in the photo's, if you use this and are right handed and use a mouse, they just get tangled or worst you pull on/bang into the network cable.

OK, I feel better now and besides, I only have my time into fixing this laptop (and not even my time) so it is basically free. BTW if you have a laptop that the screen is DARK or looks like it doesn't work at all, it's probable just a $35 bulb or $50 inverter but you better have very good soldering skills.

Wireless Networking Ubantu 6.1

Ubuntu 6.1 does it even support wireless networking? Yea I know it says it does, but mine doesn't. I've tried two different PC Cards, D-Link AirPlus DWL650+ and a Motorola WN825G. I am trying to get them to talk to a Linksys WRT54G Router with WEP enabled. I can't get either of them to work. I have read about the Motorola Card and know it has a Broadcom chip set which I see several people are having trouble with. I have seen a couple of solutions but they are so cryptic a solution I can't figure out how to use them.

I'm very disappointed with Ubuntu 6.1 Linux with wireless support. In theses days of wireless everywhere, especially on a laptop, this support is MANDATORY and should be very easy to use. There should be not "edit this file", "remove the built-in drive", or worse yet "go back to last years version". I know that Driver Supoort is very hard without vender help but you should CLEARLY STATE THAT YOUR HARDWARE WILL NOT WORK during the install process and tell me exactly what I can get to make it work or provide a clear, BUILT-IN to the INSTALL PROCESS, a list of compatible hardware that I can buy. Even APPLE Computers do wireless right. I know they make their own hardware but it works every time and so does MS Windows.

The other thing I don't understand is why can't there by an ADD/REMOVE Hardware option like the ADD/REMOVE Applications? Just let me pick my hardware from a list and click on it to install. If my hardware isn't on the list then I can research it to get it to work or just buy one of the Hardware items from the list of known working ones.

If I was GUARANTEED that a certain wireless card would work, without editing anything, just plug it in, run a single install app and configure it with my SSID and WEP, I'd go buy one.

BTW both these cards work fine in MS Windows. Just plug them in, run a single install file, reboot, and configure with your SSID and WEP Key.

LINUX and Wireless Installation 0 out of 10, it's did not work for me. Once I get it going maybe I change that number. Without good wireless support Linux is like a new 50 inch plasma tv that is stuck in black and white mode.

A Ubuntu Laptop Too.

I am lucky enough to have a lot of hardware laying around. (I work on computers for people who don't have lots of money and they usually "pay" by giving me their old or broken equipment or not) I've taken some of that stuff and put together a Dell Inspiron 8100 Laptop. It's a PIII 1.2 ghz, has 512mbs of ram, a 40gb hard drive, built-in 100mb network, a built-in modem, and a CD Burner. (I had to rebuild the screen, new bulb and inverter) It had MS Windows XP Home on it and it was just sitting there so I said what the hey, and put Ubuntu Linux 6.1 on it.

I was missing the portability of my laptop so this should cure that, plus I can take this to work and see if it will play on an ACTIVE DIRECTORY DOMAIN.

I started this install at about 6pm and I just now finished. Why? A bad CD. I have had the worst luck with my Linux media. If you've read all this blog you'll remember that I had to download the ISO twice because of a few bytes missing. I used the same CD I installed my Desktop Linux Box with, but it would lockup at 59% every time on the laptop. I took the CD out a few times and looked at it and it seemed ok but after the third attempt, I burnt a new CD and it worked.

I thought it might have been a Linux/Laptop thing (hence the three repeats) because it would hit 59% and run the CD for about 10 minutes staying at 59% then start the hard drive and run it until you powered it off manually. I thought it could have been the hard drive too but I ran a hard drive utility from a boot cd and it said the hard drive was fine.

Why tell you all this? Because when you are experimenting with a new OS don't rule out the little things. Who would have thought you downloaded a bad ISO? then just 10 days later have the presumed working install CD (had worked twice before) have a tiny scratch that kept it from working. So before you blame the OS or just assume that Linux can't do it, check your cables, check you CDs, and make sure its plugged into the wall power outlet.

Tomorrow I plan on testing wireless from the laptop and Linux to Linux networking. Anyone know if a Motorola WN825G PC Card works with Ubuntu? We'll find out.

Memory Card Reader/USB Hub

I just purchased a nice little item that works well with this Linux Box. It's a DIGIPOWER Combo Card Reade/Writer & USB 2.0 Hub. It's says its a 32 in 1 memory card reader and has 3 USB 2.0 ports too. It was $25-$30 at the local Circuit City. I bought it because I needed a card reader. I hate wasting the battery power on my digital cameras by plugging them into the USB port and downloading from them.

I just plugged the Digipower into a USB port and it started working. I plugged one of my thumb drives into one of Digipower's USB ports and it worked just fine. I tested it with a couple of SD Cards and they work too. Sony Memory Stick good too.

You'll notice in the photo that it has a big white circle in its center. That circle is what Digipower calls a "Mood Light". As it sits it cycles slowly and smoothly through all the Reds, Blues and Greens. This looks cool at first but could become annoying after awhile. All in all it's works, it it's small and it reads and writes everything I need (it will even let you copy from you SD Card straight to your USB Thumb Drive).


On a Linux Note: remember how I said when I plugged my digital camera into my USB port I was confronted with a window that offered to Copy my Photos from my camera to my hard drive but was not given an option to access the card directly. Well with this reader I still get the transfer window but if I cancel it, it's mounted as a removable hard drive and you can browse it, read from it, or write to it.

I'M MAD AT ME!!!

WILL YOU LOOK AT THAT!!! I'M MAD AT ME! and yes I am yelling. Here I sit happily just "tweaking" my new Linux Box into how I think a Desktop should look and feel and I just recreated the damn MS Windows XP Desktop. (and yes the background was changed for effect just now "we did do the nose a bit" Monty Python). I don't really believe that this is the "right way" but I have been conditioned over the years by MS to think this way! This has to stop right now! I need to quit trying to get this Linux Box to look, act, and feel like MS Windows, it's not. If I want windows I can just plug the stupid XP hard drive back in and have the real thing.

The straw that broke the camels back was when I went looking for a way to replace the Ubuntu Main Menu Button with a Green START ICON. That's just wrong! To get the most out of this experiment I have to stop thinking like a spoon fed MS Windows Users and start embracing the Linux that is on this box. The first place I'm going to start is with this Desktop, I'm taking the dress off this pig because she ain't no lady. Back to the Linux Look. Tomorrow is Command Line day!

(I think I just had an intervention with myself, scary).

View Your Mind VYM Software

I had some time to play with some of the software I've put on this Linux Box and I found one surprise, VYM (View Your Mind). Graphical Thought Organizer is the best term I can come up with for it. The software starts you off with a block in the center of the screen that you type a subject or goal into. You then right click on the block and create child objects for it and then right click on those and create child objects for them and before you know it you have a graphical outline of your SUBJECT. You can add picture, text notes, hyperlink and thought icons to your diagram. The best way to explain it to you is to just show you a picture of the one I did. I used this Blog's object as my starting subject and went from there. This was about 45 minutes of work to create. You can EXPORT charts as JPegs too.

I figured that I would just REMOVE this program for my Linux Box but I think I will keep it now. Try it before you say no.

It does have somethings I don't care for, like positioning sub-child lists and the way it colors things is weird but it might just be my 1.5 hours of experience on the program.

That was a quick chart so the spelling is probably bad.

Networking 1 Accessing MS Windows Shares

I figured, what the heck let's just try the "click and pray" with accessing my MS Windows Network at home. My network has three desktop computers (one XP Pro, two Win 2000), One laptop (XP Pro), there's also a Xbox and a Tivo. I'm running this network in the peer to peer mode and we will call the workgroup KNIGHTMARE. Now each machine on this network has a single share we'll refer to them as MACHINE01\SHARE01, MACHINE02\SHARE02, MACHINE03\SHARE03. The laptop does not share anything.

Ok, now I clicked on PLACES then NETWORK SERVERS, that pops up a window that had an Icon in it that said WINDOWS NETWORK. I double click that Icon and another window appears listing all the workgroups/domains that Linux found. Guess what? There is an Icon labeled KNIGHTMARE. Cool. I double click on the KNIGHTMARE Icon and I see my computers, MACHINE01, MACHINE02, and MACHINE 03. I then double click on MACHINE01 and I see a list of its share, SHARE01. I tested this on all three machines and it worked. I go back to MACHINE01 and double click it. I then double click on SHARE01 and I get a pop up window asking for my USER NAME, DOMAIN/WORKGROUP, and PASSWORD.

Since I'm running a peer to peer network, I figure that this wants my USER NAME and PASSWORD for SHARE01 on MACHINE01. I know that when I set this share up on MACHINE01 I only gave the ADMINISTRATOR account access to it. So I use ADMINISTRATOR for the USER NAME and the administrator password for MACHINE01 for the PASSWORD. All of this was exactly right. Now the third box was asking for DOMAIN/WORKGROUP, well I figured that this would be KNIGHTMARE (my workgroup name) WRONG. I know from my MS Windows work that if the workgroup or domain doen't work here try the Machine name. So I put in MACHINE01 for this block. WRONG. Ok I decided one more try before I start reading. I left this block filled in with its default, WORKGROUP. Magic! it worked. But why?

I have not read why yet but I figure if the machine I want to access was part of a DOMAIN it would have said DOMAIN instead of WORKGROUP? Or is this just a Linux thing? If you know, feel free to post. Later I will be setting up a share on this Linux Box and ... uh...hmm... if I'm not supposed to use MS Windows at home how do I check my MS Windows to this Linux Box access... (I just heard evil laughter coming from my MS WINDOWS Laptop).

Gnome Commander

This post should have been on November 8, 2006, but Blogspot would not play nice.

I installed GNOME COMMANDER and like it more than FILE BROWSER that was initially installed. It has a very nice two panel layout showing you two different directories at the same time. This makes moving files easy. In addition it displays more information on the screen at one time.

I installed another program called VYM View Your Mind. It looks like and says it is a brainstorming, graphical idea organization program. I don't know if I'll have much use for it but I thought I'd try to organize my list of things I want to test on this Ubuntu Linux Box. If it works out I'll post a screen shot or two.

The third thing I did was download a DEBIAN REFERENCE MANUAL. I plan on working on some networking this weekend and want to have some reference handy. I've spent most of my Linux Box time today reading and doing real work with the box (made a few spreed sheets, and a couple of Word Docs with OpenOffice).

Cell Phone Sync Part 2

In part one of Cell Phone Sync, I got my data from my Sanyo 7300 Cell Phone and into three CSV files with BitPIM. Well it turns out that CSV is not the best format to use when going from BitPIM to Evolutions Email. The vCard Export Option seems to be the best. I still had a lot of tweaking to do but it was just mouse clicks. I had about 85 contacts in my Cell Phone, each having 3 or 4 phone numbers and an email address. For some reason Evolutions read my HOME NUMBER category as PRIMARY NUMBER. This would have been fine except Evolutions refused to display PRIMARY NUMBER in the List View. I had to open every contact and change Primary Number to HOME NUMBER. I also had to change the way some names were displayed but that could have been me when I added them to the Cell Phone originally. It took about 20 minutes to clean them up but that was faster and more accurate than retyping the 300 + items.

There was a vCalendar Export Option in BitPIM too and I assume it would work better too. (I did not sync my calendars)

Oh, the way you, get your contacts into Evolutions from your saved BitPIM files into Evolutions is by going to Evolutions menu option FILE, then IMPORT, then pick FROM A SINGLE FILE in the pop up window, then browse to your BitPIM files and select them. The rest of the wizard auto-detected everything and I just clicked "Forward" until it was done.

Memory Upgrade

I traded my PC2700 for a PC2100 and it worked. I opened the box, put in the memory and turned the Linux Box back on. Ubuntu booted as normal with the added memory. I went to the Internet, read a little, and found the Command Line command FREE. I opened TERMINAL and ran FREE it now show 512mbs. That's better. I'd like to have taken it all the way to 1 GB but this machine will ultimately end up living with someone else :-(

Time to do upgrade? 5 minutes, opening and closing the Box took 4.5 of those :--)

After this experiment I will be building a Linux Box to keep and it will have a Gig of ram.