30 Days of Linux (and Beyond)

Create a Desktop Shortcut to a VPN Connection

2011-11-02T19:24:00.000-04:00

I connect to my Office's VPN all the time. I don't like the multiple clicks required to do this (Click on your NETWORK ICON in the system tray, Click on VPN CONNECTION, then Click on "NAME OF YOUR VPN"). I want a simple desktop shortcut. To do this I needed to know the TERMINAL command to start and connect to a given VPN. After some searching I found it!

nmcli con up id "NAME OF YOUR VPN"

If you type this into Terminal your VPN will connect!

So let's make a shortcut to do this for us with just one click (Ubuntu 11.04).

1. Right Click on your desktop

2. Select CREATE LAUNCHER

3. In TYPE set it to APPLICATION

4. In NAME type what you want to call this shortcut

5. In COMMAND copy and paste the following:

nmcli con up id "NAME OF YOUR VPN"

6. Inside the quote marks replace NAME OF YOUR VPN with what you called your VPN connection when you created it. (mine is Main Office)

7. Add anything you want in COMMENT

8. Click Ok and your done!

NOTE: you can change the icon for your new VPN Shortcut by click on it (Picture of a spring) in the CREATE LAUNCHER window and browsing your hard drive for the icon of your choice.

BONUS NOTE: You can create a VPN DISCONNECT shortcut by creating a new launcher and replacing the COMMAND (Operation 5 above) with:

nmcli con down id "NAME OF YOUR VPN"

This was done on Ubuntu 10.04 booting to the CLASSIC desktop. I don't care for UNITY and have no idea if this will work there.

Learn the Command Line Interface (CLI) through Videos

2011-09-25T12:20:00.002-04:00

Want to learn some COMMAND LINE (CLI) goodness. Here's a cool site that will teach various Command Line usage through videos (WWW.PLAYTERM.ORG). Most of the tutorials are short and easy to follow so don't be scared to let your inter geek out and impress your friends when you drop your mouse and start pound on that dusty keyboard.

A short post but the good ones usually are.

Change the GRUB default boot option

2011-08-17T23:02:00.003-04:00

When I upgraded from Ubuntu 10.10 to 11.04 the default operating system selection in the GRUB Boot menu did not work for me. I found a nice program that allows you to change this setting along with a lot of other boot up options.

STARTUP-MANAGER

Let install it and make the change:

1. Open a command prompt and type or paste

sudo apt-get install startupmanager

2. Type in your password when prompted and let it do its thing.

3. After it installs you'll find it under SYSTEM-----ADMINISTRATION----StartUp-Manager

4. Click on it and give it your password when asked.

5. Under DEFAULT OPERATING SYSTEM pick the boot option you want.

Close and done!

There are probably other ways to do this without installing an application but I wanted it to have a GUI interface to make it easy since it's a bad thing to miss this up.

Upgraded to Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal)

2011-08-17T22:21:00.004-04:00

Well I've done it now! I upgraded from Ubuntu 10.10 to 11.04, Natty Narwhal, and right from the beginning it gave me trouble.

The upgrade process took about an hour and went smoothly but on the first boot I was presented with the dreaded command prompt. It asked for my user name and password which I gave. It answered me with another command prompt!

Okay, don't panic...What is the command to start the GUI...hmmm...win? no! gnome? no!...gdm? Well I powered it off and rebooted and picked a different GRUB selection on the boot menu. I noticed that the default was "Ubuntu 11.04, kernel 2.6.38-10-generic-pae". I don't remember that -pae part being there on 10.10 so I looked down the list and saw a "Ubuntu 11.04, kernel 2.6.38-10-generic" and tried it. That Worked!!! A GUI...yeah!!! Well, I guess you could call it a GUI, it's the UNITY interface.

I wanted to give Unity a chance but after 10 minutes of looking around I decided it had to go. This IS NOT A DESKTOP GUI. It looks like it was made for low res monitors or netbooks and buries everything. I'll not get into it here but it has to go!!!

Let's change the GUI from Unity to Gnome 2.x or Classic;

1. Click on your logoff/shutdown button in the upper right conner by your user name.

2. Click on the SYSTEM SETTINGS

3. That opens the below screen. Find the LOGIN SCREEN button and click it.

4. Click the UNLOCK button in the window that pops up and type in your password.

5. Click on the drop down and Select UBUNTU CLASSIC as the Default and close.

Next time you boot up you'll get Gnome 2.x (Classic) instead of the Unity Crap!

How to Install LibreOffice on Ubunutu 10.10

2011-08-07T19:32:00.008-04:00

The jury is still out on Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal). I've come to relay on my Ubuntu box too much to upgrade but I wanted to run LibreOffice. Here's how to get LibreOffice on your Ubuntu 10.10 box:

1. Uninstall OpenOffice. Open a TERMINAL window and type:

sudo apt-get purge "openoffice*.*"

Hit ENTER and type Y when asked if you want to remove OpenOffice.

2. Add the LibreOffice Repository (still in the TERMINAL type:)

gksu add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

Hit ENTER

gksu apt-get update

Hit ENTER

3. Download and Install LibreOffice (still in the TERMINAL type:)

sudo apt-get install libreoffice libreoffice-gnome language-support-en

Hit ENTER

4. DONE.

NOTE: Step 3 will download about 140mbs of data from the Internet so be patience.

Garmin 305 Forerunner, Runkeeper.com and GPSBABLE

2011-06-21T17:46:00.013-04:00

I have a Garmin 305 Forerunner watch which tracks several things about your runs, walks, or bike rides. It tracks the path you take with it's GPS, your distance, time and several other things. I use a nice Linux program to track activity with it, PYTRAINER. I even wrote an article on how to get PYTRAINER working with the 305. The problem is that this data is locked to the local computer and it's not easily shared with your running partners.

Well I found a nice Android App called RUNKEEPER. This App uses your cellphones GPS and it's internet connection to track and share your running session with your friends. I really like and recommend this App but I hate carrying my cell phone while I run and the GPS Tracking eats the phones battery.

I wanted a solution that would use the my Garmin 305 but allow me to put my data on RUNKEEPER. This is where GPSBABLE comes in. Here's how to do it.

1. Follow the instructions for installing PYTRAINER and GPSBABLE
2. Sign up for a FREE RUNKEEPER account at http://runkeeper.com
3. To get a copy of your run data off you Garmin 305 you need to connect it to your computer through it's USB.
4. Once your 305 is connected, open a TERMINAL window and type the following:

sudo gpsbabel -i garmin -t -f usb: -o gpx -F yourfilename.gpx

5. Hit ENTER and type your SUDO PASSWORD and hit ENTER.
6. This will create a file named yourfilename.gpx in your
HOME Directory.
7. Log in to RunKeeper
8. Select ACTIVITIES from the menu on the left.

9. Select POST NEW ACTIVITE (Top Menu)

10. Click on the the ACTIVITY TYPE and
EQUIPMENT TYPE then Click the NEXT Button on the bottom

11. Click on the IMPORT MAP button

12. Click on the CHOOSE FILE button and select the yourfilename.gpx which you created in steps 4 - 6. This file will be in your HOME directory.

13. After the gpx file UPLOADS you will see DETAILS Screen where you can change anything you like. When finished click on the SAVE Button.

DONE!!!

I know that seems like a lot of steps but it's not that hard to do, just hard to explain. The nice thing is that your run data is still on your watch and you can download it to PYTRAINER (or other program) to keep locally.

GPSBABLE can do much, much, more and I encourage you to read its documentation.

IOS 4.2.1 DBus Error Fix (Iphone)

2011-02-12T13:45:00.004-05:00

I've upgraded my Iphone 3gs to IOS 4.2.1 and it quit working with Ubunutu. It gave me the following error;

DBus error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Message did not receive a reply (timeout by message bus)

After a little searching I found a solution that worked for me.

1. Goto APPLICATIONS-->UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER
2. Once your software center app starts goto EDIT-->SOFTWARE SOURCES
3. Click on the OTHER SOFTWARE tab
4. Click the ADD button
5. In the pop up box type ppa:pmcenery/ppa
6. Click the ADD SOURCE button.
7. Once added, close your Software Center.
8. Goto SYSTEM-->ADMINISTRATION-->UPDATE MANAGER
9. Check for system updated and allow them to install.
10. Plug your Iphone into your computer and it should work.

I hope this helps someone else who's have this problem. I'm running Ubuntu 10.10 32-bit OS with Iphone IOS 4.2.1 on an Iphone 3GS phone. (No Jailbreak)

A Couple of Nautilus Tips

2011-02-06T18:28:00.008-05:00

Nautilus is the FILE MANAGER Ubuntu uses. Here are a couple of quick tips.

How to show File Sizes under the thumb nails Nautilus uses.

1. Start Nautilus

2. Goto EDIT-->PREFERENCES

3. Click on the DISPLAY Tab

4. The top drop down box should say NONE. Change it to SIZE.

DONE!!!!

Tips number two will let you make Nautilus a little prettier.

How to change the background color or make it a texture in Nautilus display window.

1. Start Nautilus
2. Goto EDIT-->BACKGROUND AND EMBLEMS
3. The window on the left will appear.
4. Click and hold on the color or pattern you want
5. Drag that color or pattern onto the area of Nautilus you want to have that pattern or color.

DONE!!!!

I've applied the CORK pattern to the Nautilus' Main Window.

There you have it, two quick tips to make your "File Manager" a little better in Ubuntu. If you really want to get fancy you can add some ACTIONS or EXTENSIONS to enhance Nautilus' usability.

A working Web Cam

2011-01-02T18:25:00.006-05:00

Just a short note but was something I had trouble finding. I wanted a web camera that worked with Skype under Ubuntu. I found the Logitech C270. It has a built in microphone and was truly plug and play.

Just download and install Skype 2.1 Beta for Ubuntu, plug in your C270 and it just works. You will have to go into the microphone selection section and pick the mic on the C270 instead of your microphone port if you want to use the built-in mic.

Go to SYSTEM-->PREFERENCES-->SOUND then click on the INPUT tab and you can pick which microphone you want to use.

The Logitch C270 has a hinge mounting system that is more suited to laptops than LCDs but with a small piece of Velcro it worked with my LCD just fine. The camera head can tilt so you can angle it up or down once you mount it.

The C270 has a very nice picture over Skype too. It is a 720P camera and seams to work nice even in my low light setting. Even using external speakers mounted on my monitor I noticed no feed back while using the cameras mic.

Virtual Box; Windows XP inside Ubuntu

2010-12-25T00:20:00.009-05:00

I use MS Windows at work so I still need a MS Windows machine here at home too. I was going to make my home PC a duel booter but I did not have my MS Windows Install CD when I installed Ubuntu (it is very easy to make a duel boot Ubuntu/MS Windows machine if you have MS Windows installed before you install Ubuntu. If Ubuntu is installed first it get complicated and you can trash your system). Well last week I found my MS Windows XP Pro (Full Install Disc. Yes I paid the $299 or $399 to add XP Pro to a custom build PC once) So I decided to try to make a Virtual Machine.

After a little reading I decided to try out Virtual Box. Let me cut to the chase, it works great. You get Ubuntu and MS Windows XP on the same machine running at the same time and you can switch between them by simply minimizing a program (copy and paste work too).

There are two version of Virtual Box for Ubuntu, one you install from the UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER and the other you download as a .deb file. The difference as I see it has to do with OPEN SOURCE / CLOSE SOURCE debate, both version are free of charge. To me the difference that mattered was the fact that the Close Source supports USB and the Open Source didn't.

If you are one of those people that has to have Open Source Software no matter what, follow the red instructions: PART I - Installing VirtualBox OSE.

If you need USB to work skip the red section and go to the green: PART I - Installing VirtualBox PUEL

PART I - Installing VirtualBox OSE
How to Install the Open Source Version (NO USB SUPPORT):
1. Click on APPLICATIONS Menu

2. Click on UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER

3. In UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER do a search for "virtualbox"

4. This will return a result which contains VIRTUALBOX OSE

5. SELECT "virtualbox ose" and INSTALL it by click on the INSTALL BUTTON.

Done!!! You now have VirtualBox OSE installed and it will show up under APPLICATIONS--->SYSTEM TOOLS on Ubunut 10.10.

YOU DO NOT HAVE USB SUPPORT FOR THE MS WINDOWS GUEST OS INSTALL THAT WE WILL CREATE IN PART III.

PART I - Installing VirtualBox PUEL
How to Install VIRTUALBOX with USB Support:

1. Goto the this web page and select the package for your version of Ubuntu (I used the 10.10) It should be noted that the i386 package is for 32 bit Ubuntu and the amd64 package is for Ubunut 64 bit (both 64 bit AMD and 64 bit INTEL processors. It's a bad name) FYI: this version of VirtualBox is called VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL).

2. Once you've downloaded the right package (a .deb file) install it by simply double clicking on it. This will start your UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER where you just click on the INSTALL BUTTON.

3. After your install completes, goto APPLICATION--->UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER

4. Click on EDIT--->SOFTWARE SOURCES

5. Click on the OTHER SOFTWARE tab.

6. Click on the ADD button. (this will pop up a box you can enter text into)

7. Paste one of the following lines into this pop up (ONLY USE ONE OF THESE LINES BASED ON WHICH VERSION OF UBUNTU YOU HAVE i used the 1st one, i have 10.10)

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian maverick contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lucid contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian karmic contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jaunty contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian intrepid contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian hardy contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian squeeze contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lenny contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian etch contrib

8. Open a TERMINAL Window (APPLICATIONS--->ACCESSORIES--->TERMINAL) and type the following, on one line, and hit enter:

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

9. Once that is done, type the following in TERMINAL:

sudo apt-get update (HIT ENTER KEY)
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.0 (HIT ENTER KEY)

10. Once that is done, type the following in TERMINAL and hit ENTER:

sudo apt-get install dkms

You should be done installing VirtualBox PUEL and you can now run it by clicking on it in APPLICATION--->SYSTEM TOOLS--->Oracle VM VirtualBox.

I know that was harder but you will now be able to run MS Windows applications and get USB devices working too.

Here is a Trouble Shooting Guide

PART II - Making a Virtual Machine for you MS Windows to live on.

In Part II we will make a Virtual Machine or VM for your MS Windows Guest OS to live on. We start this by launching VirtualBox (APPLICATION---> SYSTEM TOOLS---> ORACLE VM VirtualBox)

Some things to note before you start:

First, when you create your Virtual Machine it will really just be one very big file stored on you Ubuntu box. I have two hard drives on my system, one is formated in the Linux format ext3. My second drive is format in FAT32. I wanted my Virtual Machine to have 40gb of hard drive space. FAT32 will NOT allow file sizes over 4gb so I had to use my Linux ext3 drive (which was smaller) for my Virtual Machine.

Second, when you create your Virtual Machine you will have to assign it RAM too. I have 3 gb of RAM and I wanted my Virtual Machine to have 1 GB of RAM. So when I start my Virtual Machine it gets 1gb of RAM dedicated to it leaving 2 gb for Ubuntu. If you only have 1gb or worse 512 mb of RAM to start with, you should make a duel boot machine and not do Virtual, it'll be too slow. You can have multiply Virtual Machines running at the same time too but each has to have RAM dedicated to it, so if I wanted to run XP and Windows 7 on my Ubuntu box I would have to give Xp 1 gb of RAM, Windows 7 one gb of RAM, leaving 1 gb of Ram for my Ubuntu, if I had all three running at the same time. Some guides, MS Windows XP runs fine with 512 mb but 1 gb is better, Windows 7 and Vista need a 1 gb but work better with the full 1.5 gb. In Short if you have less than 2 gb of RAM on your system, duel boot don't virtual.

Third you must have a full install disc of whatever OS you want to virtulize. I did MS Windows XP Pro.

On with the show! Let's create a VM (virtual machine).

1. Start VirtualBox

2. Click on the NEW button (This starts a Wizard)

3. Click NEXT

4. Type in a NAME for your Virtual Machine in the NAME box (I used MYGUESTXP)

5. Pick the OPERATING SYSTEM and VERSION of the OS you are installing (I picked MICROSOFT WINDOWS and XP) and click NEXT

6. Use the SLIDER to pick how much memory to give you VM (I pick 1024 mb) Click NEXT

7. Select how much hard drive space to give your new VM (I checked BOOT HARD DRIVE and
CREATE NEW HARD DISK default size 20,480mb) Click NEXT

8. Read the Screen and Click NEXT.

9. Select a DYNAMIC or STATIC Hard Drive. (Dynamic will grow if needed, Fixed will not and you could "fill up" your virtual drive) (I picked Dynamic) Click NEXT

10. You can change how big to make your VM hard drive (I changed mine from 20480 mb to 40000 mb but left the name as the default) Click NEXT

11. This screen will summarize your Hard Drive choices. Confirm them and click FINISH

12. This screen summarizes your entire Virtual Machine Setting Choices. Confirm them and click FINISH.

YEAH!!! You just created a Virtual Machine or VM.

It has a CPU, Memory, Video, Networking, Sound, Serial Ports and USB Ports (if you installed the PUEL version of VirtualBox). What you do not have yet is a GUEST OPERATING SYSTEM. Read Part III for that :-)

Before you get to Part III, select your new VM by single click on it's name inside VirtualBox. Then Click on the SETTINGS Button . You can look around in the various section and change anything you think you might need too on your VM. I found that the only thing I needed to change was under the VIDEO section. I used the SLIDER to give my VM 32mb of video ram so that I could run a 1024 x 768 display with 32 bit color on my VM.

PART III - Installing a Guest Operating System on your new VM.

A computer is good to no one without and Operating System installed on it, even a virtual computer. Let's put an OS on our new VM.

1. Select your VM by single clicking on it in VirtualBox.

2. Click the START button.

3. A wizard will start, read it and click NEXT.

4. Pick the CD/DVD/HARD DRIVE your FULL MS Windows Install disc is located in. (mine was my DVD drive) Click NEXT.

5. A summary window will appear. Read it and Click FINISH.

6. This will start a standard install of whatever guest OS you are installing (mine was MS Windows XP Pro)

7. Complete the standard install of your Guest OS just like you were installing it on a real PC.

You are now done!!!.

You have created a Virtual Machine that runs a Guest Operating System inside Ubuntu.

What to do now? Install whatever software you want to run inside your VM. You install stuff just like you would if your computer was real. Do your updates, active your OS, whatever you would normally do. I've installed XP Pro, Installed Service Pack 3 on it, did all the Security Updates, Installed MS Office 2007, Photoshop CS 2, Hooked up an HP Printer/Scanner, plugged in and used several USB Thumb Drives and Hard Drives and Installed a few freeware apps I use. What I couldn't get working was my Garmin Forerunner Watch (see last post).

SOME CLOSING HINTS

Under DEVICES-->INSTALL GUEST ADDONS will make your VM act like a program running on your Ubuntu box (copy and Paste from it, mouse/keyboard trapping by click not Right-CTRL)

Your Virtual Machine will think your Ubuntu Host is another computer on the same network as it, so you can do network neighborhood sharing with it if you have SMB Sharing on your Ubuntu.

Under SETTINGS in VirtualBox you have to active USB Support and ADD a FILTER for each USB device you connect. The top Right Icon in the below screen shot ADDS a new "catch all" filter. Sometime when using USB Ubuntu will get confused as it will try mount the device too. Beware of data lose.

Garmin Forerunner 305 and Ubuntu

2010-09-15T20:09:00.009-04:00

I've decided to get into shape (too much time playing with Ubuntu). The problem is I don't have a lot of spare time and I need to know how far and fast I run (mostly walk). That meant that I have to go to a park with a known distance which reduced the workout time.

Enter the Garmin Forerunner 305 Watch with Heart Rate Monitor. It tracks your run/bike time, distance, course, heart rate, and a host of other things. Cool, if I mix running with computers I'll keep at it just to play with the toy. Problem is it comes with MS Windows Software and OS X (Mac) but not Linux. Back to my old friend Google and in two hours (and a mile and a half run) I had my Ubuntu 10.04 tracking, plotting and telling me how slow and fat I am.

There are a couple of tricks to get this working but its not hard, just do the steps in order. I know there are a lot of steps but they are baby steps to make it a 10 minute job. (No making fun of my times either, I was walking :-)

1. Use this link and download gpsbabel_1.3.5-1.1_i386.deb (It has to be this version) 2. This will download a .deb file. Just double click on it to run it. 3. It will tell you that there is a newer version available. Ignore it 4. Click on the INSTALL Button and let it do its thing. 5. Goto your UBUNTUSOFTWARE CENTER and do a search for PYTRAINER. 6. Install it. (if you did not do step one pyTrainer would install the wrong version of gpsbabel and it won't work with yourRunner). 7. Goto your APPLICATION menu and look under OFFICE and you'll see pyTrainer. 8. Plug in your Forerunner into a USB port. 9. Start PyTrainer 10. In pyTrainer goto the TOOLS-->GPS DEVICE PLUGIN menu item.

11. That will bring up the PLUGINS window. Select GARMIN VIA GPSBABEL 3.5.1. and click on PREFERENCES Button.
12. This will bring up a the PREFERENCES window. Change DISABLED to ENABLED and click OK. 13. Close pyTrainer and disconnect your ForeRunner 305. 14. Take you ForeRunner 305 out for a test jog and get some data in it. 15. Come back and plug in your Forerunner 305 and start pyTrainer. 16. Goto menu FILE-->IMPORT FROM GARMIN GPS DEVICE (VIA GPSBABEL). 17. Within a few seconds you will have imported your data. Once you import your data pyTrainer allows you to viewhow far you went, how fast you went, see your route on Google Maps, Count Calories you burnt, see your heart rate, and see graphs and charts that compare these stats and more. It tracks your workout over one day, one week, one month or one year. It's a very nice program. The only gotcha was the fact that pyTrainer from the Ubuntu Software Center is version 1.7.1 the newest is version 1.7.2. The 1.7.1 installs GPSBABEL's newest version 1.3.6 which will not work with pyTrainer 1.7.1. 1.7.2 may have fixed this but I don't know. UPDATE: I upgraded from Ubuntu 10.04 to 10.10 and it updated my GPSBABLE which broke PYTRAINER. I uninstalled PYTrainer and the Newer GPSBABLE, reread my own article, following my own instructions and it didn't Work!!! It would not detect my GPS but my old data was still there even after the remove/re- install process. Well after hours of tinkering I found that if I followed these instructions for the install AND RAN PYTRAINER as SUDO it worked! So follow these directions for the install but to run PYTRAINER open a terminal window and type: sudo pytrainer Hit enter and it will work and you will have your old data. If you are doing a new install of pytrainer and don't need your old data you can make a desktop shortcut to the PYTRAINER program (open your APPLICATIONS menu find PYTRAINER, right click on it and select ADD THIS LAUNCHER TO DESKTOP) Once you have a desktop shortcut you can right click on the desktop shortcut and select PROPERTIES then edit the COMMAND section to say: gksudo pytrainer and your good to go. You can just double click the desktop shortcut and don't have to use the scary TERMINAL Commands.

Not Linux but Useful Info BLOGGER

2010-09-01T23:10:00.002-04:00

I have this blog associated with an old email address that I do not want to keep so I needed to transfer this blog to another email account. I started searching and after a few hours I was ready to give up and figured it couldn't be done when I found this great article.

Use the link and read the nice article with screen shots so that you get this right. If you mess this up, you will lock yourself out of your Blog.

He is a summary of the above linked article.

1. Log into your blogger/blogspot account with the old user name (old email address).

2. Click on the Permission tab.

3. Click on the Add Author button on the permissions tabs.

4. Enter your new user name (new email address) and send the invite.

5. Log out of Blogger/Blogspot and log into the new email address.

6. Open the email and click on the invite link in the email.

7. Log out of your new email account

8. Log back into your Blogger/Blogspot account using the Old email address as your user name.

9. Go to the Permission Tab again and you should see two email addresses there, your old and your new.

10. Click on the Grant Admin Privileges button beside the new email address.

11. You can now use either email address (user name) to manage your blog.

12. Click on the Remove link beside your old email address (user name).

13. Confirm the remove and log out as your old email address (user name).

14. Log into Blogger/Blogspot with your new email address (user name).

15. Done!

If you get this wrong you will not be able to manage or worse not able to access your BLOG. I encourage you to read the linked to article, if for no other reason than the fact that they have other good how-to article relating to Blogger/Blogspot.

Needed a Cheap Scanner and Got a Printer Too

2010-09-01T22:24:00.005-04:00

I needed a cheap scanner that would work with Ubuntu. I had nice little Cannon but it was a MS Windows only scanner. I've looked on and off for about 6 months now, reading on-line about which ones work with Linux and was surprised that there wasn't a lot of information out there on which models work and when I found one, I couldn't find that model for the price I wanted.

I finally stumbled across an HP article which contained a very nice chart that lists what HP printers/scanners/fax/all-in-ones work with different Linux Distros. The chart will tell you what features work and what ones don't. There is a nice how to install the HPLIP software with screen shots and explanations as to what each command does (You will have to use the Command Line but it's not hard) The main thing to remember is not to plug your device into a USB port until the instructions tell you too.

As I said I wanted a cheap scanner but found an HP OfficeJet 4500 AIO on Amazon for $59. It has a ADF (Auto Document Feeder), Printer, Fax, Copier and has a network port (wired). So far, I know the printer, scanner, and copier work just fine on Ubuntu 10.04 but I don't have anyway to test the Fax so your on your own there. Don't get me wrong this is a cheap device, it's all plastic, hinges are weak, and scanning at over 300 dpi is slow, but it works and was only $63 delivered.

Since I bought this for it's scanner, I don't really care, but ink is $25 for a tri-color (200 page limit) and $30 for a Black (700-900 page limit). If you were using this for its printer, you would be ahead to just sell it for $20 and buy a new printer every time you run out of ink.

I want to do some OCR work in Ubuntu and scan in some old photos. As I find software and begin working with Linux scanner software I'll document it here.

OpenOffice Howto: Paste Unformatted Text Shortcut Key

2010-08-22T15:00:00.000-04:00

I know OpenOffice is not just for Linux but I've all but replaced MS Office with it even at work (I still have to have Outlook for email). What I wanted was a way to quickly copy and paste unformatted text. I know there is already a shortcut key combo for this but it's awkward ( CTRL ALT SHIFT V) That's 4 Keys!!! Too many.

Here's what I did to fix this. Start OpenOffice Writer then goto Tools --> Customize. Select the Keyboard tab from the Customize window that popped up (Pictured below). Select Edit in the bottom left list. Then select "Paste Unformatted Text" from the bottom right list and finally assign the keyboard shortcut you want it to be from the top list.

I notice that the F4 key (Function Key F4) is unassigned so I used it and went from a 4 key combo to 1.

How to get Google Services working with Evolution V2.28.1 +

2010-07-21T22:24:00.000-04:00

How do I get Evolution to use ( Sync with ) my Gmail Account?

How do I get Evolution to Sync with my Google Calendar?

How do I get Evolution to Sync with my Google Contacts?

These are good questions and the same one's I asked myself tonight. Since this is a very "Googlie" post, I Googled for the answer. Well I'll save you the trouble of sorting through all the Google articles and just give you the link to the site that solved all those problems for me. Here's the link. I saw no reason to rewrite what is already an easy to follow how-to.

My version of Ubuntu is: 10.04 LTS - the Lucid Lynx.
My version of Evolution is: 2.28.3

WINE. What I've got working.

2010-07-06T00:26:00.002-04:00

I've found Linux equivalents of almost every application I want or need. For the ones I just can't live without, there's WINE. With WINE you can install and run MS Window's applications (but you have to tinker with them to get them right).

For me, the the App I really had to have was Photoshop. I have Photoshop CS2. I know it's not the most up-to-date Photoshop, but I own it and am use to it. I now have it running completely on Ubuntu with most of my plug-ins too. In addition I have Omniforms 5.0, GSAK (GEOcaching application) and IE6 (only use it for GSAK) running like they are native Linux apps.

So how do you do it?

First you install WINE into your Ubuntu build (mine is Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx) by going to APPLICATIONS-->UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER. Then type WINE into the search box. Once you find the WINE application, install it.

You should now have WINE installed and see a WINE menu item under you APPLICATIONS Menu. There will be a single program under APPLICATION-->WINE-->PROGRAMS-->ACCESSORIES and that will be NOTEPAD. You can launch it now and see what WINE Apps will look and feel like.

Now WINE, like Ubuntu, has some add-ons that you'll have to install to make it useful. Some of these things are copyrighted (you've been warned). You can get everything you need in one package, WINETRICKS. To install WINETRICKS, Open a TERMINAL windows and Type the following:

sudo wget http://www.kegel.com/wine/winetricks (Press Enter)

Then you need to install CABEXTRACT by typing:

sudo apt-get install cabextract (Press Enter)

Now to run WINTRICKS type:

sh winetricks (Press Enter DO NOT sudo this command)
You will then be presented with a list of packages you can check mark and install.

As you can see there are a lot of packages you can add. Simply CHECK the ones you want and click OK. But which ones do you want? Good question. That depends on which MS Windows application you want to run.

For Photoshop CS2, I install COREFONTS and VCRUN6. I also installed the MS TOHOMA FONT or you can check the ALL FONTS box.

You should now be able to put your Photoshop CS2 Install CD into your CD Rom, open it, right click on the SETUP.EXE and select OPEN WITH WINE WINDOWS PROGRAM LOADER. Your Photoshop should now install. Once it's done, it will be located in the APPLICATIONS-->WINE-->PROGRAMS menu. You can install you plug-ins with the same RIGHT CLICK Method. Here is a Wiki link to where I got most of this information.

Last thing to do to make Photoshop CS2 work fully is make the ALT key do what it is supposed to do in Photoshop. Go to SYSTEM-->PREFERENCES-->WINDOWS and under Movement Key, pick "Windows Logo" instead of "Alt". (this tidbit killed me for a month until I found that Wiki Link above).

How to get GSAK working. Run WINETRICKS (sh winetricks) again and install ie6. Reset your computer (really, reset it). Then download and install GSAK using the RIGHT CLICK Method. You may get an error but once you add a few caches to it, it will be fine. Also do not turn off the SHOW TIPS at startup. This caused me to crash. If yours does not work, reset your computer, that is the third time I've told you!

If all went well, you can now get your favorite MS Windows programs running side by side with your Ubuntu Linux stuff. Here is a screen shot of Photoshop CS2 running. I know the colors suck, but you can change them, a lesson for later.

NOTE:

DO NOT USE IE6 FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN GSAK. IE6 IS FULL OF SECURITY HOLES. IT IS DANGEROUS TO USE FOR GENERAL SURFING.

Last Minute Note: If your photoshop hangs on the splash screen while loading, just press ENTER. That works for me.

Converting WMA to MP3 (LAME and XCFA)

2010-05-17T22:34:00.001-04:00

Version Ubuntu 10.04.

First you have to be able to play MP3s and WMAs (or DVDs for that matter). Since this article is about conversion not making them work I will just give you a link to Ubuntu itself which will tell you how to get them working.

Once they're working, it's easy to get them converted. There are probably several ways to do this and a lot of TERMINAL methods but I wanted a mouse point and click solution. So go to APPLICATIONS-->UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER and search for LAME. Install LAME by clicking on the INSTALL button. Note this search will return several packages. The one you want is LAME AN MP3 ENCODING LIBRARY (front end). Now search for XCFA. This stands for X Convert File Audio. This search will just return one result. Install XCFA by clicking on the INSTALL button. Close the Software Center your done installing.

To use XCFA to convert from WMA to MP3; first select the FILES TAB (yellow 1 in the pic) then CLICK the IMPORT button (yellow 2) and select your files you wish to convert (use shift and ctrl to select multiple files). CLICK in the FILE DESTINATION box to pick where you want your new MP3 files to go (yellow 3). Next CLICK the RED BOX's under the MP3 column on all the wma files you want to convert (yellow 4). Last, CLICK the APPLY THE CHANGES button at the bottom left (not pictured).

Your now done. The conversion will take some time to complete but you'll see a progression bar to keep you informed.

NOTE: You can install other CODEXs that will allow you to convert to other formats. You can see on mine that I can do WAV, FLAC, WavP, OGG, MPC, and MP3. I can not covert to APE,M4A, or AAC because I do not have those codexs installed.

Adding 2nd Harddrive & Making it Mount on Boot

2010-05-15T23:48:00.008-04:00

I haven't posted here forever, but that is a good thing (for me). It's because I have been able to solve most of my Linux (Ubuntu 10.04 now) problems myself, that is until tonight. I did solve these two problems, but not with a lot of searching and reading.

Problem #1; After updating to Ubuntu 10.04 my computer would go to a black screen and lock the computer after 5 minutes. Once you press any key or move the mouse you would have to enter your password to continue. This was a pain is the ass. I wanted this turned off or I wanted more time before it kicked in.

Solution; Goto SYSTEM-->PREFERENCES-->SCREENSAVER. Once there, UNCHECK the "Lock Screen Screen When Screensaver is Active" to turn this "feature" off. If you still want the SCREEN LOCKED but want more time, just set the screensaver to take longer to start by dragging the slider until you get the delay you want.

Problem #2; Adding a 2nd Hard Drive. This was easy but making it MOUNT (show up) on a reboot was a problem. It would show up under the HOME menu and I would have to click on it every time I want to use it. This was bad since I wanted to move the MUSIC, MOVIE, PICTURE directories to it. Ubuntu was basically treating this 2nd internal hard drive like a removable one.

Solution; I installed a 2nd hard drive and made sure it was showing up in BIOS. I then booted into Ubuntu 10.04 and went to SYSTEM-->ADMINISTRATION-->DISK UTILITY. This showed a list of all Hard Drives, Flash Drives, CD and DVD Roms that I have installed in my computer. The new hard drive was listed under PATA HOST ADAPTER. I Clicked on it and it showed me more information than I would ever need to know about my new hard drive. I clicked on the FORMAT DRIVE (Erase or Format the volume) option. This let me pick a partition size and format type. (it defaults to a linux ext3 and selects the whole drive, which is good if your only running Linux, I'm not) The new drive is a 1.5 TB drive and I wanted 300gb unpartitioned and the rest (1.2 TBs) formated in FAT32 so that Microsoft Windows can read it too. So I used the slider to set the size of the partition to 1.2TBs and used the drop down to select FAT or FAT32 as the format type. I also picked MASTER BOOT RECORD as the structure type (MBR is compatible with MS Windows). I then typed in a name for my new hard drive (this is what it will show up as under your PLACES and on your DESKTOP). Once this was done, there was a slight pause and a graphical representation of my partitions (one FAT32, one FREE) showed up. I clicked on the FAT32 picture (well really a grey box) and then clicked on the MOUNT VOLUME option. That was it, I closed DISK UTILITY and my new hard drive was on my desktop. I then rebooted the computer to see if it would stay. It didn't :-(

To make it show up after a reboot or a boot for that matter, you have to add a setting to a startup file called FSTAB (fstab, lower case, is it's real name). To edit FSTAB goto APPLICATIONS-->ACCESSORIES-->TERMINAL. At the prompt TYPE cd .. (press enter) TYPE cd .. (press enter, yes do it twice and it is two dots). TYPE cd etc (press enter) TYPE sudo gedit fstab (press enter). TYPE your password (press enter). This should navigate you from HOME/YOURUSERNAME directory to the SYSTEM/ETC directory, start the program GEDIT in ROOT MODE and open the FSTAB file for editing. Go past the last line in the FSTAB file (you should be on a blank line) and type the following

/dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1 vfat rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=hal,shortname=mixed,uid=1000,utf8, umask=077,flush 0 0

It will end up on two lines but don't hit the enter key to make it, let it do it on it's own. Those are zeros at the end. There is a space between vfat and rw. Now SAVE FSTAB and your done.

NOTE: My new hard drive got the device name sdb1 yours might be different. You must replace my SDB1 with your device name. DISK Utility will give you this name after you hit the MOUNT VOLUME option. It will read something like "Mounted at /media/sdb1". This is for FAT32 ONLY!! For Linux (ext3) it would read:

/dev/sdb1 /media/sdb1 ext3 default 0 0

Whoever wrote the DISK UTILITY program might want to include an option like a simple check box that says "mount at boot" and do this work for you.

Did Ubuntu release a Service Pack?

2008-05-07T23:26:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-27T22:17:00.002-04:00

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

2007-11-04T22:45:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-23T20:29:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-23T19:46:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-22T20:21:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-06T22:13:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-12T01:16:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-11T23:54:00.000-04:00

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

2007-05-16T19:16:00.000-04:00

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

2007-05-08T22:26:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-04-22T21:33:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-20T22:33:00.000-04:00

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

2007-01-21T20:46:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-30T21:10:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-21T17:58:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-07T19:48:00.001-05:00

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

The End?

2006-12-02T17:59:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-26T21:25:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-25T23:03:00.000-05:00

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.

Allow other users to view your desktop
Allow other users to control your desktop
Ask you for confirmation
Require the user to enter a password
(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!!!!!!

2006-11-25T19:11:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-11-25T15:39:00.001-05:00

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

2006-11-23T17:52:00.001-05:00

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

2006-11-21T20:38:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-21T19:36:00.000-05:00

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)

2006-11-21T16:28:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-20T19:34:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-20T17:51:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-17T16:51:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-15T19:01:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-11-13T22:49:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-12T23:07:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-12T22:30:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-12T20:23:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-12T15:41:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

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.

2006-11-12T02:09:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-10T20:07:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2006-11-10T00:01:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-09T19:22:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-09T18:54:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-08T20:20:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-08T17:40:00.000-05:00

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.

One Week of Linux (Status Report 1)

2006-11-07T21:35:00.000-05:00

This is my seventh day of Ubuntu 6.1 Linux and I like it so far. I have sworn off MS Windows (at home) for 30 days and I plan on sticking to it. After one week of using Linux I have not missed my MS Windows Laptop too much. I have been able to get Linux to do everything I've wanted it to so far with one exception, VPN. If I want to access my work I have to VPN in to get to anything. Well our VPN machine is Linux based but I haven't found the time to research the VPN Client I need. But I feel I should be able to get the VPN to work on this Linux Box because the VPN server is Linux Based. I also think this will be hard. The other thing I miss is the Laptop mobility itself. This is not Linux's fault, the Box I had was a Desktop Dell that I rebuilt for someone.

What Have I done so far:

I've installed Ubuntu 6.1
Got Ubuntu working with my internet
Customized my Desktop
Installed several application that did things I needed to do.
Installed a second Package Installer
Got Ubuntu (easily) working with six different removable hard drives and thumb drives
Got my Cannon S2 1S camera working
Updated my Video Drivers
Got DVDs playing
Got my PodCasts downloading automaticly
Got internet radio stations working
Burned Music CDs
Burned Data CDs
Got my Sanyo Cell phone to Sync with Evolutions
Used thumb drive to transfer work files (MS Office Docs) to this Linux box and edit them with OpenOffice.
Created and maintained this Blog

Things I plan on doing:

Networking with my MS Network (shares)
VPN into Work
Remote Desktop
Memory Upgrade
Use some HTML editors with lite java
Install and use WINE
VMWare what is it and what can it do
Add a Firewire PCI Cadr
Add a Linksys Wireless Network Card
Edit Video shot with a Samsung Camcorder
Rip Cd audio
Rip DVD
Sync a Dell Axim Pocket PC 2003
Install a Scanner (cannon)
Install a printer (HP laserjet 1200 USB)
Access a remote printer on a MS Windows Box
Share a local Printer with a MS Windows Box
Add a second Hard Drive
Explore some network tools (packet readers, port scanners, ect.)
Learn the command line
Learn the file Linux structure (where does what live on the had drive)
Learn some disk editing tool (sector editor in windows)
Install and use MYSQL
Install and use Appache

Things have been going kind of fast. I've spent 3 to 5 hours a day working with this Linux Box. So Far I have been using my "Click and Pray" method and it has went well but as you can see from the to do list above you can't just CLICK some of those things and have them magically work (especially the LEARN things).

After one week of use I give Ubuntu 6.1 Linux an 8.5 of 10. If I stopped right now I could do 85% of what I usually do with a computer. The VPN, Web Site Programing and Graphics Editing will move that number up to 95%. I am a die hard Photoshop user and have been for years so switching to GIMP is a challenge. If I can install WINE and get Photoshop working that would rock. This is all based on the options of someone who has only been using LINUX for 7 days (21 to 35 hours total on keyboard time)

Sync Your Cell Phone

2006-11-07T19:59:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd try something a little harder on my Linux Box. I wanted to SYNC my cell phone data with Evolution Email. I have a Sanyo SCP 7300 cell phone. Well I did a little reading and found a freeware MS Windows program BitPIM that said it would work with my Sanyo 7300. Well I checked and Ubuntu Linux Installer has that application too. It lives under Accessories once you install it with Ubuntu Add/Remove Application option.

Once BitPIM was installed I just plugged my Sanyo in with my USB cable and started BitPIM. I then CLICKED on the SETUP TOOL (see Screen Shot) and the phone wizard autodetected my Sanyo 7300. I then clicked on the GET PHONE DATA button (See Screen Shot, its the icon of a phone with a green arrow point right in the upper left of the screen shot) This will bring up a PHONE DATA GET SCREEN. You just CHECK the items you want to GET (PhoneBook, Calendar, Wallpaper, Ringtones, Memos, ToDo, SMS Call History, Play List). Once you have pick the items to GET and CLICKED the NEXT button, the BUSY light comes on (turns red) (an Icon at the bottom of the screen left side) and a STATUS BAR appears beside the Busy Button telling you whats going on. After a few seconds a window will pop up asking you how to import the read data, you can over write what's on your computer with the new phone data, merge the new phone data with the computer data, or cancel. Since this is the first time, I over wrote the computer data with the phone data. (both the PhoneBook and Calendar ask this question). Now you are done (mostly). You have your phone data in your computer, you can now edit your phone book, import data from many different email clients including Evolutions, you can edit you backgrounds, save your photos to your hard drive, add/edit ringtones, and clear your phone logs (incoming, out going, missed calls). Lots of stuff you can do and you use your full size keyboard.

Now once you made your changes, you will have to put your data back on your phone. All you do is CLCIK on the SEND PHONE DATA icon (upper left of window with a Green arrow pointing left) This will bring up a window asking how you want to send the data to the phone. You can MERGE it with what is already there (causing double entries) or OVERWRITE it. The scary part of this is once it has moved all your data to your phone it resets your phone! So be prepared for it. It does no harm but did scare me.

To backup your phone data you will have to EXPORT it from BitPIM before you send it to your phone. You can EXPORT it to different file types and each section has to be exported separately (phonebook, calendar, to do , ect, each get their own file). I used CSV format becuase of its universal acceptance. To get to EXPORT and IMPORT you go to FILE on the BitPIM Menu.

(NOTE: your function will depend on your cell phone model. My Sanyo SCP 7300 gave me errors when I tried to READ Memos, ToDo, SMS and Play Lists, My phone does not support these. If you get errors when READING your cell phone try turning off (unchecking) items you are going to rad in until it works).

Screen Captures

2006-11-07T00:46:00.000-05:00

Pressing the PRINT SCREEN key on the keyboard captures a screen shot as you work. This is close to the way MS Windows works except on Ubuntu Linux it asks where you want to save the shot and what you want to name it. Nice.

RYTHMBOX and Internet Radio

2006-11-06T23:43:00.000-05:00

I like RYTHMBOX. It says it will work with my iPod but I don't want to chance it. I have been playing with the INTERNET RADIO STATION function. It only comes with 4 station so I added some.

Here's how. Start RYTHMBOX. Look at the MENU on the left. CLICK on INTERNET RADIO option. Look at the ICONS on the top you will see one labeled NEW INTERNET RADIO STATION. Click it. Once again you have to know the url to the PLAY LIST you want to access. These will be a URL that ends in .PLS.

Where to find .PLS? Easy, WWW.SHOUTCAST.COM . Browse there with Firefox and RIGHT CLICK on a one of the TUNE IN links on ShoutCast. This will bring up a menu chose the COPY LINK LOCATION. Then go back to RYTHMBOX and PASTE your copied link into the NEW INTERNET RADIO STATION pop up window. Save it and that's it. You can right click on your new radio station and rename it and give it a category if you want.

I think you can also copy link that are directly to MP3s and MS Windows Media Files.

(Sorry went crazy with the colors)

More on NetCast (PodCast)

2006-11-06T22:08:00.000-05:00

I started playing with some of the SOUND & VIDEO applications. I noticed that one, RYTHEMBOX MUSIC PLAYER, had a Podcast section. Well after a little playing I have it downloading, on a daily basis, all four of my favorite PodCasts (NetCasts). I had to figure out the FEED URL but it was not that hard. Here is how I did it.

Start RYTHEMBOX. Complete the short setup process and tell it what folder your music (MP3s WAV OGG ect) is kept in. Once RYTHEMBOX starts, look on the left and you will see a menu. One option is PODCAST. Click on Podcast then look at the ICONS on the top of the screen and you will see one labeled NEW PODCAST FEED. Click on it and a window will pop up asking for the URL to the FEED you want (this is where I got confused) This is the URL of your favorite Feed. It will be a web page address that ends in a .XML.

Finding the FEED URL was the trick. I listen to a lot of Leo LaPorte's NetCast (PodCast) so I went to the TWIT homepage TWIT.TV. Once there I clicked on the NetCast I wanted and that took me to a page with a link labeled SUBSCRIBE. There was a menu box below it that gave me a bunch of choice including iTunes and others. One of the choices was RSS. When I clicked on this and it took me to a web page that looked like a list of shows with a description about each one. Well, I noticed that the page I was now looking at had a .XML url. So I copied this URL from Firefox and pasted it into the NEW FEED URL window in RYTHEMBOX. Within a few seconds I saw a list of that show (NetCasts) and the newest one was downloading automatically.

If you want the older show just RIGHT CLICK on the one you want and select download.

Here are the URLs of the NetCasts (PodCasts) that I like:

(to get) Security Now!
(paste this in NEW FEED LINK)
http://leoville.tv/podcasts/sn.xml

(to get) This Week In Tech TWIT
(paste this in NEW FEED LINK)
http://leoville.tv/podcasts/twit.xml

(to get) FLOSS
(paste this in NEW FEED LINK)
http://leoville.tv/podcasts/floss.xml

(to get) Leo's KFI AM Radio Show
(paste this in NEW FEED LINK)
http://leoville.tv/podcasts/kfi.xml

(to get) DL TV wit Patrick Norton
(paste this in NEW FEED LINK) http://rssnewsapps.ziffdavis.com/audioblogs/DLTV.xvid.xml

A lot of these were found by "Subscribing" to the podcast which took me to the .xml page. I chose RSS as the type of subscription.

More on Desktop Icons

2006-11-06T20:04:00.000-05:00

When you RIGHT CLICK on a Desktop Icon you get a menu that looks a lot like MS Windows right click menu with one exception, there is a STRETCH ICON option. If you select this option it puts four "handles" around your Icon. You just CLICK and DRAG on one of these handles and you can drag your Icon to any size. Pretty cool. I've always wanted this feature in MS Windows.

Icons on the Desktop

2006-11-06T19:09:00.000-05:00

I figured out how to put ICONS on the DESKTOP. You go to the Applications menu, find the program you want, RIGHT CLICK on it and select "Add This Launcher to Desktop" from the menu that appears. That is all there is to it. The other options that appear are "Add This Launcher to Panel", "Add this as Drawer to Panel" and "Add This Menu to Panel". I haven't played with the other options but they seem straight forward.

DVDs Now Play

2006-11-05T20:03:00.000-05:00

I tried some older DVDs, Starwars, Star Trek, and others. They all worked. The one I had trouble with was MONSTER HOUSE made by Sony I think. No where on the packaging does it say it won't play in a computer DVD Player. On one peice of paper included in the DVD box it says "Warning! This disc is copy protected" That's it nothing else.

DRM Sucks
Sony SUCKS.

I will be returning this DVD.

MP3 Solutions

2006-11-05T19:42:00.000-05:00

I have a solution to my MP3 problem. I will download the NetCasts (PodCasts) as MP3s then burn them to CDs. This will let me take them with me and still keep this test on the up and up. I will assume that I could get the iPod working with Linux but choose not to.

MP3s and Me

2006-11-05T19:38:00.000-05:00

I changed the look a little. Yea, I know big deal you can change the background but hey this is a text heavy blog and every little graphic helps. I need to find a program or a way to capture menus and applications as they run.

I've been surfing the web today and moving media onto the Linux Box so that I have data to test apps with.

On that note, let's talk about MP3s. I copied some from one of my USB removable storage devices to the hard drive then burned them to a CD. All went very well. I opened the CD in a FILE BROWSER window and was just looking at them when I moused over one and it began to PLAY!!! When I moved the mouse off the MP3s Icon it stopped. That was cool. I like it. By the way MP3s play without problems on any of the media players I have installed.

This brings me to a problem. I saw software where I could install my iPod on a Linux Box and probably even Itunes but I think I would have to activate this machine on my iPod account. That would be my fifth. All though I will probably have a Linux box in my house after this 30 day test, it will not be this Box. This Box will get it's MS Windows hard drive back and be given to someone who insists on MS Windows being on it.

Now there are about four PodCasts (NetCasts see Leo I really listen) I listen to weekly. They are TWIT, Security Now, Leo LaPorte's KFI radio show and DL TV. All are technology related and produced by former Tech TV personalities. Any way I could just download the MP3 versions and listen to them on the Linux Box but I like listening to them in the car and while at work from my iPod. I don't want to cheat and use my MS Laptop to update my iPod but i don't want to activate this Linux Box either... What to do? What to do?

Video Driver Update

2006-11-05T02:10:00.000-05:00

I updated my nVidia Graphic Card driver. I use the AUTOMATIX Package Installer to download and install the new drivers. What a difference in the GL applications. Some games us GL and were very slow, now they fly. I also installed Google Earth, another GL program (It is a fancy map program with photo overlays). It went from unusable to very nice.

In addition I installed GNOMEBAKER, which is a CD/DVD burning program. It looks more like what I'm looking for in my CD/DVD Burning Software.

Lesson learned, update your drivers. I've been very timid so far when it comes to hardware driver changes or additions. I do not know what to do if I get it wrong and it crashes.

CD Burning

2006-11-05T01:00:00.000-05:00

I burnt my first CD on Linux. I put a blank CD in my burner and a window popped up and told me that I just put a Blank CD-R in a CD Burner and want to know if I wanted to:

MAKE AUDIO CD, MAKE DATA CD, or CANCEL

I chose to make a data CD. (I want to backup my photos I transfered earlier and a friend sent me some Linux How to PDFs I want to print/read and keep)

After making my choice I was present with a window (File Browser) that had a WRITE CD button in its upper right corner. I opened PLACES/HOME FOLDER and copied and pasted the files I wanted on the CD to the newly opened File Browser Window. Once I had all my files in this new window, I CLICKED on the WRITE CD button and it started. (it gave a status bar window counting up to finish).

I did not like the automated process with the built in burning. I saw some other burning programs and think I'll download a few. I use NERO 6.X on MS Windows and want something similar.

Video Codec's Part 2

2006-11-04T23:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was disappointed in the way my new Linux box was playing videos. I installed all the Codec Packs I could find and was still having trouble playing my Samsung video files and DVDs. I went to the Internet with Firefox and tried to play videos from the web in the browser and had trouble too. I tracked down the Samsung problem to a Codec and found that there just wasn't a Codec for Linux for it. (I did find one for MS WIndows).

The DVD would not play at work either in one machine but would in another. The only common factor I saw was both my Linux Box and Work MS Windows Box have DVD burners in them...hmm...The MS Windows 2000 machine that it did play in did not have a Burner in it. I will chalk this up to DRM.

Firefox not playing videos from the Internet is troubling. I will work on it tonight and we will see.

On one of my removable hard drives I had some standard MOV, AVI, DIVX, and MPEG files so I tested them. They worked just fine. Good, that means I did not trash my Codecs on this Linux Box.

Video 4 of 10 (Had to get Codecs just to start, had to install a second Package Installer to get most Codecs, Windows has my needed Codec but Linux doesn't? Oh I could recompile my Linux Mplayer to get it to work, but why? Shouldn't it just be done already if its a know issue? This is the NEWBIE in me complaining about free things)

NOTE: Keep in mind this is my 4th day as a Linux user and I am looking at this OS from an easy of use point of view. I don't want to have to research that much at first. I will later in the month but not in the first week.

Proof! One of the Photos

2006-11-04T23:16:00.000-05:00

Just to prove the Camera import worked.

CANNON S2 1S USB

2006-11-04T23:00:00.000-05:00

I took some pictures with my Cannon S2 1S Digital Camera and thought I'd test it. I got out the USB Cable for it and plug it in. A window popped up and said that a DIGITAL CAMERA was plugged in and then asked me if I wanted to IMPORT photos from it. YES or CANCEL. I said YES and was then present with a window with thumbnails of the photos on my camera. I picked some by CTRL CLICKING and said ok. It then asked where I wanted them. I said HOME directory (it is a folder with your logon name and can be accessed with the PANEL menu option PLACES). It was fast and it copied the photos to a fold in my HOME directory creating a sub directory of the DATE and TIME you copied the photos.

It went just fine. Only problem was I could not find the camera after the pictures were transfered. I looked in the FILE BROWSER (MS Windows puts an icon for you camera or a drive link here) but it was not there. I thought I'd be able to browse it like a removable Hard Drive but could not find it. I'll have to play with this a little bit.

8 out of 10 (It saw the camera and let me copy my pictures to the Linux Box)

USB Storage Devices Results

2006-11-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

I've done my USB tests on the storage devices. The results were surprisingly good. All the three Thumb Drives worked without fail and all three of the External Hard Drives worked just fine. I was able to read and write to/from all of them. The only thing I noticed was a forth Thumb Drive had very slow read access. It was a SIMPLE TECHNOLOGY 256mb. Now to be fair it was the oldest one I had so it could have been a USB 1.1 model. The way I test these devices was to CUT 20 photos from the Thumb Drives and paste them into my HOME directory then CUT them and put them back on the Thumb Drive. On the External Hard Drives I moved a 100mb file back and forth. All tests went well.

I learned that when you connect a USB storage device it creates an icon on your DESKTOP. You just DOUBLE CLICK on it and it opens in a FILE BROWSER window. It was very similar to USB Storage operation on a MS Windows Machine. Now when you are done and want to remove the USB Storage Device you RIGHT CLICK on its Icon on your DESKTOP and select EJECT. The system then writes anything that was cached and disappears from your DESKTOP. You then just unplug whatever USB Storage Device you were using. This is kinda like MS Windows 2000 did. If you remove the USB Storage Device before Ejecting it you get a warning about potential data loss.

I give Ubuntu 6.1 Linux a 9.5 out of 10 on USB Storage Devices. (Would have been 10 of 10 but I don't like having to Eject the USB Storage Device before removing it.)

Eye Candy

2006-11-03T23:52:00.000-05:00

I downloaded a few backgrounds just to change the look a little and I accidentally RIGHT CLICKED on the menu bar and found out that they are really called PANELS and there is one at the top and bottom and you can ADD to them. You can also move things around. You just RIGHT CLICK on the PANEL (bar at top or bottom) and a menu will appear. You then pick the ADD option and a window pops up with some choice of things to add. There are about 30-35 things you can add. They range from weather to system monitors to file searches. Once you add something you just right click on that object to configure its preferences or move it around. I'll experment with a few and report on any I like.

Weather is now on my top PANEL beside the date and time (upper right). It's 25 degrees out and clear. :-)

Codec Troubles

2006-11-03T23:39:00.000-05:00

I have a Samsung Camcorder that will record to a DV tape or to a sony memory stick. When you record to the memory stick it save the files as AVIs. Well they are in a priority Samsung codec of SMP4. I could not locate a Linux codec for it. Now I could record to the DV tape but then I would have to put a firewire card in this box and get it working with Linux. Maybe later in the month.

The good news is that I was able to track down the problem, research it, and document it here. I did find a few articles that told me I could "recompile mplayer" to fool it into treating the SMP4 as a DIVX file which it is (SMP4 is a clone of MP4 or DIVX so the articles said). But I'm not ready to "recompile" anything yet.

So no DVD playback yet and no home movie editing with the Samsung videos.

DRM Sucks In Linux Too

2006-11-03T22:28:00.000-05:00

I can't get a commercial DVD to play :-( I'm not trying to copy it, I just want to see it play. I put it in and it just spins and blinks the DVD roms light. I know its commercial copy protection but this sucks, I want to use my DVD that I paid for in my computer to watch it. The DVD is MONSTER HOUSE. Tomorrow I will take the DVD to work and see if it plays there on a MS Windows machine. I doubt it. DRM SUCKS. If it doesn't play on a MS Windows Machine I will return it!!!

I will try an older DVD to see if it will work on Linux.

Another Program Installer

2006-11-03T21:17:00.000-05:00

I followed my friend El GEE's advice and installed AUTOMATIX2. It's a package installer and adds a few choices of applications that I was looking for. The installation of Automatix2 was my first adventure into the command line (TERMINAL). I read the install instruction that were posted on Automatix2's web page and just copied and pasted the commands. A few of them I understood, like the opening a file with gedit and making a change and saving it. I think I understand the the Wget command (at lest some of it) but I will have to read about that one. As each command was executed I several lines of commands scroll by. Boy that makes me nervous. I don't like not knowing but it did work and I have added the following applications:

Scribus (Graphic Page Layout and Publication)
Bluefish Editor (HTML editor)
Screem (Web Site Editor/Manager)
Anjuta IDE (Programing Tool)
Audacity (Sound Editor)
DVD Rip (Copies DVDs)
Easytag (MP3 Tag Editor)
Kino (DV Video Editor)
XCD Roast (Create CDs)
I also added adobe Flash support to Firefox.

Now to start doing something with these programs.

USB Functions

2006-11-03T17:52:00.000-05:00

When I plugged in a LG 1gb thumb drive into a USB Port on this Linux Box it worked without any fuss. Once plugged in the drives little blue light came on and a "computer-file browser" window popped up showing me the thumb drives contents. Just to make sure it was working, I copied a photo from the thumb drive to the my "Home" directory. I then copied a photo from my "Home" directory back to the thumb drive. No Problem. When I just pulled the thumb drive from the USB port I got an "unsafe drive removal" message. It gave instruction on how to safely remove the thumb drive but I clicked the screen causing the message to disappear before I read it. (Note: This Linux Box is a Dell 4500. It has one of the worst designed front panel USB ports I've ever seen. It lives under a half circle gray door with the Dell logo on it. This door does not open very far and the ports are set at a very odd angle.)

This weekend I am going to buy a SanDisk Multi-Memory card reader for a windows machine but I think I will try to get it to work on this Linux Box first.

USB Tests to do:
1. Memorex 256mb thumb drive
2. LG 1gb thumb drive
3. SanDisk 4gb thumb drive
4. Western Digital 2.5 external Hard Drive 60gb
5. Western Digital 3.5 External Hard Drive 120Gb
6. Homemade 3.5 External Hard Drive 300gb
7. Sandisk Multi-Memory Card Reader
8. Cannon S2 1S Digital Camera
9. Cheap Cannon Digital Camera ($125)
10. Kodak 3430 Digital Camera
11. Creative Zen Extra 40gb MP3 Player
12. Apple IPod Video 30gb (is there a Linux iTune?)
13. HP 1100 and/or1200 LaserJet Printer
14. Dell Axim pocket PC running Pocket PC 2003

I will break this down into four categories, testing all the storage devices/readers, then the cameras, then MP3 players, and finally the printers/Handhelds. The storage devices and cameras are most important to me so they will be done this weekend. I will post my results as I get them.

A Clean Sreen Shot

2006-11-03T16:06:00.000-05:00

Before I start playing with the desktop and layout of Ubuntu Linux I thought I'd post a screen shot. This is the default look you get when you first install Ubuntu. I know it's a small photo but it should help you see what I was talking about when I describe where things are.

By the way located in the APPLICATIONS/ACCESSORIES/
there is a program called TAKE SCREENSHOT that I used to make this.

On a side note, since this is my first Blog too, notice that I have figured out how to post photos. I've also noticed that there are link short cuts and some formating options.

Memory No Upgrade / Boot Times

2006-11-03T15:48:00.000-05:00

Ever notice how PC2700 looks like PC2100? I do now. I guess I'll have to go buy some memory. Oh well, I guess a gig will be better than 512mbs.

Now lets talk Boot Times. From the time I see GRUB until the Logon screen appears it takes 29 seconds. After I type my user name and password its 13 seconds until I can start using the system. Counting the BOIS posts and my typing times that's about one (1) minute from power on until I can use it. This is not bad. My MS Windows laptop takes about three minutes and my new work machines takes a minute and a half.

Now this is a "clean install" and some MS Windows machines can achieve theses times when "clean". I'll time it again later as I make changes.

Method to the Madness

2006-11-03T13:54:00.000-05:00

I've decided to use a two step process while learning and using Linux. The first process will be to try to get Linux to do what I want it to with the "click and pray" method. (click on things without much reading until something happens). This will test how user friendly Linux is. This is the method that I see most MS Windows users try. And like most new MS Windows users this method will probably get me into trouble but should work for 60-70 percent of what I want to do. (I've installed Ubuntu Linux, got Internet access, and made this Blog with this method)

Now if this method does not work and I really need to do the task at hand, I will go to the 2nd method, RESEARCH. This will start with any local HELP menu options, followed up with Internet searches, and finally I'll ask others who have more Linux experience than me. (I will try to keep the "ask others" to a minimum). When I use this 2nd method, I will try to document the source of any answers I find.

Since I have set a 30 day limit on this test and want to get the most from this experience, I will only resort to the 2nd method if its something I really need or want to do. (I have a feeling that networking with my MS Windows network and accessing NTFS shares will be one of these and adding a wireless PCI Network card).

Over the weekend I plan on trying various Thumb Drives, removable hard drives, getting a SD card reader working (for photos), and maybe an MP3 Player.

As for now, I am going to power this Linux Box down and try to add another 256mbs of memory. I wonder how this will go.

Add Remove Application / Ratings After 24 Hours Use

2006-11-03T03:10:00.000-05:00

Add/Remove Application

Nov 2, 2006, 11:00pm, this post will bring me current (up until now I've just done a bunch of posts to cover everything I did to get this Linux Box running). I have been using Text Editor and OpenOffice.org Word Processor to write these Blog posts and then copy and paste them into this Blog using Firefox as a web browser. (more on this in a minute)

I noticed that there were a few applications that I needed to do some of the things I do. I needed an HTML editor, a password manager, a PDF reader, a FTP client, and some time wasting games. How do you add programs to a Linux Box? Well I was told that Ubuntu had a nice "wizard" like add/remove application feature. Well I found it. It is the last item on the APPLICATIONS Button list (Upper left of desktop). Lets try it. I clicked on it and it told me it was checking for INSTALLED and AVAILABLE APPLICATIONS. After about 20 seconds or so it brought up a nice list of applications available for install. They are even broken down into categories. This looks nice. There is a long list (too many to name) but where are they? I don't have a CD in the drive. After playing with it for a few minutes, I figured it out! The list is generated from applications located on the Internet! Now that is cool. You just go through the list check the programs you want and then click the APPLY button at the bottom of the window. Ubuntu then downloads the selected applications and installs them for you. At the start of the install process you are asked for the ROOT password ONCE and ONLY ONCE!!! A progress bar appears and counts up until everything is done. The things you selected now appear in your APPLICATIONS Menu! So far I have added the following Applications:

NVU HTML Editor
GFTP
Thunderbird Email
Adobe Accorabat
KeePassX

I was never asked to reset or restart, the applications just appeared and worked. This is a nice feature but what if there is an application that I want that is not on the list? We will find out before the month is up. For now I have what I need from this "wizard".

Other things that I've done with little to no trouble.

Setup GFTP to get to my websites
Setup and imported my passwords to KeepassX (had MS WIndows version)
Imported my Favorites into FIreFox
Learned that PLACES (menu bar) then HOME DIRECTORY is kinda like MS Windows "My Documents" Folder
Learned that PLACES (menu bar) COMPUTER is like clicking on "My Computer" or "Windows Explorer" in MS Windows.

Two Bad things happened. While setting up EVOLUTIONS EMAIL I had to get some information from the files I put on the Internet file server to complete the setup but while it was waiting for answers it would not let me get to the desktop to start Firefox. I tried to CANCEL the setup but it wouldn't. Then it locked up!!! Nothing worked and I had to HARD REBOOT. The "Now I'm a Full Linux Box" was reset for the first time at 11:10pm on 11-2-2006. That gave it an "up time" of about 29 hours. I've had MS Windows boxes make it that long :-)

The second bad thing was while Blogging all this I started off using OpenOffice.org's Word Processor so that I could spell check and I used it on my MS Windows Laptop and know it. Well every time I would select a section of text that was more than one screen in size it would CRASH!!! It would lose any unsaved data!!! It did it four times before I gave up on it!!! If you can't, tell it made me very mad, mad enough to download AbiWord. Just in case someone that knows Linux better than me reads this the only two programs I was running was OpenOfice.org Word Processor and Firefox and was just copying and pasting. I will add another 256mb of memory and see if that helps.

Day two has passed. So far I'm still on the fence.

Some rating scores I give Ubuntu after one day use

install and setup 8 of 10
(because of the slow mirrors, and time change crash).

The add/remove application "wizard" 9.5 of 10
(I like the Internet list and no reset and only having to type the password once)

Application reliability 5 of 10
(evolutions cause a hard reboot, OpenOffice lost data, Firefox is noticeably slower)

Application usability 7.5 of 10
(the applications have a good interface and menus have a logical layout)

Taking Inventory

2006-11-03T01:57:00.000-05:00

Nov 1, 2006, 6:00pm, I found that I could right click on the desktop and get a MS Windows like screen setup for color changes and background images. To get to other things like resolution, background image, themes, font, sounds and color settings Click on the SYSTEM button top left side of your desktop on the menu bar. All of these items seem easy to use but you will probably have to add your own pictures, wavs, mp3, themes, to have any real choices. (with everything that did come with this single CD install I did not expect to find much in themes and backgrounds).

As to what you get, here is a list (You access the programs by clicking on the APPLICATIONS button on menu bar on the upper left corner of your desktop)

ACCESSORIES
Archive Manager
Calculator
Character Mapper
Dictionary
Disk Usage Analyzer
Take Screenshot
Terminal
Text Editor
GAMES
(there are about 12 basic games)
GRAPHICS
F-Spot Photo Manager
Gimp Image Editor
Gthumb Image Viewer
Xsane Image Scanner
INTERNET
Ekiga Softphone
Firefox 2
Gaim Instant Messenger
Terminal Server Client
OFFICE
Evolutions (email)
Open Office II (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, database)
PROGRAMING
(none)
SOUND&VIDEO
Movie Player
Rythembox Music Player
Serpentine Audio CD Creator
Sound Juicer CD Extractor
Sound Recorder

Under the SYSTEM BUTTON on the menu bar (upper left) there are two important sub menus, they are PREFERENCES and ADMINISTRATION. From what I can tell so far, ADMINISTRATION is like MS Windows Control Panel or "Manage Computer". PREFERENCES is like right clicking on a MS Windows desktop but adds "mouse" and "sound" items. Basically I'm thinking PREFERENCES controls how Ubuntu Linux looks and feels. ADMINISTRATION looks to be more of a hardware manager, system monitor, network setup and user manager.

Ok enough of what's here. I'm off to start using this thing. I'm going to go and create this Blog to document my struggle. (I haven't even thought about my MS Windows machine for at lest 20 seconds now)

Next - Add/Removing Applications

First Boot

2006-11-03T00:59:00.000-05:00

Nov 1, 2006, 5:24pm, It's Alive!!!, I am presented with a USER NAME BOX. I type in my user name I gave it earlier and it asks me for my password. I give it and Ubuntu 6.1 Linux starts for the first on my new Look At Me I'm Running Linux Box. Everything looks just like I described it earlier except there are no Icons on the desktop. My USB Logitec Mouse is working and so is the PS2 Mouse. The PS2 Keyboard is working and the screen resolution is set to 1280 by 1024 and looks to be in 32bit color (it must have found the NVidia driver). The Sound Blaster Live is good too. Hey its now telling me that there are UPDATES available for download. Did it find the Realtek Network card and DCHP my Linksys router? Lets see. I was told to CLICK ON NOTIFICATION BUTTON to get the updates but could not find it and had to hunt for it (it was an orange and white button upper right beside date). I Clicked on the NOTIFICATION BUTTON and Bam! it's goes to the internet and downloads the updates. It runs the updates and STOP! It wants an ADMINISTRATOR password (I know ROOT not admin). The problem is I did not tell it nor did it ask for a ROOT password during the setup. Now What? Well I try the MS Windows default of "leave it blank". Nope, that didn't work. Hmm...Alright how about root or ROOT? REJECTED.. lets try my password. It worked! But wait a minute, does that mean I'm the ROOT? I thought that was a no no on Linux/Unix. Well the updates ran and installed just fine now. Lets see what's here. First thing find a "device manager" and make sure all the hardware is working. Where would that live? SYSTEM/ADMINISTRATION/DEVICE MANAGER easy, got it on the first try. Man what a list! This will take some time to go through so screw it, lets see if the Internet is working. I clicked on the FIREFOX Icon and, and, and, yes we have Internet. Firefox seems a little sluggish, this is a 2ghz machine, not state of the art but not bad either.

It's now 5:30pm and this machine is up and running, the hardware seems to be working and I have Internet access. I will now use my MS Windows machine for the last time this month. I log onto my MS Windows Laptop and copy all my email contacts, needed files, favorites, and a few play files (mp3, AVIs, ect) to an Internet storage server and to a thumb drive and a removable USB Hard drive 300gb. I then power the MS Windows Laptop down and remove his battery. I give it one last look and put it in its carrying bag. I have decided to live or die with Linux for the next 30 days.

Next - Taking Inventory

Installation Take Two

2006-11-02T23:44:00.000-05:00

Nov 1, 2006, 4:40pm, the computer is rebooting and nothing was installed to the hard drive because it would not reboot without the CD in. When rebooting I noticed that Ubuntu asked me to remove the CD but wouldn't boot from the hard drive but that is understandable considering that the install crashed (well powered off by me).

Alright once again I get the menu and select option one (1) Start or Install Ubuntu. I then get the “sorta like MS Windows” screen and I once again double click on the INSTALL Icon. I get the pop up window one of six asking me to pick a language. ENGLISH, I say and click “next”. Screen two of six wants to know what part of the world I'm in and what is the time and date. I select “New York” and even though the time is wrong, I leave it alone and click the “next” button....

BINGO!!! window three of six wants to know what my keyboard layout is. I pick ENGLISH KEYBOARD and click “next”.

Window four of six wants to know my name, logon name, password, and computer name. I fill them in and click the “next” button.

Window five of six wants me to pick a hard drive and how I want to partition it and where to install Ubuntu. Well I am wiping this whole hard drive and just putting Linux only on it (no duel boot) so my choice is easy ERASE ENTIRE DRIVE. (This screen could be confusing if you are duel booting or need to install Linux to a single partition on a multi-partitioned hard drive) I then clicked “next”

Window six of six says it's READY TO INSTALL and gives me a list of all my choices and wants to make sure they are what I wanted. There are a few things here I don't understand:

1. I got a notice that “GRUB” will be installed on “hd0”.
2. A message that Partation Table Changes IDE Master is “hda”
3. Partition #1 is IDE1 master hda as “ext3”
4. Partition #5 is IDE1 master hda as “swap”

Ok, What is a GRUB, a boot loader? I assume that “hd0” refers to my primary hard drive and I thought “hda” referred to the first partition on that hard drive but then I see partition #5 is also “hda”? I don't understand. What is an “ext3” and how big a partition did it get? What about the “swap”, I assume it's the same as a MS Windows “swap file” but is on it's own partition but how big is it? And if its partition #5 and partition #1 is a “ext3” What are and how big are partition #2, #3, and #4.

Even with these questions, I assumed that Ubuntu knew best and I click “INSTALL” accepting these settings.

At 4:55pm, after clicking the INSTALL on window six of six, I got a progress bar that told me it was doing what I asked it too and told me it was “creating ext3 file system for / in partition #1 of IDE1 master” and then began working my hard drive.

Ubuntu did not ask any more questions, it just moved the progress bar and kept telling me what it was doing and what was being installed. It was kinda like a MS Windows install without as many questions.

At 5:21pm, Ubuntu informed me that it was done with the installation and I could either reboot and start Linux from my hard drive or continue to use the “live CD”. I crossed my fingers and chose the Reboot option. Ubuntu told me to remove my CD from the drive and I did. The screen flashed and my BIOS flash screen appeared. I was booting a Linux box for the first time. The Install process took 26 minutes if you don't could the 4 hour download and the first install crashing :-)

(I reached over to my MS Windows Laptop and patted him and told him that he was a “good boy” and that it would be ok).

Next - First Boot

Installation Take One

2006-11-02T22:46:00.000-05:00

Nov 1, 2006, 4:20pm, Installation has begun. The first thing that you see is a screen asking what you want to do.

1 Start or Install Ubuntu.
2 Start Ubuntu in Safe Graphic Mode.
3 Check CD for Errors.
4 Memory Test.
5 Boot from First Hard Drive

Well I'm planning on installing Ubuntu and using this whole 80gb hard drive for it (no duel boot) so I picked option one (Start or Install Ubuntu). I pick it and wait. It took about two minutes and a MS Windows like screen appears. The screen looks enough like windows that I'll be able to get around easily. The screen has a brown and tan background and the task bar (windows talk) is at the top of the screen, the clock/calender and the SHUTDOWN/LOGOFF button is in the upper right corner and the “Start Button” labeled “APPLICATIONS” is in the upper left corner. There are two other menu buttons on this task bar, PLACES and SYSTEM. There is a “quick launch bar” beside these menu buttons and I know them, they are the icons for FireFox and Evolutions email. The third icon is a question mark and is “help”. There are two Icons on the desktop, they are INSTALL and EXAMPLES. There is a bar at the bottom and on its left side is a small button that says “Click here to hide all windows” when you mouse over it. On the bottom right side there is a little “trash can” and to squares, one gray and one orange and say “switch between workspaces” when moused over. Hmm... Looks cool in a different from MS Windows kinda way. Lots of stuff I don't know yet and some I want to play with, but I'm here to INSTALL it, so I double click on the INSTALL Icon on the desktop.

NOTE: you can just play with Ubumtu at this point without hurting anything on your MS Windows hard drive so I'm told. Kind of a test drive if you will.

Ok, I've double clicked on the INSTALL Icon and a window pops up and says it's one of six. It wants to know what language I want. I pick ENGLISH.

Screen two or six want to know what part of the world I'm in and what is the time and date. I pick NEW YORK (closest choice) but the time is wrong so I click on it to set it. I adjust it and click on the “next” button. NOTHING HAPPENS. Now what? I try clicking “next” again, NOTHING. I click a few more times (crazy) and still NOTHING. I try ESC. NOPE. I try the good old windows “three finger salute” NO GO. My mouse moves but the change time windows will not leave. Fine! I hit the power button on the Linux Wanna Be Box and “hard reboot”. This could be bad. Not a good start (I look longingly at my MS Windows Laptop just two feet away).

Next - Installation Take Two.

Picking and Getting your Distro

2006-11-02T21:17:00.000-05:00

The first thing to do is get a Linix Distro or Flavor. This is basically the team or organization who packages the installation disk(s) that you will be using. Some are easier to use than others so you should visit the DISTROWATCH link on my links menu and read about the differences before you get one. For me UBUNTU version 6.1 (newest) seemed to be the way to go. This distro was recommended to me by a friend and is supposed to have an easy to use program install "wizard".

After you pick your Distro, you have to get it. I went to UBUNTU's web site and selected the desktop version. This took me to their download page which had several links to choose from. Most were .EDU sites. UBUNTU is about 700mbs and all the sites were slow. The best I could do was about 60K/sec so it took me about an hour and a half to get it (the slowness is because of the mirror sites not my connection so be prepared to wait).

When I finally got the ISO file downloaded, I had to create an installation CD out of this single large file. I used the freeware program IMGBURN to do this. Once you install IMGBURN all you have to do is RIGHT CLICK on the UBUNTU-6.10-desktop-i386.ISO file and select BURN WITH IMGBURN option and it will create a bootable CD ROM for you (you have to have a blank CD in your CD Writer too).

On November 1, 2006, at 1:00pm, I started my download from one of the mirror sites. At 2:30pm, I had the 700mb ISO file. Five minutes later I had a burnt CD that looked just fine. I got no errors downloading and none when burning. I put this CD into my soon to be Linux box and turned on the power. The CD started to spin. Then I looked at the screen to see what was happening. I then saw the ERROR message "CHECK SUM DOES NOT MATCH. SORRY". Nothing. Stopped. So I powered down and tried again. I got the same ERROR. I repeated this several time and kept getting the ERROR (Definition of crazy - repeating the same action expecting a different results on each repeat). Ok now I'm mad and two hours into this project. I went back to my Windows machine and did a google search and found no answers except that I could have a bad CD. I started to burn a new CD and try again but I had to leave. So I went to a different Mirror site and started the download again. Two hours later I had another ISO file and this one was 6 bytes bigger than the first. What the crap? I put in a new CD and burnt the second ISO. It burnt just fine but so did the first one. I took this new CD and put it in my soon to be Linux box and powered it on again. This time it worked. No ERROR message. I was on my way and it had only taken about four hours to get this far (to be fair it was not UBUNTU fault, it could have been mine, my ISPs, or the mirror sites, who knows but it almost stopped me).

Next the Installation Process.

The Hardware

2006-11-01T22:14:00.000-05:00

Here is the equipment I'll be using:

Dell 4500 2.0 Ghz P4
256Mb DDR 266 ram
80Gb Maxator Hard Drive
16X +/- RW LiteOn DVD
16X DVD ROM Sony
Sound Blaster Live Audio
RealTek 10/100 Network Card
Nvidia MX 4 420 AGP Video
Logitec Mouse USB
19 Inch LCD

Note: I removed a 40Gb HD from this machine and put it up because it has an XP Home install with MS Office 2003 Pro fully licensed. This is just in case this experiment doesn't work out. Some will say this just shows I'm not committed to Linux yet and they are right. I think of this drive as a backup plan and besides why waste the $600 in software. I read something about WINE (an app that lets windows software run on Linux?) so maybe if it does work out I can use WINE and move the Office 2003 over to the Linux box.

The Adventure Begins

2006-11-01T20:35:00.000-05:00

On November 1, 2006, I decided to give Linux (Ubuntu 6.1) a chance. I am a long time Microsoft user, clear back to DOS days (I still have a boxed copy of DOS 2.X with manuals). I currently own several machines running everything from Windows 3.1 through XP Pro and I help manage a large MS XP/2000 network spanning several locations and supporting remote users. I don't know everything about Windows and networking but I do know enough to be comfortable using and administrating it.

Why tell you this? It's not to boast, it's just to let you know where my experience lies. Now to the point. One of my friends is a devoted Linux user and after talking to him, he convinced me to give it a try. I have never used any Linux "flavor" before so this is all new to me. To give Linux a fair chance, I've decided to give up all access to my windows machines for 30 days. Now that "all access to windows" isn't exactly true, everything at work is still MS Windows based and I'll have to use it there (unless I figure out how to manage Active Directories with Linux).

The other reason to do this is just to document my experiences "switching over" in the hopes that it might help someone else who has been sitting on the fence and just needs a little help from someone who is going through the process too.

So with theses reasons in mind, this will probably turn out to be a technical blog. I plan on going into detail on what I've done and how I did it. In addition I will be giving my opinion how things differ in Linux compared to MS Windows.

As a side note this is the first time I have ever Blogged anything and I thought this would be as good a topic as any.