Westell 327W Hard Reset (Verizon)

I was at the friend's house. They have this wireless router/modem model Westell 327W. It was behaving badly with the connection being up and down constantly. Of course, they forgot their admin username and password. We needed to do a hard reset on it.
Hard reset is done by pressing the reset button and holding it for long time pressed (like a minute or two as said by Verizon support). It actually did reset after around 30 seconds. The admin username password was reset to admin/password pair.

To check this you connect via cable to it and go to http://192.168.1.1 address. There you can set new admin username and password, which is desirable as you do not want anyone else to access your router via wireless connection. Another thing to set is your wireless security (such as SSID name and WEP password).

In this particular situation, The connection to Internet did not work. The Verizon page would be showing up saying offering option "reconnect after resetting modem". That required Verizon online username and password.

Alternative, path to enable this was to got the address:
http://192.168.1.1/verizon/redirect.htm
and click on disable button. After that, the Internet connection was allowed.

Viewing CHM files in Gnome (Ubuntu)

I came across several ebooks in CHM file format. In order to view/open those in Linux you need a CHM file viewer.
In default Ubuntu install with Gnome, you install gnochm package. In KDE (Kubuntu), there is Kchmviewer (have not tried it).

Command:
sudo apt-get install gnochm

Checking PDF Colour base (RGB or CMYK) on Ubuntu

RGB or CMYK
I needed this thing for sending out a PDF file to printers (ad in a magazine). These are some notes for Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic):

• Install imagemagick package, which contains identify command:
  sudo apt-get install imagemagick
• Run identify command on a PDF file to check if it contains RGB or CMYK colours:
  identify -verbose MyPdfFile.pdf

Additional comments

• Ran into some Gimp plugin package, but was not sure how to use it
• In Scribus, when exporting to PDF, one can select "Printer" in the colour tab. That created CMYK PDF file. Was not sure if it was the best quality though. Some experimenting needed.
  

Fiat Abarth 850 (Scale 1/43)

Built-in Mic Issue with Linux Mint 7 (Ubuntu 9.04) Vostro 1400

Issue
Built-in digital mic does not work in Ubuntu 8.10 and newer. Similar situation with recent Fedora and OpenSuse. It was located as PulseAudio issue, but I never managed to fix it. Recently playing with Linux Mint 7 XFCE and standard GNOME I started looking for a fix and had luck with the following:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/275998/comments/109

Fix
I followed the directions and here are some snapshots:

• First, edit or create /etc/asound file. Add the following text displayed in the picture below to add a new device called "alsaboost". Use command:
  sudo gedit /etc/asound
  

• Then edit /etc/pulse/default.pa file. Insert the following two lines where shown in the picture below. Use the following command:
  sudo gedit /etc/pulse/default.pa
  

• Reboot computer here for new settings to take place

• Go to Volume Control... and click on Preferences, then select +50db Mic
  

• Then in the Volume Control, you should see a slide bar for +50dB Mic

• This can also be adjusted from Terminal using command alsamixer:

Skype

• In Skype, in Options for Sound Devices, select Sound In to be new "alsaboot" component, and Sound Out and Ringing to be "pulse"

References
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/275998/comments/109

Linux Mint 7

Intro

I always liked Linux Mint variant of Ubuntu. For some reason I was coming back to the Ubuntu mainly I guess for the reason of staying comfortable with it and following the progress. When I noticed on DistroWatch new XFCE Mint I decided to give it a try. I ended up playing and installing both XFCE and standard Gnome Mint 7. Some very pleasent suprises came out of the excersise.

Good Stuff

• Cosmetics. Linux Mint really has all of the cosmetics figured out just nicely. Both standard and XFCE versions look extremely eye pleasing.
• Pre-configured. Another big plus is that Java, Flash, and some codecs are there by default so you are pretty much ready to go. Selection of the software is very nice. Mint tools also do make sense (software install, backup, configuration) although for some things I still like using standard Ubuntu way, which is there.
• Repositories. Repositories are already pre-configured so basically all jou need to do is run Software Manager or Package Manager and browse and install what you need. My "usual suspects" are: aMSN, Skype, FileZilla, Opera, Evolution, msttcorefonts, non-free-codecs, htop, mc, etc. Pretty easy to add with no changes in preconfigured repositories.
• Device Support. This comes from Ubuntu in general, but I noticed that audio configuration went much smoother. Also, liked the support for webcams. On my HP desktop that has video card, Mint properly selected webcam to be the input device.
• Installation. Pretty fast installation. Around 15-20 mins from Live CD.
  

More Good Stuff

• Audio. Mint 7 is based on Ubuntu 9.04. I really liked 9.04 improvements, but I had a major issue with not being able to adjust audio on my laptop. Could never make my built-in digital mic to work. Once I put Linux Mint 7 XFCE, I was pleasently suprised that the mic worked just fine and I could use Skype with no issues whatsoever.

Issues

• With XFCE version I was not able to browse my Samba shares, Standard Mint went through that with no problem.
• Where is "Lock" icon? CTRL+ALT+L still works.
• Update icon displayed as a lock. Not really an issue, but little bit confusing.
  

Test Machines

• Dell Vostro 1400
• Dell Latitude E4200
• Dell Vostro 220s
• Dell Dimension E520. Had an issue with audio. Needed to add the fix "model=ref" into the alsa configuration file.
  
• Dell Dimension 3000
• HP MediaCenter (will check number)
• VirtualBox VM

Conclusion
In general, very nicely pre-configured Ubuntu with some additional "goodies". I would recommend Linux Mint to anyone who wants to try Linux as first choice. Currently keeping as Linux choice for desktops. Will face some challenges with that Latitude E4200 as it will need to connect using VPN, Microsoft Exchange server, and dual monitors with docking station.

References
www.distrowatch.com
www.linuxmint.com
www.ubuntu.com

Experimenting with RAM disk on Ubuntu/Mint

Intro
I read little tweak article regarding use of Linux on laptops with SSD disks. One of the suggestions was to move /tmp folder onto RAM disk. So, I am here trying to do that on a "regular" desktop PC (Dell Vostro 220s).

Configuration

• In console run:
  sudo gedit /etc/fstab
• Add the following line to the /etc/fstab file:
  tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
• Restart your PC for changes to take effect
  
• Check your new /tmp with the following command:
  df -h
  

You should see a new tmpfs partition (RAM disk).

Firefox Configuration
Tell Firefox to use newly created /tmp folder for temporary files

• In th address field enter about:config
• Click yes to proceed
• Create new String property named "browser.cache.disk.parent_directory"
• Enter "/tmp" as field value (no quote signs)
  

Comments
This probably only makes sense if you have lots of RAM. In this case there is 3GB RAM, which is pretty good for running Linux desktop.

Thank you Google for celebrating Tesla's B-day (July 10)

I know I am little late, but wanted to thank Google for posting this cool image on July 10th. Thank you Nikola Tesla, too. Without him we would probably not have Google today... maybe in few decades.

Backup on Ubuntu (Samba or Windows Share)

Intro
These notes are my reminder notes on how to use rsync for backup with Samba or Windows shares on your LAN.

Installing Backup Tools
The following tools are needed:

• Samba file system (smbfs)
• Grapical interface for rsync (grsync)

Install the tools with:
sudo apt-get install smbfs grsync

"Map" remote share
Create folder for mounting remote share:
mkdir /home/username/smb
mkdir /home/username/smb/backup

Backup process
Step1: Mount remote share:
smbmount //samba_server_name/samba_share /home/username/smb/backup -o username=samba_username,password=samba_password

Step2: Synchronize folders
run Grsync, by click on Applications->Internet->Grsync


This happened to be working great for me. If you want to backup the whole home folder be careful to mount your samba share somewhere else (not as subfolder within home). Grsync is nice front GUI for rsync.
I am using this setup to perform daily backups of my Documents folder to the remote Samba share. Grsync can be used with a local hard drive or USB key without need to mount remote samba share.

OpenJDK and Sun Java (Ubuntu 8.10 64-bit)

Intro
By default Ubuntu 8.10 (64-bit) installs OpenJDK for JRE, plugins, and Web Start. Since there are some issues with OpenJDK (especially noticeable with graphics, Swing, and fonts) the suggestion is to replace it with Sun's version that is not open source. Adding Sun Java from Partner repositories did no do a job for me as plugin and web start were not available. Addiong the package ia32-sun-java6-jre solved issue with Web Start (with 32-bit web start), but applets still did not work.

Fix

• I completely removed OpenJDK and Sun Java installed from repostiories.
• Then I downloaded the latest (in my case JDK, you can go with JRE) from Sun's website. I selected Linux x64 architecture.
• In terminal I ran:
  sudo bash jdk-6u12-linux-x64.bin
• Then I moved the newly created folder to /usr/lib/jvm
• Since trying to run java command would not be found. I ran the following:
  sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_12/bin/java 1
  sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/javaws javaws /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_12/bin/javaws 1
  
• There was no need to configure alternatives for java since there was no other Java installed. If needed, this can be done with:
  sudo update-alternatives --config java
  
• To enable plugin in Firefox I needed to do the following:
  sudo ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/jdk1.6.0_12/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/
  
• Restart Firefox. It should be finding 64-bit Java plugin on your Ubuntu 8.10
  
• Only other thing I needed was to tell Firefox to run /usr/bin/javaws when it downloads Java Web Start programs. When prompted to download, click on "Open with" and navigate to /usr/bin/javaws. That should do it.

Comments
If I am following what I just did everything should be 64-bit version Java now: JRE, JDK, Java Web Start, and Java web browser (Firefox) plugin. Any additional suggestions or feedback are welcome.

Migrate Evolution Data from 8.04 to 8.10 Ubuntu Desktop

Intro
I am installing 64-bit Ubuntu 8.10 on Dell Vostro 220s. Everything is going "smoothly" so far. However, when I tried to migrate my email data by restoring Evolution backup, Evolution cannot start after import.

Fix
I found a simple fix for it on the net:

1. Delete everything in your ~/.evolution folder (/home/yourloginname/.evolution)
   
2. Start Evolution and import Evolution data by click on File->Restore Settings, un-check the option to start Evolution after restore.
   
3. When restore is finished, temporarily rename ~/.evolution to ~/.evolution.bak
4. Now start Evolution. It will re-create a new ~/.evolution folder and open with empty mail data. Close it.
   
5. Delete ~/.evolution folder, and rename ~/.evolution.bak to ~./evolution
6. Start Evolution again, it should work and find the data you imported.

Deleting files and renaming folders can easily be done from Nautilus (click on Places->Home Folder). Select an option to Show Hidden Files (in Nautilus click on View->Show Hidden Files, or CTRL-H) .

No Title (yet)

Two-three months ago I trimmed the trees in the back and front yard. Kept few "sticks" in a vase. Some golden wiping willow, poplar (hybrid), and purple ash. They all grew roots.

Now, I decided to move two into a separate "bowl" kind of like Bonsai deal. Trimmed the roots little bit. Not sure if it is going to work though. I put only few pebbles, sand and just a little bit of low quality soil from my front yard (everything dies there, or turns Bonsai).

"Mini Linux Lab"

Intro
I sorted my old PC (read ones that are saved from going into dumpster). Machines I played with:

1. Gateway 2000 P3/700MHz /w 384MB RAM and 30G HDD
   
2. Gateway 2000 Celeron/666MHz /w 256MB RAM and 15G HDD
3. Compaq DeskPro Celeron/466MHz /w 128MB RAM and 4G HDD

I had only little time this weekend so I did not have tim to play in depth with each individual combination.

Just for fun
On the first one I tried several distros. I settled with minimal Ubuntu setup (as described in one of the previous posts). Finally, some of my friends needed a second machine just for surfing net so I gave that one to them. I installed regular Ubuntu desktop (Gnome) 8.04 and that machine behaved OK. Was much faster under Blackbox with "mini" setup, but now it is up to them to play with it. It required "acpi=force" inside /boot/grub/menu.lst file.

The second one I settled with TinyMe (mini version of PCLinux) with Firefox, Flash, Java, and Skype. I will put this one in my kids room (5 and 3 year old) so tha tthey can sometimes play on sites such as PBS Kids and such. They love Curious George and Martha.

Third one was fairly slow one. It came with Windows 2000 on it. Took forever just to boot. The funny thing with Windows is that those machines 8-10 years ago came with those same versions of operating system and at that time they worked OK. Now, you take a PC that originally came with Windows, put that same version of OS on it, run updates (if you do not have life and have time to wait), and then those PCs become so slow that they are completely unusable. I finally put Austrumi Linux on it and it felt all snappy and quick (especially when I added expanded RAM to 256MB).


Distros

• Absolute
  
• Austrumi
• Damn Small
• Puppy
• TinyMe
• Ubuntu (alternate installer)
• Vector

Puppy Linux and its derivatives always amazes me. It works so fast that I always say to myself "other guys should learn from this". Litvanian distro Austrumi, also beautiful and really brought this old machine back to life. One issue I miss with both Puppy and Austrumi is multi-user. Kind of not feeling good with autologin into root account. On the other note, those old PCs ran Windows, can not get less secure than that (Win 98/ME ...). Other nice use for these old PCs ar especialized distros such as firewall, file storage, etc.

Vector just released version 6.0. I love Slackware based distros for older PCs. Both Vector and Absolute are phenomenal. Absolute takes little long to install, but works great. However, with these Gateways there was an issue with video card. For some reason Slackware based distros kept throwing my video card in unreadable mode and I did not have time to try to fix that.

For my kids room I installed TinyMe. Works great and it is very easy to manage. I do not have much experience with it but I was always a fan of PCLinux and its derivatives. Very easy to install, and very easy to add Flash, Java, web core fonts, etc. Not as fast as Puppy and Austrumi, but will do the work just fine.

Instead of Conclusion
The fun thing is that these older PCs (these were from around 1998-2000) can be extremely useful and still have lots of value. All we need to do is replace Windows with Linux. The thing is that these PCs usually come for free (together with monitor, keyboard, mice) and all it takes is little cleaning. Sometimes, you can combine parts from couple of machines and make one with more memory, nicer video card, etc. There are even lighter distros such as Tiny Core and Deli. Those are definitively worth looking at.

Just for fun? Nothing wrong with that, although the answer is no. I hope my friends will have some use of the first machine. They are familiar with Linux and saw a value in having second PC for surfing, music, and work. My kids will definitively enjoy that second one. I picked the worst one for myself to keep playing with those "minimal" variants and learn more on how to tune and configure distros such as Puppy, DSL, Austrumi...

References
http://www.distrowatch.com
http://linuxmini.blogspot.com/

Firmware Update for Verizon Westell VersaLink 327W Router

Intro
I got an used Westell 327W wireless router for my friend. It is identical to the one I got and we are both using Verzion DSL. When I was testing it I noticed it had older firmware 03.02.00a. Funny thing is that mine got updated on its own (maybe by Verizon remotely). Anyhow this is just little reminder on what I did to update this one. The model number is B90-327W15-06. My understanding is that C90-xxx-xxx serial numbers are for AT&T or BellSouth customers (not sure).


Get Update
I tried to click on Check for web update, but it seems it was not finding the server so I opted for "Local" update. I went to:
http://www.verizon.net/versalinkupdate


There I clicked on the link that matched my model number (B90-327W15-06). Check what model number is on the sticker at the bottom of your unit. I saved the update file on my desktop. The file name was:
b90-327w15.rel.upg

Firmware Update
When you click on "Local update now" it opens new window with title "WireSpeed Data Gateway Update software". For the upgrade file, click on browse and select the file you downloaded to desktop. Click on upload file and the magic starts:


Please wait for few minutes.

Once done with updating the firmware, the modem/router unit resets itself. It takes a minute for that.


As you can see here there is totally new and cool interface. The modem is connecting.


The unit with new firmware is now connected. The old settings (wireless network and all that) should be preserved. Please double check. I find this new interface more user friendly.

Admin Password
You might be asked admin ussername and password. By default these units have username: "admin", and password "admin" (do not type in quotes). These are settings that can be changed so if you changed yours before and cannot remember, you can reset the unit by pressing reset button and holding it for 30 seconds. That should restore default values. On some websites I saw people mentioning combination username: "admin", password to be "password". On this unit I obtained it was admin/admin.

Linux?
Yes. The whole process was done using Mozilla Firefox 3.0.6 and Ubuntu 8.04LTS Linux.

UPS Backup?
Recommended. Well I had both the computer I used in the process and the Westell unit powered through uninterrupted power supply (UPS). You see there is this few "moments of truth" when you are actually erasing the existing Flash ROM inside the unit and burning the new firmware. I am not sure how good Westell's routine is and if it provides any security features against power failure during the upgrade. So if you happen to have an UPS please make sure both your PC and the Westell unit are powered through it (Note: if you use laptop with battery, your PC is OK, you need to plug the Westell's AC adapter into UPS protected socket).

"Mini" Ubuntu 8.04 with Blackbox Window Manager

Intro
Last couple of weeks I have been playing with Ubuntu text based alternate installer CD. All that in quest for minimal Linux setup that would run nicely even on older PCs. Machine I was playing on one 700MHz P3 with 128MB, and 1.7GHz P4. I also played on Virtual Box under my regular Ubuntu setup.


Obtaining CD and CLI install
Go to www.ubuntu.com and download Ubuntu 8.04 LTS CD that is labeled as Alternate Installer, which is not a regular Live CD, but actually boots a text based installer.
Once you get the ISO file burn a CD with it and you are ready to start. Boot the PC with the alternate installer CD. You should get the screen below:
Select English, and then type F4 key to enter menu at the bottom where you can select installation type. Select to install a command-line system.

After that you should go through "regular" text based installer (based on Debian setup). Be careful when making option selections, especially when partitioning the hard disk. On this 700MHz P3, I selected Guided Partitioning for the entire disk (had no data to save from it).

You will be asked several questions such as time zone, username and password, etc. Wait for install to finish, then reboot and you should get a screen like this:

Login with you new username and password. Basically what you see is a minimal Ubuntu command line setup. If you type "free -m" command you should get around (only) 17M memory being used.

Update System
Issue following two commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Adding CLI programs
Not very many people would find command-line interface (CLI) user friendly. Although, I have to say there are several very powerful CLI programs that may significantly improve the experience. At the top of my list is Midnight Commander (mc) file manager, that is fairly similar to famous two-pane Norton Commander from DOS era. If you are using this PC as network server for file storage having Samba and Midnight Commander could be sufficient. The thing about MC is that you can even browse and copy to/from network shares with its interface. From command-like tools I like Nano (nano) editor, and htop system info programs.

Issue following command to install these CLI prorgams:
sudo apt-get install htop mc nano

Adding X (GUI)
In order to run some useful GUI prorgams (for example Mozilla Firefox) you will need graphical user interface. By default Ubuntu comes with Gnome, KDE, or XFCE. There are several other window managers that may not be as nice as those three but are much lighter and not as memory and other resources hungry. In this example I will use Blackbox, but IceWM, JWM, Fluxbox, or Window Maker are worht looking at as well.

To install Xorg, Blackbox, and Firefox issue the following command:
sudo apt-get install xorg xterm menu blackbox firefox

To run X and Blackbox use "startx" in command line:

The picture below is Blackbox with selected "Blue" theme and running Htop. I like nice and neat dekstop look as well as the fact that only 27MB of RAM is being used at this point.

Graphical Login
If you want to have graphical login (such as default GDM) you can install gdm, or even lighter wdm or xdm.
In terminal issue the following command (in this example wdm):
sudo apt-install wdm
sudo /etc/init.d/wdm start

You can actually skip this step and keep logging into command-line interface, then starting graphical desktop with "startx".

Adding Sound
To enable sound in your applications issue the following:
sudo apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils

Then run alsamixer to set master volume and enable mic:
alsamixer

Use left right keys to move from one setting to the next. Pressing M key would toggle on/off selections (green 00 means "enabled", MM means "disabled"). Make sure you selected right outputs and right mic input (important for programs such as Skype for phone over IP).

This can be done either through pure command line interface or inside terminal (xterm) in your Blackbox desktop.

Enable Printing
If you need to print from this machine you will need cupsys:
sudo apt-get cupsys cupsys-client

Once installed you can access cupsys settings via web interface. Open firefox and go to the following address:
http://localhost:631

In this case I selected to access remote printer on my other Ubuntu machine by changing "Manage Server" options (selected show printers shared by other systems).


Additional Repositories
You should edit /etc/apt/sources.list file:

• add "multiverse universe" text to first two uncommented deb-src lines
• uncomment "partner" repositories
• definitively add Medibuntu repositories by adding the following to the end of the file:
  # Medibuntu
  deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ hardy free non-free
  deb-src http://packages.medibuntu.org/ hardy free non-free
  

After this issue the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring

Answer with yes when asked, and then issue
sudo apt-get update

Other Programs
Pretty much here you are building your system by adding things to it. Things to imrpve the Internet experience are for example Flash and Java plugins, core fonts, etc. In this case I also installed Skype and VLC video player:
sudo apt-get install adobe-flashplugin msttcorefonts openoffice.org skype sun-java6-plugin vlc

There are definitively other apps you may want to add. I found it useful to have a standard Ubuntu install on another machine so that I can browse the packages and look what might be needed on this light setup. Definitively an interesting approach to add only things you need, while keeping your system lean and mean.


Editing Menu entries
To be added (Skype example)

References
http://www.ubuntu.com
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/minimalold
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/

Lightweight Ubuntu - My first Linux Distro

Lightweight Ubuntu
I am writing this from a Pentium 3 at 733MHz with 256M. I have been playing with alternative setup CD from Ubuntu and followed several instructions on how to make a lightweight Linux installation. Currently running IceWM window manager and Ubuntu 8.04.2. Will provide some notes when I sort them out.


Making a distro (remastersys)
Installed remastersys utility, which is a tool to make a live CD and install ISO based on your current setup. Fairly easy to run. Not sure if I am ready to start yet another Ubuntu based Linux distro. However, it was pretty cool.

I like it
I am pretty excited as I am runing an Ubuntu that reports only 40-50M RAM used when logged in. FireFox is pretty fast. I also installed Flash plugin and Java-JRE. Finally I added OpenOffice.org3 (just to confuse myself), but everything works pretty decent. Skype behaves great. The menus in IceWM need to be sorted out, but I got me a very nice setup and this Pentium 3 PC seems to be fairly useful this way.

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS as Desktop: Installation Notes

Intro
It has been almost a year since Ubuntu's long term release (LTS). I have done several installations since then both related to my work and personal use. Also proud to confirm that I helped "save" several PCs and extend their life by switching them to (not Geico), but Linux.
These are my "quick notes" for installing Ubuntu 8.04. Main purpose is to remind me what could be a typical desktop setup. Please note that Ubuntu and Medibuntu repositories contain several other packages and tons of useful software. Strongly recommend exploring what is available.

Backup

• Make sure you saved all your personal data (files, email, photos, music, specific settings, etc.)

Perform Live CD setup

• Boot Live CD. If running as Live CD goes very slow, select Install directly at the boot time.
  
• Perform "regular" setup.
• Pay attention on the hard disk partitioning.

Adjust time + NTP

• After first boot, adjust time and date, select appropriate time zone
  
• set to synchronize with time servers, this installs NTP support

System update

• Very important to done here.
• Reboot after finished.
  

Additional repositories

• In Synaptic select "partner" options in Third-Party
  
• add Medibuntu
  
• add OpenOffice.org3
• add Remastersys (not needed for most people)
  

Medibuntu
Issue the following in the terminal:
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

then the following command to import key:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

OpenOffice.org3
Add the following repositories in Synaptic (in Third-Party tab):
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu hardy main

Remastersys (Optional)
This is only needed if you plan on making your own installation CD.
Add the following repositories in Synaptic (Third-Party tab):
deb http://www.remastersys.klikit-linux.com/repository remastersys/

Install additional software (repositories)
Install the following packages from Synaptic. Accept additional dependencies

• acroread
• apcupsd (from repositories, check conf files)
• avidemux
• audacity
• amsn
• bluefish
• cheese
• compizconfig-setting-manager
• cups-pdf (Ubuntu 8.10)
  
• dia
• envyng-gtk (of interest when configuring ATI or nVidia cards)
  
• filezilla
• gftp
• ghex
• grsync
• gufw (www.getdeb.net) ***
• googleearth
• gtkpod
• htop
• inkscape
• jscalibrator
• libdvdcss2
• mc
• nautilus-open-terminal
  
• ntfs-config (only if you need it)
• non-free-codecs
• planner
• prism
• prism-google-mail
• prism-google-docs
  
• prism-google-calendar
  
• remastersys (only if you really need this)
  
• sbackup
• scribus
• skype
• startupmanager
• ubuntu-restricted-extras
  
• vlc
• w32codecs
• wine
• xchat

Other software (not in repositories)
Additional software I usually install on my desktop. Opera and RealPlayer are probably of interest for general use.

• Netbeans 6.5 (www.netbeans.org)
• Opera 9.6 (www.opera.com)
• RealPlayer 11 (www.real.com)
• Scilab 5 (www.scilab.org)
• xVM Virtualbox (www.sun.com)

Some games
There is large selection of free games under Linux nowadays. These are some:

• chromium
• fretsonfire
• monkey-bubble
  
• neverball
  
• openarena
• scorch3d
• torcs
• wormux
• xmoto

These are not in repositories, but could be of interest for "drivers":

• maniadrive
• racer

Firefox add-ons

• Foxmarks (backup your bookmarks and synchronize them across different computers)
  
• FireFTP (nice FTP client)
  

Add to panel
Right click on the bottom panel and click on "Add to panel...". Following are some I like:

• Weather
• Keyboard indicator
• Sticky notes

VMware Server 2
If you need virtual machines. Quick notes are bellow:

• add package build-essentials
• download server version 2 from VMware website
  
• unpack and run install
• make sure main user is added as admin to vmware during the installation

Tuning
This is my personal preference. You can play with yours.

• turn off desktop effects
• in appearance set icons only, for LCD screen smooth fonts
• Firefox about:config (cache to 10000, disable ip6, pipelining to yes, 8)
• terminal turn off menus

References
http://www.ubuntu.com
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu
http://www.openoffice.org
http://www.scilab.org
http://www.opera.com
http://www.real.com
http://www.sun.com
http://www.netbeans.org
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VMware/Server

Ubuntu and OpenOffice.org3 Upgrade Issue "GPG error"

Issue
Getting the following message when trying to update:

W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net hardy Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 60D11217247D1CFF

Fix
In terminal, run the following commands:

gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 60D11217247D1CFF
gpg --export --armor 60D11217247D1CFF | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update

This made my OpenOffice.org3 upgradeable again.

Fixing MBR after removing Linux (dual boot with Windows XP)

Intro
I had this PC at work where we had dual boot Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux. After removing Linux partition, GRUB would not boot into Windows. MBR needed to be repaired for Windows.

Fix
Boot with Windows XP CD. Selected "repair console". It asked for which Windows installation (entered 1 since only one was offered) and then asked for admin password.
Once in repair command line, two commands are of interest:

fixmbr
fixboot c:

First one I believe cleans MBR and second one makes sure that C: will be bootable. Both command will ask for confirmation. Answered with y (for yes) and enter.

Removing Unnecessary Packages (Ubuntu 8.04 LTS)

Intro
Love trying new things on Linux. Occasionally, it happens that I need to remove some of the installed and tested packages. However, removing the package with apt-get or Synaptic does not necessary mean you will remove all the packages installed with it (dependences) .

Quick and Elegant
To remove unnecessary (aka "orphan" packages) use the following:

sudo apt-get autoremove

Works like a charm.

Perfect Cup of Coffee: French Press

Intro
This afternoon a thought came to me that we should try that French press again. It has been a while since I used it.

Tools

• French press
• Grinder
  

Ingredients

• Coffee beans, French (dark) roast
• Water

By the list of ingredients you can tell that I am applying KISS principle ("keep it simple stupid").

Preparation
I put two larger cups full of clean and good water to boil. I used microwave oven, but stove can do it, too. Please note an emphasis on good water here. Your coffee contains around 99% of coffee so you do not want to use any stinky water (check what is going on with you tap water, use filtered or bottled water).

While the water is getting to boiling grind the coffee. You do not want to overdo the grinding. Make it coarse so it does not clog the press. Having a freshly ground coffee is generally a very good idea regardless of the way you preparing it.

Put coffee into the press and pour the hot water over it. Stir slowly and carefully. Put the lid on and let it brew for about 3-4 minutes. Do not push down the press yet.

After 3-4 minutes push the press down. Turn lid open and pour into the cups.

This is kind of an excellent mix of Turkish coffee and filter coffee. It has that smooth and rich flavor. I do not put anything in my coffee. You can add cream and/or sugar. Whipped cream goes with it well, too.

Critically Low Battery Settings (Ubuntu 8.04) on Dell Vostro Laptop

Intro
I recently noticed that my laptop would not gracefully shut down in the event of battery being critically low. It would display a warning message, but it would go off "sudden death" style. I searched the issue and found that I am not alone. I found some suggestions on changing the settings (thresholds) using gconf-editor.


Changing the settings
In terminal, run gconf-editor. It will open a window as displayed bellow. Select /apps/gnome-power-manager/thresholds/. My default values are displayed to the right.

My "wild guess" at this time is to increase percentage_critical from 3 to 7, and percentage_low to 15. I am also increasing percentage_action parameter from 2 to 5. That should initiate graceful shutdown of my laptop when the battery is at 5 % left.


The settings need to be tested. They may require some more tuning. Will see if the laptop shuts down properly (not "sudden death" style).

Waiting for Conclusion
I am waiting for my battery to go down to that level and see what happens. If it works the settings need to be adjusted for each user.

Update: It worked!
The laptop did a normal shutdown once the battery percentage level when under the newly preset value. Please note that you need to update settings for all users. I am curious if this can be preset on the system level.

First Steps on Ice

A picture is worth a thousand words... Pardon me, I meant youtube video...

Safe Shutdown of Ubuntu 8.04 with APC UPS (USB)

Intro
I recently installed Ubuntu 8.04 LTS server on a nice PowerEdge T300 server from Dell. I am also using APC UPS, model Back-UPS XS 1300 LCD with it. Ubuntu's power monitor does correctly reprots the battery charge, but is not shutting down the system when the battery charge is low/critically low. In order to do that I needed to install a nice utility called apcupsd.

Setup
Install the apcupsd package
sudo apt-get install apcupsd

Edit file /etc/default/apcupsd
sudo gedit /etc/default/apcupsd

and change the following line to "yes"
Set ISCONFIGURED=yes

Now edit the configuration file
sudo gedit /etc/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf

Make sure that the following is set:
UPSCABLE usb
UPSTYPE usb
DEVICE

NETSERVER on
NISPORT 3551

You can also adjust these values to what you think fits:
BATTERYLEVEL 8
MINUTES 4

Verify Setup
To start the apcupsd service use following command:
sudo apcupsd start

Status can be checked with the following command:
sudo apcaccess status

Restart PC and makes sure that apcupsd is running by checking the status with the same command.

Final test
Unplug the UPS and monitor the status of the battery. When it comes down to the preset values (in my case 8% or 4 minutes left) your system should initiate and complete shutdown process before your battery runs out.

Reference
http://www.apcupsd.org

CentOS 5.2 as Desktop: Installation Notes

Intro
I am in constant search for production desktop setup. Currently my first choice is Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. Occasionally, I like to try other things and see how things are developing around. One of the most popular server distros is CentOS. Very stable and robust. Checked an article on howtoforge website (Perfect Desktop with CentOS) and decided to give it a try.

Notes Format
This entry will be more in a form of notes for myself and feel free to ask if there is a need for clarification. The notes were entered as I was doing things. They may not appear to be in perfect order and not all the steps were done the same day.

Installation Notes

1. Download and create net install ISO (image is around 7MB).

2. Boot with the new CD, when asked for network repository for the install, put the following:
mirror.centos.org
centos/5.2/os/i386

When asked for the software select only "Desktop" option at this time. The setup will download all the needed software and install it for you. This step may take around hour or so. After the setup, you will be asked for root password and additional users.

3. Reboot and login into the newly install CentOS. Update is here not expected since the install should have downloaded the latest packages. However, you can open the terminal and run:
yum update

4. In Nautilus file manage, change preferences to explorer view and I like icon size at 75%.

5. Install Midnight Commander and htop, in terminal issue the following command as root:
yum install mc htop

6. To install Sun Java, download Linux binary install from java.sun.com. In my case I downloaded JDK (not JRE). Run the binary setup. As root, move the whole newly created Java folder to /opt/jdk1.6.0_11.

Add newly installed Java to alternatives:
/usr/sbin/alternatives --install /usr/bin/java java /opt/jdk1.6.0_11/bin/java 2
/usr/sbin/alternatives --config java

Same applied to Java compiler (if JDK is installed):
/usr/sbin/alternatives --install /usr/bin/javac javac /opt/jdk1.6.0_11/bin/javac 2
/usr/sbin/alternatives --config javac

Add symbolic link to mozilla plugin:
cd /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins ln -s /opt/jdk1.6.0_11/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so

Create java.sh file:
gedit /etc/profile.d/java.sh

Add the following into the file:
export J2RE_HOME=/opt/jre1.6.0_11 export PATH=$J2RE_HOME/bin:$PATH

7. For latest Netbeans, go to www.netbeans.org, and download Linux binary install. In terminal run the following commands:
cd Desktop
su
chmod a+x netbeans-6.5-ml-java-linux.sh
./netbeans-6.5-ml-java-linux.sh

This should find installed Java JDK and install Netbeans 6.5 into /usr/local folder.

8. Webcore fonts (aka standard Microsoft truetype fonts):
http://avi.alkalay.net/software/webcore-fonts/webcore-fonts-3.0-1.noarch.rpm

Save the RPM file on Desktop. Doubleclick on the file. It will prompt for root password to perform RPM install. Accept and let install.

9. Configure repositories (aka repos)
yum install yum-priorities yumex

Check the following file
nano /etc/yum/pluginconf.d/priorities.conf

Verify the following content (should be there already)
[main]
enabled=1

10. Adobe Acrobat Reader repo:
rpm -Uhv http://linuxdownload.adobe.com/adobe-release/adobe-release-i386-1.0-1.noarch.rpm

Download Acrobat Reader RPM from Adobe website:

10. RPMforge repo:

http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el5/en/i386/RPMS.rpmforge/rpmforge-release-0.3.6-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm

Install additional packages:

yum install libdvdcss libdvdread libdvdplay livdvdnav lsdvd mplayerplug-in mplayer mplayer-gui compat-libstdc++-33 flash-plugin gstreamer-plugins-bad gstreamer-plugins-ugly libquicktime htop

Answer with "y" and let yum install these from RPMforge repos.

11. Install additional codecs:

http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/mplayer-codecs-20061022-1.i386.rpm

http://www1.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/releases/codecs/mplayer-codecs-extra-20061022-1.i386.rpm

Download these and then click on them to install.

12. Skype:

Download RPM from Skype website and install.

13. aMSN:

install tk GUI toolkit package (tk) with yum or Yum Extender

go to aMSN project web page and download an installer for 8.4 Tcl/Tk version

http://www.amsn-project.net/linux-downloads.php

chmod a+x amsn-0.97.2-1.tcl84.x86.package

./amsn-0.97.2-1.tcl84.x86.package

Click Y to allow download of support code and continue.

First time you run aMSN it will ask for TLS. Before trying to login, set Firefox as default browser in Preferences. Then try to login and let aMSN download TLS and install it for you.

Additional packages from RPMforge you might need for aMSN webcam and audio:

dkms-gspca libsnack

14. Opera:

Go to Opera website and download RPM for RHEL 5 and install it.

Additional programs of interest for a desktop:

xchat scribus inkscape

15. Scilab

goto Scilab webpage and download binary tar.gz file. Unpack to Desktop (creates folder scilab-5.0.3) and move the whole folder to /usr/local/.

http://www.scilab.org

Add menu item to enable start from menus. An icon can be found in shared folder.

Conclusion
I tried the setup on several PCs (P4 Compaq, P4 Dell Inspiron, Dell Vostro 1400 laptop). I actually got pretty warmed up with the idea to adopt the thing.However, a variety of small issues such as sound card detection, bluetooth detection, and occasional slow down with Firefox made me wait for little newer version. I always loved Red Hat based distros Fedora and CentOS, but for serious desktop use Fedora seems to be too edgy and CentOS too conservative.

References

http://fundaism.blogspot.com/2008/08/microsoft-fonts-on-centos.html

http://jaysonrowe.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/centos-as-a-workstation/

http://www.howtoforge.com/installation-guide-centos5.1-desktop

Praise the pbskids.org!

My kids love gaming. Probably the best choice for my little ones (two and four) is online games at http://pbskids.org. Lots of educational stuff and kips them busy for some time. They also recognize all the characters form their favorite TV shows on PBS.