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.