One of my “to achieve” points was syncing my calendar and contact information from my Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone (Qtek 9100). This post is an update from my previous one, after my Ubuntu 8.10 upgrade. Please refer to that first post if you’re using previous versions of Ubuntu. I upgraded Ubuntu and Synce, so if you are installing it from scratch and you’re having problems please let me know. I’ll try and help you.

Last week Ubuntu 8.10, aka The Intrepid Ibex, was released. Time to updgrade :-) First in my laptop. I will be the using the 64 bit alternate cd to upgrade. This means that the upgrade will have a cd image as his source, and not the Internet. This way it’s much faster. Before you start Check for updates using Update Manager Backup your data Check the Release Notes Download Ubuntu (I recommend using Torrents) Check the file hash (example: md5sum ubuntu-8.

My old laptop’s battery is dying, and I used that as an excuse to buy myself a new on :-) I had a HP Pavilion zt3240EA, and have been very happy with it. Nice machine. Still, age weights on every one. I’m gonna be installing Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS Desktop Edition, 64 bits version, on my new HP Pavilion dv5-1020ep. Download and Burn a CD Go to Ubuntu Download Page and download Ubuntu.

Virtualbox 2.0 is out and now it’s easier to install and maintain. Install Download and register Sun authentication key wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add - Go to System > Administration > Software Sources and Third-Party Software. Add the following sources for Hardy (check your distibution here) deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian hardy non-free Now you can go to Synaptic Package Manager and look for virtualbox. This way you can uninstall previous Virtualbox installations (Synaptic Package Manager will do that for you).

I have Virtualbox OSE (Open Source Edition) installed. I use it basically to use Office, when needed. Currently I only restart to Windows to sync my iPod Touch, and that’s because Virtualbox OSE doesn’t support USB. But there’s a version, provided by Sun, that supports USB devices. Uninstall Virtualbox OSE If you already have Virtualbox installed go to Applications > Add/Remove… and look for virtualbox to uninstall your current version.

One of my “to achieve” points was syncing my calendar and contact information from my Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone (Qtek 9100). After trying for some time, I used a tip from Synce mailing lists. This tip was great for me because the author was also having troubles and started from scratch. I think my problem was the config.xml file. I believe that if I just followed the instructions from the good folks from Synce, as I first did, but changed the config.

A friend of mine asked me about a Linux equivalent to Launchy, a keystroke launcher for Windows. And that is GnomeDo. Install If you have an older version of GnomeDo start by removing it and deleting is plugins: sudo aptitude purge gnome-do gnome-do-plugins gnome-do-plugin-rhythmbox rm -rf ~/.local/share/gnome-do/plugins/ Then add the following software sources (System > Administration > Software Sources): deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ubuntu hardy main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ubuntu hardy main Install GnomeDo (currently v0.

SAPO, a portuguese ISP, and for whom might interess, hosts Free Software (Software Livre, in portuguese). The Software Livre project is still in an early stage, but I think that it’s a great initiative. A list of hosted projects and an english Service Catalog for Developers are available. Currently there is a list of possible projects within the scope of SAPO Summerbits 2008. The Software Livre platform is 100% free software and it’s running Debian GNU/Linux with trac, mailman, svn, etc.

Synergy is a great piece of software. It allows you to, and I quote, “easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware”. Yes, your could use Linux, Windows or Mac OS. I’m only using it between to Ubuntu machines, so share your eXPerience if your using Linux and Windows for example. Check here a little animation.

I’m starting to play around with ufw (Ucomplicated Firewall), a firewall for Linux. It’s command line based, but simple enough. I’ll update this post as I play along. Enable/disable ufw sudo ufw enable sudo ufw disable Default policy mostly open ports sudo ufw default allow mostly closed ports sudo ufw default deny Allow/deny services syntax sudo ufw allow|deny <service> Add rules syntax sudo ufw allow|deny [proto <protocol>] [from <address> [port <port>]] [to <address> [port <port>]] Delete rules syntax sudo ufw delete <rule type> from <ip address> to any port <port number> Firewall status sudo ufw status Firewall loaded To Action From – —— —- 24800:tcp ALLOW 100.

After a while you’re starting to collect kernel versions on your system. Since Hardy came out, with kernel 2.6.24-16, we had two kernel updates, so, in grub we have now entries to kernels 2.6.24-16, 2.6.24-17 and 2.6.24-18. We just need one to boot in, and we and the most recent one of course. Still, when deciding to remove an old kernel be aware of possible problems. Virtualbox for instance, needs a module to the specific kernel you’re running.

Here’s how you share files between two Linux machines, using NFS. Installation Go to the Synaptic Package Manager Find nfs-kernel-server and install Configuration in machine 1 (where the shared folder is) Define the shares you want to provide sudo vi /etc/exports Add your shares to the file /home/mach1user/Public *(ro,sync) /home/mach1user/Documents 100.000.00.01(ro,sync,no_subtree_check) /home/mach1user/Share 100.000.00.01/20(rw,sync,no_subtree_check) Make your changes be known sudo exportfs -a Configuration in machine 2 (where the shared folder are going to be accessed) Create a folder, where the share will be mounted mkdir /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Public mkdir /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Documents mkdir /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Share Mount the shares (the IP is from machine 1) sudo mount 100.

Ok, some things I may need to do in Windows (for now). So I will install a virtual Windows machine using VirtualBox. Install Applications > Add/Remove Applications Show: All available applications Search: virtualbox Check VirtualBox OSE and Apply Changes Run VirtualBox (Applications > System Tools > VirtualBox OSE) Creating a new Virtual Machine Click New and follow the instructions (a virtual hard disk is needed, but you’ll be easily guided through the installer) Go to Synaptic Package Manager Search for virtualbox Install virtualbox-ose module for your kernel (like linux-image-2.

Tomorrow (01/05) is an holiday in Portugal and today it was a nice day to start installing Ubuntu in my Desktop :-) The first reference for my eXPerience is my own post where I address several important points to check before installing and to achieve. Running the live cd So, the first thing was downloading Ubuntu 32 bits, checking the downloaded file hash (look for more info here and burning the cd.

I’m preparing to install Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” in my desktop machine. Before starting Try, using the Ubuntu live-cd, at least graphics, sound and cable network access (done) Backup important data (done) Decide the partition layout for all my hard drives (example (done) Rethink my home network (IPs, Windows workgroup names…) Decide between Ubuntu 32 bits and Ubuntu 64 bits for my AMD Athlon 64BIT X2 DUAL-CORE 4200+ SKAM2 2.

And I’m set. I’m now officially running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. The recommended (and easier) way to upgrade from Ubuntu 7.10 is to use Update Manager. But the servers are clotted (April 25th)… I tried it two times and it just isn’t possible at this moment (yes, I want Hardy). So I downloaded the alternate version of Ubuntu (check bellow the “Start Download” button). This version isn’t a live cd, and it can be used to upgrade Ubuntu.

Here it his. Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, codename Hardy Heron, is out. This is the second Long Time Support (LTS) release from Ubuntu and it will be supported for 3 years (instead of the normal 18 months). For those who don’t want to install a new OS every 6 to 18 months this is a great chance to do a fresh install and keep your desktop up and running, with full support, for a long time.

Conky (1.5.1) is an application that posts system monitoring info onto your Desktop. It is very light-weighted and very cool to play with. Steps to install In the Terminal: install conky sudo apt-get install conky get a configuration example file (check a nicer one bellow) zcat /usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conkyrc.sample.gz > ~/.conkyrc Run conky in the Terminal To have conky automatically start when you boot Ubuntu, do the following:

Firefox widgets (buttons, radio buttons, drop down menus, text fields and checkboxes) in Ubuntu don’t look so good. I don’t like it. And I’m not the only one. So, we can change the images and CSS code for the widgets so Firefox will look really nice :) Here’s a tip from Ubuntu Forums. Steps to make Firefox widgets look good Download the Firefox Widget Installer available at the end of the first post (direct link)

Today I was talking with a friend of mine about Media Centers. A little by change I found a great Open Source solution. It’s called Elisa. Here’s a little demo: https://youtu.be/n_Hkr5GyrA0 I had to try it. It is super simple to install. It all happens in the Terminal: First import the GPG key wget http://elisa.fluendo.com/packages/philn.asc -O - | sudo apt-key add - Then add the Elisa package source to your sources list

Yesterday, when I was starting up my Ubuntu machine, the screen went white and I had to manually turn off the laptop. When I started it again the file system checkup (fsck) started. I got a lot of yes or no questions about fixing several problems. Near the end fsck aborted and I was left in the terminal to try and fix the problem. I rebooted the system, but there was a X server error and it went to the terminal again.

For sharing files with Windows you just have to follow this steps: Got to System > Administration > Shared Folders in the Shared Folders tab add the folders you wish to share in the General Properties tab type the Workgroup of your Network (as in Windows) In the Terminal add yourself as a Samba user: sudo smbpasswd -a yourusername That’s it. You can now access your shared folder using you Linux user.

Ok, setting up Apache, PHP and MySQL is super easy. I used this tip from Ubuntu Forum. I also want to import my site and database from Windows. Install Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager Now go to Edit > Mark Packages by Task Choose LAMP Server (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP server) In my case, the Ultimate Edition already had this installed :-) I just updated Apache, MySQL and PHP using System > Administration > Update Manager.

Now a great piece of software to help you install a bunch of stuff: Automatix I started with an update (Automatix already installed) using Update Manager. I then installed: Codecs and Plugins MPlayer Plugin for Firefox Ubuntu Restricted Extras and Multimedia Codecs W32-DVD Codecs Email Clients CheckGmail Miscellaneous Extra Fonts Nautilus Scripts (open as root option) Office

This blog is intended to log my latest experience in Linux. Through the years I have tried out several distributions such as Red Hat (and later Fedora), Suse, Mandrake (now Mandriva) and the Portuguese Caixa Mágica. There were always something that drove me back to Windows and as the years passed the free time started to be insufficient to allow me dive right into it. I recently decided to format my laptop and install Ubuntu.