Disabling Smart Scopes in Ubuntu 13.10

To disable smart scopes in Ubuntu 13.10, go to Settings, Security and Privacy, Search, and flip the switch for the setting Include online search results.

To disable specific scopes, go to the Applications scope (Windows/Super key + A), go to the Dash Plugins section and click on See more results. Click on the scope you want to disable and click the Disable button.

For more tweaks that you can do to your Ubuntu 13.10 setup, take a look at:
http://www.noobslab.com/2013/10/tweaksthings-to-do-after-install-of.html

2 Days To 'Saucy Salamander' Release

With 2 days left to the Ubuntu 13.10 release, which is named Saucy Salamander, a lot of Ubuntu users wonder if it is worth the hassle to upgrade. The new Ubuntu 13.10 comes with smart scopes to provide better searches across the disk, Wikipedia, Amazon, FaceBook, Google Drive and anything else that you have a scope setup for. Ubuntu 13.10 will also feature Click format packages, which have the benefit of including all required dependencies, unlike deb packages.

Default User Files in Linux

When you create a user account, the home directory of the user is pre-populated with files that are in the /etc/skel directory. This is useful for distributing a copy of the usage policy for your system to all new users. You can use the "-k dir_name" option to specify an alternate directory of "-k /dev/null" if you do not wish to copy any files to the home directory.

Linux On Old Hardware: More Progress

After getting Turbo Linux 10 OEM to run on my computer, I decided to install ndiswrapper. To install ndiswrapper, I needed the kernel sources, which I obtained from the Turbo Linux 10 updates FTP link. I also used the RPMs to upgrade my kernel from 2.6.0test to 2.6.0-24.

I set the KBUILD environment variable to my Linux kernel source directory with a:
export KBUILD=/usr/src/linux-2.6.0
...and ran "make" overnight, which compiled the kernel sources and ndiswrapper. After it was done with its buzzing, I did a "make uninstall" followed by a "make install". It would always fail on the installation with a:
ndiswrapper install: cannot stat ndiswrapper.ko No such file or directory

I then tried to set the KVERS variable, as I found the symbol in the Makefile within the drivers directory of ndiswrapper with the following:
export KVERS=2.6.0-24

That didn't seem to make much of a difference either as I still got the error. I also tried manually copying ndiswrapper.ko from the Linux source directory to the directory it was trying to install to. I did a Google search, but the only suggestion I could find was to do a manual copy and run make install again, but I already did that so it wasn't of any use to me.

From the output, I can tell that the installation wants to copy ndiswrapper.ko from one directory to another, but I can't seem to tell which the source directory is. I'll run "make install" again and will look at the final output with a more analytical eye.

UPDATE: I noticed it was leaving the /root/ndiswrapper-1.54/driver directory after the error, so I figured I had to put the ndiswrapper.ko in there. That got "make install" working without errors, but when I do a "modprobe ndiswrapper", I get a "FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found".

UPDATE: The ndiswrapper.ko was copied to the wrong directory... after I moved it, I did a "modinfo ndiswrapper" to ensure it was in the right place, followed by a "depmod -a" and a "modprobe ndiswrapper". Now, it complains "loadndisdriver: main(542): version
1.9 doesn't match driver version -a". I think I should get a newer kernel to work with ndiswrapper 1.53.

Linux for Old Hardware

I have an old Thinkpad 600E, which is like a grand daddy to my Thinkpad T60. It's get a Pentium II 366MHz with 64MB RAM, an 8GB hard disk, a 56kbps modem, an IrDA port, a serial port, a parallel port, firewire, 1 USB port, and a DVD drive. I decided to bring it back to life for checking my email as it's small, portable, and a lot like a netbook.

I decided to install some flavor of Linux on it, so I started off with Knoppix. Knoppix booted up from the LiveCD, but after installing it to the hard disk, it simply refused to boot up with all kinds of errors... first, there was a problem with DMA so I disabled the DMA and started it up again but it simply crashed at some other point in the startup process.

I then tried Turbo Linux 10 Desktop OEM, which installed and booted up the computer. That was cool! An ancient beast running Linux to keep up with the new boyz. Since it doesn't have an ethernet adapter to connect to the wired LAN, I decided to get something to hook it up.

I got a Siemens USB wireless adapter, which I regret because the only way to get it running on Linux is to use ndiswrapper. Using ndiswrapper isn't the actual problem, but the one I got with Knoppix on the LiveCD was probably too old to run the drivers while Turbo Linux simply doesn't include ndiswrapper. I tried installing ndiswrapper, but the kernel sources folder was missing a ".config" file, and I didn't find a copy in /boot/config as a forum-post suggested.

I finally decided to go with something more recent so I got a copy of Sidux Linux, but that wouldn't even boot from the LiveCD.

Anyway, I guess I'll have to just hope I can find a PCMCIA ethernet card supported by Linux (more specifically, by Turbo Linux 10, the only distro that would successfully boot).

Java 6 Combo Box-Gtk bug

Sun Java 6 has a bug that goes way back to November 2007. The problem is with using a combo box in GTK. A workaround is to use the metal look and feel instead and the fix is available only in beta of Java 7. The beta is still unstable so if you're looking for a fix for the bug, you'll have to wait till Java 7 goes RTM. That makes it 15 months and counting for a resolution to the bug.

You can read more about it here and here.

Here's the output I get when running the open-source nText editor with java 6 (1.6.0_10-b33).

nitin@nitin-laptop:~/Desktop$ java -jar nText.jar

(<unknown>:19134): Gtk-WARNING **: Attempting to add a widget with type GtkButton to a GtkComboBoxEntry (need an instance of GtkEntry or of a subclass)

(<unknown>:19134): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_widget_realize: assertion `GTK_WIDGET_ANCHORED (widget) || GTK_IS_INVISIBLE (widget)' failed

(<unknown>:19134): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_paint_box: assertion `style->depth == gdk_drawable_get_depth (window)' failed

(<unknown>:19134): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_paint_box: assertion `style->depth == gdk_drawable_get_depth (window)' failed

(<unknown>:19134): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_paint_box: assertion `style->depth == gdk_drawable_get_depth (window)' failed

(<unknown>:19134): Gtk-CRITICAL **: gtk_paint_box: assertion `style->depth == gdk_drawable_get_depth (window)' failed


UPDATE: Java 7 is expected to go RTM in early 2010. That's an estimated 27 months before the bugfix is available for production systems :-(

Increasing Wanda's Vocabulary

Wanda is the fortune-telling fish you can add onto your *nix menu bar. When you click on her, she displays a random quote from William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, or other humorous quotes and riddles. If you don't have it, right-click your menu bar, click Add to Panel, select Fish and click Add.

Behind the scenes, Wanda relies on the "fortune" command line application that displays random quotes from the fortunes file located at /usr/share/games/fortunes. You can view a list of all messages used by fortune from the file /usr/share/games/fortunes/fortunes. To edit this file, do the following:

cd /usr/share/games/fortunes
sudo vi fortunes

At this point, the vi editor starts up. If you aren't familiar with the vi editor, you can use gedit instead - type "gedit fortunes" instead of "vi fortunes". You have to end every entry with a "%" sign on a blank line. After you've edited and saved the file, type the following command

sudo strfile fortunes fortunes.dat

Now, Wanda (and the command-line fortune) will display the new messages which could be anything from the Java Factoid of the Day, or a quote from Star Wars - "Who's the more foolish: The fool, or the fool who follows him?".

HOWTO: VPN from Ubuntu 8.10

I have a Microsoft Windows based network at the office and they've setup a VPN connection for me to be able to hook up to the servers to take care of a couple of ASP.NET applications and manage the server.

Ever since I installed Ubuntu 8.10, I've been a bit disconnected from the office as I can only access the services exposed by the web gateway, so I finally decided to setup a VPN connection from Linux.

I started off by clicking on the network icon on the top-right of the menu bar and then Configure VPN (under VPN Connections). The VPN tab had the Add button disabled so I went to the command prompt (Application, Accessories, Terminal) and typed the following command:
sudo apt-get -y install network-manager-pptp

I then entered my password (for the sudo), after which it downloads and installs PPTP support. To make sure Add button under VPN is now enabled, I also type the command:
sudo NetworkManager restart

Now, I simply click the network icon (from the top-right of the menu bar), click Configure VPN (under VPN Connections), I click the Add button, type in the IP address of the VPN server for the Gateway, my ActiveDirectory (from the Windows domain) username and password, followed by the domain name. I click the Advanced button and check the "Use Point-to-Point encryption (MPPE)" checkbox and click Ok on both dialog boxes.

To connect to the VPN, I click the network icon and under VPN Connections, I select the VPN connection that I just created.

Convincing People to Go Ubuntu

Yesterday, I got a co-worker to switch to Ubuntu 8.10 as a primary operating system. The Windows key-Tab for switching between windows had her impressed. We use Sun's VirtualBox to run Windows XP so we can work on Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. The installation went perfectly well as both the partitions were primary partitions.

Today, I convinced another co-worker to use Ubuntu - it was mostly the Compiz Fusion 3D desktop cube that did it for him. Running Sun's VirtualBox for Visual Studio made the deal. However, the installation didn't work - an error was reported at the partitioning phase and apparently, the installer doesn't re-size the extended partition to make room for itself.

Windows is still a part of daily work though... it comes as a part of being in a team developing with the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.

Splashtop - Boot In Under 5 Seconds

If you spend minutes waiting for your computer to boot up to check your email, you'd better reconsider your options. Splashtop is a Linux distribution usually distributed on a ROM chip and includes a web browser and Skype client. Some systems from Asus and Lenovo include Splashtop and you can get a list here. Systems with Splashtop include a regular operating system, such as Windows Vista or Windows XP.

Other Splashtop-like Linux-based systems also exist, such as Dell's Latitude ON, and Coreboot.

Installing Windows in Virtual Box on Linux

I was pretty excited to get VirtualBox finally running on my Ubuntu 8.10 installation so I decided to go ahead and install Windows 2008 on VirtualBox. I mounted the installation disk as an ISO image and booted up a virtual machine with 1GB RAM, 64MB video memory, and 3D acceleration. Each time I started up the installation, the CPU usage would peak to a high, the Vista installer's black-and-white text-mode screen with the progress bar would appear, then the window size would increase with complete blackness followed by a text mode window with complete blackness.

After a failed attempt at installing Windows 2008 on VirtualBox, I decided to install Windows XP instead. I mounted a physical Windows XP CD, booted up the virtual machine and the installation went on as usual. The formatting part was zippy-quick as it's a virtual machine and not a real physical disk on a real physical machine. That's the best part about installing on a virtual machine.

When the GUI portion of the Windows XP installation started, I realized that Virtual Box just wouldn't capture my mouse pointer, no matter what I did. I went ahead with the installation anyway using just the keyboard. After the installation was complete and I still had a defunct mouse pointer so I thought I'd try and setup Remote Desktop and connect to it via the Terminal Service Client in Linux. I clicked on Devices and clicked Remote Desktop and... nothing. I was hoping for a dialog box or something but none appeared. Perhaps I forgot to set something up? I then tried Install Guest Additions, went through the install in the virtual machine with the keyboard, moved the mouse, and voila! The mouse pointer was working!!!!

I then went on to install Visual Studio Team System 2008 and even as I speak, VirtualBox is emulating a physical system on which Microsoft Windows XP is installing Visual Studio 2008!!! How cool is that?! :-)

I'll tinker around with VirtualBox some more and let you know how things are flowing.

I wish the VirtualBox guys would spend more time testing the Linux version 'cos trying to get it to work was frustrating.

UPDATE: I've been wondering why Windows 2008 didn't work in VirtualBox because I was pretty sure I used it in VirtualBox before so I booted up in Windows, tried running VirtualBox again, mounted the Windows 2008 DVD and tried again. This time, I noticed a loooong pause before the Windows 2008 installer would do anything :-P

VirtualBox 2.1.0 Install On Ubuntu Linux 8.10

Installing VirtualBox was a little bit more complex on Linux. The first time I ran the installation, it stopped at the end complaining about not finding a kernel module or the kernel headers to compile a kernel module.



After installing the kernel headers, I tried to run the installation again but the installation would just stop indicating that the vboxusers group already exists, so I un-installed the virtualbox-2.1 package with a "dpkg -r" and tried re-installing again, but the group was still there :-(

Anyway, so I manually remove the vboxusers group using "groupdel vboxusers" and re-install again. This time, I get a message indicating that the installation was successfully completed and the kernel module has been started.

Finally, I've got to go find the executable as there isn't an icon in "Applications". I remembered seeing a System Tools menu in "Applications" for my last install, so I figured I could just get it by logging out and logging in again, and guess what - I was right!

I launched Virtual Box, scrolled down and accepted the license agreement, cancelled the registration (I'll do it another time, I promise!) and went ahead to create a virtual machine to try a boot. It worked beautifully!



The next step for me is to install Windows on VirtualBox, but I'll have to try that another time.

Installing Ubuntu 8.10

For a while, I've been trying out Ubuntu 8.10 from the DVD without installing it to my hard disk and it seemed to be pretty stable. Today, I finally decided to take the leap.

I started off with 2 NTFS partitions that took up the entire hard disk space so I had to resize one of the NTFS partitions to get some space. I thought I'd use PowerQuest Partition Magic 8.0 from one of my really old CDs, but it didn't seem to recognize my 2nd NTFS partition. Perhaps Partition Magic 8 chokes on large partition sizes or something of the sort.

Anyway, I decided to give Ubuntu's resizer a shot. It worked quite well and my NTFS partitions are still fine, so I guess I'll be using it for all of my future installations.

Setting up wireless was a breeze! As soon as I logged in, Ubuntu displayed a bubble indicating it found some wireless networks so I entered my WEP key and I was connected in a few seconds. I had to do an "apt-get update" to refresh its lists before it could recognize the monodevelop package, which was pretty easy to install with "apt-get install monodevelop". I then used the GUI to upgrade some other packages. After getting accustomed with "apt-get", I don't really miss "yum". They're pretty much the same.

I'll probably post more about Ubuntu after I install some new stuff. Until then, do post a comment about your experience with Ubuntu 8.10 that you would like to share.

Linux 2.6.28 Released

The 2.6.28 Linux kernel was released last week. Among the new features in the new kernel are the Graphics Execution Manager (a GPU memory manager), a stable release of the Ext4 file system. More information on the release is available here and here.

A Ubuntu ISO Video for Beginners

If you are trying to teach co-workers, friends or family to install Linux and hop onto the Linux bandwagon, you might want to send them this video link.

It's a screencast by Alan Pope on downloading Ubuntu and writing the ISO to install Ubuntu Linux.

Why I Like Linux As A User

The best thing about Linux distributions today is that pretty much all the stuff that I would need is in there or can be installed quite easily.

In the Windows world, if I want to get rid of everything and start over, I have to re-install Windows, find and install all the drivers which means changing a bunch of CDs and manually running the setup, install all the software (MS Office, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, MS Visual Studio, MS SQL Server, MS Enterprise Library, other 3rd party .NET development libraries, Adobe Reader, Antivirus software, VLC player, Flashget, Nero, Java Runtime Environment).

With Linux, I boot up with the DVD and start the Linux OS installation which installs pretty much everything. If anything is missing, I use 'yum' on the command line (that can probably be scripted) and everything is setup with minimal user interaction.

The one thing I don't like about Linux is the time it takes Linux distros to get working drivers out-of-the-box. Till the last version of Fedora and Ubuntu, the wireless on my notebook didn't work on install.

Ubuntu 8.10 support i3945 out-of-the-box

Ubuntu 8.10 is really cool! I just pop the CD in and boot while it automatically detects all available wireless networks. It's the first Linux distribution that works with my Intel i3945 wireless chip out-of-the-box. That's exactly how Linux has to be for people to adopt it for their common everyday computing needs - something that simply works without fumbling for drivers.

Ubuntu 8.10: A Test Run

I finally burned the Ubuntu 8.10 image to DVD and booted off the disc. It's the first version of Ubuntu that actually supports my Intel i3945 wireless adapter out-of-the-box (or rather out-of-the-ISO). I'll spend some more time investigating so look forward to more about it soon.

Fedora 10 Released Today!

The much-awaited Fedora 10 was released today. It is based on the 2.6.27 Linux kernel. You can view the entire feature set here.

Ubuntu 8.10 guest user

You've probably heard about the release on Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) on 30th last month. Apart from a newer kernel and updated packages, the new release supports guest sessions that prevent users from writing to disk. I'll post more about it as soon as I get myself a copy of the DVD edition.