I’m migration the blog to WordPress.
In the process I’m changing/fixing:
I’m also redirecting http://lof-ubuntu-xp.lofspot.net/ from Blogspot to WordPress.
All the posts from the old blog are already migrated.
Please, let me know what you think.
last updated: 11-06-2008
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 enablesudo ufw disablesudo ufw default allowsudo ufw default denysudo ufw allow|deny [proto *protocol*] [from *address* [port *port*]] [to *address* [port *port*]]sudo ufw delete *rule type* from *ip address* to any port *port number*sudo ufw statusFirewall loaded
To Action From
-- ------ ----
24800:tcp ALLOW 100.000.1.1
sudo ufw allow proto tcp from 100.000.1.1 to any port 24800
sudo ufw delete allow proto tcp from 100.000.1.1 to any port 24800After 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. Every time a new kernel is released your Virtualbox setup will not work until your upgrade the said module.
So, if you need to use Virtualbox and you don't yet have the new module, you could just restart into the old kernel.
So, think before you remove old kernels.
Removing old kernels
sudo dpkg --list | grep linux-imageii linux-image-2.6.24-16-generic 2.6.24-16.30 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.24 on x86
ii linux-image-2.6.24-17-generic 2.6.24-17.31 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.24 on x86
ii linux-image-2.6.24-18-generic 2.6.24-18.32 Linux kernel image for version 2.6.24 on x86
ii linux-image-generic 2.6.24.18.20 Generic Linux kernel image
ii virtualbox-ose-guest-modules-2.6.24-16-generic 24 virtualbox-ose-guest module for linux-image-
ii virtualbox-ose-guest-modules-2.6.24-17-generic 24.0.1 virtualbox-ose-guest module for linux-image-
ii virtualbox-ose-modules-2.6.24-16-generic 24 virtualbox-ose module for linux-image-2.6.24
ii virtualbox-ose-modules-2.6.24-17-generic 24.0.1 virtualbox-ose module for linux-image-2.6.24
uname -rsudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.24-16-genericsudo update-grubUPDATE 04/06: Sync-engine and create partnership commands changed (Hardy users after system update).
UPDATE 05/06: What to do when you update your kernel (check "Kernel module" bellow).
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.xml, as in the mailing list, I wouldn't have needed to clean my system.
So, if you are starting, you probably could skip the "clean your system" part.
I will show how I'm syncing my phone with Evolution using Synce in Ubuntu 8.04.
This is based in Synce wiki and Synce mailing lists.
Note: save this post if you're using Gnome Network Manager, because you'll probably stay without Internet after installing the core libraries. It's very easy to fix though.
Adding repositories
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/synce/ubuntu hardy mainsudo rmmod rndis_host cdc_ether usbnetsudo rm /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/usb/{rndis_host,cdc_ether,usbnet}.kosudo apt-get install usb-rndis-source cdbs
sudo module-assistant auto-install usb-rndissudo apt-get install odccm librra0-tools librapi2-toolssynce-pls. WARNING **: synce_info_from_odccm: Failed to get a connection for: Not authenticated, you need to call !ProvidePassword with the correct password. pls: Could not find configuration at path '(Default)'
ifconfig -a | grep 80:00:60:0f:e8:00 | cut -d " " -f 1sudo vi /etc/network/interfacesadd iface rndis0 inet dhcp to the filesudo /etc/init.d/networking restartsudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklistadd blacklist ipaq to the filesudo rmmod ipaqdpkg-query -l *sync*
dpkg-query -l *dccm*
dpkg-query -l *rra*
dpkg-query -l *rapi*
dpkg-query -l *multis*
dpkg-query -l *opensync*sudo apt-get remove libsynce0 multisync-tools opensync-module-python opensync-plugin-evolution opensync-plugin-synce python-opensync synce-kpm synce-sync-engine
sudo apt-get remove odccm
sudo apt-get remove librra0 librra0-tools
sudo apt-get remove librapi2 librapi2-tools
sudo apt-get remove multisync-tools
sudo apt-get remove libopensync0rm -rf ~/.syncesudo rm -f /usr/lib/opensync/python-plugins/synce-opensync-plugin-2x.pycsudo apt-get install odccm librra0-tools librapi2-tools multisync-tools opensync-plugin-kdepim opensync-plugin-synce
sudo apt-get install multisync-tools opensync-plugin-evolution opensync-plugin-syncecd ~/.synce/
wget
http://synce.svn.sf.net/svnroot/synce/trunk/sync-engine/config/config.xmlcd ~/.synce/
wget http://lofspot.net/synce/config.xmlsynce-sync-enginesynce-create-partnership "Linux desktop" "Contacts,Calendar"sudo apt-get install synce-kpmsynce-kpmmsynctool --listplugins
msynctool --addgroup synce-sync
msynctool --addmember synce-sync synce-opensync-plugin
msynctool --addmember synce-sync evo2-syncsynce-sync-enginesynce-kpmmsynctool --sync synce-synctouch sync_smartphone.sh
chmod a+x sync_smartphone.sh
vi sync_smartphone.sh#!/bin/bash
synce-sync-engine &
sleep 20
synce-kpm &
sleep 20
msynctool --sync synce-sync
Help Firefox get the Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in 24 hours.
All you have to do is download Firefox 3 within the 24 hour after is release.
The launch day will be announced soon, so bookmark this link.
You can also get involved, and spread this record attempt.
Here's how you share files between two Linux machines, using NFS.
Installation
sudo vi /etc/exports/home/mach1user/Public *(ro,sync)
/home/mach1user/Documents 100.000.00.01(ro,sync)
/home/mach1user/Share 100.000.00.01/20(rw,sync)
sudo exportfs -amkdir /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Public
mkdir /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Documents
mkdir /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Sharesudo mount 100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Public /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Public
sudo mount 100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Documents /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Documents
sudo mount 100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Share /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Sharesudo vi /etc/fstab100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Public /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Public nfs ro,hard,intr 0 0
100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Documents /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Documents nfs ro,hard,intr 0 0
100.000.0.05:/home/mach1user/Share /home/mach2user/HomeNetwork/Share nfs ro,hard,intr 0 0
Ok, some things I may need to do in Windows (for now).
So I will install a virtual Windows machine using VirtualBox.
Install
\\vboxsvr\yoursharedfolderVirtualBox running modes
Tomorrow 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.
After booting from the cd is important to check the integrity of the cd. Burning cds also fails.
Hardware to check (during the live cd session)
sudo chown -R youruser:youruser/storage/pool
sudo chmod -R 755 /storage/pool
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get purge flashplugin-nonfree gnash gnash-common && sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfreesudo apt-get remove icedtea-gcjwebplugin openjdk-6-jre && sudo apt-get install alsa-oss compizconfig-settings-manager faad gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse gstreamer0.10-pitfdll libflashsupport liblame0 sun-java6-fonts sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin unrar w32codecsI'm preparing to install Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" in my desktop machine.
Before starting
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
sudo nautilus /var/wwwsudo nautilus /var/lib/mysqlsudo mysqladmin -u root password NEWPASSWORD
-- NEWPASSWORD must be the same from your Windows config
http://localhost/mysite
USE mydatabase;sudo rm -R /var/lib/mysql/mydatabase/cd /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/
sudo ln -s ../mods-available/php5.load .sudo ln -s ../mods-available/php5.conf .
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart
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.
I installed (Applications > Add/Remove) Gmount-iso. This way I could use the iso file without having to burn a cd.
To make sure cd image isn't corrupted:
md5sum ubuntu-8.04-alternate-i386.iso166991d61e7c79a452b604f0d25d07f9 *ubuntu-8.04-alternate-i386.iso
gksu "sh /cdrom/cdromupgrade"ntp02.oal.ul.pt
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.
If you have Ubuntu 7.10 it's easy to upgrade to Ubuntu 8.04. Basically you just need to update your system using Update Manager (check the list of links bellow).
Check your Ubuntu version:
lsb_release -a
Here's a useful tip to always open your Firefox search results in a new tab:
Conky 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
sudo apt-get install conky
zcat /usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conkyrc.sample.gz > ~/.conkyrc
#!/bin/bash
sleep 20 && conky
chmod a+x conky_start.shconky_start.sh# UBUNTU-CONKY
# A comprehensive conky script, configured for use on
# Ubuntu / Debian Gnome, without the need for any external scripts.
#
# Based on conky-jc and the default .conkyrc.
# INCLUDES:
# - tail of /var/log/messages
# - netstat connections to your computer
#
# -- Pengo (conky@pengo.us)
#
# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)
own_window yes
own_window_type override
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes
# fiddle with window
use_spacer yes
use_xft no
# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 3.0
# Minimum size of text area
# minimum_size 250 5
# Draw shades?
draw_shades no
# Text stuff
draw_outline no # amplifies text if yes
draw_borders no
font arial
uppercase no # set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders 3
# border margins
border_margin 9
# border width
border_width 10
# Default colors and also border colors, grey90 == #e5e5e5
default_color grey
own_window_colour brown
own_window_transparent yes
# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
#alignment top_left
alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
#alignment bottom_right
# Gap between borders of screen and text
gap_x 10
gap_y 10
# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen
TEXT
$color
${color orange}SYSTEM ${hr 2}$color
$nodename $sysname $kernel on $machine
${color orange}CPU ${hr 2}$color
${freq}MHz Load: ${loadavg} Temp: ${acpitemp}
$cpubar
${cpugraph 000000 ffffff}
NAME PID CPU% MEM%
${top name 1} ${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1} ${top mem 1}
${top name 2} ${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 2}
${top name 3} ${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 3}
${top name 4} ${top pid 4} ${top cpu 4} ${top mem 4}
${color orange}MEMORY / DISK ${hr 2}$color
RAM: $memperc% ${membar 6}$color
Swap: $swapperc% ${swapbar 6}$color
Root: ${fs_free_perc /}% ${fs_bar 6 /}$color
hda1: ${fs_free_perc /media/hda1}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/hda1}$color
hdb3: ${fs_free_perc /media/hdb3}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/hdb3}
${color orange}NETWORK (${addr eth0}) ${hr 2}$color
Down: $color${downspeed eth0} k/s ${alignr}Up: ${upspeed eth0} k/s
${downspeedgraph eth0 25,140 000000 ff0000} ${alignr}${upspeedgraph eth0
25,140 000000 00ff00}$color
Total: ${totaldown eth0} ${alignr}Total: ${totalup eth0}
Inbound: ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count} Outbound: ${tcp_portmon 32768
61000 count}${alignr}Total: ${tcp_portmon 1 65535 count}
${color orange}LOGGING ${hr 2}$color
${execi 30 tail -n3 /var/log/messages | fold -w50}
${color orange}FORTUNE ${hr 2}$color
${execi 120 fortune -s | fold -w50}
home: ${fs_free_perc /home}% ${fs_bar 6 /home}$color
${color orange}NETWORK (${addr eth0}) ${hr 2}$colorsudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.confSection "Module"
Load "dbe"
EndSection
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:
sudo dpkg-divert --add /usr/lib/firefox/res/forms.csssudo dpkg-divert --remove /usr/lib/firefox/res/forms.css
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:
wget http://elisa.fluendo.com/packages/philn.asc -O - | sudo apt-key add - sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list deb http://elisa.fluendo.com/packages gutsy main sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install elisaYesterday, 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.
Ok, at this moment I was scared. A lot of data I didn't wanna lose.
I logged to my desktop machine and went to Ubuntu Forums.
Here's what I did, and yes, I'm posting from Ubuntu:
sudo umount /dev/sda1
sudo umount /dev/sda5
sudo umount /dev/sda6
sudo umount /dev/sda7
sudo e2fsck -C0 -p -f -v /dev/hda1
sudo e2fsck -C0 -p -f -v /dev/hda5
sudo e2fsck -C0 -p -f -v /dev/hda6
sudo e2fsck -C0 -p -f -v /dev/hda7
For sharing files with Windows you just have to follow this steps:
sudo smbpasswd -a yourusername
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:
