Karmic Koala has been released.
Download your copy today and find out why everyone else uses linux!

Tags: ubuntu, Linux

*Solved*

I have been bashing my head against a wall trying to figure out why Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex won’t allow me to select a higher resolution than 640x480 when installed on a Dell Optiplex GX260. The GX260 has an intel 845 integrated graphics card that shares the memory of the system. That last little bit of information should have been enough for me to sort out the problem quickly. I blame Apple.

Since I bought my macbook I have had zero problems with it. I use it almost exclusively and so my troubleshooting skills on PC’s may be waning a little. I love my macbook. So much so, I’ve bought an iMac.

Anyway.. after editing and modifying the xorg.conf file ad-nauseam without success I finally thought to check the BIOS.

In the BIOS, under integrated devices is the Video card memory setting. It was set to 1MB. I upped this to the only other setting of 8MB and rebooted. Problem solved.

Immediately I could now set the screen resolution to a maximum of 1200x1024, which is more than enough on a 17 inch monitor.

I hope this helps some other poor sod trying to deal with the same problem.

Tags: ubuntu

I am sitting around listening to some Jethro Tull and throught I’d have a quick look at Ibex.

The latest version of Ubuntu was released yesterday... 8.10 or Intrepid Ibex.

I downloaded the ISO and booted my PC from the live CD option to have a look. Well I was expecting... more.

Very first impression: Geez someone knocked over a coffee cup on the desktop.
I quickly realised this was a stylised Ibex, after which the product version is named.

I can’t see a lot of new stuff, actually the only thing that jumped out at me was the USB install option.


Firefox 3.03 is in there, but OpenOffice.org 3.0 didn’t make the cut. Ibex is running version 2.4. There is nothing wrong with that, but given Firefox 3.0beta made the cut for Hardy Heron (which is what I’m currently running), I would have thought OOo3.0 to have made it in. Perhaps there was insufficient time for testing or some such thing.

The Ubuntu site does say that most of the new goodies are behind the scenes and include new wireless abilities and 3G support.

The latest GNOME 2.24 is being used, but there are no new or additional themes.

An interesting feature is the “Guest Session” where another person can use your Ubuntu PC as a guest while keeping all your secrets... well, secret.

On the whole though, I’m not really tempted to upgrade my Hardy Heron install to Intrepid Ibex. I might hold off and wait to see what others are saying about it. One never knows, there may be a killer app hidden in the large intestine of Ibex that will tempt me to neuralise Heron.

Tags: Linux, ubuntu

OpenOffice.org 3.0 was released today. The demand was so great there were problems with the site. Give it a couple of days before you download the new version and hopefully the rush has subsided.

There are apparently quite a few new things in this version, one being compatibility with M$ Office 2007 format.

I am running this version on OS X 10.5 and the final release is a bit quicker than the original public Beta. However, it’s no Audi R8.

I was flicking through some of the online discussions and found that by disabling the Java runtime environment you can speed up the whole app quite significantly. Jump into preferences and click on the Java option, then remove the tick.

So far it’s looking good and I’m glad it’s finally out of Beta.

I’ll be interested to see how it goes on Ubuntu, but I’ll wait for the official release in the updates for that one.

Tags: OS X, ubuntu

Not using iTunes to manage your iPod?? Blasphemy!!

Well not quite. What if you’re a Ubuntu user like me and don’t have the all-singing all-dancing iTunes for your OS?

Solution: Rythmbox.

Rythmbox is the default music player in Ubuntu and it has iPod support. I was surprised when I plugged my Nano into my PC to give it a bit of juice, and up popped Rythmbox.

The interface is reasonably similar to iTunes, afterall it was inspired by it.

I haven’t had too much of a play with Rythmbox as I have a macbook that is my iTunes music database, but here is a tutorial to get started with.

So, while we wait for Apple to release a version of iTunes for linux (here’s hoping they do), give Rythmbox a try.

If Rythmbox is not iTunes looking enough for you, you can try out www.songbirdnest.com

Tags: Ipod, Linux, ubuntu, technology

I had a bit of a problem today. It’s been raining so I was mucking around with desktop effects in my new Hardy Heron install.

I miss-clicked something.

The result was I lost all windows, menu’s and task bars. They were hidden so I think I was playing around with window opacity.

I could ALT+TAB between windows but nothing would show on the screen.

Seeing as all configuration in Linux is in text files I went hunting.

I did a CTRL+ALT+F5 to bring up a terminal window, logged in and I found the following in my home directory:

.gnome2
.gnome2_private
.gconf

A quick look told me these were the gnome display settings for my GUI interface so I deleted them with:

rm -rf .gnome2 .gnome2_private .gconf

followed by a CTRL+ALT+DEL

All back to normal. I reapplied the basic effects I had before I tinkered, and I’m happily working again.

Phew! I was thinking for a moment (just a small moment) that I would need to re-install.

Tags: Linux, technology, ubuntu

In my impatience to see if I could get the very latest Firefox 3 rc2 running on my new Hardy Heron install, I ran “sudo firefox” from the terminal and then an update with the built-in update feature.

Big mistake.

I broke Firefox in a bad way. None of the icons on the toolbar were available and there was general havock with the whole program.

It seems by running Firefox with sudo and then trying an update I had changed the ownership of some of the files to root, rather than my login.

The following command fixed the problem:

sudo chown -R username:username ~/.mozilla

Firefox has now settled down but I don’t really trust it.

Rule number 1: let the synaptic package manager dish out the updates as they arrive, don’t jump the gun.

Tags: firefox, Linux, ubuntu

It is a long weekend so I decided to upgrade my Gutsy Gibbon install to Hardy Heron. This was more of a complete install rather than an upgrade. My pc needed a clean out.

I have a slim aluminium Apple keyboard on my PC which is great and everything was fine.

Fine until I hit the Num Lock equivalent (the “Clear”) key on the numeric keypad.

This promptly screwed up my keyboard mapping. Nothing I did would return it to normal, including rebooting the machine. Although I didn’t try powering off the computer, just a soft reset.

Anyhow, I managed to fix this problem by plugging in a standard pc usb keyboard and pressing the Num Lock key thereby resetting the OS. I then plugged the Apple keyboard back in and all was well. I confirmed the problem again by pressing the “Clear” key. Problem returned, numeric keyboard not working but neither were the alpha keys.

Fix by repeating the above.

After some googling this seems to be a kernel bug in Ubuntu 8.04. Hope they fix it soon.

Tags: apple, technology, ubuntu

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS ~ Hardy Heron has been released.

The reviews of this release are glowing and all said and done, a worthy upgrade to Gutsy Gibbon.
Lots of new stuff including (copied from the Ubuntu site):

Productivity tools: Ubuntu supports all of your favourite web-based mail programs like Yahoo(TM) or Gmail (TM). But for the office, Evolution provides all the calendering, contacts and full function office email you need. Pidgin IM also puts you in instant touch with colleagues and integrates with your personal IM services simply and easily.

Browsing: Including Mozilla Firefox (Beta 5) - tested and stabilised for a platform. Faster, safer and themed for Ubuntu.

Photos: Upload from your camera or phone to F-Spot and manage, tag, share and sort your photos and upload easily to you favourite social networking sites.

Music and video: Plug in your PSP, iPod, MP3 player; share playlists with your friends; buy in the creative commons online music stores, stream more live radio and plug in more devices with UPnP.

Office applications: Word processing, spreadsheets and presentations can all be delivered through Open Office 2.4. And, they completely integrate with the proprietary office applications out there. The big difference is that they are free.

Accessibility: At the core of the Ubuntu philosophy is the belief that computing is for everyone and access should be free and complete whatever your economic or physical circumstances. Ubuntu is one of the most accessible desktop operating systems around.

This is a long term support version, so updates should be coming thick and fast for about 18 months to 2 years.

I've been running Gutsy Gibbon on my PC at home and was considering changing to Suse Enterprise Desktop from Novell. I think I'll upgrade Gutsy to Hardy and stick with Ubuntu for a while longer.

Remember two things:

1. Ubuntu runs also as a Live CD so you can try before installing and,

2. Ubuntu is completely FREE

Tags: technology, Linux, ubuntu