Everyday Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu Backup

2009-11-15T08:39:00.005-05:00

There are a number of tools in Ubuntu that you can use to backup your Linux system. In Ubuntu 9.10, when you open the Software Center and type "backup" in the search bar, you are presented with a load of choices. To be honest, I do not know which one is the best one. And yes, you can use the command line to run tar, rsync, scp, or whatever your favorite backup program is to use in these situations.

But, I think that the Ubuntu developers should consider selecting the one that they think is the best, and include it as part of the their operating system as an easy to use graphical interface. Possibly they can build upon a open source application or create something that is akin to Apple's Time Machine. The Time Machine program is very powerful in that it allows you to save multiple versions of files, and easily restore them using an intuitive graphical interface.

It seems that everyone is hanging terabyte hard drives on there PCs via USB and backing up files to it these days. These drive are often less then $100 and offer a great way to protect the files on your systems. It is prevalent in the business world as well.

One the strengths of Linux and Apple's OSX is the ease in which you can save off file systems without the snags of having to deal with registry settings in Windows, etc. It could further set Ubuntu apart in the operating system world by introducing an easy to use backup and recovery option by default.

Playing Evony with Ubuntu

2009-06-29T20:36:00.004-04:00

Evony is an online strategy game that loosely based on the Middle Ages. You play the role of a Lord overseeing your lands, defending your cities from attack. You also get the chance to attack others to gain resources and wealth, or you can settle in and try to build up your cities. It is kind of a combination of Sim City and World of Warcraft.

Recently, Evony adds have been popping up all over the internet, especially with Google's Adsense program. They also seem to be running a campaign on DoubleClick. Anyway, since I saw the ads, I decided to give the game a whirl. I tried it using both Windows XP, and my Linux PC with generally the same results.

The game starts fine, but then after a while performance begins to suffer. There appears to be a slow memory leak in the Flash media program that Evony uses. Simply refreshing your browser corrects the problem. I have found that you can play a little longer between refreshes using Google's Chrome browser on Windows XP. For Ubuntu, your best bet is to use Epiphany. It is probably because these browsers have a lower memory foot print over the browser bigboys.

The game uses Flash media as part of its engine, so you will need to be certain of have Flash installed on your Linux PC.

Swapping drives in Ubuntu Not A Problem

2009-01-30T21:01:00.002-05:00

I recently got my hands on a decent computer to upgrade an "old beast" that I had Ubuntu installed on. The hardware between the "old beast" and my "decent computer" were a little different. Both were Dells, but they had different video cards. The processors, were of the same type, both Intel. However, the hard drive on the "old beast" was much larger than the one that came with the decent machine.

I was in a lazy mood, and did not want to back up all of the data I had on the "old beast." I decided to try the quick and dirty route of taking the hard drive out of the "old beast" and installing it on the newer "decent" machine.

Totally different video cards, and when the newer machine booted, it came up using the vesa driver. I then added the new driver using the Add/Remove tool, and viola! My new machine is up and running with the "old beast's" hard drive.

Ubuntu never ceases to amaze me in its portability!

Pirated Software with Trojan Hits Mac OSX

2009-01-24T16:07:00.003-05:00

People looking to get a copy of iWorks '09 for free got a little more than they bargained when they recently downloaded pirated versions of the latest iWorks application for Mac. The pirated program also contained a trojan which gains administrator access when the software is installed on the system.

The trojan portion of the program installs as a start up service and is called" iWorks Services."
The program then allows the trojan's author to control the machine remotely, having full access to the system. The author is then free to steal what ever information he wants off of your machine, or use it to launch attacks on other computers on the Internet.

So far, on 20,000 Mac users have downloaded the infected software from sites that offer the pirated software. This is a small number but should server as a wake up call to people who want to skirt the system and use pirated software. Really, if you do not want to pay the money, then just go open source and use Linux!

Here is a prime example of why licensed, commercially available software has its place in the market. If you want to get a copy of a particular program, you should stay away from the stuff that shows up on pirate sites. If you use the copyrighted and licensed iWorks program from Apple, then you'll be safe. Just have to pay the cash like everyone.

In theory, the same sort of shenanigans can occur with open source code as well. A malicious developer could attempt to stick something in their program that acts as a trojan. If they do then it would probably be pretty short lived, since it would stick out like a sore thumb to anyone looking at the code. It would be a pretty pointless exercise on their part with nothing to gain, which another reason why the open source model works well in term of system security.

Say Goodbye to McAfee, FOREVER!

2009-01-16T10:05:00.003-05:00

Since I work in the IT business, I get the following questions on an almost daily basis:

"What virus software would you recommend for my home computer?"

Now I know exactly how the weather guy feels when they get asked: "What's the weather going to be next Friday?" wherever they go. Or, "Is global warming for real?"

People naturally assume that since you work in a certain field, that you know everything there is to know about everything in that field. They do not think of specialization.

I am here to tell you that I am not an expert with Microsoft products. I do not know too much about Windows. I use their software just like any other user. Well, I use it a lot more than typical users, but I would not call myself an expert by any means.

I do notice that things like McAfee and other virus scanning software really dragging the Microsoft systems down. Then there are all of these malware and virus programs to deal with. I think it is a complete waste of time. Could there possibly be some conspiracy between Microsoft, virus companies, and those responsible for creating these little programs.

Who knows?

But when I get asked the IT "Question of the Day":

"What virus software would you recommend for my home computer?"

and when I think about all the time and energy that is spent on virus programs and their ilk, my answer to the question is:

"LINUX"

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Will the Linux Desktop Become Mainstream?

2009-01-14T19:02:00.005-05:00

Steve Jobs announced today that he is removing himself from Apple due to health concerns. This looks like it is going to have more of an affect on the company's stock price than anything. Will Apple still continue to bring innovation to the desktop computer? From all news reports that I have read it appears that most of the creative juices that flow at Apple are from the talent that Steve has put together under him. But Jobs is the glue that holds it all together, so there my be some decline in Apple's product output.

There is no doubt that OSX is far superior than Windows as far as how the OS performs, and desktop usability. And, since OSX only really needs to confine itself to a certain set of hardware, in most respects it outperforms Ubuntu Linux, as well. I think that OSX is far enough ahead of the field that it will take Ubuntu quite some time. Plus, there is Apple's first class marketing attack to deal with. But, consider this, Ubuntu Desktops and their Linux ilk has gained a 30% increase in users over the past year, and that trend is expected to continue to accelerate.

A big help to the Linux community came last year when some pretty big computer companies started pushing Ubuntu as default operating systems in netbooks and cheap PCs. The poor showing by Microsoft Vista and all of the complaints that have plagued that operating system helped to further fuel the Ubuntu fires.

The combo of a poor Vista product, and possible decline of the Apple empire may be the crack in the door that Ubuntu needs to make itself an even more viable option for users. In either case, 2009 is shaping up to be an interesting year for Ubuntu.

Ubuntu on a Laptop and Wireless Internet

2009-01-06T19:18:00.002-05:00

One of the most frustrating things about running Ubuntu, or for that matter, any Linux based operating system on an older laptop is the fact that many wireless cards simply will not work.

This is because many of the companies that make these cards think that open sourcing the drivers needed to run their equipment will give away trade secrets. In addition, in some cases it would be possible for developers to change frequencies of cards, allowing them to operate out of band. Thus, most of the code for the drivers needed to run these cards has been kept closed. A few linux developers have been keen enough to crack drivers open and write there own code.

There are software packages available the act as a wrapper, and run the Windows version of the driver within Linux. The most popular package is called ndiswrapper. This nifty little tool can be downloaded from the Add/Remove Software tool from within Ubuntu. Then, it is a matter of popping in your wireless card driver disk, and making the following menu options: System -> Administration -> Windows Wireless Drivers. From there you would select the correct file from your card's CD.

You can find cards available that run in plug n play fashion. There are some Broadcom cards that are available withing the default Ubuntu 8.10 distribution. Another option is to use a wireless USB card like the Wireless G USB Adaptor from Belkin.

Or you can pick up a nice shiny new Dell Mini 9 inch netbook with Ubuntu pre-installed. Droooool.....

Ubuntu Linux Google Chrome

2009-01-02T09:57:00.004-05:00

I still have a laptop that my wife uses that has Windows XP. She needs it for some online classes that she is using. I decided to give Google Chrome a try so I went ahead and installed it on her laptop. I liked what I saw. Chrome is a new browser that was developed by the folks a Google that is an open source project. It has been out for a couple of months already, but I never really sat down to play with it.

The tab setup is a little different and takes a little getting used to, but once you do, it is a breeze. There is also a panel layout were you can see all of your most popular sites on one page.

The one thing I really like about Chrome is its speed. It is way faster then Explorer, and even Firefox. I have found that Firefox is getting a little slower with each release. I am not sure why, I try to keep the extensions, and other junk disabled. Firefox 3.0.5 on my Ubuntu laptop has become a real dog of a program. It seems to start OK, but it seems to have a memory leak somewhere and starts to slow down after some use. Plus it crashes quite often.

Google has promised a Linux release for Chrome and you can even sign up to be notified when Google releases a Linux version of Chrome.

CentOS, Java, and RPM Hell

2008-12-26T09:15:00.004-05:00

I was trying to use a Java application within my web browser on a CentOS box I set up, and was a little disappointed to see that the folks over at Redhat still have not figured out how to make the act of simply surfing the Internet with a PC using Linux easy. You still have to go through the process of symbolically linking your java plug in file file with your Firefox browser.

What is the deal with simply including the command lines needed for int installing this plugin? Ubuntu has been doing this for what seems like ages now. Granted, Centos 5 is an older flavor Linux, being an Enterprise OS. But, I did a search and found that in Fedora 10, the latest and greatest offering STILL does not get it right.

It is stuff like this and the problems people have had with rpm installs that are causing Redhat to fall behind Ubuntu in the "user wars" Getting Java to work on browser in a desktop with Ubuntu is as easy as a sinlge click or two.

PC Equals Windows. NOT!

2008-12-20T12:24:00.003-05:00

We have all seen them. The Mac vs. PC ads that Apple uses for their main advertising campaign. Apple has poured millions into the ad campaign, and why not? It has been hugely successful for them and the commercials are funny.

The Mac ads mock Microsoft in a fun-loving manner, by pointing out many weaknesses that are inherent with Microsoft products. They also reinforce the idea that there is only one operating system that you can run on a PC, and only one operating system that is able to run on a Mac. They leave it up to the public to decide one or the other. Are you a (Conservative) Republican (Windows) or a (Liberal) Democrat (Mac)?

Ahh, but there is a third party that is on the scene, and that is (Independent?) Ubuntu. It can run on either machine. I think the Linux community should do more to promote the fact that the Mac ads are misleading. Other options are out there that work just as well, if not better than Microsoft or Apple.

Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Ubuntu has stated that he wants to make Ubuntu as easy to use and seamless as a Mac. This is a hefty order when you consider the variety of devices that Ubuntu and Linux as a whole is tasked to run on. It may not be possible since hardware is always evolving and Linux is always playing catch-up. Apple will always have the advantage since they basically create the hardware around their software, not the other way around.

However, the past year I think there have been great strides in bucking the two party system. I have come across certain PC advertisements in print that are starting to showing Ubuntu PCs along side their Windows brethren. Perhaps there is hope!

Ubuntu Setting Its Sights on College Students?

2008-12-10T21:32:00.004-05:00

I has been a little while since I visited the Ubuntu website. Usually, I make a visit or two once or twice a month, but sine Ubuntu 8.10 was released, I have just been having fun using my recycled and old PC to some productive work. Plus, I am thinking that we are still a few months off from the next release.

But today, I did pay a visit to the site, and noticed that they upgraded the number of products that are being offered in the Ubuntu Shop. There a a couple of new bags and newly designed T-shirts, and other items. It looks like to me that these would make for desirable items for college students looking to make a statement on campus.

If a student wants to make a statement about oneself, why carry around an Ipod. Everyone has one!

Could it be that Canonical be looking to make inroads on college campuses just like Apple?

This is where Apple is killing Microsoft and Dell in PC sales. It may be that this is the start for an Ubuntu push onto college campuses.

And why not? I think this is the right move for the Ubuntu folks.

Christmas Music on Ubuntu Rhythmbox

2008-12-08T15:01:00.002-05:00

I have been learning to use Rythmbox's Radio Station a little more, and found that it is pretty easy to get all of Sky.fm's radio station feeds integrated with Rhythmbox. I added the Christmas Music stream offered by Sky.fm and it was very easy to do.

Simply go to this link, and mouseover the Listen Now! tab to select the the channel you want, the MP3 streams and 96K. Once you have the channel you want selected then right click to select "Copy Link Location."

Next open up Rythmbox and right click on Radio and select "New Internet Radio Station" then paste in the link into the url window that come up.

You then have the radio station saved in your radio list. You can right click on it to change the title from the properties menu.

With a little time spent, you can get the entire Sky.fm directory integrated right into Rythmbox.

Running Linux on a Slow Computer

2008-12-06T00:17:00.004-05:00

I use a pretty old computer to keep this blog up to date. Some of you may be surprised to hear that it is a Dell L667r sporting a 667 Mhz processor with 320 MB of RAM. Yep, that's it! Everything works great on this old beast. The only 'upgrade' I made to it was to drop in a 160 GB hard drive. I use the disk space to dump in my music database.

I easily run Firefox and Rythmbox at the same time and can listen to music and surf at the same time. I use just one add-on in Firefox to help with performance, and that is Flashblock. This add-on keeps flash video advertisements from running as you surf the web. You have the option of clicking on them if you want to see them, but who wants to see adds, right? It really helps when visiting sites like CNN and ESPN which use a lot of Flash.

The version of Ubuntu I am using is 8.10. I figure to have another couple of years of support with this version of Ubuntu. This is what makes this operating system so great! I wont have to buy hardware for a long time! At least as long as it does not burn out...

Agent.BTZ Virus infecting Military Computers

2008-12-04T20:59:00.003-05:00

Another virus is making headlines, and it is being passed around the old fashioned way with the modern day equivalent of floppy drives. I remember years ago there was a lot of hand wringing by "security experts" about floppy disks. Back then, viruses could pass from disk to machine quite readily. It looks like only Microsoft machines are being targeted. I have not heard anything about Linux being targeted by this virus.

Now these older infection methods are back, yet they have added a little twist. The Agent.btz virus has been around for a couple of months and gains entry onto your system through an infected USB thumb drive. After infection it replicates itself and starts looking for networked drives on your system and downloads a binary file from a website. What this binary does, nobody knows. Yet some say it will go active when January 20th rolls around, which happens to the day our President is sworn in. May make for an interesting inauguration.

The thumb drive have become the modern day floppy, and it was just a matter of time before the old methods of using floppies to pass viruses have now made a comeback to use USB drives.

I am really happy that I have switched to Linux. For now, there is now worrying about virus software updates, windows updates, etc. I just turn the machine on, and it is ready to go. I guess it is only a matter of time before Linux desktops gets targeted. Linux Servers have been hit with worms, etc. in years past, but that all seems to have died away.

At home, I do run a few server processes, like sshd, etc. I contemplated running Samba and setting up a file server that I would be able to map drives to my Windows box. But for now, I am keeping it simple.

Speed Up Ubuntu Boot Time

2008-12-01T20:38:00.003-05:00

Here is a simple way to speed up the boot time of your Ubuntu system. It involves recreating the readahead profile. Readahead is a daemon that runs in Ubuntu that loads a set if files into page cache that accelerates the first time of loading of programs.

The initial install of the OS comes with its own default set of files. But every system is a little different and you can rebuild this profile in one easy step once you have every thing installed.

Your run this profile program once during boot-up, then after that you are set. I tested this out on a couple of different system and found that you can shave between 5 and 10 seconds off of the boot up time.

Here is how it works.

First boot your system. At the Grub prompt hit the 'esc' key.

At the next menu the default kernal should be selected, so hit 'e' for edit. Then arrow down to the line the starts with the word 'kernel'. Arrow all the way to the end of this line (after the words 'quiet' and 'splash') type the word:

profile

Then hit 'enter' and then hit 'b'

Your system will then boot. For this first boot-up your system will take about twice as long as the profiling program sets up for the readahead. But after the next boot, you just bring the system up the regular way, and you will notice a little faster boot time.

This procedure is not something that I would do everyday, but if you install a new system, do a major upgrade, etc. then it may be helpful to run through this procedure.

Partition and MBR Restore Using TestDisk

2008-11-29T15:50:00.000-05:00

After a little poking around with my Windoze PC, the one that would not boot, I decided that either the partition table, or the Master Boot Record (MBR) were somehow corrupted. The machine would boot using other disk drives, so the motherboard was not bad. The manufacturer sent this machine without any restore disks, or Windows XP disks, so I was pretty much SOL in simply re-installing the OS.

After backing up the data that i needed from the drive, I decided I would try to rebuild the partition table and boot record using an open source software package called TestDisk.

Here is the general procedure, I booted the PC using an Ubuntu Live CD. I went to the menu: Sytem --> Administration --> Software Sources

and enabled the Universe Repository and re-downloaded the available software information. Then at a command line: sudo apt-install testdisk

Then ran testdisk from the command line by typing

sudo testdisk

Then I followed the step by step instructions for restoring a partition table here.

This utility worked like a charm! The computer is back up and my wife is happy. When the wife is happy, the husband is happy!

Using Ubuntu to Recover Data from an XP Drive

2008-11-28T22:45:00.000-05:00

I have several PCs in my house. One of them, a Microsoft Windows XP stopped booting for me. I was not sure if the motherboard went bad or the disk drive. This PC had a lot of files on it that were important for my wife and her on line studies. Unfortunately, I was a little re-miss in making routine backups. I did not want her to lose here files, and wanted to at least get the latest copy of her files saved off before I performed major surgery o

Luckily, I had a couple of Ubuntu Live Cd's on hand.

I simply placed a live CD in the bad computer and booted into Ubuntu. The live CD noticed the bad drive, which was no longer bootable, and mounted it. It seemed that just the boot record od the drive was bad, as all of the data was still there. I sort of lucked out, that I was able to recover all of the data in her Windows directory.

I copied the files I needed from the disk that was not longer bootable onto my usb thumb drive. This is done under the "Places" menu. The process was really easy, as you can just use click and drag.

Once I had the file copied I exited out. I am not sure if the motherboard is bad, or if it is the disk drive. I may just wipe the drive and start fresh. Still have to make a decision on that one.

Find Your Hardware and Parts in Ubuntu

2008-11-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

In Ubuntu, the best information can be gleaned from the system using the command line interface.

Here is an Ubuntu command that will tell you just about every thing you need to know about the hardware that is running on your system

From your desktop hit -F2. Check the "Run in Terminal" check box

and enter:

sudo lshw |less

Then enter your password when prompted.

You will then get a listing of all the hardware and parts that make up your PC or laptop

Ubuntu vs. Centos

2008-11-21T21:40:00.000-05:00

I have been using Ubuntu at home for my desktop, while at work, it has mainly been Redhat.
In recent years, we have not had to build systems at our site, since they were sent to us pre-loaded with the OS, or we just install a CD, run a script, and the OS and associated software self installs. So easy a monkey can do it.

Today I had the chance to set up a server using CentOS. If you do not know, CentOS is basically a Redhat OS with all of the branding removed. CentOS is built from Redhat source code, so it is essentially completely compatible with any Redhat system. I have installed a lot of systems in my earlier days, but have been out of the fresh install game for quite some time since all of our programs and operating systems come pre-loaded. My recent install experience has been confined to just Ubuntu on a couple of home PCs.

Well, as mentioned, today I had a pile of CD's downloaded from the Centos site and proceeded to set up CentOS 5. Everything went as planned. The only difference I noticed was that the disk partitioning portions was not quite as intuitive as with Ubuntu. In addition, the number of CD's that were needed was a little bit of a pain.

I find that the method that Ubuntu uses for software updates a little more intuitive. Plus, it is easier to find information in the internet if something goes wrong. On the plus side, since there are so many initial packages to choose from (with all of the CD's), you get a much more complete installation for development work.

With CentOS, it was a just little struggle to compile some needed software from scratch where a few header files were missing. With Ubuntu, I thing I would have a much greater problem, since it is "desktop centric." Not really a bad thing, just a different focus.

Ubuntu 8.10 Install

2008-10-30T23:20:00.000-04:00

Tonight I was able to get the latest version of Ubuntu downloaded (Version 8.10). I was a little surprised I was able to get it since I assumed the servers were would be swamped on the first day. The download was a little slower than usual, but I was able to get it!

I installed it on a test machine, and right away I noticed the snazzy new wallpaper. A lot of people complain about the ubu-brown themes that ubuntu uses, but the elephant skin-like backgrounds will always be my favorite.

The install went pretty much the same as 8.04. One change was that there is now a graphic that shows your before and after disk partitions. This was a helpful feature, especially if you plan on dual booting. Do people still do that? Virtual Desktops like the one provided by VMware pretty much negate the need for dual booting anways. Anyway, so far so good with the new 8.10. Things are working great as expected.

My test system for this install was a Compaq Presario SR1010Z with 512 MB RAM and a AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+ chugging at 1.8 Ghz, and a nVidia 128 MB GeForce FX 5200 video card. This machine is quite speedy and performs very well with Ubuntu.

Ubuntu Everyday PC

2008-10-29T23:35:00.000-04:00

This is going to be a diary about my daily use of the Ubuntu Operating system as my main household PC. Actually, I am running it on several of my machines, plus a version called xubuntu on one of my older boxes.

Since Ubuntu 8.10 is due to be released tomorrow, I though it would be nice to start entering some thoughts and ideas about using this operating system over Windows or a Mac.