GeekTimeLinux

Ever have one of those weeks? You know the kind where nothing you are trying to do is working! That has been my past week. The project was getting UBUNTU EDGY working at 1280×1024 resolution the native resolution of my LCD monitor.

The project began when I lost a video card and when the replacement arrived, I decided to reinstall Edgy. This started my “stumbling down stairs” phase. My first clue that this was not going to be easy was the forums are full of people attempting to get 1280×1024 as native resolution for their LCD monitor.

When I found that this was not as simple as I thought, I began chasing solutions on the forums. I edited the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file so many times, I thought there would be no recovery. I downloaded drivers, installed drivers, had the video disappear and after 10 installs ( to correct the loss of video) I finally decided that it was time for me to try something I hadn’t tried…a text based install!

I remember doing several text based installs in Debian and why not Edgy? Let me state here, text based does not mean difficult, it just requires a little more work that is straight forward and simple.

Booting the system from CD, I hit F4 immediately and selected 1280×1024 as resolution. I then selected TEXT MODE for the install method. Within seconds, I was answering the same questions as with the graphical install…language, keyboard, etc. Once the install began, it was like watching a Debian install…checking the package groups, etc. About 5-7 minutes into the install the screen I had been hoping was there came up…RESOLUTION! I used the down key to get to 1280×1024, hit the space bar to mark it and with the tab key went to the OK. The install progressed on schedule and when it was time to log in…there it was 1280×1024.

OK, having spent the bigger part of a week editing, reading, downloading, mumbling things about computers and in general frustrated, I was nervous about what would happen when I did a reboot. With a deep breath and perspiration on my brow, I told the system to restart. Everything looked good as the system came back up…I think I have it!

Immediately I went to preferences>screen resolution and there it was 1280×1024.

I am joyfully writing this post on that computer and it is absolutely beautiful. Now I am worried about what might happen if it doesn’t work for you. The reason I question it is that I did my install on Friday the 13th and we all know strange things can happen on those days…OOOPS….this is the 14th and it is still working.

Bet it will work for you too. Give it a try!

While I haven’t got the rull review written, I am finding a lot of conversation about the broken Wi-Fi in Ubuntu Edgy.

I had been using a D-link DWL 520 card with Dapper and all was good. I upgraded to Edgy and the card suddenly wouldn’t connect. I installed Edgy on another machine with a D-Link WDA-2320 and still no luck.

Next step was to install ndiswrapper and drivers for the 520. Guess what? No luck. I would set the ATHO to enable and the card would appear to be activated and it would revert to the ETH0 card I also had installed.

Totally frustrated, I went to the Network set-up and changed the ESSID to “any” and suddenly the card was recognized by the network. I did this with both computers and both are doing well. Still not entirely sure that I had a working solution, I did an install on my laptop and all is fine.

I realize this is a simple thing and I only hope that it works for you the way it has with three computers here.

Sometimes I disappear for from this blog for long periods. There are many reasons, the most recent of which has been installing a small, simple distro on a friends old laptop.

How old? It’s a Panasonic CF-35 with a 3G hard drive, a 266Mhz processor and little else. I insisted that what he needed to the the old girl back in the ball game was a simple Linux install. I still believe it to be true, however selecting the distro was more than I had imagined.

My first thought was Puppy Linux. Puppy is a very lite distribution that is believed to be installable on almost anything. I tried the newest version and it ran fine…I think! I was unable to get to the point of setting up the resolution as it would go into a state that would preclude reading or opening anything. OK, so Puppy was not going to work, how about one of my favorite distros…Simply Mepis. Came up, acted like it was going to work, but when trying to install, it failed miserably. Maybe Berry Linux would work, it is lite and should run on anything, anything that is except a 266Mhz Panasonic Laptop!

I had read an article that XUBUNTU Alternate was something that someone attempting to add new life to an old computer might try. It installed, however the resolution was such that I could not see the bottom of the screen. Letters as high as an elephants eye! I made several attempts to adjust the resolution but to no avail.

SAM Linux is another distro that is alleged to be lite. I believe that to be true, however it just wouldn’t run on this machine. The list continued and I became more determined to see an install that would run…at a decent speed with good resolution and would serve my friends minimal laptop needs.

Sometime back, I had written an article on BEATRIX LINUX. Weighing in at under 200MB, BEATRIX is optimized for any Pentium class computer with at least 64 Mb of RAM.

While BEATRIX is not updated often, the 2005.1 version would do the trick. The desk top manager is Gnome 2.8 with Firefox, Evolution, Open Office Suite, GAIM and a host of programs and again the size is small. In addition, the distro can be expanded with the use of APT.

Opening the distro as a live CD convinced me that it was the answer and (while the install was painfully slow) the install went well. Auto partition, etc. Once installed, the first and only major bug reared its head. NO INTERNET! Immediately to the forum page and I found a fix that worked until I shut the machine off. The fix disappeared and once again, NO INTERNET. It had been reported as a flaw in the install program. Finding a fix for this would be a challenge, or would it? I noted that when I started to shut down I had been given an option of saving the session and I opted for NO. This time, I would put the fix in and save the session. It worked!

While I have only had a few hours to add programs, customize some settings and enjoy the distro, I feel my friend has saved an old Laptop for another day and that he will enjoy some of the many benefits Linux offers to those with older equipment.

While many distributions already have Java installed, several don’t. Installing Java in Firefox or Mozilla is really quite an uncomplicated process, but can look daunting to a Noob.

First, open a console and make a directory for java.
mkdir java (enter)
Directory is made.

Next, open Firefox and at the address bar, type about:plugins
This will tell you what is installed within Firefox. If there are programs listed, scroll down and make sure Java is not installed. It isn’t? Great! Here we go.

By moving to the top of the page (after checking for plugins in Firefox) you will see an address “plugindoc.mozilla.org” Click on this link.

Once opened, select Linux, Java Runtime Enviroment and Sun JRE 5.0 update.

With sweaty palms, go ahead and accept the license and continue on to Linux Self Extracting File.

After clicking on this file, you will be ask where you want to save it. Remember you made a directory called “java.” This is where your download should go.

Once the download has completed, open the console and do the following:

1.cd java

2.You will see a file ending in “.bin”

3.su to root and do the following: chmod a+x (file name and extention)

4.Now do an ls Here you will see the same file only now you will have permission
to work with it. The command is ./(file name)

5.Your screen will fill with installation language, however to continue you need to press the space bar until you reach a secondary license agreement. Enter “yes” and the install will go very quickly.

6.When the install is complete, ls and you will see a directory starting with JRE…..

This will tell you that your install has been successful to this point.
7.Next, do the following command: cd /usr/lib

8.Check to see that Firefox possibly Mozilla-Firefox or maybe MozillaFirefox is installed here. If so, cd to the directory (for simplicity we will use firefox). Once in this directory, check to see that it contains “plugins.”

9.Now that we have found the destination, there are several ways to install java, I will give you the one I use on most distributions.

10. cd to java and ls to the java directory.

11.Type the following commands;
ln -s /home/name of home directory/java/jre(the java directory)/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so

12.You have now created a Sym Link that is telling the computer to put java in the plugins directory of Firefox. Now, close your console and open your browser. What you should now see when you go to the address bar and type in “about plugins” is that java is installed.

As I said, there are several different ways of installing java and this is just one, but it works for me 99 out of 100 times. The other time, I have to do some further searching for where Firefox is located.

Hope it helps and enjoy Linux.

I have noticed in visiting many Linux sites, this one included, that there is a lack of really basic information for the Noob. I know when I did my first install, ran into my first problem, decided that I needed a Sym Link, etc. I felt fortunate to have a son that had been using Linux for years.

As I was digging through some of the old notes from those days it occurred to me that maybe some of the information would be good for someone just joining the fold. I must tell you this is going to be pretty non-technical so if you are planning to see a white paper on Linux you’ve visited the wrong site.

As I have documented before, I was far from a power user of Windows at the time I was introduced to Linux. My first disappointment was in not being able to get Red Hat to install. I then tried another and got a “Kernel Panic” message and the install was terminated. The following day, I went to one of the “Big Box Stores” and purchased a copy of SUSE. That would be my first working Linux install. Since that time, I have done installs of most of the popular distros and many that aren’t so popular. I still hit areas that I have to work my way through or give my son a call.

If you are working on your first Linux install, chances are you will not have all of the plugins you desire for multimedia. By going to the address bar in Firefox, removing the current address and typing: about:plugins and hitting enter, all of the currently installed plugins will be displayed.

I usually check for: Java, Mplayer, RealPlayer, Acroread and Flash. If they are not there, you will see links at the top of the page to give you addresses to download.

Next up…INSTALLING JAVA in Firefox.

From time to time we get caught up in the GUI world and forget that there are some powerful programs that run from command line.

I was reminded of this by my oldest Son during a recent bout of MP3 problems. Tony has been using Linux for years and when I walk myself into a corner, I have him on speed dial and my questions are quickly answered.

The problem, I was unable to get his Podcast to play. I had gone to the extreme of using VLC and knew that most of the problem was I hadn’t really finished doing everything with the new distro I wanted to do.

Once on the phone, he reminded me of a GREAT MP3 command line program…MPG321. I checked and it had been installed with the distro. When I tried it, I had full command over the Podcast and it took seconds to launch. If you have never tried this program, here goes:

Open a terminal and cd to the directory where your music or podcast resides.

/home/dave cd roadhouse

Display the programs or music in the directory.

/home/dave/roadhouse ls

Then launch your player.

mpg321 -v roadhouse61 (insert your program for roadhouse61)

In seconds you are listening to the music. Don’t need verbose, don’t include the -v.

Simple process. Powerful player. Command Line!

NOTE: Thanks to Tony Steidler-Dennison for letting us use his podcast as an example. If you like the Blues, check it out. THE ROADHOUSE.

When I received the E-mail today from Code Weavers, producers of CrossOver Office, I was excited.

The latest version had a couple of bugs and it appears Jeremy White and his development crew have isolated and fixed. The release follows:

I’m happy to announce that we are now shipping version 5.0.1 ofCrossOver Office.

This version is a bug fix release from version 5.0.0.
We had a number of minor glitches that we felt were important
to release to our customers.

These include fixes for Notes (bouncing windows), fixes
for Office install issues (e.g. spellchecker), and a lot of
other minor problems that bothered us; a full changelog
is included in this email, below.

It also includes a fix which prevents the EMF exploit
from working in Wine; many thanks to Marcus Meissner
for his speedy fix to Wine to that end.

We have a fix for ipod support that we decided to exclude
from this release because we worried that it might break
other programs. However, we are going to put up a FAQ
on our web site in the next day or two to give interested
customers a workaround.

As always, if you are happy with your current version of
CrossOver, please do not rush out to upgrade to version 5.0.1.
However, we did take some care to make 5.0.1 a nice stable
upgrade, so it should be safe.

I’d like to thank the many people that helped with this
release, including our customers, with their excellent
problem reports, our beta testers (thanks guys!),
the broader Wine community, and especially to Andrew Bogott,
for his diligent and somtimes lonely work on seeing this
release out the door.

At any rate, to download this version, simply visit our web site,
www.codeweavers.com, and log onto our store system
using the email you used to purchase the software with.
If you don’t have your password, the system will email it to you.

Once logged in, you should be able to go to ‘My Downloads’
to download this release, presuming you are a customer on active
support
(you can review your purchase history on your account tab as well).
If you have questions or need some help, please feel free to
drop an email to store at codeweavers.com, where we’ll do our best to
help you.

——————–

* CrossOver Office Professional 5.0.1 - 2006/01/09
Application fixes:
Fixed a crash in Project that appeared when opening a
recently-saved document
Fixed EMF drawing in Word and PowerPoint XP
Fixed the launching of Lotus Notes via the application menu
Fixed the creation of Office 2000 shortcuts
Fixed occasional crashes in Outlook 2000 and XP
Improved EndNote’s ability to connect to remote databases
Fixed a problem in MS Office that produced files with
multiple extensions like foo.xls.xls.xls
Replaced the icons that indicate which components are being
included during custom installation of MS Office 2000 and XP.
Fixed installation of the Office 2003 spellchecker and equation
editor.
Fixed the Lotus Notes minimization bug that cause Notes windows
to bounce back after being minimized.
Fixed a problem that caused IE to lose focus whenever a tooltip
was displayed

General CrossOver fixes:
Patched the WMF security flaw
Added support for Gnome mime associations
Improved debian package support
Improved general mime association behavior
Fixed menu support for Xandros and Linspire
Fixed menu support for Ubuntu 5.1
Fixed pasting of Cyrillic and German text
Updated Russian and German messages
Lots of changes to the Demo code
Improved time zone handling
Improved the upgrade process from previous versions
Fixed support for the KDE printing subsystem
Fixed the CrossOver setup tools so that they still work on
systems with SCIM enabled.

Tis a brand new year and we, in the Linux community, hope it brings many new Linux users.

While everyone has heard that Linux is a command line operating system, many of the new distributions are rapidly making command line “OLD HAT”! For those of you that will be running one of these distros…Congrats! For others that are curious about command line, I thought I would start the year with some basics.

Finding an IP address in Linux is as simple as opening a console and typing:

ifconfig

See…SIMPLE!

I am not going to remind you to keep opening a console…just assume you should!

Wanting to know what is in a directory:

ls-l

Interested in listing the files in the current directory and indicating the file type:

ls -F

How about listing all files in the current directory in a long form and displaying in columns.

ls -laC

Notice that some of the commands are in upper case. It is not a typo. Some commands demand upper case.

Possibly you have forgotten where you put your file named “homer.” Tell Linux to find.

find / ~name (name…in this case homer)

Notice how simple this is?

How about this? You have been installing programs throughout the day and want to make sure update the data base.

updatedb

If you are a Sys Admin, adding a user is quite simple.

From ROOT…you know, su to root, enter your root password and there you are.
The commands are as follows:

adduser (users name)

passwd (users password)

exit (to exit)

You now have a new user.

While there are dozens of commands (more like hundreds) these simple few will get you into command line. If all else fails, go to a console and type uptime. It will tell you how long the computer has been up.

There are a lot of commands for installing programs as well as updating and we will visit some of those in the coming weeks.

Enjoy Linux, whether at work or at home. It is a GREAT OS!

While I had good results with my install of ARK LINUX, I have begun to receive E-mail from others that have tried and have not been so lucky.

I have not had the opportunity, nor the time to install on another machine, but found a post on Distrowatch quite interesting and believe before you jump into an Ark Linux install, you might want to read and consider. It addresses some of the E-mails I have been receiving!

I have opened a forum page on GTL for everyone to share their experiences.

netstat - Linux Command to Display Networking Information
By Ken Dennis Platinum Quality Author

In linux, one of great commands for finding out information about your network connections is “netstat”. It provides you interface information, statistics, connections, and a lot of other really great information about your computer.

There are many intricate commands that you can use with this program, and I won’t be discussing all of them. If you would like a full review of the program, check your man or info files for more information. Below I will discuss the basic and most commonly used commands with netstat.

netstat -i (interface)

This command will give you an overview of networking on your PC. It will give you your local loopback (lo) and any network cards in your PC. This information is useful, so later you can specify a specific network interface card (NIC) that you wish to gain information on.

netstat

Using netstat alone, will give you some pretty good quick information. It gives you a list of active connections, the protocol that it is using, local and foreign address and the state of the connection. More often than not, you will not just use netstat by itself, most people add -a which gives you all listings, including ports that are actively listening.

netstat -s (statistics)

The statistics command gives you a load of great information about the data passing through your computer. It’s broken down in to several main categories, IP, ICMP, TCP, UDP, and TCPEXT. Basically this command gives you a quick summery of your total packets and different kinds of connections and activities. It will give you information on failed packets, malformed packets and much more.

netstat -ap (all and process information / pid)

This is really an excellent command for finding the bulk of the information you want in a hurry. The -a gives you a full listing of all listening and active connections, and the -p gives you the process information, process name, and the pid of the program. This of course helps you trouble shoot or kill a program should you require to do so. It’s also a handy way to find and kill pids that you might deem questionable by yours users.

netstat -c (continuous listing of command)

This is a pretty basic feature of the netstat command, all it does is continuously outputs the netstat data you requested over and over, every second. This is a neat little way to monitor your connections if you have a feeling something sneaky might be going on. Just leave a prompt open and running this command if you are in xwindows. Keep in mind the constant refresh will use up some processor time though.

netstat -e (extended listing)

This gives you just that little bit more information about your connections and processes. There isn’t a huge difference, the primary differences you will notice right off the bat are it shows the user running the command, and the inode of the program.

Ken Dennis Ken Dennis

A UNIX Shell is in simplest terms, a command line interpreter, that takes the users input and gives it to the Kernel. If you are familiar with DOS, you will remember the ‘command.com’ that file takes the users information and passes it to the operating system in a way it can be understood by the system. With DOS you only had one type of shell, but with UNIX you have a variety, each with their own abilities, pluses and minuses.
Keep in mind as you read about these shells, that though they may have major differences when they were created, that they have been updated and many features that were once only available in a single shell, may be available in other shells. This is more of a history lesson.

’sh’

The Bourne shell, named after its creator Steve Bourne is the oldest shell for most major distributions of UNIX and LINUX. Most shells today are in some fashion derived from the Bourne shell.

‘csh’

The C Shell. The C shell is a great shell that has many advantages over the original Bourne shell, it was the first to introduce a history (the ability to scroll up, to view past commands). Also the C Shell as the name implies also integrates a great portion of the C programming language. If you are able to program in C, you can pretty much do it all in a shell script or from the command line, if you so desired.

‘ksh’

The Korn Shell. Named after its creator David Korn. This shell is able to do most of the things both the Bourne, and C Shell can do, and improves on them. For instance, the history feature is available, plus you are able to call up the history, edit the command, and then re-run it.

‘bash’

The Bourne-Again Shell. This is probably the most widely used shell to date, and is the default shell for most newer Linux distributions. Again it integrates most of the above features and improves upon them. It was developed by the Free Software Foundation.
There are many other shells out there, but chances are if you are using a UNIX style operating system, you are using one of the above mentioned shells. My personal favourite is the bash shell, which also happens to be the first one I was exposed towards, so I may be biased. However typically when shell scripting, I use the korn shell because of its programming friendly structure.

How do you know what UNIX shell I am using?
Type “ps” and then hit return at your shell prompt and you should get something similar to:

$ ps

PID TTY TIME CMD

13087 pts/1 00:00:00 bash

13121 pts/1 00:00:00 ps

The numbers under PID, TTY, TIME etc should all be different from machine to machine, and the number of lines of programs running may also. But one line you have will be probably “bash” “csh” “sh” “ksh”.

Another way to check is to type the following:

grep your-user-name /etc/passwd (eg grep ken /etc/passwd)
Which will return you something along the lines of:
ken:x:501:501:Ken:/home/ken:/bin/bash
The last portion of that line is ‘/bin/bash’ which tells you your default shell when you login.

Ken Dennis

Ken.Dennis@Gmail.com

http://KenDennis-RSS.homeip.net/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Lets fix a problem. In an earlier post on SIMPLY MEPIS 3.3.1, I stated I was a little disturbed that there was no E-mail program with exception of Kmail.

While I found this quite disturbing, there had to be a fix.

After a some hacking, I give you a solution that fixed the problem and made my day!

Open a console in ROOT

TYPE: vi /etc/apt/sources.list

This gives you the repositories used for the apt-get program and it can be edited.

Next, check under the PRIMARY list.

In my copy of 3.3.1, both the first and second were commented out (having a # in front of the line)

Remove the # on both (DO NOT REMOVE THE LINE, ONLY THE POUND SIGN)

These two lines should be:

deb.ftp://non-us.debian.org/debian testing main

AND

deb.ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free

When the # has been removed from in front of these two lines, go the end of the lines …hit escape and type :wq.

This will write and quit from the /etc/apt/sources.list.

Next, type: apt-get update

after the update has concluded, you will be returned to a root prompt.

type: apt-get upgrade.

This may take a little while, but when you are returned to the root prompt, exit the console.

Go to the KDE menu ->System->Synaptic

Search for Evolution or Thunderbird.

Mark for Install

Apply

Now Synaptic will install your selected E-mail program.

As I have indicated, I have a real love for SIMPLY MEPIS and have spent the time because I felt there might have been an oversight.

Password Security and Safety - Part 1 of 2

There is nothing more important that password security in world of technology. It is the first step to creating a safe and secure environment. If your password becomes compromised, there are limitless consequences to what could happen. There are a few very important factors in keeping your passwords safe and secure that everyone should adhere to.

Do not tell anyone your password
No one should every know your password, your bosses, your friends, or your bank. None of them should ever know your personal passwords. Any help desk, company, or organization will have administrators or technicians that can reset your password if they need to do something with your account. Organizations will never ask for your password over the telephone or e-mail!

Do not write your passwords down
The key to a good password is one that you can remember easily, but is hard to guess. It’s very important not to write your password down. Hiding it inside your desk, a book, in a picture is just waiting for someone snoopy to find it. Some organizations will require the writing down of passwords, but generally these are Administrator positions and the password books are locked up in a controlled safe or secure location. Your boss shouldn’t have all your personal passwords in his desk!

Be aware all the time
When you are entering your password at the computer, or at a bank machine, be aware of who is around you. If you think someone is trying to look at what you are typing, ask them to step back, turn their head, or cover up the keyboard or keypad with your other hand. If you think that anyone may have your password or has seen you enter it, change your password immediately.

Do not use the same password
Far too many people only use one password for everything they do, it makes it easier to remember, but compromises their security. If you use the same password for chatting on a web forum and your online banking password, you are just asking for trouble. Use unique passwords for different projects, websites, and logins.

Password complexity
Password complexity is a very important issue with most users. Often usWiFi ers will have small passwords that are very simple because they worry about trying to remember them. It’s very important to have a password that is complex enough to stop people from guessing it, or using automated programs to randomly break it. I will outline good and bad characteristics of passwords below, along with some tips for creating passwords.

Part 2 coming in days.

Courtest Ken Dennis-RSS.homeip.net

GNOME:

While it may not appear as such, we do read comments and periodically check searches on the site to see what readers and fellow “Geeks” might be looking for.

During the past couple of weeks we have had a number of searches for “INSTALLING GNOME.” While most of us select either GNOME or KDE as our GUI program on install, there are those that would opt to change at a later date.

While much could be written on the whys and wherefores, simplicity dictates that if you have decided to use GNOME as your GUI and you are not sure where to get the program or how to install, we would refer you to the GNOME site. Here you will find the program in various formats for different distributions and instructions on how to download and install.

YOPER:

Been a long time since we talked about the World’s Fastest Linux Distro! Our September, 2004 review of Version 2.1.0 is contained within the archive pages of this site. We are now getting hits seeking information on the Distro.

First, we would like to have you refer to the review here, then go the YOPER FORUM. Here, you will find some great information and tech help.

At the moment, that catches us up on some of the searches. We will be doing this again soon and hope we have been helpful to some of our readers.

From time to time there are things that make us believe that the gap between Windows and Linux is narrowing. Such is the announcement by Nero.

Nero, the leader in digital media technology has announced the release of NeroLINUX.

NeroLINUX provides LINUX users with the tools necessary to perform optical recording tasks. The application is both stable and reliable and supports burning data and disc images to Cds/DVDs (ISO9660, UDF and UDF/ISO9660 Bridge), bootable Cds/DVDs, and Audio CDs. Nero LINUX is provided as a standard LINUX package in RPM or DEB and supports 32-bit platforms including; Red Hat 7.2, 7.3, 8.0, 9.0 and Enterprise Linux 3.0. Additionally, Nero LINUX supports Suse 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 9.0, 9.1 and 9.2 plus Debian 3.0 and future 3.1.