Ubuntu Tutorials

I came across a short how-to on the Ubuntu Forums today that I wanted to pass along. I don’t take credit for coming up with these steps. The credit belongs to user dragos240 of the Ubuntu Forums. I figure there have got to be a few of you that are interested in trying this out, or passing it along as well, so here it is.

Step 1: Disclaimer

Before you start following these steps be aware of the potential consequences. As outlined in the Ubuntu Forums tutorial:

DOING THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY AND HAS A POSSIBILITY TO PERMENENTLY BRICKING YOUR SANSA FUZE.

It may also be prudent to read through the entire thread at the Ubuntu Forums before you get started. This way you can avoid any surprises.

Step 2: Download

The author has put together a single archive with everything needed to update your Sansa Fuze to run Rockbox. This archive is available for download here. There is not a published MD5 on the Ubuntu Forums post, but this is what I got:

MD5 (Rockbox.tar) = 6a4fc70b13c00e5f35926125a64effe9

Step 3: Connect Sansa Fuze

The next step is to connect your Sansa Fuze via USB and make sure the mode is set to “MSC”.

Step 4: Copy the Archive

At this point you should be ready to copy the contents of the previously downloaded archive onto the root of your device. Make sure you get everything copied. You can press ctrl-h within Nautilus to view any hidden files, just to make sure.

Step 5: Unplug, Shut Off

Once everything is copied and you safely eject the device (right-click, eject), unplug it from the USB connection and turn it off. Give it a few seconds and then turn it back on again. This is the point where you cross your fingers, offer up any sacrifices and otherwise pray to whatever gods you believe in that everything worked.

Step 6: Enjoy Rockbox

If all went according to plan (and the Gods smiled upon you!) you should have Rockbox up and running when you turn the device back on. You’ll end up with a lot more features than you find in the default Sansa Fuze interface and, the best part, its good ‘ol Free Software.

I surely hope you don’t run into any problems, but if you do I would advise you to stop by the Ubuntu Forums and ask for help in the thread. It is only three days old at the time of this writing  so it should still be pretty active. If you have anything to add or, more importantly, clear pictures of the finished product please share them here!

If this article has been helpful, please consider linking to it.

Warning: This post is a rant regarding external displays and projectors. If you’ve ever been frustrated and want a possible solution to keep in your back pocket for your next presentation, read on. If you are a hermit, never leaving your mothers basement, you can go back to whatever it is that you do..

I was just trolling the interwebs looking for something to entertain me, and I came across a video of a conference presentation. I was bored so I clicked play, and then spent the next five minutes (as did the audience at the conference) waiting and watching as innumerable nerds tried to get the projector working. This is ridiculous.

How many of you have presented at a conference, Linux User Group or other such forum and had trouble with the projector? I know I have. I had issues when I presented at OSCON just this last year, and I think I’ve had trouble at just about every conference I’ve been to.

This not only makes the presenter and organizers look bad, but in turn make Linux look bad as well. We spend all of our time talking about how Linux can do everything just short of save humanity from itself, yet we can’t tell you how because we can’t get the damned display to use the projector!

I want to outline two simple steps that I’ve used to get mirrored output on additional displays. This includes external LCD/CRT monitors, projectors, etc. I have had success with this on a number of machines as well. It should work for you, and please try this at your next presentation. If not to make Linux look better, but to make yourself and your presentation look more professional (I can’t help you with your content however).

xrandr
xrandr --output VGA --auto

Anytime I have needed mirrored display between a laptop (most commonly used to present with) and a projector or external display, those two commands have come through for me. Now, I’m not promising extended display. I’m not promising perfect maximum resolution, but I am promising actual video coming from the external display.

The xrandr command should be standard on most any distribution, and should properly find the available resolutions of any hardware output (ie; LVDS, VGA, etc). The only potential issue I see with this method is that the projector can’t support your resolution, which can be bypassed by lowering your resolution to that of the projector and running the commands again.

Ohh, and my biggest piece of presenting advice is please, please do a practice run with a projector or external display *before* the big day. That way you can test this (and other) methods before you’ve got a hundred people watching and waiting.

I reinstalled my Asus EeePC 701 this morning with Ubuntu 8.10 “Intrepid” final release.  To my surprise the wireless no longer worked whereas it did in previous releases (beta, etc).  Jumping into IRC I was able to find a fix however, and here it is.

Installing Backported Kernel Modules

You’ll need to install a backported kernel module package.  In order to do this you’ll also need to activate the backports repository.  You can do that in two ways.

1. Navigate to System > Admin > Software Sources :: Updates :: (intrepid-backports)
2. Add “deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu intrepid-backports main restricted universe multiverse“

After you’ve done either of the above you can then run these commands to install the package:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install linux-backports-modules-intrepid
echo "blacklist ath_pci" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

At this point you should be able to reboot and you’re done.  Enjoy.

I’ve been teaching software RAID on RHEL5 for some time now and today I came to the realization that nearly every student I’ve ever taught that is currently using RAID is using hardware RAID.  Nobody seems to use software RAID, at least in what I’ve run into.

Now, in my mind, the performance difference between the two (software vs hardware) can come down to how much you’re willing to spend on your hardware RAID controller.  A quick example:

Lets say you put a cheap hardware RAID controller in your quad-core machine, which normally has a minimal load.  I would think the quad-core machine would have more than enough processing power to handle the RAID, as compared to the cheap hardware controller.

On the flip-side, if you get a quality card that has RAID specific instruction sets it could likely perform even better than a quad-core machine.

Is this an accurate assumption?  I should mention that I have only really used software RAID so I don’t have a lot of first-hand experience on the other end.  What I’m looking for is your experience..

I’d really like to hear the communities thoughts and experiences on hardware RAID vs software RAID.  Which do you use and why? (The why is what I’m looking for).

Recently I’ve seen a good bit of discussion regarding 32bit vs 64bit installations of Ubuntu. We’ve even had long conversations at the office on the matter as well. For a long time I’ve simply installed 32bit on my Core2Duo machine, even though it supports the 64bit installation. I just didn’t see a lot of reason to make the step forward. Well, I thought I’d type up some of my thoughts on the matter and get some of the community thoughts…

32bit Ubuntu

The 32bit Ubuntu definitely get’s the most attention as it applies to the wider user base. There are more packages available for 32bit than there are for 64bit, but that gap is quickly closing. 32bit seems to run well enough on most machines, and a lot of people don’t really see the point for desktop use. I do hear a lot of arguments for 64bit on a server, but for a desktop most people just look the other way.

64bit Ubuntu

The 64bit Ubuntu install base seems to be slowly growing. I am one of the recent “converts” to 64bit Ubuntu. While I don’t immediately see any performance benefit I do see some benefit on principle. In the same way that more attention to an application improves the application, more attention to 64bit improves that platform as well. Basically, I think I’m in the 64bit camp right now simply because I believe it’ll never get “awesome” if nobody uses it, reports issues and resolves those issues.

So far I have not had any show stoppers with my 64bit installation. Everything seems to work the same way it did with 32bit. Again, I don’t think I see much of a performance increase, but on the principle of improving the platform I’ll continue to run it. Issues that were previous show stoppers such as flash not being available are now resolved. While Adobe still does not have a 64bit native flashplayer, Ubuntu 7.10 will auto-wrap the 32bit player for you in 64bit when it is needed for installation. So far I have not run into any missing packages for 64bit, although I’m sure they are out there someplace. Perhaps the more users we got on the 64bit platform the more quickly we’ll find the missing packages. Also, if you have 4G of RAM or more you’ll want the 64bit as it handles that amount of memory better.

I suppose in the end it’ll come down to what the user is the most comfortable with but, again, if you’re already comfortable with potential issues with Ubuntu and feel like you can help improve the platform, why not run 64bit Ubuntu? It’ll only get better if you help us make it better..

Any other thoughts from the community on the topic? Any concerns you’ve run into? Any other pros and cons you might outline? The comment box is down ’bout two inches

Update: I wrote this quite a while ago and never posted it pending more testing.  I figure it can be helpful in its current state to more users than just myself.  So, in the spirit of release early, release often here are steps that I took for configuring extended display on my MacBook. 

Based on the flood of feedback yesterday with suggestions on getting the extended display setup I’m going to attempt to blog what I have figured out. I’m still not 100% on the steps yet but hopefully this’ll help people get started and perhaps work some of the kinks out of the setup. I would like to get a better proper tutorial, but for now I want to get this written down while its fresh in my memory.

1. I had some odd issues if both displays were connected at login prior to configuration. Login to your desktop without the external monitor connected. Connect the monitor after you’ve completely logged in.
2. Connect the external monitor and generate a new default xorg.conf (sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg).
3. Figure out the highest resolution you want between the two screens (1440×900+1280×800 = 2720×1700). Calculate based on what you have. In my case my external does 1440×900. I add that to the 1280×800 of the macbook and get my total.
4. Edit your xorg.conf file and add the line to the Section “Screen” > SubSection “Display” area. Add Virtual 2720 1700 (your resolution).
5. Log out after saving the xorg.conf file (unplug the external monitor until after you’ve logged back in successfully)
6. xrandr –output VGA –auto
7. xrandr –output VGA –above LVDS

In further testing I no longer have the issue in step 1, 5 above, but I leave it there as others may have similar problems.  In regards to my hardware I am using a MacBook with an onboard intel video card.  Card information via lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

I now use extended desktop quite a bit and the only “issue” is that compiz-fusion is disabled if the resolution goes this high.  Not a big issue, but something to be aware of.  I hope this helps some more of you get extended display working.  It’s very nice

I’ve been troubleshooting some oddities on my machine this afternoon and one thing I’ve done to try and find some conflicts is remove some often unneeded kernel modules.  I thought I would outline quickly how to disable and permanently remove the bluetooth module for those that don’t use it.  I realize I don’t think I’ve used the bluetooth system on my machine for months, so I may as well just disable the module permanently.

Permanently disable the Bluetooth module

To disable the bluetooth module from being loaded at boot time we’ll need to add it to the system module blacklist.  Basically your system keeps a list of modules that need to be blacklisted for various reasons, often those that cause problems, and we’ll add this to that list.

sudo vim /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

append this line to the end of the file:

blacklist hci_usb

You also may want to turn off the bluetooth services within the desktop as well.  Granted they shouldn’t be able to do anything if the module support is not loaded underneath, but it doesn’t hurt.

Disable the bluetooth services

System > Preferences > Sessions should have a listing for the bluetooth service. You may want to uncheck this box or even remove the listing altogether.

System > Administration > Services also contains a listing for starting up the bluetooth system at boot time.  You may also want to uncheck this box.

Between blacklisting the module and removing the services from starting up this should disable the bluetooth system on Ubuntu.  If you don’t use it, don’t load it.  It is just going to take up a bit more of your resources and, for those with laptops, will save power as will if you often go unplugged.

I ordered a new monitor the other day to replace my aging 20″ CRT beast. The thing still works pretty well but I swear it weighs one-hundred pounds. So, I broke down and bought a 19″ LCD that does 1440×900. I figure if I can extend the display that I currently have to an additional 1440×900 I’ll have plenty of screen real-estate to work with.

The thing is I’m having a bit of trouble getting this to do a dual-monitor setup with my macbook. It uses the onboard intel chipset, which I would think would support this type of thing.  I’ve never done much with dual-monitor or even video out for that matter so its all a bit new to me. I have tried the screens and graphics application, which really didn’t do what I expected.

If anyone has any tips or links that they can share that will allow me to extend my display (not mirror output) to this device when connected I would be very appreciative.

I wanted to quickly share this link.  There is a public poll on Lenovo Blogs asking what distribution the people want.

Here is the link.  Go make your voice heard for Ubuntu!

This tutorial will outline how to connect your Linux machine (probably not distro-specific, but this was tested and created using Ubuntu 7.04) to dial-up networking via a Treo 700p Smart Phone. This method uses USB connection and requires a data plan with your service provider. I use Sprint as they have the cheapest unlimited data plan.

In speed tests over the last few days here I have achieved ~350+kbps up and down speeds. This actually beats some residential DSL speeds that I’ve seen. Not bad. Now for the good stuff…

There are two sections of this tutorial. The first is preparing the phone to share connection to the computer. The second is telling the computer how to connect to the phone. Neither are terribly complicated, just make sure you follow the steps carefully.

Step 1 : Configuring the Treo 700p

From what I understand Sprint changed something since the Treo 650 and now require you to pay extra to share a data connection to your computer. We, of course, don’t want to do that so we’ll use a small piece of third party software to help us share this connection. This application, which you’ll need to install to your Treo 700p is called USB Modem.

I should note that this is not free software and is for-pay software, neither are points that I’m thrilled about but when there aren’t any other tools for the job… (anyone want to reverse engineer some Palm code?)

There is a free trial of that application that will run for 14 days or 30 connections. I’d suggest using the trial to initially set this up and if you find that its something you use go ahead and pay the $24.95 for the full version.

In any event, you’ll want to download the USB Modem application and install the .prc file to your Treo 700p. This tutorial will not outline installing or syncing your PDA. This assumes you already have a method of doing that. Remember to install the application to your phone itself and not a memory card.

After installing the USB Modem application navigate to it on your phone, but do not yet ‘Enable Modem Mode’. We’ll do that in a minute.

Step 2 : Configuring the Linux machine

I should note before I dive into this section that the USB Modem archive also includes instructions for setting up Linux, OS X and Windows. If you have trouble you might want to double check those instructions for more details.

On Ubuntu 7.04 (yet untested on other distributions) you need to manually add a kernel module for the Smart Phone syncing to be properly recognized. You can do this manually (not persistent) by using the command:

sudo modprobe visor

If you would like to make this persistent, which is something I have done, you will want to append a line “visor” to the end of your /etc/modules file. This way the kernel will be watching for a Smart Phone / PDA connection. If you don’t make it persistent you’ll, of course, need to do it manually each time you plan on connecting.

In my situation, using Sprint and an EVDO network, my connection does not require any kind of username and password to connect to the data network. This simplifies the steps a bit, but if your provider needs such information it isn’t too much different. Please refer to the USB Modem instructions for where to add your username and password.

The first step (and simplest way I found to connect) is to copy the connection script from the USB Modem archive to your /etc/ppp/peers/ directory. I used this command (assuming you’ve unzipped the archive to your Desktop):

sudo cp ~/Desktop/drivers/linux/ppp-script-evdo-template /etc/ppp/peers/ppp-script-treo

After you have copied the EVDO template file to the location above you should be ready to make your connection. note: I had to close existing connections (eth0, wlan0, etc) for this to work. Can anyone else verify this?

At this point you’ll want to reach over to your Treo 700p and “Enable Modem Mode”. If you’d like to see that the machine is recognizing your phone you could take a look at /var/log/messages.

Now that the phone is set to “Modem Mode” run the following command on the Linux machine:

sudo pppd /dev/ttyACM0 call ppp-script-treo

This will post some output to the screen and tell you whether or not you’re connecting. If you are assigned a remote and local IP plus primary and secondary DNS you’re most likely connected. You should get your prompt back at this point. Try pinging a location to verify your connection.

ping -c3 google.com

If your ping works you’re set. Enjoy your ppp connection over your phone. Internet wherever you have phone service. w00t! If it didn’t work please leave a comment and we’ll see what we can do for you. (chances are differences in providers, EVDO vs EDGE, etc).