Ubuntu Tutorials

If your computer habits are anything like mine you probably have a set of applications that you use nearly every time you log in to the machine.  Let me guess.. Firefox?  Pidgin perhaps?  Thunderbird or Evolution?  You may have more or less, but it is common for a user to use the same applications regularly.  Wouldn’t it be nice if those commonly used applications could startup faster?  That is possible with a tool called “Preload”.

Installing Preload

The preload service is available through the main Ubuntu repositories, and can be installed by clicking the link below or running the command:

sudo aptitude install preload

A few things to note now about using Preload.  First, this will not improve boot time.  Preload monitors recurring applications and, after establishing a pattern, will preload those binaries into memory at startup.  Given that it also has to establish a pattern you may not see a performance increase immediately.  Give it some time though, you’ll start to see a difference soon enough!

I was just setting up Evolution again and went through the steps of setting up my personal account and my Ubuntu account.  I’ve heard some people run into problems doing this considering the Ubuntu account, on the incoming side, is bound to your default address in Launchpad, but you still need to send mail out.  Here is how I did it.

note: as you’ve likely noticed I don’t do a lot of screen shots on this blog primarily because I can’t ever get the formatting to look the way I’d like.  As you see below some of the text is not properly displaying under each picture, but tries to display to the right.  I’ve been fighting it for hours.  I finally decided to just post as-is.  If you have any suggestions on WP formatting with graphics let me know.

Creating an Outbound-Only Account in Evolution

1. To create a secondary account to be used for sending mail (one that does not require receiving), we’ll need to open the Preferences Window, which is found in Edit > Preferences.



2. Click “Add”, which will open the Account Assistant for creating new email account settings.  Click “Forward” on the first introductory window.



3. Fill out the Identity information, ie; Full Name and your outbound email address.  In this case I am using my ubuntu.com address.  Click “Forward”.



4. On the “Recieving Email” step we will set the Server Type to “None”, and click “Forward”.



5. On the “Sending Email” step we will populate your SMTP settings.  In my case I am using my gmail account as the outbound SMTP server.  Click “Forward”.



6. On the “Account Management” step we will give this account a unique name.  In this case “Ubuntu”.



7. Click “Forward” and then “Apply” and you should be finished.

You can then repeat these steps for the total number of accounts that you need send-access with while the reply-to still goes elsewhere.  I’ve been using this setup for my Ubuntu account for a few years now and its simple enough, and quick to setup.

The steps are slightly different if you’re using Thunderbird.  Maybe I can get that installed here soon and walk through those steps as well.  Enjoy.

For those of you that have received email from me you might have noticed that I’m part of the ASCII Ribbon Campaign. This is definitely something that I believe in and hope you might take a second to check it out too. It doesn’t require much on your end. Just a simple configuration change in your email client, but it can make a big difference. If nothing else it’ll make your email contacts a little happier because they won’t have to deal with over-sized, dangerous HTML laced emails.

A few points on HTML email quickly and then I’ll show a few steps on how and where you can make sure you’re not adding to the problem. In one sentence: “HTML belongs on the web and out of your inbox”

1. HTML email can be dangerous

Smartly constructed image links can "call home" to an advertisement server and get a confirmation with your e-mail address and IP address, browser type, operating system, time zone, and more. Confirming that the e-mail was indeed opened and viewed, all automatically, confirms your address as being read and a good target to send SPAM! - The ASCII Ribbon Campaign Website

2. HTML email wastes bandwidth

HTML e-mails with a background image or flashy graphics are usually a complete waste of bandwidth, inbox space, and time. Having to download 200kb or more for an e-mail that contains a few lines of text is ridiculous! The same can be done in a fraction of that size (like, 0.1% of it!) when using plain text, saying exactly the same, and communicating exactly the same information. - The ASCII Ribbon Campaign Website

3. HTML email is not always user friendly

People that are limited to a text-only terminal, people with disabilities, or the blind--basically anyone that cannot use a graphical interface-- are likely unable to read your mail. - The ASCII Ribbon Campaign Website

Below I have outlined a few steps to make sure Evolution is configured to send and receive only plain-text email. If you have a link to instructions for any other client or would like to blog instructions for another client please leave a comment and I will include that link here.

Evolution Instructions

Inside the default Ubuntu mail client, Evolution, you’ll want to navigate to:

Edit > Preferences

This will present you with the details for your mail account(s). You’ll want to first find the third tab, Mail Preferences.

Within Mail Preferences you’ll want to navigate to the second tab, HTML Mail. I suggest matching your settings to something like this.

• You do not want to show image animations.
• You do not need to prompt when sending HTML messages to contacts that do not want them. (as you wont be sending any!)
• You also should never load images from the internet.
• Finally I have Prefer PLAIN set in the last option. I would prefer to only ever show plain but it causes trouble with my office Exchange Server (big surprise!)

After you have these configured you’ll want to navigate to the next tab, Composer Preferences.

• Make sure that Format messages in HTML is turned off.

This should about do it for Evolution. For those of you that already have these set I thank you. for those that do not please consider taking a few quick steps to make your emails safer, take less bandwidth and be more friendly to everyone.

For more information you can visit these ASCII Ribbon Campaign sites:

The ASCII Ribbon Campaign

ASCII Ribbon Campaign : No HTML. No vCards

7 Reasons Why HTML email is evil

A few more here, here, here and here.

My office, in its infinite wisdom, decided that Microsoft Server 2003 was the best investment they could make. Well, I’m sure most of you understand why I think that’s probably the worst idea in the world but, on the bright side, at least I don’t have to use Outlook .

I am using Evolution to connect to the Exchange Server and everything works just fine. As far as I know it is the ONLY program (Windows or *nix) that will work with Exchange, except for Outlook or Outlook Express. For those of you that have to deal with another of Microsoft’s joke of a product here is how you can use Evolution to access your mailbox.

In Evolution select Edit > Preferences > Accounts > New

• Identity: Set your basic information here. Name, email address, reply-to, etc.
• Receiving Email:


Server Type: "Microsoft Exchange"
Username: domain/username (ie; your windows domain and user account)
OWA URL: The URL for your office / domain webmail. (ie; https://webmail.domain.com/exchange/)
Authenticate: Use this to verify the information is correct for your system
Receiving Options: GAL / Active Directory settings. This is the local config that you'd use to setup Outlook on-site. (This is optional. Mainly used for company calendar and contacts.)


I have been using this for months now and I don’t have any trouble. Occasionally it complains about not being able to access the calendar or company contacts but I’m fairly sure that is the fault of the Exchange Server itself (it, as you might guess, is fairly unreliable).

I would much rather use Evolution to access my office email (and I also use it to retrieve my gmail and other accounts). Before I set this up I simply used the webmail interface. I refuse to use Outlook. I hope this is helpful and anyone else needing to connect to an Exchange Server can use a reliable Linux app to do it.

I’m sure this would be more helpful if I included some screenshots but I don’t have the time for that just now. Feedback is appreciated on how I can better outline the steps. It isn’t too difficult once you have the right information, but finding that is tricky sometimes.