I mentioned a week or so ago that I would be having another article published in the near future. I’m happy to announce that the article is now available. I hope you’ll take a few minutes and head over to have a read. If you have any comments, or suggestions on accuracy or improvements please do let me know and I’ll update where necessary.
I took some time today to check out Ubuntu 10.10 Beta. So far I’m impressed with some of the improvements, and I’ll blog about those later, but in the meantime I thought I’d share a workaround I came across in getting Guest Additions working when running Ubuntu 10.10 inside VirtualBox.
My first attempt at getting Guest Additions installed was by mounting the CD and running the command:
sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run
While this attempted to compile the drivers necessary for Guest Additions, it never seemed to work. After repeated reboots and rebuilds, I could never get a better resolution. After a little searching I came across a solution that seems to take care of the problem.
To install Guest Additions in Ubuntu 10.10 Beta, you’ll need to install a pre-packaged version available through the repositories. You can run the command below, or click on the URL:
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ose-guest-x11
After a quick reboot you should be set.
I hope you enjoy Ubuntu 10.10 Beta (and forward). It’s the little things like this that make testing it in a virtual machine worthwhile.
I know I haven’t been blogging much lately. I’ve been occupied with other responsibilities. Besides work and school I’ve been dedicating a lot of time volunteering on the GNOME Sysadmin team, trying to make sure that it remains a well-oiled development machine! I had a few minutes this evening however and I thought I would give you a heads up on an article I’m waiting to have published.
As some of you know, I have been writing off and on for Packt Publishing‘s online Article Network. I’ve covered a number of Ubuntu related topics such as: “What’s New in Ubuntu 9.10“, “Network Based Ubuntu Installations“, “Ubuntu 9.10: How to Upgrade“, “Creating Local Ubuntu Repositories“, “Five Years of Ubuntu“, “Ubuntu User Interface Tweaks“, “Install GNOME-Shell on Ubuntu 9.10“, “Securely Encrypting Removable Media“, and “Folding @ Home on Ubuntu“.
My latest article, which should be published this week sometime, is a quick-install guide to Ubuntu Server 10.04 toward the goal of a “LAMP” web-server. The article includes screenshots for installing Ubuntu Server, installing the Apache, MySQL and PHP components, and installing a WordPress installation, managed by subversion. It probably sounds like there is quite a bit to it, doesn’t it?
The best part of the article is that you can go from zero to WordPress in fifteen minutes! I’ve timed it. Twice. I setup a virtual machine and by following these instructions I can go from no operating system to a working WordPress installation in under fifteen minutes. It’s really quite amazing! Ubuntu Server is so user friendly, and they’ve put in enough attention to the little details, that really anyone can set up a web server and start publishing content in no time!
I have a follow-up article in the works (still a few weeks out, at least) which outlines expanding your web server to include SSL, virtual hosts (multiple sites), managing and upgrading your WordPress engine using subversion, and more.
I’ll post links when both of these publish. Until then…
Christer
I know I’m a few days behind, but I finally upgraded this morning to 10.04 “Lucid Lynx” LTS release. So far my impression is that it is very well polished and has a professional look. I’m not referring to the “purple vs brown” change in look, but the overall polish of the interfaces and integration of tools.
I did a fresh installation, which took a little bit longer than I remember previous versions taking, but it wasn’t bad. The introductory slideshow was nice as well. I can definitely see that as aimed toward new, non-technical adopters.
I’m impressed to see the Ubuntu One integration into many of the applications. I’ve long been a “cloud user”, but usually those “clouds” are my own file servers stretched out here and there. It is nice to see Ubuntu One so seamlessly integrated into the applications so I don’t really have to think about it.
I hope to have some new posts here coming up soon. I’d love to hear your thoughts and impressions on the new release as well. Drop by, leave a comment and tell us what you think!
GNOME 2.30 Released
I am happy to pass on the announcement that GNOME has released 2.30, and exactly on schedule! This release brings a number of great improvements that I’m sure you’ll be happy with in the upcoming Ubuntu release. Because Ubuntu bases its releases after the GNOME release schedule, each GNOME release means an Ubuntu release is imminent.
If you enjoy GNOME, please consider donating to Friends of GNOME. They are *so* close to their goal. I’m sure the readers of Ubuntu Tutorials could help push them over the goal! Thank you.
I just read an article over at Dustin Kirkland’s blog regarding the enormous server farm that Weta Digital has setup to render blockbuster movies. Apparently the latest Blockbuster, Avatar, had scenes rendered using a 35,000 core Ubuntu-based server farm. 35,000! That is hard to imagine! They’ve also rendered a few other films you may have heard of:
It is amazing to think that in just a few short years Ubuntu has gained such a reputation that it would be used for such high-end commercial services.
A few years ago I did a talk at a local conference regarding Ubuntu in the Enterprise. Sadly, at the time, it was very hard to find any real solid documentation regarding large businesses using Ubuntu day-to-day. Sure it had crept onto some corporate desktops, but it was very hard to find it elsewhere. Now, we have stories like this and I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg!
What other companies do you know that run Ubuntu in production? I’m sure many of us would be interested to find out where else it is being used.
(Note: more details and links regarding Weta Digital and the source of this data at Dustin’s blog.)
I know many people are curious regarding which Ubuntu kernel is available, and how the kernels differ between distributions. I thought it would be interesting to create a reference outlining each of the supported and available kernels on Ubuntu, and which release they correspond to. I will try to keep this page updated with the latest information regarding Ubuntu kernel versions, including:
I hope this ends up becoming a useful quick reference for the community.
Ubuntu Kernel Versions
I’ve included a screenshot of the initial data. Please note that this screenshot is not kept up to date. Please download the latest PDF linked below.
Download the latest .pdf here.
I am, as I’m sure many of you are, avid users of virtualization. Virtualization allows us to test new releases, other distributions, and otherwise sandbox operating systems and applications that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to (or want to!) run on our stable system. In this article I will outline how to install the latest VirtualBox release using the VirtualBox / Sun repository. This will ensure your installation remains up to date, and stays within the package management system.
Requirements
In order to install the latest VirtualBox release we’ll need to configure and activate the VirtualBox repository. This is done by following the steps below:
You’ll also want to import the package signing key, using the command:
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
Installation
Once you have the upstream VirtualBox repository activated, you’re able to install the latest VirtualBox release using the command below. You may also click on the linked package name:
sudo aptitude install virtualbox-3.1
Use
Before you are able to use VirtualBox you will need to add yourself to the required group. This facilitates access to the vboxdrv system device. Use the following command to add yourself to the required group:
sudo gpasswd -a <username> vboxusers
Once you have applied this change you will need to logout and log back in. This is required for the group-access change to take effect.
After you are logged back in you should be able to successfully launch VirtualBox from: Applications > System Tools > VirtualBox
I realized today that this blog could do far more to reach Ubuntu Users worldwide than it currently is. For that reason I have created a Facebook page for Ubuntu Tutorials! If you are a fan of this blog, please become a fan on Facebook as well. I would like to be able to better reach Ubuntu Users, and the best way to do that is through the largest, most popular site in the world!
To become a fan of Ubuntu Tutorials on Facebook, follow these two simple steps:
Becoming a fan will allow you to follow blog updates via Facebook, including links to full articles. I’ll also be including additional Facebook-only contests and events
Help get things moving, become a fan today!
UPDATE: This article has been update for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. Please see Install Adobe Reader 9.3.2 on Ubuntu 10.04 “Lucid Lynx”.
Adobe Reader 9 allows you to easily view, print, and collaborate on PDF files! Adobe Reader is the standard for electronic document sharing. It is the only PDF file viewer that can open and interact with all PDF documents. Use Adobe Reader 9 to view, search, digitally sign, verify, print, and collaborate on Adobe PDF files. In this article I will outline how to install the latest Adobe Reader release on Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic Koala”.
Requirements
Installation of Adobe Reader 9 requires the activation of the Canonical Partner repository. You can add the Partner repository by following the steps outlined below.
Installation
Once the Partner repository is configured and active you are ready to install Adobe Reader 9. This can be done by running the following command within your terminal, or clicking the linked package name.
sudo aptitude install acroread
Use
You should now be able to launch Adobe Reader 9 from your Applications menu. You can find it in Applications > Office > Adobe Reader 9, or in KDE: Office > Adobe Reader 9. This installation also prompts to set Adobe Reader 9 as the default PDF reader.