Tag Archives: Ubuntu

Extend Your Battery Life With Powertop

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If you use a Linux laptop and have not heard of PowerTop you really need to keep reading!  This is a fantastic tool for extending your battery life written and published by Intel.  I use it constantly on long flights and my battery lasts long enough for a cross-country flight.

Installing Powertop

PowerTop is available in the Ubuntu repositories so its a really easy installation:

sudo aptitude install powertop

Once you’ve got it installed start things up using:

sudo powertop

This application will scan your machine for 5 seconds and then tell you which hardware or application is causing the most drain on your machine.  The best part about it is that it’ll offer you suggestions along with shortcut keys to disable the feature or hardware in order to conserve power!

Some of the common things that powertop suggests disabling on my machine are bluetooth, wireless and add-on storage (cdrom, usb-devices, etc).  Disabling these few things can extend my battery up to an hour (depending on the software I’m running, of course).

I really suggest checking out powertop for any laptop user.  It should be part of your base installation setup.  What luck have you had with powertop?  How long can you extend your battery life?

How To Install VMware Tools on Ubuntu 8.04 Guests

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Installing VMware Tools on virtualized guests gives you a much more enjoyable experience within your virtual environment.  Screen resolution, mouse behaviour, etc will be improved for your virtual sessions after installing these additional tools.  Installing these tools within Ubuntu 8.04 virtualized guests is fairly simple, just follow along below.

Installing VMware Tools

The first requirement, of course, is that you have Ubuntu 8.04 installed within VMware Server and that Ubuntu 8.04 is running.

Once you’ve got your Ubuntu 8.04 guest logged in, navigate to the “VM” menu option (File, Edit, View… VM) and select “Install VMware Tools”.  This will notify you once again that your guest must be logged in.  If that is the case, click “Install”.

note: The next step in the process may be simpler if you make sure any other CD images are unmounted before continuing.

This part of the process mounts a virtual CD image with the VMware Tools contained on it.  To find these tools for installation navigate to Places > Computer > CD Drive.  You should find these two files listed there:

VMwareTools-*.rpm
VMwareTools-.tar.gz

For Ubuntu guest installations we’ll want to use the .tar.gz file.  Now we have access to the needed file, the next part of the process is opening the archive and installing the tools.

Below I’ve put together a copy-paste list of commands you should be able to use to unpack and setup VMware Tools on your Ubuntu 8.04 guest.  All of these commands happen within the Ubuntu 8.04 Guest machine:

sudo aptitude install build-essential linux-headers-generic
cp /media/cdrom/VMwareTools-*.tar.gz /tmp/
cd /tmp/
tar xf VMwareTools-*.tar.gz
cd vmware-tools-distrib/
sudo ./vmware-install.pl

You should be able to safely select the defaults for most of the questions.  You might want to pay attention at the step where it asks for your preferred available resolution and set that properly.  For the new VMware Tools to be available once this process is done you’ll need to reboot your Ubuntu 8.04 guest.  Enjoy.

Announcing the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

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The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) on desktop and server.  Codenamed “Hardy Heron”, 8.04 LTS continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.

We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable, and suitable for testing by any user.

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition features incremental improvements to familiar applications, with an emphasis on stability for this second Ubuntu long-term support release, and is easier than ever to try out with the new Wubi installer.

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Server Edition follows in the footsteps of Ubuntu 7.10 with even more virtualization support and security enhancements – enabling AppArmor for more applications by default, improving protection of kernel memory against attacks, and supporting KVM and iSCSI technologies out of the box.

The Ubuntu 8.04 LTS family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio, and Mythbuntu, also reach RC status today.

The final release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is scheduled for 24 April 2008 and will be supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the server.

Before installing or upgrading to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS please read http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/804

About The Release Candidate
—————————
The purpose of the Release Candidate is to solicit one last round of testing before the final release. Here are ways that you can help:

  • Upgrade from Ubuntu, Kubuntu, or Edubuntu 7.10 to the Release Candidate by following the instructions given above.
  • Participate in installation testing using the Release Candidate CD images, by following the testing and reporting instructions at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/ISO

Desktop Features
—————-
Improved application selection: the GNOME desktop sports a number of improvements to the default applications, including more feature-full clients for BitTorrent and VNC, as well as an advanced UI for mastering CDs and DVDs.

File browsing: an enhanced filesystem layer brings greater performance and flexibility to Nautilus, the GNOME file browser.

Pluggable audio and video output: the PulseAudio sound server is integrated in the GNOME desktop for more flexible sound output, and a new Screen Resolution utility allows easier configuration of multiple video displays.

Wubi installer: a new Windows-based installer option makes it easier than ever to try out Ubuntu, letting users install a full desktop on Windows systems without needing to partition their hard drive.

Server Features
—————
AppArmor profiles: a greater number of server applications are now protected by default with AppArmor, a kernel technology that limits the resources an application is allowed to access, providing added protection against undiscovered security vulnerabilities.

Memory protection: additional protection now prevents direct access to system memory through /dev/mem and /dev/kmem, and the lower 64K of system memory is no longer addressable by default, changes which help to defend against malicious code.  The kernel now also loads Position Independent
Executables at randomized addresses, making it harder for application security vulnerabilities to be exploited.

Virtualization and iSCSI: KVM is now an officially maintained option, which combined with libvirt (CLI) and virt-manager (GUI) management tools allows for a simple and efficient virtualization option on hardware that supports virtualization extensions (AMD-V or Intel-VT).  Mounting iSCSI targets is
now supported (including in the installer), allowing Ubuntu to interoperate with this class of cost-efficient Storage Area Network solutions.

Ubuntu Education Edition
————————
Add-on configuration: Edubuntu is now provided as an add-on to Ubuntu rather than a separate stand-alone flavor, permitting even greater reuse of Ubuntu technologies.

Kubuntu Features
—————-
Kubuntu comes with the rock solid KDE 3 for those who want a commercially supported desktop.

For those who want something more exciting, a KDE 4 Remix is available bringing this cutting edge new version to you first.

Please see https://wiki.kubuntu.org/HardyHeron/RC/Kubuntu for details.

Xubuntu Features
—————-
Xubuntu comes with the light-weight Xfce 4.4.2 desktop environment for those who want to a desktop that is easy to use, but places particular emphasis on conserving system resources.

New Additions To The Family
—————————
Two new variants join us for this Ubuntu release.  UbuntuStudio and Mythbuntu have done releases separately in the past, and with Hardy Heron we’re happy to be able to welcome these fine community projects into the main Ubuntu release process.

For a more in-depth tour of the features new in 8.04 LTS, see http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/804rc

About Ubuntu
————
Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, and servers, with a fast and easy install and regular releases.  A tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included, and
an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.

Professional technical support is available from Canonical Limited and hundreds of other companies around the world.  For more information about support, visit http://www.ubuntu.com/support

To Get the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Release Candidate CD
——————————

To perform a new installation or try out 8.04 LTS “live” from CD, download the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Release Candidate (choose the mirror closest to you):
Europe:

http://ftp.belnet.be/mirror/ubuntu.com/releases/8.04 (Belgium)
http://ubuntu.linux-bg.org/releases/8.04 (Bulgaria)
http://hr.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Croatia)
http://mirror.u-soft.dk/ubuntu-releases/8.04 (Denmark)
http://ftp.crihan.fr/releases/8.04 (France)
http://gb.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Great Britain)
http://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/linux/ubuntu-releases/8.04 (Greece)
http://ie.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Ireland)
http://it.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Italy)
http://nl.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (The Netherlands)
http://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/linux/ubuntu-releases/8.04 (The Netherlands)
http://no.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Norway)
http://neacm.fe.up.pt/pub/ubuntu-releases/8.04 (Portugal)
http://es.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Spain)
http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Sweden)

Asia/Pacific:

http://tw.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Taiwan)
http://ubuntu-releases.optus.net/8.04 (Australia)
http://nz.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (New Zealand)

Africa:

http://za.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (South Africa)

North America:

http://us.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (United States)

South America:

http://br.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Brazil)

Rest of the world:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Great Britain)

Please download using Bittorrent if possible.  See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BitTorrent for more information about using Bittorrent.

Upgrading from Ubuntu 7.10 and Ubuntu 6.06 LTS
———————————————-
To upgrade to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Release Candidate from Ubuntu 7.10 or Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, follow these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardyUpgrades

Feedback and Helping
——————–
If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/

Your comments, bug reports, patches, and suggestions will help turn this release into the best release of Ubuntu ever. Please report bugs through the Launchpad bug tracker: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs

If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but aren’t sure, first try asking on the #ubuntu IRC channel on FreeNode, on the Ubuntu Users mailing list, or on the Ubuntu forums:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/

More Information
—————-

You can find out more about Ubuntu and about this preview release on our website, IRC channel, and wiki. If you are new to Ubuntu, please visit: http://www.ubuntu.com/

How To Do Seamless Window and Folder Integration with Ubuntu & VirtualBox

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As promised in yesterdays post I’m going to outline today how to setup seamless window integration with Ubuntu and Virtualbox. If you missed yesterday’s post you might want to take a look at the seamless integration screenshot. No, that is not Photoshop’d, its really my desktop. I’ll also outline how to setup a shared folder between the two systems so that the icons and folders available on your XP desktop are available on your Ubuntu dekstop. So lets go ahead and dive in.

Installing VirtualBox

If you’ve already got VirtualBox installed you can skip ahead here down to Activating Seamless Integration. If not we’ll be starting you from scratch. Fortunately Ubuntu has packages for VirtualBox available in the repositories. I have a previous post on installing VirtualBox, but we’ll repeat the steps here:

sudo aptitude install virtualbox-ose virtualbox-ose-modules

This’ll install VirtualBox Open Source Edition, and should take just a few minutes.

After the installation is finished you’ll need to do just one of the following.

  • Add yourself to the vboxdrv group (sudo usermod -G vboxusers -a username), and then re-login.
  • change permissions on the vboxdrv device (sudo chmod 666 /dev/vboxdrv)

You should now have VirtualBox listed in your Applications menu (Applications > System Tools > Innotek VirtualBox). Go ahead and launch this and install Windows. (I wont get into details on Windows installation, I’m hoping you can figure that much out on your own.)

Activating Seamless Integration

With the release of VirtualBox 1.5.0 (the version you just installed via the Ubuntu repositories) Innotek added the seamless integration feature. This is similar to what is available on Parallels on Mac, allowing you to run individual applications from a virtual environment seamlessly on your native desktop.

Once your guest machine is running and logged in you can activate seamless mode via a shortcut key. Now I want to note that you might double-check to see what your “Host Key” is set to before you dive into this. This proved problematic for me on my MacBook as the default key is right-ctrl, but there is no right-ctrl on the MacBook.

Navigate to (File > Preferences) inside the main VirtualBox window, select the “Input” option and verify or set your “Host” Key” before you go forward.

You’ll also need to install Guest Additions on the Windows guest for this to be available.  See the mention in the next section on how to do that.

Once you’re sure what your “Host Key” is, go back into your running Windows guest and activate seamless mode by hitting:

"Host Key"+L

This should make everything but the Start menu disappear, allowing you to launch individual applications as you normally would. You may want to move your bottom gnome panel to the top for better integration.

Configuring Shared Folder Integration

One additional thing you might want to setup is shared folder integration. What I mean by this is having the files from your Ubuntu desktop appear on your Windows desktop as well. This might be useful, for instance, if you launched Internet Exploder via your integrated Start menu and downloaded a file. The saved file would then appear on your native Ubuntu desktop, via the shared folder system.

First we’ll need to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions. I haven’t yet blogged about how to do this on Windows guests, but you might refer to my previous post on Installing Guest Additions for Ubuntu Guests. Hopefully this’ll be enough until I write a proper article on the topic.

Next activate virtual shared folder support in your guest OS (Windows). Do this via the main VirtualBox window, selecting (Machine > Settings > “Shared Folders”). Click the button to add a shared folder (the top right icon), and define the path to your share. You’ll likely want to share your current Desktop, so you might select:

/home/username/Desktop

Now, toggling back to your Windows guest, you’ll want to mount this shared folder. You’ll need to open a shell using (Start > Run > “cmd“). Then use the following command to “mount” this shared folder between your Ubuntu host and your Windows guest.

net use x: \vboxsvrDesktop

You should now have access to your shared folder, but we also want to tell Windows to use this as its primary folder.

Start up regedit via (Start > Run > “regedit“) and navigate to the following location:

(HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > User Shell Folders)

Look for the key “Desktop” and change the value to:

x:

Save your changes, reboot your Windows guest and you should be done.

I realize this post ended up a bit longer than I expected, but hopefully its comprehensive enough to make it easy to follow. I am really impressed with VirtualBox Open Source Edition, and this even improves my opinion of it!

Medibuntu : The Only 3rd Party Repo I Use

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UPDATE: This article has been updated for Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic Koala”. Medibuntu on Ubuntu 9.10.

I am generally very wary of suggesting the use of 3rd party repositories. I rarely, if ever, use them myself, even if it’ll make installing an application a bit simpler. The bottom line for this is that I want my machine to be as supported as it can be, so I generally only use the official Ubuntu repositories (main restricted universe multiverse). Adding this repository will add unsupported packages to your system, but it is considered far more trusted than other repositories.

Medibuntu is the one repository that I find I can suggest to people, and this solves most all of the non-free issues people have. Everything from DVD playback to non-free codecs–even Google Earth!

A breakdown of what is available via Medibuntu:

  • Non-Free Media Codecs (w32codecs, libdvdcss, etc)
  • Acroread
  • Google Earth
  • RealPlayer
  • Skype
  • Popular Media Players without stripped codecs (amarok, xmms, mplayer, kaffeine, k3b)

Adding the Medibuntu Repo

To add the Medibuntu repository we’ll need to grab the sources.list available there. Note: the following is for Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy”. Replace gutsy.list with feisty.list, etc for your version:

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

We’ll also need the key in order to validate the packages as they come in:

wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

Installing Packages

So the heavy lifting is now done, now for a few examples of adding some of these codecs or applications.

To install DVD playback use:

sudo aptitude install libdvdcss2

To install non-free codec support:

sudo aptitude install w32codecs

(w64codecs for 64bit, ppc-codecs for PPC architecture)

More documentation is available at the Ubuntu Community Medibuntu Wiki.

Installation via apturl

If you’ve added the repository in the above step you can now install any of the below by clicking on the link. These will install from the Medibuntu repository ONLY if you’ve configured them as above. These packages are not distributed or downloaded from my servers:

Adobe Reader – Adobe’s PDF Reader

Adobe Reader Plugins – Ability to complete fillable forms

Adobe Mozilla Plugin – Adobe Plugin for Firefox, Galeon, Konqueror

Google Earth – Google Earth : Explore, Search and Discover

Win32 Codecs – nonfree media playback (wma, realplayer, quicktime)

Amarok – The popular media player + mp3/mp4 integration

Skype – VOIP with Skype

ffmpeg – Multimedia player, server and encoder (mp3,mp4,h264,amr support)

Ubuntu Restricted Extras

You may also want to read my previous, Installing Ubuntu Restricted Extras for a wider list of the packages that are not installed by default.

Disclaimer: These are not in base Ubuntu for a reason. Either they are patent encumbered or not free software.

Patent and copyright laws operate differently depending on which country you are in. Please obtain legal advice if you are unsure whether a particular patent or restriction applies to a media format you wish to use in your country.

Installing Opera on Ubuntu

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UPDATE: Install Opera 10 Web Browser in Ubuntu 9.10

I realize, in all of my posts, I’ve never outlined how to install the Opera browser. There are two methods you can use to install it, and both will be outlined below. Before I get into those steps though I have a few things to say about the browser.

First, I think the Opera browser is a really quality piece of software. In the “browser wars” I think it really has a lot to offer and I compare it, as far as standards compliance is concerned, at about the same level of Safari. I think, technically speaking, Opera and Safari are better browsers than Firefox. The usability and extensions of Firefox are one of the main things that makes it a good browser and so popular.

Having said that I should mention I use Firefox or Flock (based on Firefox) as my browser primarily for the great community around it and due to the great extensions. Also, most importantly, is the principle that Firefox is free software whereas Opera is not. For me, if anything, that is reason enough.

Without further ado here are the instructions for installing Opera on your Ubuntu machine.

Method #1

The easiest method is to visit the Opera website and use the download icon. When I visit that site it recognizes (or defaults) to a listing of Ubuntu compatible versions. Everything from Warty to Edgy are available. Simply select your version, download and install the package. Installing the package can be done using the Gdebi Package Installer (open with..) or using the command sudo dpkg -i opera*.deb (save to disk) after downloading.

Method #2

The second method is to download Opera from the Ubuntu repositories. This is probably the more trusted method, but many users prefer method #1 due to the fact that it can often be more up to date. As usual I will suggest that the official method, the official repositories, is what you should use. To install Opera use the following:

sudo aptitude install opera

Or, as always, you can use any GUI method such as Synaptic or Adept to install the opera package. What are some of your thoughts on Opera? Do you use it? If so, why? If not, why not?

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How To Find Your Ubuntu or Kernel Version

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To make up for not blogging over the past few weeks I’ve got a few things up my sleeve here. I definitely want to get back into my old habit so I’ll just dive right in.

This tutorial will outline a few methods of finding your installed Ubuntu version or kernel version. These can be useful if you ever need to troubleshoot a problem or need more information for a bug submission.

The first method you can use is a GUI method to see what version you have installed. Personally I think it could be made a bit more prominent, but that isn’t my call. To find the version using the GUI method simply do the following:

System > About Ubuntu

The resulting window will show some main contents and then thank you for your interest in version.

ubuntu version from about page “Thank you for your interest in Ubuntu 6.10 – the Edgy Eft – released in October 2006.”

The other method to find your version is a command line method. There are two commands you can use:

cat /etc/issue

or you can use

cat /etc/lsb-release

…and finally to find your kernel version and a few more details about your machine use the uname command which, per the man pages, shows system information. Examples:

uname -a : print all information

uname -r : print the kernel release

uname -v : print the kernel version

uname -o : print the operating system

see man uname for more details on using the uname… and now you should be able to find out more about your machine, report better bugs and continue to make Ubuntu even better!

10 Must Have Ubuntu Resources

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One of you recently contacted me and wondered what some of my must-read pages are. There really are tons of great sites out there, probably too many to count. I do have a list of must-have resources for any Ubuntu user. This list consists of great places to find help, places to keep up on information, places to volunteer time and talents, etc. In the open source world there is always a job for everyone. I hope you’re doing your part!

Below is my top 10 must have Ubuntu resources for any user. If you aren’t familiar with any of these be sure to take a look. There is always more to learn or always more to contribute.

I hope this gives everyone something new to look at and learn. My biggest suggestion is to make sure to find a local team in your area and work with them or, if you’re up to it (it is a lot of work!) look into creating your own local team if none yet exist.

If you’re interested, drop by and say hello on our local team IRC channel, #ubuntu-utah.

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Tweaking grub settings : Ubuntu (5.10 / 6.06.1 / 6.10)

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Most of you have probably at least heard of “grub” but may not be completely familiar with it. What it does or how to make it work for you is quite another story for most people. I’d like to outline a few minor tweaks that anyone can make to grub to update their boot-time options.

Your grub config on an Ubuntu system is outlined at /boot/grub/menu.lst. There is quite a lot of commenting in that file so, if you take the time to read through, you’ll should be able to figure out quite a bit on your own. I want to outline a couple things that I often tweak within grub.

First and foremost you should make a backup of the file before you make any changes. As always, there is a chance that you could make errors in your changes and it’ll save your day if you’ve made a backup. Make a backup using a command like:

sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst-backup

After you’ve made your backup copy you’ll want to edit the file to make a few changes. You would do that using the following:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Now we get to the fun stuff! What to look at and what to change? So many questions. Below are some of the settings that can be changed within grub and what they do.

default – allows you to specify the default grub listing. This defaults to 0 and you generally don’t need to change this.

timeout – allows you to change the countdown before grub automagically boots into the default listing. By default it should be set to 3 (seconds). If you need more time to choose the kernel or OS to boot into you can change this. Simply change the entry from:

timeout 3

to something like

timeout 10

or, of course speed things up, setting it at

timeout 1

hiddenmenu – allows you to specify whether or not your grub menu will be hidden at boot time. By default it is hidden and prompts you to press ESC to see the menu. If you would prefer to see the menu each time you boot simply comment out the line. Example, you would change:

hiddenmenu

to

# hiddenmenu

The file then moves into some commented code to show you examples of listing and the style and options you can set. Below that underneath

## ## End Default Options ##

you’ll see the kernels or OS’ that you have listed for your system. These break down into four main options. This is an example of my current listing for the 2.6.17-10-generic kernel:

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic

root (hd0,0)

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash

initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic

quiet

savedefault

boot

A few of these settings are optional but the required options are:

title – this is the menu listing you will see at boot. You can change this to whatever you’d like. An example could be:

title Ubuntu - The best distro ever! (2.6.17-10-generic)

(the reason that I listed the kernel version is so I can tell future updates or other customizations apart from this. You generally want to run the latest kernel and, in certain situations, run a previous. It is generally a good idea to list the kernel version in whatever “nickname” you set for your grub listing title.)

root – this is where the root of the file systems is located.  Your partitions may be someplace on hda, but hd is the very root. You won’t want to change this but you might notice a difference if you’re running a dual-boot system.

kernel – the kernel option is where to find and what kernel to use for this option. If you create a custom kernel you’ll need to specify the path to that file. Or, in some situations you might be booting multiple distributions and in that case you’d need to specify the path to each kernel.

Also, the root option specifies the partition to find the distribution or OS files. This must be set correctly in order to find the kernel and other options.

ro, quiet and splash – these are optional but load the pretty splash screen that you see at boot time.

initrd – this loads the image that goes along with the kernel option above. The kernel (vmlinuz) and initrd (img) file are generally stored in the same place. Make sure that your paths match the exact file if you are customizing your menu.lst.
savedefault – this refers to the default option listed above. As this is our default option and latest kernel it is specified as such. If you take a look at your file you’ll notice the first listing is the only one with the savedefault option.
You should be a little bit more confident in tweaking your grub listing at this point. There isn’t a lot to it but it is one of the most critical system settings. If you ruin your grub file your system (or any system on your machine!) will not boot. Be careful with it but, as usual, your system is only as powerful as you are educated so take the time to know how your system runs. In most cases you wont need to edit grub, but for those of you feeling adventureous perhaps try to change the timeout setting or change the title for your options. Best way to learn is to try!

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Antivirus on Ubuntu with Avast! : Ubuntu (6.06.1 / 6.10)

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Back when I was a windows user it was a constant struggle to keep ahead of the horde of viruses and malware dead-set on exterminating my computing existence. I tried many programs, from McAfee to Symantec, from FreeAVG to Avast! There are dozens of options available for the windows crowd. Luckily, as Linux users it isn’t something that we need to worry about very much.

Despite the very low number of viruses existing for Linux there are still antivirus solutions for Linux. One of them (which just happened to be my favorite Windows client) is Avast! Now, why would I bother installing antivirus on my Linux machine if viruses are a non-threat? Well, do you ever communicate with Windows based machines? I’d be surprised if none of us ever come into contact (via email, IM, file-sharing, etc) with a Windows machine. Having said that how many of these machines would you say are infected? My guess is more often than not is a Windows machine infected with some sort of malware.

So, in an attempt to keep the network clean and make sure we’re not passing on infection it wouldn’t hurt to occasionally scan our machines. This would go double for any Linux machine that acts as a server (email or IM especially!)

To install Avast! for Linux simply visit the Avast for Linux download page and download the Avast debian file. After downloading this file you can double-click to install or use the following command within the terminal:

sudo dpkg -i avast4workstation*.deb

Once this is installed you can run the program by doing:

ALT-F2 : avastgui

Avast! is free for home use but you do need a registration key that is valid for one year. It only takes a few minutes to generate a home license registration and you will be prompted to do so when you first start the program.

At this point you now have (optional) antivirus on your Ubuntu machine to scan for all that nasty malware out in the wild. Do your part here and there to protect your neighbors. If they aren’t quite ready for Linux yet the least we can do is fight-crime (so to speak) in our virus-proof vests.