Ubuntu to Airport, come in Airport

So, I’ve been scared.  Really scared.  You see, I’m so used to the printer “just working” on the Windows side of things that I’m quite worried about setting up networked printing on Ubuntu.  I mean, I’ve read horror stories of trolling through Canon’s European support ftp server to look for the right driver for my IP5200.

Then I found this:

HOW-TO: Printing from Ubuntu to a USB Printer on Airport Extreme Base Station - Ubuntu Forums

This little handy guide worked like a charm for my Gutsy installation.  I was able to determine that port 9101 was open on my Airport Extreme (UFO, not theMac-Mini style) and used the GUI printer admin tool to set this guy up in no time.  Surprisingly, I found that not only was my driver listed in the Windows-esque “add a printer” util, but it worked right off the bat.

At first, I printed the sample page and was worried that it wasn’t working since it didn’t come out right away.  I let the computer sit for a while and, lo and behold, it finally started working, albeit slowly.  Nevertheless, I’m happy that I can now print from Ubuntu to my IP5200 hooked up on my Airport Extreme base station.

Ubuntu Customization and Games

As of right now, Ubuntu is now my default OS on my XPS m1330.  Woohoo!  Unfortunately, Vista remains on my hard drive as a fall back–especially for games.  Currently though, I’m not really involved with any PC games but plan to try Gears of War out on the Vista side of things.  Also, while I’m digging the speed of Ubuntu, the Vista aero glass and Yahoo widgets are pretty nice.  I also have rocketdock running over there with a super sweet icon pack–kinda makes the whole thing feel like 1930s Shanghai.  I know, I know, there’s plenty I can do with customization in Ubuntu and trust me, I’m getting ready to roll up the sleeves and get all up in there.  I’m currently waiting until the 18th so I can grab the final version of Gutsy and so I can catchup on my homework and reading (actually, I’m trying to get about a week or so ahead of the curve).  I guess I’ll dream of a tricked out system and gamedom after I’m a little bit ahead of the reading and homework curve.

en/UbuntuGames - Ubuntu Games

Giving up on compiz

I’ve tried to get compiz fusion running on the m1330 but since this guy shipped with the Intel 965 graphics chipset, it looks like there will be no compiz for me for a while.  I’m hoping there is a fix for the next Ubuntu release in spring 2008, but I’m not holding my breath.  The eye candy would have been nice, but I’ll get over it.  After all, I just want an OS that boots fast, shuts down fast, and is generally stable.  Vista really isn’t any of those things.  I’ve found that booting up is not really faster than XP, shutting down is still horrendously slow, and stability is not its strong suit.  I’ve had all sorts of trouble playing video over my home network in Vista that magically do not happen in Ubuntu.  Chalk one up for the penguin.

Panorama - Hugin « PHOTOBUNTU - photo management on linux

Panorama - Hugin « PHOTOBUNTU - photo management on linux

This certainly looks like a neat app to try.  Now that I’ve officially sworn off Vista on the m1330, I’m going to start using Ubuntu to do my daily duty of photo manipulation and the like.

I’m also going to have to find a vector illustration program similar to Adobe Illustrator and see where it goes from there.  And to think, I just started watching the AI CS3 tutorial vids.  I think if the I can’t find something decent to use to make vectors on Ubuntu (something I seriously doubt), I may have to switch back and forth between Vista and Ubuntu again.  I’m going to try like heck to avoid this, but if you gotta go, you gotta go.

Vista network troubles

I’ve been running Miro on my Vista server for some time (Miro is a free, video podcast downloader that also does double duty as a tv torrent vacuum).  I use it to grab backups for all of my favorite shows in case my Tivo dumps them before I can watch them or if there is a conflict that the two Tivos can’t manage to work out.

While working at home today, I decided to sift the couple hundred gigs of free podcast videos and TV shows that Miro has been downloading.  Using the Vista side of the m1330, I found that the videos kept stuttering and would eventually stop transferring data altogether.  I thought the Airport Extreme that dishes out wifi was having a bad day so I rebooted it.  Unfortunately, that did not help.  I switched over to Ubuntu to see if I could play my videos and after installing a codec pack, totem whipped through them without any issues.

I’m not sure what’s happening on the Vista side of the house, but the boys and girls in Redmond best be shippin’ SP1 soon or I’m going to forced to delete that partition and give it all over to Ubuntu.

rdesktop update

The last bit to get me over to Ubuntu full time has been getting rdesktop working with my headless vista server which I have no intention of turning into an ubuntu machine in the near future for the simple reason that it runs mozy in order to back up all of the stuff on my NAS RAID array. I may eventually figure out a way around that, but for the moment, my kludged solution works.

I’ve been having trouble getting the terminal services client that comes with ubuntu to recognize my vista machine’s name and realized that it like IP addresses. Since those change now and again when my vista box reboots, I figure I’d better give that thing a static IP so as I’ll be able to get back into it when I do go Ubuntu full time on the m1330.

xorg.conf busted again

I took an update a day or two ago and wasn’t paying much attention. Today, I booted up my XPS m1330 and found that I can’t get out of 640×480…argh!!

It seems that my xorg.conf was overwritten by something that I installed over the last day or two and it just took a reboot to take effect. Luckily, whatever overwrote the file made a backup copy so I make a copy of the messed up file by doing:

sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.messedup
and then copying my working file back then rebooting:

sudo rm xorg.conf
sudo cp xorg.conf.1 xorg.conf
sudo reboot

Anyway, that seemed to do the trick. I asked my work buddy who figured out the original work around for the XPS m1330 to let me post it online and I’ve included it here:

# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier	"Generic Keyboard"
Driver		"kbd"
Option		"CoreKeyboard"
Option		"XkbRules"	"xorg"
Option		"XkbModel"	"pc105"
Option		"XkbLayout"	"us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier	"Configured Mouse"
Driver		"mouse"
Option		"CorePointer"
Option		"Device"		"/dev/input/mice"
Option		"Protocol"		"ImPS/2"
Option		"ZAxisMapping"		"4 5"
Option		"Emulate3Buttons"	"true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier	"Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver		"synaptics"
Option		"SendCoreEvents"	"true"
Option		"Device"		"/dev/psaux"
Option		"Protocol"		"auto-dev"
Option		"HorizScrollDelta"	"0"
Option		"SHMConfig"		"true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver		"wacom"
Identifier	"stylus"
Option		"Device"	"/dev/input/wacom"
Option		"Type"		"stylus"
Option		"ForceDevice"	"ISDV4"		# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver		"wacom"
Identifier	"eraser"
Option		"Device"	"/dev/input/wacom"
Option		"Type"		"eraser"
Option		"ForceDevice"	"ISDV4"		# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver		"wacom"
Identifier	"cursor"
Option		"Device"	"/dev/input/wacom"
Option		"Type"		"cursor"
Option		"ForceDevice"	"ISDV4"		# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier	"Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller"
Driver		"intel"
Option		"monitor-TV" "TVOutput"
BusID		"PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier  "TVOutput"
Option      "Ignore" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier	"Generic Monitor"
Option		"DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier	"Default Screen"
Device		"Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller"
Monitor		"Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth	24
SubSection "Display"
Modes		"1280x800"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier	"Default Layout"
Screen		"Default Screen"
InputDevice	"Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice	"Configured Mouse"
InputDevice     "stylus"	"SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice     "cursor"	"SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice     "eraser"	"SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice	"Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Wild Jackfield Chase

I decided to make Ubuntu a little bit more “homey” and “user-ish,” I would install some sort of widget engine like Yahoo’s Konfabu-Widgets or Windows Gadgets (soon to be renamed Windows Live Gadgets Premium Super Edition Beta, I’m sure).  I found Jackfield which looks pretty nice, but has been the red-headed stepchild of this particular developer’s world (ie, it’s been cast aside for other more important projects, I suppose).

Anyway, I grabbed the sources and have been trying to run the darned thing.  I first I had to install SVN and get reacquainted since I’ve been using perforce at work as of late.  Well, first I had to figure out if I even had svn installed or not (”svn –version” tells me that I ain’t got nada).  So after installing, and grabbing the sources, I tried to run it and it complains about the fact that it can’t import the Image module.  Hmmmm….I figure it’s looking for some sort of include file in the python language and off I go hunting for that.

Well, I found that I have three whole versions of python installed and one of them must have the Image module somewhere in there.  Yet even more hunting and I find that I may be able to use /etc/environment to hold the PYTHONPATH variable.  I tried and it didn’t seem to do much, but I bet I need a restart.

That’s one of the things I absolutely LOVE about linux thus far:  immediate shut downs.  The Windows has worked for the longest time is that it seems to really thing that the user is beneath it.  “Oh, so you want to shut down huh?  Well you’ll just have to wait till I’m done shredding the hard drive to death.  So there!”

This is one aspect of Windows that I’ve always despised.  95, XP, and yes, even the much loathed Vista have this very problem of treating the user like a 2nd class citizen.  I absolutely hate shutting down my XP box because it’ll usually take 5 or 10 minutes to actually go from me pleading with it to shut down to it actually shutting down.  And forget about starting up.  Once you go down that road, you may as well login, go grab a coffee, play some foosball, catch up on your soaps, and maybe go for a walk before even thinking about launching a program.  WTF, indeed.

Anyway, Ubuntu has thus far been absolutely delightful in this regard.  Granted I haven’t “crapified” my Ubuntu install with little widgets (like Jackfield) or other normal memory-suckers like I have with my standard Windows installs.

Grub getting grubby

Apparently, I’m on my third release of Gutsy.  How do I know?  Well, when I boot up, Grub has 6 entries for Ubuntu.  There’s a regular entry and a recovery entry for each version of Ubuntu that’s installed.  This is yet another difference between Linux and Windows.  Apparently, you can have different versions of the OS installed at the same time and switch between them.

Anyway, I have no desire to do such so, I found a little help to clean all that grubbiness out of Grub (not to mention saving some space on my hard drive!).

So all you need to do according to a comment on this howtogeek post, you just need to run Synaptic package manager and search for everything called “linux-image” and see what’s installed.  You’ll notice your good friends, the old versions of Ubuntu happily installed.  Anyway, select them for complete removal and you’ll save a couple hundred megs of hard drive space.

While you’re at it, according to arsgeek all you need to do is run sudo apt-get autoclean to get rid of other cruft that’s old and no longer needed.  I tried the deborphan stuff on that page and it did not seem to do anything.  The autoclean worked like a charm though.

Gimp Interface Redesign ! « Blogomation’s

Gimp Interface Redesign ! « Blogomation’

Apparently, the Gimp UI is in need of a facelift–I’ve yet to try it, but plan on doing so as I’d like to have a real practical use for my Ubuntu install (actually I’d like to have Ubuntu Studio up and running as soon as it gets Gutsy-fied).

It looks like the Gimp folks are tackling one of the core issues of making Linux mainstream: usability. There are tons of open source developers out there, but how many open source usability/UX designers? While I’m sure there are quite a few, I think their numbers and prowess are dwarfed by the developers.

Anyway, check the robo-translation.

UPDATE: I stand corrected…you go open source UX designers.