Category Archive

I’m working on setting up a router/firewall which and will document the process to put on this Blog, so stay tuned.

Also I hope to make a beautiful backup solution where rsync would backup different computers on our network twice a week and delete the real old backups after a while. This’ll be kinda difficult to decide whether I’ll have the server pull the data off or the workstations send their data to the server. Probably the latter as then there is less chance of interruption.

I’m also going to be setting up Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon on our LTSP server, hopefully that’ll work even better than it does now, and faster. Should be interesting.

Stay tuned for more guide and tutorials and random stuff soon.

Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 4 has been released. Here’s basically what’s been changed since the last alpha:

• Tracker running by default
• Fast user switching
• Deskbar applet on panel
• New OpenOffice.org 2.3
• AppArmor security by default
• Smooth shutdown splash

Screenshots

I’m downloading it right now to try out, hopefully it’s as good as past Ubuntu alpha releases. Hope they can implement a faster boot process as well as shutdown, combine all the configuration setting in a control panel and get a decent automated restricted drivers setup.

The official release notes at https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2007-August/000324.html

I’m trying to think of things that are not in ubuntu currently and would make a nice addition without making it bloated…

• Make Firefox aware of apt:// links that link to ubuntu packages that are installable simply by clicking on the link.

• Set up a more centralized wiki section for all things related to LTSP and Ubuntu thin clients, right now you have to dig through tons of stuff to find what you want.

• Make the Ubuntu wiki browsable in different languages. Right now their spread out across multiple domains not supported by Ubuntu. Someone should look into integrating them into one searchable wiki, although with a customizable search in the language/s that you know.

• Speed up boot. Supposedly this was worked on for dapper and feisty, but is it just me or is there not much of a big diff? There is a lot of junk that starts at boot that isn’t neccesary for most people. Ubuntu should atomatically detect what is required by the computer and leave disabled anything that will not work anyways or is not critical, which bring us to the next point…

• A centralized control panel which also includes something like “bum” to cutomize in a more detailed way what runs at boot. The default “services” app that is included now does not give you very much choice and options. Either improve it or replace it with something better.

There are a lot more issues, but these are the ones that tick me off the most at the moment…

Last time I blogged about LTSP I was using on edubuntu. Now I did a fresh install of Ubuntu and installed LTSP on there. Here goes the how-to partially inspired by the Ubuntu wiki.

To install LTSP and the thin client manager on Ubuntu, do the following in a terminal:

sudo apt-get install ltsp-server-standalone openssh-server thin-client-manager-gnome

Now create your LTSP environment on the server with: (Takes about 45min@55kbps, 100MB dowload)

sudo ltsp-build-client

Edit the /etc/ltsp/dhcpd.conf file to set the server’s IP values:

gksudo “gedit /etc/ltsp/dhcpd.conf”

Make sure the lines for domain-name-servers and routers match your network setup if you want to give the thin clients Internet access and restart the dhcp server with:

sudo /etc/init.d/dhcp3-server restart

then do the following to update the SSH server:

 

sudo ltsp-update-sshkeys

After that, you will be able to boot your first thin client.

Server Maintenance

If the thin clients seem to be having trouble, remove the whole thin client setup with:

sudo rm -rf /opt/ltsp/*

and then install it again with:

sudo ltsp-build-client

Use this if the above doesn’t work http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=195956

Thin client configuration

Fine-tuning thin client configuration. More details and options here http://doc.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/handbook/C/ltsp-client.html

Usually, thin clients on an ubuntu thin client network should work fine out of the box. Occasionally, you would want to fine-tune settings on a client, or alter the settings slightly, either to increase performance, compatibility, or to enable or disable certain features.

Thin client configuration settings are stored in a file called “lts.conf”. It has a strange location, since it has to be accessable to the clients while they boot up. This file is located at “/opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf”. Edit it with:

gksudo “gedit /opt/ltsp/i386/etc/lts.conf”

and add or modify the entries there. Here you can find additional options to add to this file. Here for USB printers on a thin client.

 Booting PXE

If you don’t have bootable Network cards, you can make floppy’s that boot off the server.

Step 1

First identify what network interface card you have in your system.

This can easily be done by booting an Ubuntu live cd on the client and running in a terminal. (low memory machines will need to either open the case and read the chip details on the nic, or try to pause the boot display (use the pause key) and read what the pci device ids are for your network card)

lspci | grep Ethernet

I get the following output from various system I have:

kroekerhome@Kroekerhome:~$ lspci | grep Ethernet

00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 7c)

Your output will look similar.

If you want to use a floppy to boot your clients continue, to boot from the hdd or a cdrom, go to https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/LTSPBootingClientsWithoutPxe

Step 2

Now we need to go to http://www.rom-o-matic.net/5.4.1/ to generate a boot image for the network interface.

For a boot floppy disk image select .zdsk, (To make a boot floppy)

You will now need to select the correct network driver. i.e.:

for Realtek 8139 = rtl8139: rtl8139

Next select configure.

Make sure PXELOADER_KEEP_ALL is ticked, and it is a good idea to also tick POWERSAVE, ALLMULTI, MULTICAST_LEVEL1, MULTICAST_LEVEL2, and DOWNLOAD_PROTO_TFTM

When done, click get rom

The .zdsk file is a raw floppy image - on Linux you can copy it to a floppy like this:

cat eb-5.4.2-****.zdsk > /dev/fd0

Not sure when this popped up, but Dell is now offering the Inspiron Notebook 1420 N which offers some new cool features like: choosing the laptop color, cor2duo CPU’s, 3 different display types at 14.1″, 1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, wireless and a 6-cell battery.

Looks to be a bit more high end than the E1501N, therefore also at a higher price, starting at $774, which isn’t bad considering the specs and that it has Ubuntu for an OS.

Seems like Dell isn’t giving up on Ubuntu for a while yet and hopefully never…

A new site has been launched www.ubuntustats.com. It uses some for of AJAX to display the latest posts on the Ubuntu forums, bugs, wiki changes, blogs, news, etc.

Really cool as it updates itself without having to click refresh in your browser, the new posts just apear at the top of each list.  Check it out at www.ubuntustats.com.

Last time I blogged about the Microsoft/Xandros deal, but since then, Linspire also got itself hitched with the monopolist.

It’s really too bad that the business oriented Linux providers are one by one falling into Microsofts play-pen. First Novell, then Xandros, Linspire and some other non-Linux related ones, i.e. LG and Samsung.

The big Linux server provider Red Hat is not even considering Microsoft’s advances and neither is Ubuntu, as Mark Shuttleworth stated. As I’m using Ubuntu at the moment, I feel pretty safe but have no qualms whatsoever about moving to another distro if Ubuntu goes that way too.

I have no doubt that Microsoft is in for a big surprise soon, if the Linux community starts uniting to fight the enemy and not themselves.

So Microsoft, consider yourself warned!

On Dell’s Smart Values page I’m planning to get the Inspiron 1501 at $499 with an upgrade of the CPU and a the best battery… Which brings it too $609 + Shipping. Looks like a pretty good deal, except that I wish that the Ubuntu models also had this discount. I’d love to get the Inspiron E1505N Ubuntu model just to be able to support it, but upgrading it to comparable specs brings it to $248 more expensive than the standard 1501 with the discount. So and $248 more is a little more than I want to give for relativly the same specs, except that the 1501 has XP Home and the E1505N has Ubuntu.

I just hope the Video Card and Wireless doesn’t give me trouble, but according to other accounts, it’s relativly easy to set up.

Now for the specs on the Inspiron 1501

• AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-56 (add $60)
• 15.4 inch Wide Screen XGA Display
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz, 2 Dimm
• 60GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
• 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
• ATI RADEON® Xpress1150 256MB HyperMemory™ (Integrated)
• Dell Wireless 1390 802.11g Mini Card (54Mbps)
• Integrated Audio
• 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery (add $20)
• 1 Yr Ltd Warranty, 1 Yr Mail-in Service, and 1 Yr Tech Support
• Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem

       Interestingly, Ubuntu.com has a huge banner on their site advertising Dell Ubuntu computers… Looks like their expecting a flood of visitors, which, seems unlikely because of the little advertising Dell has done on their end, especially since finding http://www.dell.com/ubuntu seems hard to find, unless you dig deep in the menus. It’s great that Dell’s doing this, they just need too do a better Job at making people aware of it.

Dell released three models yesterday, thursday, but frankly I’m disappointed by their prices. The Inspiron E1505 N comes with a measly 512MB RAM, 80GB HDD and a low-end Intel Duo starting at $599 and a mediocre battery. Dell has the same model with Vista at $549 with 1GB RAM and Turion CPU and the best battery available. Why in the world would I get the Ubuntu model? I’d rather get the one with Vista, wipe it and install Ubuntu than get the Ubuntu at a higher price for lower specs.

If Dell would just allow Ubuntu as an alternative on ANY of their systems, as opposed to just Vista and XP… or even a no-OS option on all models…

Dell, you have disapointed me, but you still have time to make it all better…

Today on Dell’s Linux Blog, they released some more detailed specs on the hardware Ubuntu will run on and how they have modified/left Ubuntu as default.

The main points are:

1. Use the default Ubuntu install
2. Install drivers for hardware/peripherals, Open Source if possibl, otherwise closed, i.e. Intel, Conexant.
3. Codecs for media formats will be left “as is”, not installed by default, but very easy to install if required.

Hopefully we get to reap the benefits of this soon…

Dell has a Linux site http://linux.dell.com. Just discovered it today. Really hope they’re geting serious about ubuntu…

This picture as seen on one of Dell’s advertising pages.

Jeremy, the founder of Linuxquestions.org anounced in his latest Blog post that he had received an email from a Dell employee. The email stated the Dell will be releasing the E520, 1505 and XPS 410 models next Thursday, 5/24, with the Ubuntu flavour of Linux.

Although some doubt the validity of the email, we can only hope that it’s valid and come thursday, we’ll see…

Read the original post here.

After ignoring this Blog for a couple of months, I thought I’d resurect it.

I installed the ubuntustudio theme from the ubuntu repo’s, here’s how

# sudo apt-get install ubuntustudio-theme ubuntustudio-icon-theme

# sudo apt-get instalubuntustudio-wallpapers

If you don’t want the wallpapers, leave that part out.

Here’s what it looks like running Beryl at the same time, click to enlarge:

I’m Ubuntu user 1705

Here is a list of comprehensive material that'll help you need help with Ubuntu. It doesn't matter if your a n00b or a geek, check it out!

Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 Guide - KrazyPenguin.net

Ubuntu wiki

Ubuntu user documentation 

Ubuntu Forums 

Check out the Live Ubuntu Installer. Here's a simple guide. And you can watch a video on everything you can do with it and the installation at http://osvids.com/