Linux Neophyte

Since migrating to Feisty at work I’ve found two fairly important problems. I guess the matter of importance depends on what you need to get done. I regularly need to mount/un-mount CIFS shares and I regularly need to use rdesktop to connect to other Windows machines. So, for me, these problems are big. I haven’t done a lot of research on the CIFS problem just yet, that’s for another post. If you’re having a Remote Desktop problem, read on for the fix.

There should be a fix for the rdesktop problem shortly, it’s in the testing phase now. Basically rdesktop is crashing and making it impossible to maintain a connection to a remote server. You’ll find details at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/rdesktop/+bug/104332. I downloaded the proposed fix from http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/r/rdesktop/rdesktop_1.5.0-1ubuntu1~prop1_i386.deb, installed it and promptly let go a sigh of relief. I am now able to connect and remain connected to my 2003 server. If you’re using rdesktop directly or TS Client and find that the program is crashing constantly, give the fix a shot.

written by M@ \\ tags: Feisty, Getting Help, Ubuntu

OK, so recently I decided to drop Fedora on my work machine and just move over to Ubuntu. The day I posted about that, I began the install. That afternoon, I had a working system and was MORE than happy!

What a difference! Not only do I now have apt-<whatever> and all of Debian’s wonderful tools for package management, I have a faster, more fun to use computer! I had no idea that changing to Ubuntu would yield such an increase in performance, but everything is faster. Opening OpenOffice programs to Desktop Effects is just running extremely well!

I was initially disappointed that I would only be running Debian based distros. This side-effect has certainly changed my mind for now. I don’t even miss Fedora (no hate for it, but no love either).

I may not know what Ubuntu does differently, but I know I like it – So there you have it folks. My quick opinion on Ubuntu Vs. Fedora.

written by M@ \\ tags: Fedora, Feisty, Ubuntu

I’ve decided, after going back and forth over this for a while, that I’m dropping Fedora on my work machine. I’ve gotten to where I just can’t be bothered with yum and the limited (in comparison to Debian based distros) package selection anymore. Those are my main reasons, but there are others, the amount of time it took for the Fedora team to fix the ATA kernel problems following the release of Core 6 for instance.

I’m not happy about forsaking Fedora, I would prefer to have some level of experience with an RPM based distro. I just can’t justify the time it’s taking to become a knowledgeable user with Fedora. Maybe some day, when I’m more familiar with the internals of more Linux applications and more experienced with compiling what I need from source I can go back.

I’ll be installing Feisty on the machine some time this week or next and will be strictly a Debian (or its derivatives) user for a while. I’ve had almost no problem installing whatever applications I want on a Debian machine. There have been a few times when I needed to compile from source and on Debian I’ve been able to get the job done (my success rate on Fedora is abysmal).

So to me, this feels like a failure. Disappointing but necessary.

written by M@ \\ tags: FC6, Fedora, Feisty, News, Ubuntu

Wow. This is the first time I’ve actually said wow (in a positive way) when it comes to Linux wireless. Basically, it almost just worked!

Here’s the thing. I have a bcm4306 (rev 03) wireless card in this lappy, I have NEVER been able to maintain a wireless connection to my AP for long periods of time using the bcm43xx kernel driver and firmware (either found or extracted by myself). I’ve always had good luck with ndiswrapper and this card, and that’s just how I’ve gotten things going. Until now.

I wanted to leave my Feisty install as slick as possible which means leaving the NetworkManager (NM) integration as is. I figured I would just install ndiswrapper, get my card recognized and then let NM take over. I was just going to stick with ndiswrapper as it had never kicked me before. Well, ndiswrapper decided to kick me. grrr. I found that I only connected to my AP about half of the time and had weak, weak, weak signal when using ndiswrapper. I knew everything was working properly because when I booted to Edgy, things worked as expected.

I tried bringing the interface up and down, changing driver versions, using modprobe to remove/add the ndiswrapper module, all to no avail. I eventually said, ok.. Let’s try something else. I did a little googling and found that others were singing the praises of NM and the kernel driver. I just wanted it to work, so I reversed everything I did to get ndiswrapper working and installed bcm43xx-fwcutter. During the install I was asked if I wanted to download the firmware for the card (I forget how it was worded), I said yes. Less for me to do, and who knows.. Maybe they (the bcm43xx-fwcutter ppl I presume) know better than I about what firmware versions work “best”.

Initially I was unable to associate with my AP (modprobing, wishing, hoping… nothing worked) so I restarted the machine (the tried and true not-fix for everything) and found myself being prompted for my AP’s password (actually it was the password for my Gnome Keyring which feeds NM the pass for my AP). Lordy, lordy!! If I wasn’t connected right up to my AP with proper signal strength, I’ll eat this lappy!

Right now, I’m LOVING Feisty Fawn. She is one helluva sexy young deer who is doing wonders with this notebook.

written by M@ \\ tags: Desktop, Feisty, Hardware, Ubuntu

I’ve just spent a few hours chilling out with Feisty on my notebook. I’m using a Dell Latitude D600 machine. So far I’m really digging some of the nicer touches in Gnome and I think I’m enjoying the NetworkManager integration (we’ll see, it’s been a problem for me before).

Firstly, as looks go, Feisty isn’t that different from Edgy. Similar bootsplash and Gnome theme. I’ve been a fan of the bootsplash since I first saw it on Edgy, the text is a little thicker now and has a more pronounced light outline. It looks a little softer too, I’m liking it. I have no real opinion on the Human theme, I never use it long enough to notice when it changes. It’s not that I don’t like it, I just like blues better,

I found that both the Universe and Multiverse repos are enabled by default. They should be, since (IMO) you need them to really get the full range of applications and use of your machine. Still, there are some things worth having that aren’t available in the standard repos and you need to go a little further. I found out about Medibuntu whilst doing a little research and added it. You can find out how on this page https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu. This allowed me to install the w32codecs and a few other non-free/proprietary apps/whatevers.

I checked out the new Restricted Drivers Manager. It was exactly what I expected, useless for me! I don’t have any hardware in this machine that would require any restricted drivers. Hopefully I’ll finally get the Nvidia card I’ve been talking myself into and out of for months and I’ll be able to test the utility out on my desktop.

I was able to test the new Codec manager. This is a gem! It really simplifies getting mp3 and other proprietary codecs on your machine. All you have to do is try to play a file (mp3 for instance). It will just prompt you download/install the codec and you’ll be ready to roll. NICE.

One of the nicer, user friendly features is hidden, I don’t know what the logic behind this is, but I have to assume there is some. If you want to check out the gnome-control-center (without typing that whenever you want to use it), you’ll have to use the menu editor (System > Preferences > Main Menu) and enable it. You’ll find it under the Preferences heading, just check the box next to Control Center. The control center isn’t new, but it certainly looks a lot nicer than the version that shipped with Edgy. Just another enhancement.

If you’ve ever used session management in Gnome, check out the updated session manager. You should be pleased. Nuff said.

I can’t say much about the desktop effects on this machine, I’ve always had problems with Compiz and Beryl on it. It just has older hardware and compositing desktop window managers just don’t run well. I look forward to playing with it on my desktop machine later.

All in all, the beta release is working VERY well on my lappy. I’m monitoring a few things for problems and will address them in another post later on this week. I’ve posted “too soon” in the past and I want to be sure things are working properly for me before I say they are.

written by M@ \\ tags: Desktop, Feisty, Gnome, Hardware, Ubuntu, Uncategorized