Colin Charles Agenda

As Ubuntu becomes more mainstream, and there are more desktop users showing up thanks to its ease of use, and hardware partnerships like Dell (I hope their sales go well), Ubuntu is going to have to rock hard when it comes to software support as well as hardware support (for workstations and laptops).

Today, I was looking for video podcasting software on Linux. PenguinTV came out tops, and I’ve never really got Democracy TV to work the way I wanted. Stable version 3.0 is out, and there are quite a number of fixes since 2.80 (5 releases to 3.0). Feisty DEBs on the website are available, but they’re i386 only, and I opted to go via the apt-get, Ubuntu way (okay, Debian way). I got version 2.80 and I thought I’d bug report it: #119262. All in hopes of a newer version. Within the hour, my request got rejected:

Thanks you for your bug report. We can find this out via merges.ubuntu.com with a lot of extra information - there’s no point reporting an update bug unless you actually plan to do the merge, attach the debdiff, and subscribe ubuntu-universe-sponsors. However, if you would like to help fix this bug, please come help us.

Now, I’m your average, and typical Ubuntu user. I just expect things to work. I’d like software thats new, and at the latest release. I am your typical Dell purchaser. I have no interest in merging, attaching a debdiff, and getting on yet another mailing list.

I don’t blame the person closing the bug report, because thats what I would have possibly done when I was futzing with Fedora packages and actively doing volunteer distribution development. However, this doesn’t bode well to Bug #1 being fixed anytime soon - PCs for sale do include free software like Ubuntu, the marketing that it has amazing features and benefits are known to quite a lot of folk, but its not nearly as user friendly, yet. Let time pass?

Technorati Tags: ubuntu, penguintv, bug, new release, mainstream usage

An Ubuntu-on-my-main-desktop virgin. Or more accurately, Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 on a Dell Inspiron 640m laptop (2GHz Core 2 Duo T7200, 2GB RAM, 120GB disk). hermione is no longer a Fedora Core machine, its all Ubuntu now.

Getting The Software
A few weeks ago, I’m pretty sure they offered PowerPC downloads that failed if you tried it for Feisty, but succeeded for Dapper. This week, they’ve cleaned up the download site, and I obviously chose 64-bit AMD and Intel computers (hello, thats what a Core 2 Duo is, right?).

The Ubuntu Download Page

First Impressions
Everything just works. Right out of the box, from the time the Live CD was inserted, to the install process, and the after-install process. It warned me of using Restricted Drivers for my wireless card (ipw3945), and that’s the only real violation I’ve got. Volume control buttons just work, as do brightness control.

After installation however, I got a 1024×768 screen, which displayed on 1440×900 looks kind of ugly. Solved easily via: sudo apt-get install 915resolution. Thats it, I didn’t have to do any more magic, beyond that.

Suspend/resume work just fine. The external display works (so far, I’ve only just used mirrored mode but there’s no reason to think stretching the desktop will not work - how GNOME copes is another matter).

Applications
I like that Firefox 2 is shipped by default. My configuration moved from Firefox 1.5 with no apparent problems. Ubuntu however has decided to disable the backspace key for going back in the history, which seemed to be quite annoying. This is apparently an upstream bug, however for tracking purposes its #60995. This is easily fix-able by opening a browser window, entering about:config and in the search bar looking for browser.backspace_action. Change the value from 1, to 0, and all will be well. Read more about browser.backspace_action if you’d like.

I think the mirror selection based on your country for apt is actually the most sensible solution, as opposed to yum’s mirrorlist. Why? Because contacting various mirrors is silly, some stop working, some don’t feed you correctly, and so forth. Worse, you might get assigned to a bogged down mirror. Ironically, au.archive.ubuntu.com is really mirror.optus.net (i.e. really fast for me) - yum has never once picked this for me automatically.

Playing DVDs? Need MP3 support so the Rhythmbox playlists load up? Their Restricted Formats page on the wiki is amazing. I never expect support out of the box (I wonder why some people rant that Ubuntu is evil as it ships these things by default) but I do expect support to be relatively easy to get. Go Medibuntu (this is the Livna of Ubuntu).

Thoughts For Improvement
Definitely, the migration assistant shouldn’t only attempt to migrate you from Windows. Its much easier doing a migration from /home/username on an existing Linux or Unix install. Sure, its probably not the mass market doing migrations from one distribution to another, but I see it as quite possible that more and more folk move to Ubuntu for ease of use, and the “just works” mentality.

A personal preference is that I don’t like the Human theme. The color scheme seems to be all wrong. Clearlooks is much nicer on the eyes, and I’ve found a Flickr photo that I took to be more interesting on my background (first time I’ve used the image, might I add). Fedora’s backgrounds are really, so much nicer. Canonical is hiring a UI Developer.

Note: This was supposed to be posted a couple of weeks back… It for some reason sat in my ScribeFire (formerly Performancing) notes pile.

Technorati Tags: ubuntu, linux, feisty fawn, migration, ui, medibuntu

Most of the software I use is open source software. However, some software I use is just plain free software that has no source associated with it (like Skype and Gizmo Project). I took the challenge of wanting to run a 64-bit desktop, and I guess there are problems, but thats the beauty of Linux - you’ll want to fix said problems.

Google is always helpful - I found the Cedega wiki on how to setup a clean 32-bit chroot with debbootstrap. I improvised a little. I now have Skype running.

Setting up a 32-bit chroot on your 64-bit Ubuntu

• sudo apt-get install dchroot debootstrap
• sudo mkdir /chroot (/chroot is arbitrary. You can call it /feisty32 or /hoary32 or whatever you please depending on your requirements.)
• echo “feisty /chroot” > /etc/dchroot.conf
• sudo debootstrap –arch i386 feisty /chroot http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu
• sudo chroot /chroot
• dpkg-reconfigure locales (I chose en_AU, you probably want to chose whatever else you use)
• Edit /chroot/etc/apt/sources.list and make it so that its:

  deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty main restricted universe multiverse
  deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu feisty-security main restricted universe multiverse

• Now, perform the apt-get update; apt-get upgrade routine
• Out of the chroot, there are some interesting files to copy into the chroot:

• sudo cp /etc/passwd /chroot/etc/
• sudo cp /etc/shadow /chroot/etc/
• sudo cp /etcgroup /chroot/etc/
• sudo cp /etc/sudoers /chroot/etc/
• sudo cp /etc/hosts /chroot/etc/

/home   /chroot/home    none    bind 0 0

/tmp    /chroot/tmp     none    bind 0 0

/dev    /chroot/dev     none    bind 0 0

/proc   /chroot/proc    none    bind 0 0

#!/bin/sh

/usr/bin/dchroot -d "`echo $0 | sed 's|^.*/||'` $*"

That’s it. You’ve now got a 32-bit chroot environment, and can install any 32-bit apps you please.

Installing Skype
First up, go download the .deb file from Skype. Then:

• dchroot -d
• dpkg -i skype.deb (Now, it will complain about missing debs. Then, I ran sudo apt-get install libstdc++5 libqt3-m. It will complain, so just do a sudo apt-get -f install.)
• Excellent, Skype is now installed. Exit the chroot.
• sudo ln -s /usr/local/bin/do_dchroot /usr/local/bin/skype
• Now, run Skype!

I did this similarly for Gizmo Project. Sound works a charm (thanks to /dev being mounted). The applications seem to run just fine.

Technorati Tags: skype, 64bit, 32bit, chroot, gizmo, debian, ubuntu

Yes, in the real world, we all have to run applications that are not provided via the excellent universe of Debian software packages. Some of these, even have to be binaries that you download via the Internet.

But with stupid error messages like these:

[-(~/Downloads/skype-1.4.0.58_alpha)> ./skype bash: ./skype: No such file or directory

It sure makes one wonder, doesn’t it? Thats right, this is 64-bit Ubuntu trying to run a 32-bit application. In fact, these failures will apply to upstream Thunderbird (because in Ubuntu’s infinite wisdom, its stuck at Thunderbird 1.5), GizmoProject and so on. On Fedora, multi-arch is handled a lot better - RPM actually brings in useful 32-bit libraries, and you can run upstream Skype, Gizmo, Thunderbird, with no worries. Its all transparent.

I just wish there was better error reporting. So I don’t have to fire up strace (I sure as heck don’t expect my mother do to so) to see what the real problem is.

Note to Debian-based-distros (Ubuntu in particular): You’re a big boy now. Dell is going to ship you. Most likely on Core 2 Duo machines. People are not going to want to run 32-bit Ubuntu on them, because they bought an advertised 64-bit processor. Laptops (mine even) support 4GB of RAM out of the box (yeah, except 2GB chips cost an arm and a leg).

I’m told that a 32-bit chroot is what I need to set up to make my life better again. Is that so?

Technorati Tags: ubuntu, multi-arch, multiarch, 32bit, 64bit, binaries, dpkg, chroot

This is where all the rave is at, today. Guess May really is a good month :-) I’ve been meaning to write about this for quite a while (linux being pre-loaded), and this seems to be a fairly good time.

It all started with Morgan Collett’s post about Linux preloaded - useful out of the box? Its been sitting in a tab awaiting comment, and I must say the history of Linux on Dell’s is somewhat funny - desktop installation on a server! Its interesting to see that Slackware gets shipped in South Africa on a laptop. Imagine the support nightmare? And then Jerome mentions that in the Philippines he got Linpus (first time I’ve heard about it). He also mentions that Acer bundles Red Flag or older Mandriva’s.

Linux makes bundling software hard. So many distributions to pick from, everyone liking something else, different release versions between distributions, spread package management formats, and the list of differences go on. Different kernel? Oops, that might react badly to your BIOS or hardware. Shipping a cheap winmodem? There goes your Linux options.

So its with pleasure that I see Dell offering Ubuntu on some of their machines. When it came to voting in IdeaStorm, I personally picked other, and wrote “Fedora or Ubuntu”. Only because my ties with Fedora go back so many years. But deep down inside, I felt it would have been a nightmare for support - fast changing releases every 6-9 months, new features, things changing rapidly, and you get the drift - it might not be useful out of the box. Ubuntu has focused on usability, they have a mix of some binary driver offerings, and their manifesto is to have a “just works” OS. Best of all - you can get support the moment you need it. Fedora is always touted as being unsupported.

This news is great for the Ubuntu community. Training, support, certification, a lot of good things can happen around this.

Why Ubuntu 7.04? Its not a Long Term Support (LTS) release. I guess this is why its on selected desktops and laptops - I see servers being the next market (alongside RHEL and SuSE) when the next release of Ubuntu comes out.

Speaking of community, Canonical is getting some flak for gagging bloggers on Planet Ubuntu. Guess as a company, they’re also dealing with change, and moving into more of the corporate world.

In other quick news, Jerome, a friend and semi-regular IRC buddy is even co-writing Ubuntu Server in Action.

Technorati Tags: ubuntu, dell, pre-loaded, book, ubuntu server

Filed in the “I wish I had done this, instead of just thinking about it and sitting on my arse” department.

Fedora Daily Package
The Fedora Daily Package is a great site. Chris Tyler, even gets to pimp his book! Its filled with nuggets of useful information, tips and tricks on how to get things going, and introduces you to some new software that you thought might not have existed. I can only wish the energy to continue, and for us to keep on getting great tips and tricks. Inspired largely from the Debian Package of the Day, one day we might see Fedora’s package count match Debian’s universe.

Full Circle Magazine
Full Circle Magazine, is touted as the free Ubuntu Community Magazine. It looks very, very interesting, but makes a few classic mistakes. Having only a PDF version of the online magazine, is a bit of a bummer - the web is largely best viewed in a web browser, so the individual articles should really be sitting as individual links, and searchable by Google, and so forth. The other mistake I think is not offering monetary rewards for article contribution - IBM developerWorks and Red Hat Magazine offer USD$500 per accepted article, and no matter what you want to say, money is always handy. In these days when one can publish so easily on their own blog, get their own AdSense dollars, it probably makes more sense to pay for content thats going into a “magazine” or being used for commercial marketing purposes (to show an active, vibrant community, even).

Here’s hoping Canonical decide to adopt Full Circle Magazine, make a web-also version, pay even USD$100 per article, and continue its success.

Low cost French computer
The Minitel is something I saw in my French textbooks, back during my high school days of learning a new language. It seems that Neuf Cegetel, a French ISP is now aiming to create a low-cost computer for folk that are unable or unwilling to buy a computer. Reminds me of the PC Gemilang. It has open source software - Firefox, Abiword, Gnumeric. It comes with very little space, but with the world moving online, thin clients seem to make more sense, everyday. There’s also a good chance this has more success than the PC Gemilang, as its ISP supported. And cheap - €167.90 buys you a computer, keyboard, mouse, camera, and a 14″ color monitor. Thats only about €50 cheaper than the PC Gemilang.

I think its safe to say that the Internet has reached everyone that matters, in most first world countries. Anyone else (with such low broadband and Internet penetration rates) is probably not into the Internet, because they’re not even wanting to get a computer. Various reasons probably apply here, but when you bring the cost of accessing the Internet down to a rate where people see it as a consumable, thats where the next wave of Internet customers are coming from. ISPs and online business folk probably should see this shift coming, soon.

Technorati Tags: fedora daily package, debian package of the day, fedora, ubuntu, full circle magazine, ubuntu magazine, minitel, low cost computer, france, pc gemilang

The decision to reduce the number of boxes, is something I’m slowly coming to terms with. With virtualization (Xen, Parallels, and soon I’ll be using VMWare too) it seems kind of daft to have actual physical hardware sitting around, consuming precious space. And with smart OSes now being able to sit off USB (or Firewire) disks, again many boxes seem irrelevant.

hagrid, my ancient file server, a Pentium 200MHz MMX with 64MB of RAM is going the way of the dodo (after nearly five years of service). hagridII is a low-power consuming Pentium III, with 384MB of RAM, and is most definitely not running Red Hat 8.0. At least now the server can also be an SSH gateway, rather than it running on my main desktop. Main reason for an upgrade? The Red Hat 8 install is just plain old, and the 80GB disk, and the 200GB disk that I picked up last year, is just too small. Today, a 320GB disk is only $125, and Ubuntu 6.10 is being popped on. SSH, Samba, fixed IP, and away I go!

Of course, life itself is never going to be so good to you. After I let Ubuntu do all its automagical configuration (good, it detects a “clever” user that likes to be called root and disallows it!), it prompted to reboot. Then I saw the infamous Error 18 from GRUB. It has largely to do with /boot not being in the first cylinders that the BIOS supports (or “selected cylinder exceeds maximum supported by BIOS“). There exists an open Ubuntu bug for this, ubuntu#9006: system unbootable due to old BIOS. So maybe not the friendliest of installs. Fixed with moving drives around, as HagridII is actually 80+200+320 in disks.

Interesting problem, even up to Windows Vista, when they access Samba shares. /movies and /Movies are the same thing (well, /Movies seems to redirect you to /movies). Highly ironic, that they’ve still not gotten case sensitivity correct.

19″ BenQ FP92W ($275) was going off relatively cheaply today, so decided that I could use that as a replacement to the last remaining 17″ CRT that is still around. 1440×900, 5ms response time, seemed like a good purchase to add to the rest of the BenQ flat panels. It seems like a good addition for the PowerMac G5!

Unrelated to hardware, but openSUSE’s mirror select tool is broken. Come from an Australian IP, get pushed to pacific.net and find a file not found error. Oops.

I still need to sort out moving the PegasosPPC box somewhere on the floor (it takes up quite a bit of desk space, as its a big pizza box), and finding a nice PS/2 keyboard, with maybe a trackpad built on it, that is really small. I know IBM make these for server racks, I just wonder where I can get one retail? Good Friday tomorrow, so holiday abound, I’ll get to more cleaning, I’m sure (with everything closed, and all).

Dear Interweb,

A tiny issue plagues me. With everyone’s favourite Linux distribution of choice, Ubuntu. I’m looking at the Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) Beta and for the life of me, can’t decide which to install on a Core 2 Duo machine (this was no better with Ubuntu 6.10 - and I’ve got both the amd64 and i386 ISOs sitting here). Its not AMD64, and its not 32-bit, so what are my choices? Referencing a post with regards to System76 support, it looks like I might have to go with a 32-bit install disc?

If I do have to go with the 32-bit install disc, why is that so? I mean, with Fedora, I’m quite happily running x86_64.

Kudos to the wiki documentation on Core 2 Duo Support, though maybe its a little dated. This is a very important question to answer, because I can imagine a lot of new laptops are actually, Core 2 Duo based (as probably are a lot of new desktops).

Also, a little bit of disappointment, but Ubuntu 7.04 has support for SPARC and not PowerPC. In a time when it might be opportune for third-world countries to start having Ubuntu-running Macs on their desktop…

Technorati Tags: ubuntu, core 2 duo, feisty fawn, edgy eft, powerpc

Update: I have concluded that the 64-bit Feisty Fawn is good for a Core 2 Duo. Read, Today I am a virgin and see how I solve my 32-bit application requirement problems, in Skype on 64-bit Ubuntu Feisty Fawn via i386 chroot (and Gizmo Project too).