Select my Java

There are many varients of Java available on Ubuntu. There are OpenJDK and Sun's own JDK. By default, Ubuntu would use the open source one which is OpenJDK. Although it works, it isn't working as well as Sun's own. After a bit of research I found this little command that would save the default Java withe ease

update-alternatives --config java

This command would show you available varients of the command configuring, and let you choose the one you desired.

GnomeBaker

Just want to say, GnomeBake is a better CD software than the Brasero software comes with Ubuntu. It starts burning right away while Brasero is still preparing its ISO image. For DVD, preparing an ISO takes forever!

Openoffice and JRE

Got problem to get OpenOffice to locate Java, and it turned out,

openoffice.org-java-common

was missing.

VC++ Runtime Error

I have been using AutoGK for a while now to convert my mpeg videos into AVIs. Everything works fine till yesterday. When I tried to convert my vidoes, I got VC++ runtime error. I was scratching my head for a reason since I had just used the program a week again, and nothing had changed. It turned out it was caused by corrupted VC++ runtime library ... don't know how it happened ... Anyway, after I have reinstall the VC++ runtime redist from Microsoft, everything back to normal.

Ubuntu 8.10

I have just upgrade one of my machine to from 8.04 LTS to 8.10 as I heard the new version brings in speed improvement. Although the upgrade went mostly okay, the problem is it broke my display setting. I am using a NVidia graphics card, and it didn't work in the new version.

Surely, if I am determine, I can edit the xorg.conf to get things to work. However, I am disappointed by the lack of graphical configuration tool for xorg. Since I am using a KVM switch, the auto detect function doesn't work. In the past, I can use displayconfig-gtk to force the setting. Unfortunately, Ubuntu decide to phase it out.

If you ask me an area which I really want Ubuntu to be improved upon, this is it, this is the one! A simple, working graphics setting utility similar to those found on a Mac or even on Windows

ATi Mobile Radeon LY6

I finally got my 3D acceleration back. The combination below seems fix my lockup problem when Xorg restart, especially this line

Option "BusType" "PCI"

Section "device" #
Identifier "device1"
Boardname "ATI Radeon"
Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
Driver "radeon"
Option "DynamicClocks" "True"
Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"
Option "DMAForXv" "OFF"
Option "BusType" "PCI"
Option "SubPixelOrder" "NONE"
# Option "DRI" "OFF"
Screen 0
EndSection

Windows XP and USB hubs

Yesterday, my work Windows XP machine decided to give up to cooperate with any USB hubs, and that includes my KVM switch. The problem seems to be a driver problem. It was solved by "borrow" usb.inf and usbhub.sys from another XP machine.

Windows and Locale

A friend of mine need to install a non-English locale, however Windows kept complain. It turned out the problem was caused by a corrupted intl.inf file in the windows/inf folder. To solve the problem, you simply get a health intl.inf file from a Winodws machine, and overwrite the trouble one.

overwrite standard set up computer's c:\windows\inf\intl.inf
to your problematic c:\windows\inf\intl.inf

Getting VLC to work with East Asian characters

VLC is a great media player as it plays most media files. However, it isn't perfect. Handling non-English characters seems to be one of its weakness. I always have problem with its play-list, as it displays symbols instead of proper characters. I alway thought it is the problem of VLC as other players handles the same file just file. Yesterday, I was playing with the appearance setting on Ubuntu, and change the default font to Deja-vu San, and to my surprise, this also fix my VLC problems. Now, files with East Asian characters are rendering as it should be.

VirtualBox and Simultanenous Guests

I have been using VirtualBox for a while now, and I like it a lot. Especially when I need to run two guests OS simultaneously. With VMWare player or server, it would bring my system to its knees. However, on the same machine, I can use two guest OSes in parallel without a problem on VirtaulBox. So, if you like me, need to run multiple guest OSes simultaneously, you may want to give VirtualBox a trial.

Just read Google has a repository for their software, and want to share.

http://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/apt.html

VirtualBox on performance

I know virtualization with VMWare Player on a slow machine is a pain. I was a bit curious about how VirtualBox flares. I loaded it on my AMD Sempron 2400+ machine, and run a copy of Windows Vista Business Edition on a Windows XP host. To my surprise, it runs very well. Okay, I am not running anything heavy. Vista only configure with bare minimum software. The machine ran as it was natively. In fact, it even runs better than my work machine (P4 2.8GHz, 2GB memory) with Windows XP on it (it loaded with all these craps insisted by C&IT service). I am very please with VirtualBox experience. VMWare may work better if it got hardware support, otherwise, to me, it seems VirtualBox performs better with "normal" machines. By the way, I am a fan of AMD processors, as Windows runs much more smoother on them (I know, Intel processors are faster, but I can swear, Windows runs much more smoother on AMD processors, i.e. less lags)

VirtualBox

I am a big fan of virtualization lately as I have been involved in several development projects and they all need different setup. Instead of loading my system with all these "only use once" or very unwelcome software (e.g. Visual Studio 2008), I installed them into different copies of virtual machines. This allows me to work on clean copies of Windows with only necessary software. Once I finished with them, I simply delete the guest OS image. Very neat.

Until few days ago, I was using VMWare Server as my virtualization platform. Then, I found out VirtualBox from Sun MicroSystem. Now I have been using both of them, I must say for user point of view, there is very little difference between them. What made me move initially was the support of hardware virutlization support, namely Intel VT-x and AMD-V technologies. However, it turns out it does more damages than helping. With VT-x switched on, VirtualBox would crash. It seems the implementation of AMD-V is a bit better. VirtualBox runs perfectly there, but very slow in comparison to VMWare Server I was using. After a quick search on Google, it seems with VirtualBox, enabling hardware support will actual decrease the performance. It is very sad as I really would like to have hardware assisted VM. I don't like the idea of having software emulating function while dedicate hardware supposedly can do it.

Anyway, putting performance issue and buggy VM hardware supports aside, VirtualBox is quite stable and pleasant to use. Especially if you need to run multi guest instances at the same time, it seem to handle better than VMWare Server.

Getting Lazarus to work

For my job, I need to learn Delphi. Instead of getting a commerical version of Delphi, I first checked out the repositary to see if there is on available for my Linux machine. The answer is simply yes, and is called Lazarus using Free Pascal. I download and install it with Aptitude. After it installed, it complained that it misses the Free Pascal source files. It seems the Apitiude does not do its job thoroughly. To have Lazarus to work, you also need the package of fpc and fpc-source, i.e.

sudo aptitude install fpc fpc-source

After, everything works as it should be.

Watching FLV using Media Player Classic on Windows

Although this is not a Ubuntu related topic, I still want to share with others. I have downloaded this FLV file using DownloadHelper. However, FFDShow seems have problem to handle it even I have FLV enabled. After a Google search, it seems the solution is to find and install a splitter called FLV Splitter, and register it with Windows

regsvr32 FLVSplitter.ax

A simple word, it works! So, if you like me who have trouble to play FLV videos using WMP Classic, you may want to give this little utility a try.

Firefox and add-on

Firefox and Opera are two browsers I used on my Ubuntu machine. However, I always thought Firefox is less stable when it comes to Flash heavy website. Today, I finally fed up with all these crashes, and search Google again to see if there is a solution to my problem. Well, it seems my unstable Firefox problem can also caused by bad add-on. So, I went through my add-on list and start to uninstall them one by one. I started by the one which is flash related.

I have this add-on called Download Helper, which I used to get flash videos from site like YouTube. I have been using it on my Windows version of Firefox for a long time now. I don't if it is a coincident or real, ever since I have uninstalled it, my Firefox seems to be a bit more happier.

Getting Skype

Skype can be setup and update periodically by including the

deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free

in the sources.list

Windows Troubles

Well got trouble with Windows again. This time Windows won't let me install or unistall programs. This seems to be a well known problem associated with the Windows Installer service. In fact, someone even written a software for it, and I guess this shows how bad it is. Anyway, if you like me run into this Windows installer service problem which blocks to install/uninstall software (including getting updates from Microsoft), you may want to try out this little utility called Dial-a-fix. It fixed the problem for me, hope it does the same magic for you too.

Good to share!

My sister got this cheapy Samsung ML-2010 Laser printer, and it is so simple to set up under the latest version of Linux. You plug the printer in one of the USB port, and you are ready to print. You can't get any simpler than this.

After getting the nice test page printed, I brought up the printer set up tool, and configured the printer to be shared on the network. Both Windows XP and Vista found the printer as they should, however, they required drivers to print. As XP and Vista are two "different" operating systems, I need to download two separate large drivers for two systems (what a pain). Now, there is a problem. The drivers are come as installers, i.e. EXE files. Luckily, if you expand it using 7-zip, you will find these driver EXEs are just fancy archived files. Once you expanded the file, pointed Windows to the right direction, you are ready to print too.

Update Previously, I have problem to print from certain application in Vista. This problem has now solves by using the connection string below instead.

http://<hostname>:631/printers/<printername>

What a joy! My Creative Zen finally works in harmony with Ubuntu (without fiddling things manually). I still can't add or remove songs to or from my Zen, but at least now I can play songs on my Zen using RhythmBox. Baby steps.

Opera respository

If you like me who likes Opera browser, you may want to add this into your sources.list file:


## Opera
# wget -O - http://deb.opera.com/archive.key | sudo apt-key add -
# deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ sid non-free
# deb http://deb.opera.com/opera-beta/ sid non-free
deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ stable non-free
deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ testing non-free
deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ unstable non-free


Update: You may want to use the official Howto at
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OperaBrowser instead.

This would allows you to get the program and its updates through aptitude

Ubuntu as an alternative to Windows

After numerous calls from a friend for his troubled Windows XP PC, I finally put a copy of Ubuntu on his PC and told him to give it a fair trial. As an operating system, Ubuntu has made a tremendous leap from geek only Linux to a more general Linux. As my friend uses USB Wifi stick and HP USB printer, I was a bit worried about the possible compatibility problems. To my surprise, Ubuntu picks up the Belkin USB Wifi adapter and the HP All-in-one printer straight away. I can even use XSan to scan pictures. Instead needing to battle with Windows and numerous visits to Windows Update, I have manage to get the Ubuntu system up and running in an hour. I don't know if my friend will accept the system at the end, but I am certainly impressed its much improved support to hardware.

Since my friend's family mainly use the computer for internet, I don't think they will feed much a different. However, I am a bit worried about Firefox. First, it is not that stable. It seems to be very easy to crash for sites with Flash contents. Also, CSS drop down menu still goes behind Flash videos. Anyway, hopefully my friend's family can see beyond these little glitches, and can see Ubuntu as a more secure system.

Opera 9.50

After reading a great review on Inquirer about Opera. I upgraded my copy to the new version.

I don't have much a problem to switch between browsers. I use whatever suitable for a job. There are few things I like Opera. For instance, its auto refresh function is great. Like all other browsers, it does have few things I don't like too. Download is one of them. I don't know if it is just me, with the previous version, whenever I starts a download, the transfer tab will pops up. It is intruding. Lucky, this has been "fixed" in the new version. Another thing I like the new Opera is its speed. With other browser seems to put on some weigh (bloated) and becomes slower and slower at the start up. Opera seems to have break that trend. I have some very old machine with very little memory by today's standard. Firefox is really taking its time to load compared to Opera. Anyway, Opera is certainly a refreshment to browsers today in my opinion.

Today, trying to watch FLASH video on youtube, and oops, there was no sound. After searching Google, it seems a package called libflashsupport was missing. After installing it, everything works fine. I guess this is one of these moment which APT isn't 100% reliable.

Smart Bookmarks

Smart bookmarks in Firefox 3 may be too smart. I may be a great idea or useful for some, but personally, I do not like the idea of having my action tracked. I would like to have an option to easily switch it off. Right now, I need to go to about:config to turn it off ... only if I can ... Firefox seems to refuse to have it switched off.

Anyway, if you are like me who does not like the Smart Bookmarks feature, here is what I did to my system to disable it. You can try to right click folders under the Smart Bookmarks except recent tags, and delete them. This seems sort of disable the Smart Bookmarks feature.

In addition, while I was trying to figure out a way to disable Smart Bookmarks, I found Firefox actually backing up bookmarks in the background. Again, I thought this is too sneaky. When I delete a bookmark, I want it to be really deleted. Options! Options! Options is the keyword! It is privacy!

display setting

There are many aspect of Ubuntu has been improved. However, I do not really understand the rational for their decision for removing old good working video setting tool from the setting menu. The new one is not as good as the last one.

Anyway, the tool is still there, but is hidden. The command for it is

sudo displayconfig-gtk

Also, if you are like me who has an old machine running old Intel integrated graphics. You may want to set the color depth to 16 as it does not support color depth higher than it that well

XSane

Linux hardware supports have definitely improve dramatically. Many devices that previous was a pain to install now work faultlessly. I have this scanner, which previously won't work under Linux. Today, I thought, well give it another go with the latest Ubuntu (under virtual machine). To my surprise, it works, and to certain extend, it is better than working under Windows. One of the problems I found under Windows is that you often need to throw away working hardware because drivers of these old devices are no longer working under the version of Windows (Vista...pain) It is a comfort to know that my perfectly working scanner has a long life as it will work under Linux.

Offline Software installation

A friend of mine has this very old machine. It was running Window XP, and has lot of troubles with it. Since it is old, and the driver set was not complete. I decided to put the latest version of Ubuntu on it instead a version of Windows due to the drivers and speed issues.

As expected, everything went okay. Granted, it took longer to install due to the speed of the machine. After a reboot, everything is working fine, and that includes components which was not working in Windows before (a add-on USB2 card). Now, the fun part begins. Where the computer is used, it has not internet connection, i.e. software needs to be installed offline. Since the installation allows multi lanuguage, I expected that I can install Asian languages from the installation CD. How wrong I was. Okay, what bout VLC? Wrong again.

Okay, I guess I just need to get the packages from the Net, and install it offline. Well, I can do with some, but not all of them. Since one software often use libraries from others, this make my life extremely difficult if I want to install software offline. I need to ensure I download all the pacakges required, including dependencies. The matter can only get more complicated by minutes as there is also a versioning problem.

Although, the default setup is more usable than a Window machine. It is shortfall in offline software installtion may prevent people like my friend to move to Ubuntu (Linux)

Firefox 3 ...

Few days ago, I have upgraded my Ubuntu to the latest 8.0４ LTS. On my old laptop, it took a while, however, the whole process was smooth. This is something Microsoft can only dream off. Upgrade for Windows is a joke. Even though, there is an option for Windows to upgrade to a new version, it just too messy. The upgrade often left tons of old backup files behind and a broken system due to incompatible drivers. It may sound funny, but it is actually less a troubles to fresh install Window. Anyway, have enough talk about Windows.

Back to the subject, Firefox. Well, on the surface, the version 3 looks pretty much like the old one. However, once you checked out the options, you will see many things had changed under the hood. I sure many features are well come, however, there are few features that I personally not welcome. That is the "new improved" location bar. While you are typing an URL, the new location bar starts to show entries from address book that match your typing. This may be a handy feature for some, but personally, I felt it shows too much! I have looked around on Google, and it seems there is no option to turn it off. You can reduce the number of entries show to 0 by setting the

browser.urlbar.maxRichResults

, but it would still show you an entry from your bookmark.

Another feature that I found it annoying is the smart bookmark. Again, I don't like the idea it highlights the most recent vistied or created bookmark. I would really like to have options to switch off these "features" off in the future

Router Update

This is my second day with my new Zyxel 660HW router. I am delighted to report that it has been running faultlessly in the last two days.

Router

I have just got a new router for my ADSL connection. Since, I am running P2P applications, it makes finding a router difficult. P2P application tends to open and close large number of connections simultaneously, and this puts a lot of strain onto a router. Many routers would lock up shortly after used. I guess there are people who are in similar position as me, so I would like to share my experience with my new router here.

I have three routers, the first one is a Safecom SWART2-54125. With its default firmware, its performance would gradually degrade and finally lockup. However, if you don't mind to void the warranty, and replace it with an open source firmware from routertech, it is very stable. It just runs.

The second one is a Safecom SART2-4115. It is similar to the first one, except it does not have WiFi. Also, it has less memory inside the router. Again it is a solid worker if it is using the Routertech firmware instead of the official firmware from Safecom. However, the setting interface would become a bit sluggish after a long period of use due to the reduced memory inside the router.

The third one is this latest addition, the Zyxel 660HW-T1. This router seems based on the same hardware as Safecom routers mentioned (based on TI ARD platform). I have only had it for a day. So far, it has been stable. I will post an update later

Open Tereminal Here

With Konqueror, there is an option to open a terminal window at the current directory. Apparently, the default setting of Naulitus does not have it. However, it can be added through an Add-on script:

sudo apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal

gtk-qt-engine

It was quite easy to move from KDE to Gnome. I simply removed traces of KDE and installed Ubuntu-Desktop. Everything seemed to work with the exception of the appearance setting. Every time I was trying to make a change, it froze. After searching Google, I found the following thread in one of the support forum:https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gtk-qt-engine/+bug/13872. I suggested me to remove the gtk-qt-engine to fix the problem. I am happy to report that it works.

Migrate to Gnome

After seeing where KDE4 is heading, I thought it might be the time to give Gnome another attempt. The reason I was in favor of KDE was it was more customizable than Gnome.. I may be wrong, but that was how I felt it. However, with KDE4, it seems heading to the simplicity road like its competitors. Personally, I think it is too simplified.

In addition, as mentioned in my post before, I did not like the new interface and its arrangement.

Anyway, here is my first experience with Gnome. So far, it has been positive. It has been tidied a lot since the last time I was using it. Also, it is more organized now too. Settings for system and preference are well grouped.

The Nautilus seemed to be more refine and mature when compared to Dolphin, the new default file manager in KDE4. It is simple at the front, but if you wish, it can carry more sophisticated tasks too, such as access a network drive without restrictions in Dolphin. The only complaint I have on Nautilus is its lack of privacy options. With Nautilus, every places you had visited, files you had opened and/ or previewed left a trace, i.e. under recently accessed document, accessed placed, and in the .thumbnails folder. That may be a time saver for some, but personally, I dislike this idea. I like the control of privacy.