Ubuntu fixed CD writing

It seems burning CD is a bit of problem under Linux, however, this may now be a thing of the past. Yesterday, I decided to burn a audio CD with my IDE CD Writer, and surprisingly, it went through almost perfect.

Virtualbox 3.1.2

VirtualBox is great utility, however, it isn't perfect. One of the annoying problems is its networking. If you are using desktop, it isn't much a problem. However, if you are using laptop, VirtualBox's NAT implementation seems to fail if you switch between networking connectors, which is very common in laptop. For instance, I may move from my WiFi connection to cable connection. This would result lost connection to my Guest System.

With the new version, I can at least regain the connection by change the connection from NAT -> Bridge and back to NAT again as I can dynamically change my connectiont type in the new version. It isn't perfect, but it gets the job done.

I have tried various virtualization solution, and VirtualBox is still my favorite due to its wide range of supported formats, and its speed. While we are talking about speed, the latest version finally fixed the Hardware Virtualization support on my VIA chipset motherboard. Previously, it would caused BSOD, but now, it works perfectly! Hurray!

Chrome

Since Chrome is now available on Linux, I decided to give a trial. I have tried the Window version before, but I don't like it such to its "lack" of security features. With Firefox, you can set it up to delete privacy information on exit. However, there isn't anything remotely close in Chrome. It is minimal and far too minimal for my taste.

For my date to date browser, I will still do it on Firefox as there is nothing come close to its plug-in ecosystem. However, Chrome has its places for certain "application" where tabs needed to open and close constantly. With Firefox, activities of such would gradually degrade its performance due to memory issues. If Chrome can manage memory as it advertise, it should handle this type of situation much better with its process base tabs. Well, time will tell.

AutoMKV

I do a bit video conversion every now and then, and the tool I am using for the job is AutoMKV which is almost idiot proof. However, I always have trouble to run it under Windows Vista/7. Today, I come across a post in a forum said that it may be due to missing .NET Framework 1.1 installed. I will give it another try later and see if this fix my problem.

Handling Button Events inside aspx that uses master page

Here is an example of how to add an event handler to a button on a page that uses Master page.

Open commend prompt at the current directory

In Windows XP, there is powertoy which lets you to open a command prompt window at the selected directory. However, there is none for Windows 7. After a bit of searching, it seems this is now an in built feature of Windows 7. You can simply open a command prompt at a selected directory by SHIFT+right click. This would bring up a more advanced pop-up menu which has the Open Command Window Here option.

Problems with Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver was behaving very badly today. It crashes whenever I tries to use widgets linked to database. After a search with Google, it seems that this is caused by corrupted caches file used by DW

Dreamweaver creates a cache file called WinFileCache-********.dat or MacFileCache-********.dat inside your personal Dreamweaver configuration folder (the asterisks represent a series of letters and numbers that might differ from computer to computer). This occasionally gets corrupted causing instability, unpredictable error messages, and even crashes.

http://progresstechlabs.com/?p=666

Anyway, I followed the instructions as above, and now it back to behaves as it should be.

exim4

XAMPP is a great tool for quickly setup LAMP infrastructure for web application development.  However, getting the mail function to work under Linux can be a bit challenging.

After many hours of battle, I finally got it working.  The step I used on my Ubuntu setup are:

1. Running the dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config, and follow the onscreen instructions.
2. Editing the /etc/exim4/passwd.client file to setup the authentication details if your smtp server needs authentication (ref: http://www.lexspoon.org/linux/smtp-relay.html).
3. restarting exim4 by running /etc/init.d/exim4 restart
4. cross your figure and hope mail works!

Sound works!

I am only an average user of Linux, and hence I pick and use Ubuntu. There are few things I found troublesome in using Linux and they are:

• video - it is painful to use VESA driver as it makes every slow. It really hurts the first impression!
  
• sound - well, it works, but the sound control is a mess! For instance, there is a slider for main volume, but it doesn't work. You need to use the PCM slider to get things work.
• FLAC + CUE

I am happy to report that the last two has definitely be rectified in the latest version of Ubuntu 9.10. I now can use Audicious to listen to CUE+FLAC archive I have. It was a bit of a joke before, FLAC is a very popular format for audio, but the support for cue+flac is almost not existing. In fact, many has resorted to using foobar2k under WINE.

Also, sound control has finally got the polish it needed! There is a slider, and a slider works!

Just for these features alone, Ubuntu 9.10 is a worthy upgrade!

Migrate to Karmic Koala

Just finished all the upgrading from Jaunty to Karmic Koala, and all went without a problem. Though don't know if it is because the new version gets a better error reporting, I seem to get more "crashes" from application before. Other than that, things seems just work. I even took the risk of converting the file system from EXT3 to EXT4 and upgrade GRUB to GRUB2

Create split virtual HD for VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a great tool and I like it a lot.  However, the inability of creating split virtual  hard drive into 2GB chunks can be a problem at times.  Most flash pen drives use FAT32 to maximize its compatibility with different OSes, but at the same time this limits the maximum file size to 2GB.  The inability of spliting virtual drive into 2GB blocks makes transporting  native VDI image files used by  VirtualBox impossible.  However, there is a workaround as VirtualBox is also compatible with images created by VMWare which allows split images.

Today, I found this website which allow people to create empty VMware compatble images without using a VMWare product.

http://www.easyvmx.com/new-easyvmx.shtml

With the help of this link, you can now create virtual machines with split file feature under VirtualBox.

Fix VFS Invalid Compression Format

Today my laptop lookup while it was updating, and I had to hard reset it.  However, the system won't boot up properly, and instead, it gave me the Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block error.  I have tried a number of suggestions found in Google, but didn't have much luck.  Eventually, I managed to restore my system by the following.

1. Boot up the system using a LiveCD.  (I was using the Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop live CD)
2. Open a command prompt, and sudo -s to become a super user
3. Mount your boot partition, i.e. mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/
4. Use chroot to become the root user of the newly mounted partition, i.e. chroot /mnt/
5. Use aptitude search linux to find out the available images package on the repository
6. Reinstall the image, i.e. aptitude reinstall linux-image-2.6.28-15-generic
7. After it all done, get your fingers crossed, and reboot the system

With some luck, you may be able to get a working system back like myself.

To be on the safe side, I have rerun the aptitude reinstall linux-image-2.6.28-15-generic command again after I booted back to Gnome.

1. 
   

Opera 10

It has been a while since I have been using Opera 10 on Ubuntu. It seems that a usable browser has finally arrived. Firefox is good, but it is awfully slow on Ubuntu (all versions I have tried), especially on those flash sites or Javascript heavy sites. Opera 9 is okay, but it hangs a lot on Javascript/ flash heavy sites. It is a rejoice to see something finally works well.

Opera setup

To get Opera, add the this

deb http://deb.opera.com/opera stable non-free

to the Software Source (under System->Administration). After add the key from http://deb.opera.com/. Now Opera should be on your repository and ready for you to install.


Also refer to instruction on Opera's site http://www.opera.com/support/kb/view/841/

Off Topic: MCE 2005

Today when I tried to play files using MCE2005, I found video, music and few other options were missing fron the MCE. After hunting around, I found this instruction which successfully bring back all the options: http://www.eggheadcafe.com/forumarchives/windowsmediacenter/Sep2005/post23921289.asp

Improving media playback

Media playback on Ubuntu can be improved by installing extra codec from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Opera mini and my nokia e63

After reading many good post on the discussion forums about Opera mini, I decided to give it a good on my Nokia E63 as the Nokia browser come with the phone is slow and buggy at times especially these sites with Javescripts. What can I say, it is much better experience with the Opera mini on this phone. Browsing the WWW is reasonable ... in fact, I am typing this post with my phone using the Opera mini

xorg.conf

I just found this little utility called xorg-options-editor-gtk which allows me to customize the xorg.conf "graphically". Although I would like something simpler, it guess this will do for now. It is a lot better than customizing the configuration file by hand with a text editor!

Linksys HP200

Finally, Linksys release the driver for Linksys&at;Home HP200 Wireless PC Card. This model was particular troublesome as it seemed Linksys&at;Home was a special brand for Tesco. Hence, there was no trace of such product on Linksys page before. Anyway, if you like me who has a Linksys&at;Home HP200 card, grab the driver from Linksys before they change their mind.

Printing with Windows shared printers

If you want to print to a printer connected on a Windows machine, you need to have samba-client installed. This will add an extra option onto the printer configuration which allows you browse and connect to a Windows shared printer!

Chinese ... another step closer to ditching Windows

Today I have found a little Java utility, called HanziLookup which can do Chinese handwriting recognitions. Windows comes with a utility which can recognize Chinese handwritings. This is very handy for people like myself who cannot type Chinese. I have been looking for something similar in Linux world and this discovery means I am another step closer to leave Windows world.

Windows 7 and my VirtualBox

I have just installed Windows 7 RC on VirtualBox to see how it compares with XP on the same setup. Well, it isn't doing so well. System monitor reported it used more CPU and more memory. If you are thinking of replacing XP on your Netbook with Windows 7, you may want to hold your thought. At least I will after this experience. I guess this explains why Microsoft has extended XP license for Netbook again.

Another negative aspect of Windows 7 is its footprint. Windows XP consumes about 3GB with minimal installation, i.e. Windows itself and AV software. Whereas Windows 7 takes over 6GB as it stands now with minimal installation. Again, this isn't something good for Netbooks which tends to have relatively small hard drive.

Virtualbox and Linux

Just tried Virtualbox on Jaunty. What a surprise, the performance is a lot better than I expected. The machine I am running is a bit dated, a 2.66GHz P4. Windows is running a lot smoother than Windows running natively on my IBM Thinkpad. Okay, the Thinkpad is only with 2.0GHz Celeron, not a record breaking machine. But, come on, after all, it is running on emulation. I am more than impressed.

Virtualbox and Graphics Acceleration

Wow, just found out Compiz works now on VirtualBox setup ... cool

name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes
server glx vendor string: Chromium
server glx version string: 1.2 Chromium

Jaunty

I have just upgrade from 8.04 LTS to 9.04. I have two desktop, a laptop and two virtual machines, and they all have gone through the upgrade without a problem! The new version seems a bit faster.

Joining MTS files

I have this video which come in as MTS files. I have been looking for software that I can join them together into a single HD video file so I can convert it to a more standard SD video (it is a SD TV program taped in HD. Since the film wasn't a recent TV program, it is just one of these SD program recorded in HD) Today, I finally found one, and it is called tsMuxeR from SmartLabs. I have successfully joint 90 MTS files into a single ts file, so I can use Handbrake to convert it into a MKV file.

VLC 0.9

0.9 seems to utilize the system much better and can get from

http://ppa.launchpad.net/c-korn/ubuntu hardy main

Mac and NTFS

Found this two utilities which allow writing to NTFS on a Mac.

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/
http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/

Handbrake

One of my grieves on Linux is video encoding. I sure Linux does have lot of tools for encoding, manipulating videos, however, most of them are command line utilities. I can get by with command line, but would much prefer if I don't need to use one. Anyway, finally, Handbrake has arrived to Ubuntu. To install it, you simply add the necessary repository to your sources.list, and off you go:

https://edge.launchpad.net/~handbrake-ubuntu/+archive/ppa

Happy encoding!

CUE+FLAC playback with Audacious

I finally found the solution for playing back CUE+FLAC files! Here is the solution. First you install audacious, and then install its extra plugin package called audacious-plugins-extra. After, run audacious and open its preference. Under the audio option, deselect all options under the Format Detection. That is it. You can now play CUE+FLAC files!

necflash

I have tried to flash my new NEC with RPC-1 firmware. However, every time I tried it, it skipped the actual writing part after I answered Y to the agreement. After numerous retry, I finally found the right switch (well at least it worked for me). Here you go:

sudo ./necflash -flash -s <firmware file> <device>

The -s switch implicitly agrees the license agreement, and left with the prompt to confirm the writing process. This allowed to me to proceed the writing!

DVD playback

To enable DVD playback, try these:

sudo apt-get install totem-xine libxine1-ffmpeg libdvdread3

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh

OpenOffice 3

I have been looking for instruction to update the OpenOffice in Ubuntu to version 3. Finally, yesterday, I found this sit which with few easy steps will get OpenOffice updated to version 3 in no time.

http://www.rebelzero.com/ubuntu/ppa-for-openofficeorg-301-for-hardyintrepid/94

Modeline

If you like me who has problem to construct a xorg.conf, you may want to try this website

http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl

This website helps you to generate a modeline for you display.

Linux auto screen resize in VirtualBox

I have been using Virtualbox for a while now and I really like it. I always use the latest version if I can so I can get the latest fix and featuress. After I had just upgraded from 2.1.2 to 2.1.4, I noticed my auto resize in my Ubuntu Linux stopped working. I thought this might be caused by the incorrect driver module, hence I had recompiled the add-on again. It is only after the third time I noticed that there was an error message said that if my xorg.conf file contains modeline settings, the auto resize will stop working. Well, just in case you are like me who has not noticed that warning. To get the auto resize to work, simple remove any modeline from the xorg.conf and restart the window manager, everything should works again!.

Path for firefox plugins

To add plugins to firefox, you can either create a symbolic to the

/usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins

or to the

$HOME/.mozilla/plugins

Logs

Linux keeps a bunch of logs for various things. It may be good for some, but for a average user like myself, the standard setting for logs may store logs longer than necessary. The standard setting for logrotate is 4 weeks. Personally, it is a bit too much for my taste. Luckily, this can be changed easily by editing the /etc/logrotate.conf file. Below shows the contents of the logrotate.conf file

# see "man logrotate" for details
# rotate log files weekly
weekly

# keep 4 weeks worth of backlogs
rotate 4

# create new (empty) log files after rotating old ones
create

# uncomment this if you want your log files compressed
#compress

# packages drop log rotation information into this directory
include /etc/logrotate.d

# no packages own wtmp, or btmp — we'll rotate them here
/var/log/wtmp {
missingok
monthly
create 0664 root utmp
rotate 1
}

/var/log/btmp {
missingok
monthly
create 0664 root utmp
rotate 1
}

# system-specific logs may be configured here