Ubuntu Linux Help

Upgrade Ubuntu Firefox to Version 3.6 – Reader Questions

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:12:38 +0000

Erica from Canada asks: "... I'm using Ubuntu 9.04... the "Check for Updates" in Firefox is grayed out and apt-get does not upgrade Firefox... I'm stuck at 3.0.18, how can I get upgraded?..." This is an issue, I've encountered before. The newest versions of Firefox are not yet in the repositories, and the "Check for Updates" is [...]

Ubuntu MD5 Hash – Reader Questions

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:58:04 +0000

Nicki from Toronto asks: "...I've made too many coasters, where is the link to check the MD5 of the Ubuntu iso downloads... Someone told me I should check them before burning, but I can't find them anywhere..." I have had the same issue untill I bookmarked the page. But for ease of reference to all new users [...]

Google Earth and Chrome – Reader Questions

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:29:41 +0000

Ruud emailed asking, "How do I install Chrome and Google Earth? I've tried using apt-get, but the packages are not found. I am using Ubuntu 8.04" For Ubuntu 8.04 users, please try the instructions below. (I'm not in front of a Hardy, 8.04, box right now, so please comment below if you find I've made a [...]

Hardware Failures

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:56:18 +0000

While perusing through Digg, I found it interesting to note that both the Linux and Windows users have something to say about hardware failure issues. I found it interesting, that regardless of software issues, both groups of "observant" users have come to realize that the hardware quality (read that as "robustness" - is there such [...]

Building a Business Network Using Ubuntu – Introduction

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:21:01 +0000

This post begins the first (an introduction) in a series of several posts, discussing the benefits that Ubuntu Linux provides to business owners. Naturally, by default, I'll be touching on several open source applications and server packages throughout the series. Hopefully I can also dispel some of the myth and uncertainty, for business owners who [...]

CIFS VFS Shutdown Error When Using SMBFS

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:20:22 +0000

I recently installed a fresh copy of Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) and set up access to (DNS-321) my network shares using smbfs; as in the post "Sharing the Same Files Between Two PC’s". Shortly afterwards, when rebooting, shutting down, etc. I received this error message: ACPID: Exiting NM_SYSTEM_SETTING: SCPlugin-Ifupdown: Devices removed (UDI: /org/freedesktop/hal/devices/net_00_30_1B_BE_38_3D) [601.136038] CIFS VFS: Server not responding [601.136085] [...]

Leave the Num Lock On!

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:59:03 +0000

I recently (finally) upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04 (I've always had issues with x.10 releases for some reason). Until the upgrade I wanted to remain with the LTS track, but (it seems) less developers are supporting it, hence the move. I've performed excessive numbers of installs of Ubuntu and various applications on test boxes, but they [...]

Is There Any Good Screencasting in Ubuntu?

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:59:30 +0000

One of the things I've personally found frustrating in Linux is the development status of screencasting applications, or lack thereof. Some projects remain in beta, never coming to fruition, and eventually being abandoned. Others have quirks that seem to cause different issues based on what system they're installed on. Why am I posting about this? It's [...]

Some of the Best Linux Videos

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:45:26 +0000

I had some spare time over lunch today, and revisited some of the best Linux video links that have been sent to me. Some of them are really great (and we've probably seen before), but I just wanted to share them as it's nice to watch cool things from time to time... Flying Penguins: Prodigy: The Web Site is [...]

Font Management for Ubuntu Linux

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:25:41 +0000

As someone whose business also provides web development and graphic design, among other services, it was a real treat to bump into this font management gem (a few hours ago) "Fonty Python". As the name implies, it's a python based application used to manage fonts - Great if you have a lot of fonts that you'd [...]

How to Wipe a Hard Drive – Reader Questions

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 16:29:14 +0000

Becky asked: "...I am running Ubuntu Linux. I want to wipe my hard drive. How do i do that?..." I'm assuming that you don't have another computer you can plug that hard drive in? Additionally, you cannot wipe a hard drive if you have no OS to run the software. And finally, I assume by wiping, that [...]

How to Check MD5SUM of Downloads – Reader Questions

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:47:24 +0000

Steve emailed asking: "...because all the DVDs I was burning were useless. Thanks for helping with that, only thing, how do I check the md5sum stuff? Should there be a separate file showing what it is? Where do I find what it's supposed to be? Thanks for..." This is a common occurrence, we download a CD or [...]

Adding a Terminal Hot Key Shortcut – Reader Questions

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:58:22 +0000

Janice emailed asking: "...and lots of your posts show us how to do things in a terminal. Each time I have to go to Applications / Accessories / Terminal, isn't there a faster way, like some key combination or something?..." In Ubuntu (for that matter pretty much all Linux distros), you can set up "hot keys" to [...]

What About Linux?

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:16:43 +0000

It's been a while since I "seriously" posted on this blog, as I've been super busy. One of the things I do in my work is custom build desktop computers and servers for clients. There's been a sudden demand for new desktop systems. While talking to clients, they've all danced around the issue of having [...]

Faster Internet With an Old Laptop – Revisited

UbuntuLinuxHelp — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:26:58 +0000

One of my earlier posts, Faster Internet With an Old Laptop – Ubuntu and Squid, discussed how to install Squid and Webmin on an old laptop. The premise being that having a proxy server on the network helped speed up web browsing (because of the caching capabilities), reduced external bandwidth usage, etc. In that post, I [...]