Webs’ Random Ideas

I could of written one, but that would be reinventing the wheel. Instead read this Ars Technica review of Ubuntu 8.04.

The review is very well done and convers some areas of Ubuntu I didn’t know existed. One complaint I have with the article is it seems to be written from the standpoint of, “If your Linux Distribution is not perfect I’m going to harp on you, and shame on you for not being perfect.” Maybe I read too much into it but I thought the end was a little annoying with this:

A strong 8.10 release with fewer problems out of the box would help put Ubuntu back on track.

I have yet to encounter any distribution of the big players (Windows, MAC, and Linux) that is without major flaws out of the box. There is so much work that goes into a distribution it’s incredibly difficult to catch everything. So the statement above just seems to me to be a pointless gripe about a piece of software.

The thing that’s great about Open Source Projects is the community of users. If there are major problems users can leave feedback and developers can fix the problem. If developers cannot fix the issues quickly, then anyone can step up and fix the problem since the software is Open Source. It’s a very efficient model and is helping to push Linux into wider acceptance.

Other than my one complaint the article is a pretty excellent review of Ubuntu 8.04. Go check it out.

This is really more of an update to my project of creating an Internet Kiosk Management Server.

The gist of the project is this: Currently we have a boot CD Linux distribution for Internet Kiosks, or walk up Internet/Email stations at work. What this means is that I have a Boot CD with a fully contained Operating System that runs off the CD. So no hard drive or floppy is needed. The system boots directly into Mozilla Firefox with no other applications or options available to the user.

Sounds wonderful right? Well yes, but I have been running into issues with this current system, called Boothbox. As mentioned in my previous posts on this topic, I have run into issues getting Boothbox to run on Dell Hardware. The problem is Boothbox is based on a really old kernel. And updating the kernel in Boothbox just wasn’t working out for me at all.

So a new system is in store.

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… I got your technology controlled, automated household right here! No seriously I do. People say they are still waiting for it, but with a some Linux skills or if you can befriend a geek, automation of daily house chores can be done.

This is some really friggin cool stuff. First we have a cat that posts videos and twitters every time it eats:

First, a proper “cat studio” is required. I picked up a laundry basket, some thin anti-slip mat and a couple of new food bowls for under $15 total. The laundry basked got a side removed by my trusty Dremel tool, and the anti-slip mat was cut to fit and hot-glued in place. After that was done, I had a spare light fixture with a clamp lying around to add to the mix for better lighting.

Motion is a great webcam application that fits my needs exactly. More specifically, when it detects motion, it records a video - think like a security camera, but way, way smarter. When Motion no longer senses any movement after a defined period of time, it encodes the captured video, and then it can run a script or set of commands afterwards. Bingo!

Wow, that actually sounds pretty do-able. I know you may be asking yourself, “What the hell good is that?” Well, think outside the box.

Imagine having a pet and going a vacation for a week to anywhere. Now you no longer have to worry about if your cat has enough food. Open any device with a network connection and has capabilities to display video. Bam! Now you know if you should tell your neighbor to grab the hidden key and add some more food or water.

Want to create a security camera system on the cheap with some amazing capabilities? Want to monitor a child and only be alerted when the child is restless, moves, or wakes up? Or are you just curious about what your pet might be up to while you’re away?

Okay, but what about other chores?

Well we have a link here where a blogger shows he can set up a system where plants notify the owner when they need more water.

The future is coming pretty fast. I would expect to see commercial one stop automation products to come out in the next year or two. And new homes will likely start having some of these features built in. When I build my own house down the road, these are items I’m going to be planning for.

I always do the same thing before installing an OS, no matter which OS it is. I grab my handy Ubuntu 7.10 disk, boot up, and partition the drive. I don’t really install it as my favorite OS is Xubuntu, but the partition editor is really easy to use.

It’s important to note this can be done without touching a pre-existing OS install. Follow the directions below and you can be all set for a dual boot. Here is what I do when I need to partition drives:

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Found an article on the Tubes that showcases the new Ubuntu Linux Distribution set to release soon! The author had pretty good things to say and was impressed with some new features. Go check it out, I just have one clip below…

For non-Linux users out there, the most significant changes present in Ubuntu 8.04 will be those related to making it easier to take Ubuntu for a test spin without hosing an existing Windows installation.

The first change that the Ubuntu dev team have made in the hopes that it will encourage Windows users to become Ubuntu users is the addition of Wubi. Using Wubi users can install and later uninstall Ubuntu through Windows as though it’s a Windows application in its own right. No partitions or changes to the bootloader are required to play with Ubuntu.

Found via Digg…

So I would like to bring up this topic again (I’ve written about this before, once here and another time here) in hopes I can finally complete what I set out to do awhile back. Get Boothbox working on Dell hardware.

Now that I’ve made that statement it’s time for a curve ball. I think I’m going to scrap Boothbox all together. It’s no longer under development and I am having a lot of trouble re-compiling the kernel so it runs on Dell hardware. The lack of support for Boothbox is just killing me.

So here’s my new idea. Create an Ubuntu Server that is fully configurable and have dummy terminal clients that boot from CD and load a terminal session from the Ubuntu server. Being based off Ubuntu means good hardware support and using a distro that is not likely to go away any time soon. The terminal clients would also be secure in having no local storage as no hard drive is needed.

Eventually the terminal clients will need touch screen support and quite a few scripts to run other items and lock down certain apps. Either way, for now I am going to test the waters and see what happens. If it looks like the idea is feasible I might create a SourceForge project and post more info there. We’ll see what happens.

For now I will post updates on my blog for this project. Officially titled: “Kiosk Ubuntu”.

Lenovo X23’s are fairly old laptops. By no means would I consider them ancient, but they have a P3 and usually 256mb of RAM unless updated by someone. One problem with older systems is all the other old hardware besides the CPU. It makes it tuff to find an OS that will support the old hardware. Generally if the system you are using has all Intel chipsets including an Intel wireless chipset you should be okay.

Well I have been meaning to fix up the X23 my Fiance has because the newest version of Ubuntu doesn’t like something on that laptop. My guess is Ubuntu 7.10 is using a kernel that doesn’t like a piece of hardware in the laptop. So I downloaded some ISOs last night and tried installing. I had Ubuntu 7.10 (was going to try a reinstall), Kubuntu 7.10, and Xubuntu 7.10 and 7.04. Well the only one I really wanted to install was Xubuntu and sure enough it was the only one that would boot.

I have to say I was really impressed with how fast Xubuntu booted and I really appreciate the minimalist styling of it. I was instantly a hug fan. I still have a bug to work out where the system tray doesn’t have the usual assortment of icons, but that’s okay I can make do.

After the install, which was an incredibly easy process, I rebooted and noticed that Network Manger isn’t installed. Network Manager is the best application I have found to get connected on Wireless Networks. I tried WiFi Radar and liked the look and feel, but it wouldn’t let me connect to a WPA network. Not sure why, but rather go with something I know works than spend my time troubleshooting. So I looked on the Internet and did the following to get Network Manager working:

1. Open a terminal and type in the following:

sudo apt-get install network-manager network-manager-gnome

2. After this runs, which may take a few minutes, Go to “Settings” and Click on “Autostarted Applications”
3. click “+ Add”
4. type in these values (without quotes):
   - name = “network applet”
   - command = “nm-applet –sm-disable &”
5. Then open a terminal and type the following:

sudo cp /etc/network/interfaces /etc/network/interfaces.bak

6. Then type:

sudo mousepad /etc/network/interfaces

7. Place a “#” (without quotes) in front of everything EXCEPT:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

8. Save the file and exit
9. What you just did was create a backup of the interfaces file and make a change to it so Network Manager can control the Network Interfaces.

After this just reboot and then you should have an icon in the System Tray that allows you to connect to wireless networks. This seemed to work for me pretty well and once I completed these steps I was off and rolling. Like I said I love the interface and the speed of Xubuntu. It’s running faster than my X40 with Ubuntu 7.10!

As I mentioned above, it appears the laptop still needs some tweakage. I will post more developments as they arise…

… which is some pretty big news. Well, we already knew they lost the original case, but now they have lost their appeal and have agreed to hand over documents to a group called the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation, (PFIF).

[Samba] Developers will have to sign nondisclosure agreements and will not be allowed to redistribute Microsoft’s documentation, but they will be able to write open-source software that implements the Windows protocols. The deal will also clarify which patents Microsoft believes are related to this technology, making it easier for open-source developers to avoid patent violations.

Antitrust rulings forced Microsoft to set up protocol-licensing programs in the past, including the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program (MCPP) and the Work Group Server Protocol Program (WSPP), but these efforts were not compatible with open-source software licenses.

That is apparently not a problem with the PFIF agreement.

“They’re giving us all the documentation to make everything work,” said Jeremy Allison, co-author of Samba. “We will have no more excuses to suck … if we don’t have something, we won’t be able to say it’s not our fault we don’t know how to do it.”

Which is pretty exciting news as Samba in general kinda sucks. It’s seems to be one of those things where when it works it rocks, and when it doesn’t it really sucks.

For those of you out of the loop, Samba is the program in Linux that allows Linux systems to talk to M$ systems. It also allows Linux to be able to read NTFS and FAT partitions. Samba has always worked fine for me, but I am just a simple users. The real issues with Samba arise from server platforms.

The other thing that excites me about this, is if Samba does a good job of implementing their new system maybe it will help jump start other vendors to play nicely with Linux. Maybe they will see there isn’t much to lose in allowing Linux to interface with their systems. For example, hardware manufacturers like Broadcom and others that refuse to develop for Linux. There are plenty of developers waiting to write drivers for Linux, but the companies wont let em.

I know I’m a little late on posting this news, but it is still exciting and I will post updates when new information develops.

I started a new experiment last weekend, it’s called FreeNAS. FreeNAS is a Unix based distro (another word for a distribution of an operating system, in this case Unix) that allows you to turn an ordinary computer into a NAS (Network Attached Storage). A NAS is essentially a collection of hard drives in a server that gives you a means to manage those drives. The sole function of a NAS is to manage a network file share, so you wouldn’t have a NAS do other tasks as well, such as being a print server or being used as a home computer, etc.

The questions comes around from time to time, “Why don’t you just throw those hard drives in your current XP system?” Well I could, but then I would be stuck using Windows XP Pro to manage the drives. This means I would have to buy a RAID card to RAID the drives, or put Windows Server 2003 on the system and still buy a RAID card. And then comes the configuring. That alone would take me weeks to figure out, or at least to implement the same functions FreeNAS gives.

For instance, from anywhere in the world I can SSH (a *nix terminal connection type, it gives me the ability to control the system), FTP, or via the web interface, control my system. And it only takes a couple clicks to set all of this up with FreeNAS. I couldn’t even begin to explain how to do this in Windows. And FreeNAS makes it so easy, anyone can do it! Just follow the user guide.

So my thinking is why have an overbloated OS (like Windows) manage my network file share, when I can have Unix do it for me? Now you may be thinking, “I know nothing about Linux, let alone Unix. Why the hell would I want to use FreeNAS?” Good question, but the nice thing about FreeNAS is that it is engineered so the user does not have to do a lot with the operating system. Once the OS is installed, which is insanely easy just follow the user guide (which does a thorough step by step), you can start configuring.

I highly recommend following the user guide while configuring, it will make life a lot easier. The cool thing with FreeNAS, is once it is installed, all configurations can be done via a web interface. Which is also very easy to use. Check out the screenshots…

Well I got my system up and going, and it works great. I have run into some issues with permissions for files, but I have been able to work through them rather easily. My plan for the future is to set up FreeNAS to shut itself down every night around 1:00AM. Then I will use wake on LAN to wake it up whenever I want to use it. I will post more as I figure that out.