Aber grad hier bin ich jetzt das erste mal auf die Speichergrenzen des EeePC gestoßen! 1GB muss zum updaten auf Hardy frei sein. nur 700 MB waren es...

Spontan mussten erstmal Supertux, OpenOffice und 60MB UbuntuHelpDocumentation dran glauben. Kann ich ja nachher wieder installieren ;)

Bis jetzt läuft aber alles ganz fix eigentlich. Manchmal lohnt sichs halt doch in der Firma eine Glasfaserleitung zu haben ;)

2534kb/s ist doch mal ne anständige Zahl :)

9:40 : Was der Download reinholt verbraucht die Installationszeit... geschätzte 1,5 Stunden dauert der Spaß.

10:00: Angezeigte Zeit: 1Stunde. Installiert immernoch...

10:15: /etc/sysdoc überschreiben?! nöö...

10:30: jetzt sind wir bei 40 min verbleibend.

10:47: noch 33 minuten ^^ langsam könnts schon mal zuende gehen.

10:52: Jackpot! "soll die angepasste version "./asus vol up(down, mute)angepasst werden?" Darauf hab ich gewartet^^ natürlich nicht erstetzen!

11:10: Soll Konfig Datei /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base erstetzt werden? nöö. Noch 16 min.

11:21: noch 6 minuten. Ab und zu blinken die Icons am Desktop - sehen anders aus - und sind wieder normal :)

11:38 : Installation beendet. :D ->aufräumen

11:40 : Pakete entfernen!? nee^^

11:41: Neustart.

11:42: Hardy läuft! :D Am EeePC selber sinds gefühlte 50 Grad! Aber es läuft ;)

*update*

Hardy läuft _nicht_

Flo

Lotus Symphony Splashscreen

The name Lotus Symphony was first used by Lotus for it's Integrated Software, released for DOS. It's regarded as the follow-on of Lotus previous spreadsheet application, the Lotus 1-2-3. The current Lotus Symphony is based on OpenOffice 1.1.4. It has 3 modules, a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a presentation program. The version 1 was released on May 30th, 2008

I was planning to download the Windows version. Visiting the download page, I saw there are installer for Windows and Linux. Currently, only Red Hat and Suse are officially supported. I went ahead and download the Linux Installer.

Installing was easy. Open a terminal, and type:

$sudo ./IBM_Lotus_Symphony_linux.bin

Then I was greeted by "blank" wizard window.

A quick search on google tell me that, due to a bug, the installer won't work when a composite window manager is present. So I changed my window manager to metacity:

$metacity --replace

Or, if Compiz Fusion Icon is availabe, right-clicked on it, go to "select window manager" and select metacity.

And restart the installer again. This time it works. And refused to install because I don't have the necessary 500 MB-ish free space on /opt. A quick df -k show me that I still have about 1 GB on "/". Oh well.. I decided to create a partition for "/opt" by resizing my fat32 data partition. Fired up gparted, and about 30 minuts later I have an "/opt" partition with 2.5GB of free space. Restart the installation.

Finally it works! The installation wizard works just like any Windows application installer, Keep pressing "next" until the "finish" button appear. The installer created one shortcut to the suite on Applications > Office > IBM Lotus Symphony. I clicked the menu and... nothing happened. Another trip to google land told me that, since I used root account (well, sudo) to install, the .lotus directory on my home/user belonged to root account. So I had to changed that.

$cd /home/ikhsan
$sudo chown -R ikhsan:ikhsan .lotus

Re-clicked on the launcher. It works!

choose your desti.. err office application

tabbed brow.. err office suite

Final thought. Well, if installing an office suit with a wizard requires me to open a terminal twice, IBM still has some homework to do. But then again my Ubuntu version is not officially supported.

I have my drives set up to work independently as I sometimes take them out and test them on other pc's. I don't need all of them to be hooked up just to boot up one drive or OS. I just invoke the BIOS Boot Menu using F11 during POST and pick the one I want. Simple and easy for me.

I used my GParted Live CD to make the partitions the way they are now. See image below. Shrunk my NTFS I use as a windows back up sometimes. Next up was 2 Gigs of swap then an extended 60GB partition for my /home and 5 partitions for the Linux distributions I want to try. Looks nice and organized and most importantly - it works fine.

I got the torrent from LinuxMint.com and got some rest while waiting for it to finish. Burned it at the lowest possible speed using the simple CD writer in Linux Ubuntu 8.04, my primary distribution. I had some issues booting up the Live CD. I got an "(initramfs)" prompt instead of a regular desktop. Using the Compatibility Mode, I found out that it was some error with it not detecting the floppy and SCSI devices. I used the Live CD troubleshooting guide provided by nice people in the Mint Forums. Pressed F6 during splash, pressed tab, deleted "quiet splash--" and entered "all_generic_ide". That worked and let me into the Live environment. I liked what I saw, was curious and proceeded.

The installation was smooth. My first boot was met with the famous Grub Error 17 and 18. The reason being how the BIOS and the Live CD arranged the drives. In the Live CD, the usb drive was third and my BIOS read it as the first drive. The solution was to edit the menu.lst and change all references to (hd2,4) to (hd0,4), which is where my Mint is.

Tried again and here I am posting the results. Four more distributions to go. I've narrowed down my choices based on release date, number of packages and most important is the community or support. I did not include Linux Ubuntu since I'm already using that and it has its own hard drive in my pc. The list goes:

• ArchLinux - 10/07/2007 with 15,000 packages
• Debian - 04/08/2007 with 26,000 packages
• Fedora - 05/13/2008 with 8,000 packages
• Mandriva - 04/09/2008 with 16,000 packages
• Sabayon - 09/07/2007 with 12,000 packages
• Sidux - 04/12/2008 with 22,950 packages
• [Simply]MEPIS - 12/23/2007 with 20,000 packages

*data is based on http://en.wikipedia.org

I wanted the distribution to be recent, within the last year or 2 years, so I wouldn't be learning something that's at the end of its life cycle. I wanted as much packages as possible because... just because. I'm still a beginner and still have a lot to learn. Now I have not looked into the community or support sites for these distributions yet. Well, I went into Debian once but for after reading some threads, I felt unwelcome because of my choice of OS - Ubuntu. I will give it another go and keep an open mind.

That's about it for today. The rest is yet to be determined. Hopefully, I'll get more information in a few days and start installing a 2nd OS on my USB drive. Until then...

More here.

If you don't want to wait until Banshee 1.0 is added to Gutsy/Hardy repositories, just add this to your software sources (System > Administration > Software Sources -> Third-Party Software and click Add), for Hardy:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/banshee-team/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/banshee-team/ubuntu hardy main

or Gutsy:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/banshee-team/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/banshee-team/ubuntu gutsy main

Click Close, then open a terminal and type: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install banshee-1

I have an NTFS partition in my WD Scorpio that I've already backed up into my Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron installation. I'm experiencing a lil sentimentality and hesitation in wiping it off the drive. There's still plenty of space though. I can shrink the NTFS and use the rest for swap, /home and an extended partition to house the distributions I would try.

I have another concern. These distributions usually have their own bootloader. Although I don't really use Grub that much as I use my hard drives independently by choosing which one to boot in the BIOS Boot Menu, that won't be possible in this planned drive. I guess I can pick only the ones that use Grub but I'm not sure how much variety that would give me. I'll have to look into that in the days that come. For now, looks like my partitions are set. Will try Mint first on my USB drive and go from there. Good luck to me.

(",)

1. Enable Network Service
The dongle is already used for sending and receiving file “Bluetooth File Sharing”, so I need to enable “Network Service” on my bluetooth connection by right-clicking the bluetooth icon on my taskbar, click on preferences, click on “Service” tab, and tick “Network Service”

2. Setup connection between workstation and phone
pair the phone and workstation. On my E51, I select the pairing between the phone and the workstation as trusted, so that the connection will automatically be made. Next, right-click the bluetooth icon on my taskbar, click on preferences, select the first tab (named after your workstation bluetooth name), and choose “visible and connectable for other devices”. The phone should be available on “Bonded Devices” list. Click on the phone name, then click the “Set Trusted” button.

3. Setup rfcomm
Make sure that DUN is available by opening terminal, and type:

$sdptool search dun

The output should be similar to this:

ikhsan@M5mobile:~$ sdptool search dun
Inquiring ...
Searching for dun on 00:1D:FD:EE:yy:xx …
Service Name: Dial-Up Networking
Service RecHandle: 0×100a8
Service Class ID List:
“Dialup Networking” (0×1103)
Protocol Descriptor List:
“L2CAP” (0×0100)
“RFCOMM” (0×0003)
Channel: 4
Language Base Attr List:
code_ISO639: 0×454e
encoding: 0×6a
base_offset: 0×100
Profile Descriptor List:
“Dialup Networking” (0×1103)
Version: 0×0100

Jot down the MAC address and channel, edit the /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf. As always, do not forget to to backup the original file first

$sudo cp /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf.bk
$sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf

This is how my rfcomm.conf looks like:

#
# RFCOMM configuration file.
#

rfcomm0 {
# # Automatically bind the device at startup
bind yes;
#
# # Bluetooth address of the device
device 00:1D:FD:EE:xx:yy;
#
# # RFCOMM channel for the connection
channel 4;
#
# # Description of the connection
# comment "Nokia E51";
}

Next, bind rfcomm0 to the phone by typing this:

$sudo rfcomm bind 0 00:1D:FD:EE:xx:yy 4

Restart bluetooth service

sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart

4. Setup wvdial
Edit /etc/wvdial.conf :

$sudo nano /etc/wvdial.conf

This is how mine looks like, for Simpati Telkomsel:

[Dialer Defaults]
Phone =
Username =
Password =
New PPPD = yes
[Dialer e51]
Init1 =ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Init7 = ATZ,”10.1.89.130″,”internet”
Modem = /dev/rfcomm0
Phone = *99***1#
Baud = 460800
Username = “wap”
Password = “wap123″
Stupid Mode = 1

Some option might not necessary, but I put them up there anyway The name of the dial connection is “e51″

5. Start connection
To initialize connection, simply type:

$sudo wvdial e51

This the output in mine:

ikhsan@M5mobile:~$ sudo wvdial e51
[sudo] password for ikhsan:
WvDial<*1>: WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.56
WvModem<*1>: Cannot get information for serial port.
WvDial<*1>: Initializing modem.
WvDial<*1>: Sending: ATZ
WvDial Modem<*1>: ATZ
WvDial Modem<*1>: OK
WvDial<*1>: Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
WvDial Modem<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
WvDial Modem<*1>: OK
WvDial<*1>: Sending: ATZ,”10.1.89.130″,”internet”
WvDial Modem<*1>: ATZ,b [1d]10.1.89.130b 3,b [1d]internetb [1d]
WvDial Modem<*1>: OK
WvDial<*1>: Modem initialized.
WvDial<*1>: Sending: ATDT*99***1#
WvDial<*1>: Waiting for carrier.
WvDial Modem<*1>: ATDT*99***1#
WvDial Modem<*1>: CONNECT
WvDial Modem<*1>: ~[7f]}#@!}!} } }2}#}$@#}!}$}%\}”}&} }*} } g}%~
WvDial<*1>: Carrier detected. Starting PPP immediately.
WvDial<Notice>: Starting pppd at Fri Jun 13 01:21:43 2008
WvDial<Notice>: Pid of pppd: 31339
WvDial<*1>: Using interface ppp0
WvDial<*1>: pppd: [06][08] [06][08] [06][08]
WvDial<*1>: pppd: [06][08] [06][08] [06][08]
WvDial<*1>: pppd: [06][08] [06][08] [06][08]
WvDial<*1>: pppd: [06][08] [06][08] [06][08]
WvDial<*1>: pppd: [06][08] [06][08] [06][08]
WvDial<*1>: local IP address 221.132.235.244
WvDial<*1>: pppd: [06][08] [06][08] [06][08]
WvDial<*1>: remote IP address 10.6.6.6
WvDial<*1>: pppd: [06][08] [06][08] [06][08]
WvDial<*1>: primary DNS address 202.3.208.10
WvDial<*1>: pppd: [06][08] [06][08] [06][08]
WvDial<*1>: secondary DNS address 202.3.210.10
WvDial<*1>: pppd: [06][08] [06][08] [06][08]

If the connection successful, an additional network interface “ppp0″ should be created on your workstation, check with the following command

$ifconfig | grep ppp

the output should be similar to this:

ikhsan@M5mobile:~$ ifconfig | grep ppp
ppp0 Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol

Done! Thank you for Mr. Made for the fine pointer

Update@061308
I have updated my wvdial.conf, and here it is in it's current incarnation :

[Dialer e51]
Modem = /dev/rfcomm0
Init1 = ATZ
Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
Init3 = AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","internet"
Stupid Mode = 1
Phone = *99***1#
ISDN = 0
Username = “wap”
Password = “wap123″

sudo apt-get remove mozplugger && sudo apt-get install acroread acroread-plugins mozilla-acroread mozplugger

This is the guide where I found the command.

I edited my Advanced Desktop Effects Settings. In CompizConfig Settings Manager, I went into General Options>Desktop Size tab and changed the Horizontal Virtual Size to 4 so I can get a cube. Then I enabled the Desktop Cube, Rotate, and Cube Caps. Everything else is in their default state. Cube works with no problems. I've also figured out where to adjust the size of the cube when rotating. It's under CCSM>Rotate Cube>General>Zoom. The higher the zoom number, the smaller the cube gets.

And my favorite application, Conky does what it usually does and like always after an upgrade, I am left to tinker to get my temperatures to show up. I will list the commands I've used to get this up and running:

sudo apt-get install conky
sudo apt-get install lm-sensors libsensors3 libsensors4 sensors-applet libsensors-applet-plugin0 hddtemp
sudo sensors-detect (answer "Y" to all questions)
sudo gedit ~/.conkyrc

The last code will open up a text file where you can copy/paste or create your own conky settings. To make conky start automatically everytime you boot up, go to System>Preferences>Sessions and add "conky" to the start up programs. Take note of the lowercase letters or else it won't work. After this, restart your computer and you should be able to see the fruits of your labor. I will attach my conky code as well as the screenshots:

background yes
use_xft yes
xftfont HandelGotD:size=9
xftalpha 0.5
update_interval 1.0
total_run_times 0
own_window yes
own_window_type normal
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
double_buffer yes
minimum_size 200 5
maximum_width 200
draw_shades no
draw_outline no
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
default_color white
default_shade_color red
default_outline_color green
alignment top_right
gap_x 12
gap_y 48
no_buffers yes
uppercase no
cpu_avg_samples 2
override_utf8_locale no

TEXT
$sysname $kernel on $machine

Uptime $alignr $uptime
Load $alignr $loadavg

Hostname $alignr $nodename
eth0 $alignr ${addr eth0}
Mobo CPU Temp $alignr ${hwmon temp 1}C ${hwmon temp 2}C
HDDlinux $alignr /dev/hdb ${execi 300 nc localhost 7634 | cut -c53-54 ;}C
HDDwindows $alignr /dev/hda ${execi 300 nc localhost 7634 | cut -c27-28 ;}C

CPU $alignr ${cpu cpu0}%
${cpubar cpu0}

MEM $alignc $mem / $memmax $alignr $memperc%
$membar

/root $alignc ${fs_used /} / ${fs_size /} $alignr ${fs_free_perc /}%
${fs_bar /}

/home $alignc ${fs_used /home} / ${fs_size /home} $alignr ${fs_free_perc /home}%
${fs_bar /home}

swap $alignc $swap / $swapmax $alignr $swapperc%
${swapbar}

$processes processes ($running_processes running)

${color white}Highest CPU:
${color de0b0b}${top name 1}${top_mem cpu 1}
${color white}${top name 2}${top cpu 2}
${top name 3}${top cpu 3}
${top name 4}${top cpu 4}
${top name 5}${top cpu 5}

${color white}Highest MEM:
${color de0b0b}${top_mem name 1}${top_mem mem 1}
${color white}${top_mem name 2}${top_mem mem 2}
${top_mem name 3}${top_mem mem 3}
${top_mem name 4}${top_mem mem 4}
${top_mem name 5}${top_mem mem 5}

${color}Networking:
Down:${color} $alignr ${downspeed eth0} k/s${color} ${offset 80}
$alignc ${downspeedgraph eth0 32,150 de0b0b de0b0b}
Up:${color} $alignr ${upspeed eth0} k/s ${offset 80}
$alignc ${upspeedgraph eth0 32,150 de0b0b de0b0b}

I'm done for today. Might look into making Conky prettier in the future. Have a good day!

I made the mistake of doing it with my XP drive still plugged in. My boot setup is that of two drives operating independently of each other with XP being the primary drive. Both XP and Ubuntu booted up as it should but the problem starts when you remove one drive. Grub error 17 comes up whenever that's the case. Next order of battle is to fix the windows MBR. Luckily, when things were working I was able to burn a way out. I went into Recovery Mode DOS and entered "fixmbr". Once that was done, XP booted up nice in its own independent way.

I then took off the XP drive, leaving only the Linux drive and booted up the LiveCD. Reinstalled Linux and of course take a nap. Grub is safe and sound only in the Linux drive. Everything works peachy. As in my last post, there are 2 main things I want working. My Conky and Compiz-Fusion settings aren't up and running yet. But I will be working on those next. In the next release of Ubuntu, I will attempt the upgrade first and the clean install will be the last option. I just have to remember removing the XP drive if I end up doing it again.

To summarize: If upgrading does not work, remove the XP drive before doing a clean install. I'm glad to have kept a record of the changes I have made. At least I have some sort of guide to put my settings back the way they were in 7.10. I have XP and Linux Ubuntu 8.04 running as planned. Spent a good deal of time but definitely another learning experience worth the effort.

Internet speed is not at optimum at the moment since someone is playing an online game on the other PC. But I'm not in any hurry. Plenty of time to watch, wait and write. Estimated time to finish is in approximately 4 hours and 45 minutes. I think I should be able to catch a nap before any "Yes or No" dialog boxes come up.

There are a few things I'm concerned about. I wonder if my compiz-fusion and conky settings will be saved. Or any other setting for that matter. They're supposed to be intact after an upgrade. I'll know for sure once this is complete. I haven't really done a full diagnostic on this since I installed Linux Ubuntu Feisty 7.04 last year. I have plenty of unallocated space in my hard drive and I'm thinking about trying out another Linux flavor. Which one is yet to be decided. For now, shuteye...

'Gutsy Gibbon'
75 Push-ups
95 pound Sumo-deadlift high-pull, 50 reps
50 Ring Dips
45 pound Weighted Pull-ups, 30 reps
25 Handstand Push-ups

TIME: 20:36

More piked handstand push ups... also had to use a bar instead of a kettleball for the sumo deadlift.

The pull ups ran like this:
10 pull ups as Rx (that i couldnt do in a row)
5 with 20 lbs (that was AS rough)
15 jumping pull ups w/ 20 lbs

Okay, as i mentioned earlier, I installed the new version of Ubuntu Linux, named Hardy Heron. I have been using this on my main desktop for a while, now, so I thought I might give it a review.

Given one sentence to describe it, I would say: "Stay Away."

Having used Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon for a long time, and having seen reviews and articles about various other versions, I have come to the conclusion that this is the worst Ubuntu version to come out. Basically, just looking at it, there is no visible difference, except a slightly different wallpaper. My first point of contention was the graphics. It was a PAIN to get my Nvidia graphics card installed, I had to manually download and install the driver. In addition, the Screens And Grahpics manager that I had gotten so fond of no longer exists. I have yet to find a GUI that lets you manage your graphics cards and monitors. There is one simple window in which you can change your screen resolution and refresh rate, but that is all. To change my graphics properties, I have to boot into Recovery Mode. However, Recovery mode has been improved. When booting into it, a blue screen comes up with three options: Boot into normal mode, repair graphics, and boot into command line. This is a big bonus, whenever I had to repair the graphics via Recovery Mode in Gutsy, it was a PAIN, with my limited UNIX knowledge. However, as I mentioned earlier, I got Windows and Hardy Heron running simultaneously. However, this might also be possible on Gutsy, I do not know. Also, I have had some compatibility issues. VMware got trashed, and FF3b5 crashes more often. Also, that is another bone of contention. They installed a beta version of a browser in a full public release of the OS. No offense to them, but that is a ...dumb... idea.

Other than that, I have not had any major problems, at least that I can think of. If you are a normal home user, looking for a more stable OS than Windows, you would not have a problem. However, for the more hardcore users, I would suggest you stick to Gutsy 7.10

Here is a link to Ubuntu, if you are interested in it, and do not yet use it (if that is possible).

Watch PCWizKid's Video on upgrading to Ubuntu 8.04 here

Distro Linux yang dipakai Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon

Pelaksanaan Workshop:

Hari/Tanggal : Minggu, 11 Mei 2008

Pukul : 13.00 - 16.00

Fasilitas :

- 1 Peserta 1 komputer

- Gratis 1 CD Ubuntu 7.10

- Tutorial Operasi Perintah Dasar Linux

- Sertifikat

- Gratis Instalasi Ubuntu dan Free Konsultasi migrasi Linux 1 bulan

Kontribusi Peserta :

- Umum Rp. 65.000,-

- Pelajar Rp. 35.000,-

Tempat Pendaftaran :

Izzy.NET2 : Jl. Miji Baru Satu No.7 Mojokerto, Telp (0321)393181

NB: Maaf Peserta Terbatas (15 Peserta)

Segera Daftar !!!!!!!!

Those of you who have a need for exposing iscsi targets to other machines for discovery, but who do not want to invest in an external USB hard disk OR who do not want to have a USB external hard disk connected to a desktop 24x7, there is a better way of creating and exposing iscsi target logical volumes.

This method does not need installing openfiler either as noted in my earlier article Combining Openfiler and Virtualbox (Ubuntu guest OS on windows host).

A simple solution..

The method is simple: create logical volumes based on SCSI devices on a Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 installation using virtualbox.

The advantage of using Ubuntu is that it creates the hard disk devices as scsi devices (with the naming convention /dev/sd*, instead of /dev/hd*). I have seen that in other unix OS like SuSE linux, the local disks are listed as /dev/hd* (IDE). Ubuntu seems to have better disk drivers.

If you use Hardy Heron 8.04 Ubuntu, it is *really* easy to get iscsitarget package working. If you try to make the iscsi-target package work with Gutsy Gibbon 7.x release of Ubuntu, there is a very good chance that you will run into lot of compilation issues. I went down this path myself and later realized that a lot of bugs existed for Gutsy Gibbon release. (e.g. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/gutsy/+source/iscsitarget/+bug/160104, http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=692651) and eventually found https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/iscsitarget/+bug/145539 which said that the module was fixed in Hardy Heron 8.04.

So instead of breaking my head over making iscsi-target package work in Gutsy Gibbon 2.6.22, I decided to give Hardy Heron 8.04 (still beta) a try.

Thankfully, with a little effort, I was able to make it work. In this article, I present a simplistic scenario in which we create three logical volumes that can be easily discovered by another virtualbox iscsi initiator machine(s) using open-iscsi package. This is the beauty of the entire approach.

Here is a block diagram of the end configuration:

Click here for a bigger view

Iscsi support in Hardy Heron 8.04 Ubuntu..

The first thing to understand is that as per the published features of Hardy Heron 8.04 Ubuntu at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardyHeron/Beta#head-da07b62e1e43afd0bef06ab8b60d2502c734a0f9, the iscsi support is enabled out of the box if we add iscsi=true in the boot options during the installation.

Click here for a bigger view

While installing Hardy 8.04 OS using virtualbox or any other virtualization software being used, remember to add iscsi=true in the boot options (after pressing F6)

Click here for a bigger view

Configuring iscsi targets..

I would like to give credit to a really awesome link I found through google: http://www.linuxconfig.org/Linux_lvm_-_Logical_Volume_Manager, which I rate as a one of the best article s for doing this!

Some other relevant links are:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpLVM-WithoutACleanInstall
http://t3flyers.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/logical-volume-manager-on-ubuntu-feisty-704/
http://www.howtoforge.com/linux_lvm

After Ubuntu installation, the output of uname -a looks like this:

HARDY# uname -a
Linux gverma-laptop 2.6.24-16-generic #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 13:23:42 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

And the output of fdisk -l looks like this:

HARDY# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 16.5 GB, 16592666624 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2017 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0004ccc2
Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1        1927    15478596   83  Linux
/dev/sda2            1928        2017      722925    5  Extended
/dev/sda5            1928        2017      722893+  82  Linux swap / Solaris

At this point, I added two more hard disks to the virtualbox virtual machine. Virtualbox 1.5.6 allows upto three hard disk devices to be attached to a machine.

Click here for a bigger view

After booting up HARDY again, /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc were also visible in the output of fdisk -l. Using fdisk, I created a single partition in both devices that spanned the entire device, resulting in /dev/sdb1 and /dev/sdc1:

HARDY# fdisk -l

...
Disk /dev/sdb: 21.4 GB, 21474836480 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2610 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xd310045f

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1        2610    20964793+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 21.4 GB, 21474836480 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2610 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x93d4c692

Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1               1        2610    20964793+  83  Linux

Also make sure that you configure host only networking so that other virtual machines (scsi initiators) are able to ssh/telnet into HARDY. Please look at article to understand how host only networking can be setup: Virtualbox Case Study: Making host only networking work between two Ubuntu Guest OS (virtual machine) on Windows Vista host

Getting the right packages installed..

Now, we need to create the target physical volume, virtual group, and logical volume, in that order. These logical volumes will serve as SCSI targets that can be discovered by other iscsi initiator machines or virtual machines as per your configuration.

Make sure you reload the package definitions from the configured repositories (get the latest packages that are published from the ubuntu repositories). You can do this from the Synaptic Package Manager:

Click here for a bigger view

Now, you should install the lvm2 package in Synaptic Package Manager:

Click here for a bigger view

Create the physical volumes:

HARDY# lvm

lvm> pvcreate /dev/sdb1
Physical volume "/dev/sdb1" successfully created
lvm> pvcreate /dev/sdc1
Physical volume "/dev/sdc1" successfully created
lvm> pvdisplay
--- NEW Physical volume ---
PV Name               /dev/sdb1
VG Name
PV Size               19.99 GB
Allocatable           NO
PE Size (KByte)       0
Total PE              0
Free PE               0
Allocated PE          0
PV UUID               OHKhOq-AMG7-XtYz-7CrP-q2VH-2b53-tW0yMO

--- NEW Physical volume ---
PV Name               /dev/sdc1
VG Name
PV Size               19.99 GB
Allocatable           NO
PE Size (KByte)       0
Total PE              0
Free PE               0
Allocated PE          0
PV UUID               M9qXXB-GVxC-FZjI-9Zb7-IhcH-rbhb-vQ3aek

Create the virtual group:

lvm> vgcreate vg /dev/sdb1 /dev/sdc1
Volume group "vg" successfully created
lvm> vgdisplay
--- Volume group ---
VG Name               vg
System ID
Format                lvm2
Metadata Areas        2
Metadata Sequence No  1
VG Access             read/write
VG Status             resizable
MAX LV                0
Cur LV                0
Open LV               0
Max PV                0
Cur PV                2
Act PV                2
VG Size               39.98 GB
PE Size               4.00 MB
Total PE              10236
Alloc PE / Size       0 / 0
Free  PE / Size       10236 / 39.98 GB
VG UUID               GkUMNq-3atR-qKTK-lG0b-gM0n-budV-Uc4lH8

lvm>

Create logial volumes:

lvm> lvcreate -L 1G -n ocr vg
Logical volume "ocr" created
lvm> lvcreate -L 1G -n vote vg
Logical volume "vote" created
lvm> lvcreate -L 35G -n asm vg
Logical volume "asm" created

If you get an error message saying:
/proc/misc: No entry for device-mapper
you can get around it by issuing sudo modprobe dm-mod

lvm> lvdisplay
--- Logical volume ---
LV Name                /dev/vg/ocr
VG Name                vg
LV UUID                a2ARIQ-11dn-kdoB-cHCd-gtoR-aokO-HGqoo4
LV Write Access        read/write
LV Status              available
# open                 0
LV Size                1.00 GB
Current LE             256
Segments               1
Allocation             inherit
Read ahead sectors     0
Block device           254:0

--- Logical volume ---
LV Name                /dev/vg/vote
VG Name                vg
LV UUID                1DqYL0-Ptsx-9kmE-UHmn-PmE9-ebVm-bfr0r0
LV Write Access        read/write
LV Status              available
# open                 0
LV Size                1.00 GB
Current LE             256
Segments               1
Allocation             inherit
Read ahead sectors     0
Block device           254:1

--- Logical volume ---
LV Name                /dev/vg/asm
VG Name                vg
LV UUID                UKWcPz-aNGl-VdPm-51wa-Ewvm-ahvD-Y7N57v
LV Write Access        read/write
LV Status              available
# open                 0
LV Size                35.00 GB
Current LE             8960
Segments               2
Allocation             inherit
Read ahead sectors     0
Block device           254:2

lvm>

Now, you can check the logical volume devices like this:

HARDY# ls -l /dev/vg
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 2008-05-03 02:42 asm -> /dev/mapper/vg-asm
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 2008-05-03 02:41 ocr -> /dev/mapper/vg-ocr
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 2008-05-03 02:41 vote -> /dev/mapper/vg-vote

You can also check the newly created devices in the /dev/disk/* directories on HARDY:

HARDY# ls -l /dev/disk/*
/dev/disk/by-id:
..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 2008-05-03 02:42 dm-name-vg-asm -> ../../mapper/vg-asm
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 2008-05-03 02:41 dm-name-vg-ocr -> ../../mapper/vg-ocr
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2008-05-03 02:41 dm-name-vg-vote -> ../../mapper/vg-vote
..

/dev/disk/by-path:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 2008-05-02 22:30 pci-0000:00:01.1-scsi-0:0:1:0 -> ../../sdb
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2008-05-03 02:34 pci-0000:00:01.1-scsi-0:0:1:0-part1 -> ../../sdb1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 2008-05-02 22:30 pci-0000:00:01.1-scsi-1:0:1:0 -> ../../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2008-05-03 02:35 pci-0000:00:01.1-scsi-1:0:1:0-part1 -> ../../sdc1

You need to install the iscsitarget package using Synaptic Package Manager:

Click here for a bigger view

Now, you need to configure the /etc/ietd.conf file with the Target names and entries for each logical volume. The target names just need to unique within the network and are totally upto your imagination.

HARDY# more /etc/ietd.conf
Target iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote
Lun 0 Path=/dev/vg/vote,Type=fileio
Target iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr
Lun 0 Path=/dev/vg/ocr,Type=fileio
Target iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm
Lun 0 Path=/dev/vg/asm,Type=fileio

To enforce these entries, we need to restart the iscsitarget service manually now.

Keep in mind that there is no dash (-) between iscsi and target in the name of the service, as in openfiler 2.2 (openfiler's IET implementation service has the name iscsi-target)

HARDY# /etc/init.d/iscsitarget restart
Removing iSCSI enterprise target devices: succeeded.
Stopping iSCSI enterprise target service: succeeded.
Removing iSCSI enterprise target modules: succeeded.
Starting iSCSI enterprise target service: succeeded.

To double check if the logical volumes have been discovered and published, you can check content of /proc/net/iet/volume on HARDY:

::::::::::::::
/proc/net/iet/volume
::::::::::::::
tid:3 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm
lun:0 state:0 iotype:fileio iomode:wt path:/dev/vg/asm
tid:2 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr
lun:0 state:0 iotype:fileio iomode:wt path:/dev/vg/ocr
tid:1 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote
lun:0 state:0 iotype:fileio iomode:wt path:/dev/vg/vote

If you do a more of /proc/net/iet/session, you can clearly see that no iscsi-initiator machine have connected to HARDY yet (there are no session sub-entries under the volume name):

HARDY# more /proc/net/iet/session
tid:3 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm
tid:2 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr
tid:1 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote

Here is a quick check of the physical volume, volume group, and logical volume :

HARDY# lvm
lvm> lvscan
ACTIVE '/dev/vg/ocr' [1.00 GB] inherit
ACTIVE '/dev/vg/vote' [1.00 GB] inherit
ACTIVE '/dev/vg/asm' [35.00 GB] inherit

lvm> pvscan
PV /dev/sdb1 VG vg lvm2 [19.99 GB / 0 free]
PV /dev/sdc1 VG vg lvm2 [19.99 GB / 2.98 GB free]
Total: 2 [39.98 GB] / in use: 2 [39.98 GB] / in no VG: 0 [0 ]

lvm> vgscan
Reading all physical volumes. This may take a while...
Found volume group "vg" using metadata type lvm2
lvm>

Discovering the iscsi targets from another iscsi initiator machine..

We will assume that the iscsi initiator machine name is GUTSY and it has the open-iscsi package installed (this also installs iscsiadm utility along with it). We will also assume that the IP of HARDY (iscsi target) is 192.168.0.7.

You can leave the majority default values in /etc/iscsi.conf. Make sure you disable the CHAP authentication parameter values since we have not configured them in the scsi target.

Discover the new iscsi targets in HARDY:

GUTSY# iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p 192.168.0.7
192.168.0.7:3260,1 iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm
192.168.0.7:3260,1 iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr
192.168.0.7:3260,1 iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote

Verify the newly discovered target machine:

GUTSY# sudo iscsiadm -m discovery
192.168.0.6:3260 via sendtargets
192.168.0.7:3260 via sendtargets  --> the new iscsi target got added to the local database

Check the combination of discovered iscsi-target and logical volumes (the new ones are in BLUE color):

GUTSY# sudo iscsiadm -m node
192.168.0.6:3260,1 iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:openfiler.ocr
192.168.0.6:3260,1 iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:openfiler.vote
192.168.0.6:3260,1 iqn.2006-01.com.openfiler:openfiler.asm
192.168.0.7:3260,1 iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm
192.168.0.7:3260,1 iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr
192.168.0.7:3260,1 iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote

But, at this point, we have no active sessions connected to these targets:

GUTSY# iscsiadm -m session
iscsiadm: No active sessions.

Establish connection to the scsi targets from the initiator:

GUTSY# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm -p 192.168.0.7 -l
Login session [iface: default, target: iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm, portal: 192.168.0.7,3260]
GUTSY# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote -p 192.168.0.7 -l
Login session [iface: default, target: iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote, portal: 192.168.0.7,3260]
GUTSY# iscsiadm -m node -T iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr -p 192.168.0.7 -l
Login session [iface: default, target: iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr, portal: 192.168.0.7,3260]

Verify the newly formed connections:

GUTSY# iscsiadm -m session
tcp: [1] 192.168.0.7:3260,1 iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm
tcp: [2] 192.168.0.7:3260,1 iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote
tcp: [3] 192.168.0.7:3260,1 iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr

Now that the TCP scsi connections have been formed, let us check if the scsi devices are visible from fdisk -l:

GUTSY# fdisk -l

..
Disk /dev/sdb: 37.5 GB, 37580963840 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 35840 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdb doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sdc: 1073 MB, 1073741824 bytes
34 heads, 61 sectors/track, 1011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2074 * 512 = 1061888 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdc doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/sdd: 1073 MB, 1073741824 bytes
34 heads, 61 sectors/track, 1011 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2074 * 512 = 1061888 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Disk /dev/sdd doesn't contain a valid partition table
GUTSY#

The newly discovered devices can also be checked under the contents of /dev/disk/*:

GUTSY# ls -l /dev/disk/*
/dev/disk/by-id:
total 0
..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 2008-05-02 23:05 scsi-149455400000000000000000001000000795600000e000000 -> ../../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 2008-05-02 23:05 scsi-1494554000000000000000000020000004f5600000e000000 -> ../../sdd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 2008-05-02 23:05 scsi-149455400000000000000000003000000a45600000e000000 -> ../../sdb
..

/dev/disk/by-path:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 2008-05-02 23:05 ip-192.168.0.7:3260-iscsi-iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm-lun-0 -> ../../sdb
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 2008-05-02 23:05 ip-192.168.0.7:3260-iscsi-iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr-lun-0 -> ../../sdd
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  9 2008-05-02 23:05 ip-192.168.0.7:3260-iscsi-iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote-lun-0 -> ../../sdc
..

Relevant messages in the system log of scsi initiator (GUTSY)

# dmesg
...
[ 1156.290868] scsi2 : iSCSI Initiator over TCP/IP
[ 1156.607026] scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access     IET      VIRTUAL-DISK     0    PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[ 1156.607026] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] 73400320 512-byte hardware sectors (37581 MB)
[ 1156.607026] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 1156.607026] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 77 00 00 08
[ 1156.607026] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 1156.607111] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] 73400320 512-byte hardware sectors (37581 MB)
[ 1156.608275] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[ 1156.608293] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 77 00 00 08
[ 1156.610635] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 1156.610665]  sdb: unknown partition table
[ 1156.619320] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
[ 1156.619398] sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[ 1163.865083] scsi3 : iSCSI Initiator over TCP/IP
[ 1164.132972] scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access     IET      VIRTUAL-DISK     0    PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[ 1164.135287] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] 2097152 512-byte hardware sectors (1074 MB)
[ 1164.136424] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[ 1164.136438] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 77 00 00 08
[ 1164.138002] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 1164.140341] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] 2097152 512-byte hardware sectors (1074 MB)
[ 1164.141443] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[ 1164.141460] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 77 00 00 08
[ 1164.144746] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 1164.144809]  sdc: unknown partition table
[ 1164.154241] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
[ 1164.154290] sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[ 1170.533158] scsi4 : iSCSI Initiator over TCP/IP
[ 1170.798343] scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access     IET      VIRTUAL-DISK     0    PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
[ 1170.798343] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] 2097152 512-byte hardware sectors (1074 MB)
[ 1170.801229] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
[ 1170.801263] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 77 00 00 08
[ 1170.806093] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 1170.809875] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] 2097152 512-byte hardware sectors (1074 MB)
[ 1170.812347] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
[ 1170.812380] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 77 00 00 08
[ 1170.816757] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 1170.816757]  sdd: unknown partition table
[ 1170.828375] sd 4:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk
[ 1170.828446] sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0

Cross checking incoming sessions at scsi target (HARDY)..

In the meanwhile, in HARDY, the incoming sessions can be checked by:

HARDY# more /proc/net/iet/*
::::::::::::::
/proc/net/iet/session
::::::::::::::
tid:3 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm
sid:281474997486080 initiator:iqn.1993-08.org.debian:01:950a218cdd1
cid:0 ip:192.168.0.6 state:active hd:none dd:none
tid:2 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr
sid:844424984461824 initiator:iqn.1993-08.org.debian:01:950a218cdd1
cid:0 ip:192.168.0.6 state:active hd:none dd:none
tid:1 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote
sid:562949990973952 initiator:iqn.1993-08.org.debian:01:950a218cdd1
cid:0 ip:192.168.0.6 state:active hd:none dd:none
::::::::::::::
/proc/net/iet/volume
::::::::::::::
tid:3 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.asm
lun:0 state:0 iotype:fileio iomode:wt path:/dev/vg/asm
tid:2 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.ocr
lun:0 state:0 iotype:fileio iomode:wt path:/dev/vg/ocr
tid:1 name:iqn.2001-04.com.ubuntu:scsi.disk.vg.vote
lun:0 state:0 iotype:fileio iomode:wt path:/dev/vg/vote
root@gverma-laptop:/home/gverma#

Conclusion..

Congratulations! You have been successful in creating a poor man's scsi target and discovered them using open source softwares in an easy manner. Now GUTSY can read/write to /dev/vg/asm etc logical volumes. For more machines to do the same thing, similar setup is needed on them and they should also be access these volumes in a clustered fashion. This kind of setup is most beneficial for creating your own Oracle 10g RAC sandbox environment or for doing installs over shared disk.

In this case, we did not format the discovered logical volumes in ext3 or OCFS2 file system, because it is assumed that these volumes will be used as raw devices only.

After using Hardy Heron, which weighed down my computer, I starting digging around in the CD box for some Linux to use.  I completely forgot about Kliket until I pulled out the DVD.  Now that I'm back, I get all the unique features:

1.  "Start" folder - has just about everything... ATI drivers, DVD support, etc.

2.  My Broadcom 4318 wireless works by default.

3.  Previews of the windows can be seen in the task bar.

3.  Software warehouse that is not CNR!

There's also all sorts of stuff in Kliket that I completely forgot about... It's nice to be back!

Anyway, my previous Xubuntu installation broke somehow and so can't update to 8.04. Now my only option is to go back to the only working installation disks I have, from version 6.10 Feisty Fawn. I really should just use Feisty, as it works beautifully and never gave me any trouble (and the computer I'll be running it on is a bit slow), but I'd like to fiddle with the Heron. So I'm installing 6.10, and then I'll update it, and then upgrade to 7, and then update that, and then upgrade it to 8.04. I imagine the process will take something along the lines of, oh, 500 years. But what can you do?

Also, apparently you can't buy single CDs from anywhere. You can get a $12 DVD from Amazon with all kinds of unnecessary bells and whistles or a pack of 20 from Canonical. Of course, I could also get the free CD, but that would take 6-10 weeks! I'd happily pay for a regular, old-fashioned alternate-install CD. That option is missing, and I imagine someone could make some money doing it.

Fair enough, so I changed permissions on this folder to be writable by all. Still no luck.

After about a month of being bloody pissed off with this arrangement, but unable to fix it, I happened across a tip that suggests deleting the folder and recreating it. So simple, but it might just work....

And it did! So if you're having the same problem, heres how to go about fixing it.

1. Open a terminal and run the command "cd .config"

2. Now, check the permissions of the files in this folder, run "ls -l", this lists the properties of the files within the current folder. We're interested in the properties of the "autostart" folder.

3. Find the line corresponding to the autostart folder, it will be the top one, or very close to it, now, after the series of letters ( e.g rwrx--r--rw etc.) it should list your username as the owner of the folder. If you see 'root' here, this may be your problem, you can remedy it by running the following command,

"sudo chown username autostart" (Replacing 'username' with your username obviously).

4. Try the sessions manager again, if it doesn't fix your problem, we'll move onto the next step.

5. Once again navigate to the .config folder, this time we're going to delete the folder and recreate it, so run the following command, it will do both operations at once.

"sudo rm autostart;mkdir autostart"

6. This should fix the problem, so give sessions manager a go again.

Let me know if this works for you, it drove me crazy for a while, hopefully you found this post before it does the same to you!

BTW - I've typed this whole post without looking at the keyboard once, my own very blunt way of teaching myself to touch type! Its a pain in the arse, but I'll let you know if it works!

For one, I installed Ubuntu 7.10, the previous version.  Then, without applying any updates, quickly upgraded to Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron.  The entire upgrade took a little over two hours, and I was in my new system:

Oh yeah! (The theme I'm using is the Human-Clearlooks theme... very cool!)

Não farei aqui um review completo de minhas impressões sobre a nova versão vez que grande parte dos sites e blogs já fizeram isso. Um ótimo release você pode ler aqui. Na verdade o Hardy não é uma revolução, principalmente em relação a nova interface gráfica tão esperada, porém o que já fizeram deu uma nova vida ao sistema. Na minha ótica o novo Ubuntu é sim uma evolução.

Muitas funcionalidades foram implementadas, a que mais me chamou a atenção foi a nova configuração do Xorg. Praticamente não se mexe nele em modo texto, pelo menos para a configuração do vídeo. Porém aqui eu tive de mexer. Mas foi tranquilo.

Como no meu caso minha placa de vídeo é da VIA, modelo Chrome 9, desde que troquei meu portátil vinha sofrendo com a confirguração ideal. No Gutsy eu tive que fazer alguns malabarismos e funcionou. No Hardy até que foi fácil, porém o GDM insistia em ficar com uma resolução maior que o normal.

Consegui configurar o problema fazendo um pequeno ajuste no Xorg, dica do Marcelo Minholi. Funcionou 100%.

Mas nem tudo são flores. O ajuste do brilho do LCD usando a combinação FN + F7/F8, literalmente não funciona. Fiquei "P" da vida porque na faculdade preciso ficar com o portátil ligado e nem sempre tem uma tomada disponível. Como lá o wireless é liberado para os alunos do curso de Sistemas, sempre to olhando meus emails, lendo algumas coisas na internet ou fuçando em algo para passar o tempo no intervalo e assim a bateria acaba indo pro espaço, pois a combinação LCD e wireless esfola a bateria rapidinho.

Para esse problema segui este tutorial escrito no tutolivre.net e garanto, é realmente funcional. Vale a pena. Sei que para alguns é chato ficar entrando no Consola terminal, porém para mim não faz diferença nenhuma. Rodo o scripr e pronto, o problema tá resolvido.

Bem, o Hardy realmente me impressionou. Tá rodando maravilhosamente bem. Notei que está mais rápido. Isso pode até ser papo de quem fica deslumbrado com coisas novas, mas acredito que essa impressão não foi só minha. Agora é usar e abusar, afinal, são 3 anos de suporte e atualizações.

I did not bother even attempting to upgrade on Thursday, as I knew that the upgrade servers would be so busy, I would not have a hope of getting the new version downloaded.  I waited until 10am (BST) this morning.  Even then, the upgrade took three hours to download and install, finishing just before I had to head off to work.

I tried and failed to install the latest version of Envy.  However, a little messing around with the system revealled that I did not actually need it.  The nVidia GeForce driver that comes as a standard with 8/04LTS is sufficiently advanced to allow me to run Cedega, and therefore Guild Wars on my desktop.

However, the best thing about  the latest version of Ubuntu has to be Firefox 3 Beta 5, the most advanced version of the Mozilla Project's open source Web Browser.  Firefox 2 made Microsoft's Internet Explorer look sad, Firefox 3 simply blows it out of the water.

In short, BitTorrent allows you to download files from other people, meanwhile sharing the parts you have already downloaded with other people who, just like you, are eager to try out the latest and greatest the open source community has to offer.

To download files using BitTorrent, you need a BitTorrent client. Since Xubuntu 8.04 includes Transmission, that is what we will be using. If you're not using 8.04, make sure to install it.

The first thing we need, is a torrent file, a file with a name ending in .torrent that contains all the information Transmission needs to download the appropriate files. The Xubuntu 8.04 torrent can be downloaded from Ubuntu's torrent website, where you can select the graphical Desktop CD (which is what most people want) or the text-based Alternate Install CD. We want the torrent files for Intel x86 architectures (most computers) or for AMD64 architectures (you'd probably know if you need this, using 64 Bit). A torrent file is not that big, so it should not take too long to download and does not place much of a burden on the servers.

After having downloaded the file to wherever you like, open up Transmission from Applications->Network->Transmission.

When newly installed, Transmission will download all files into the same directory as the torrent file. Instead of adapting to software (by remembering where it downloads files to), I make software adapt to me, so when I open a torrent file with Transmission, I want it to ask me where I want the files to be downloaded to.

Luckily, this is easy: simply open File->Preferences. While the preferences window is filled with cryptic terminology, the option I'm looking for is quickly found: all I need to do, is check the checkbox in front of Always prompt for download directory.

You can configure a whole host of additional options in the prefences window, such as the maximum download and upload speed. Be aware, though, that if you lower the maximum upload speed (i.e. the speed with which you are sharing the files with other people), the download speed will also decrease, so as to encourage everybody to share as much as they can.

When you're done configuring Transmission, click Close in the Prefences window - it's time to start downloading! Click File->Add and locate the torrent file you downloaded earlier. After you've opened the file and selected a target folder, Transmission will start downloading. While it will still be a long wait (the Xubuntu ISO image is a whopping 544 MB), if a lot of people are sharing the love then it'll be faster than a direct download, and you're helping other users at the same time.

Once you're done downloading, you'll want to verify that the file you downloaded is the correct one. After you've done that, the big moment is there: you can install Xubuntu!

Don't close Transmission though! If you leave the window open after your download has completed, Transmission will continue sharing the downloaded file with other users - this is called seeding and is a good habit if you want to be a Nice Guy. You can also resume seeding after you've closed a torrent - simply re-open the torrent file and select the same download location.

All in all, while often associated with illegal downloading, there are plently of legit situations in which BitTorrent saves the day. Now spread the love!

A continuación explicaré brevemente los sencillos pasos a seguir para activar la tableta gráfica wacom.

Primero que nada hay que instalar un paquete de herramientas de wacom necesarias.
$ sudo apt-get install wacom-tools

Una vez instalado el paquete vamos a /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

y bajando al final veremos comentado 3 lineas sobre wacom. Las descomentamos y al reiniciar tendremos una tableta funcionando sin problemas, en este caso sobre un tablet pc.
# Uncomment if you have a wacom tablet
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"