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Posts tagged Linux/Unix
Eee Mandriva 2009.0 shutdown issue
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
I’m very happy to be running LXDE on the Asus Eee. The window manager suits the type of things I use the Eee for: some web browsing, the occasional OpenOffice document and photo management in the field. The biggest frustration I’ve had has been that my Eee‘s battery was sucked dry in a couple of hours following a shutdown. It’s a known issue the 2009.0 Mandriva release has with shutting down correctly on the Eee.
The fix is rather simple to apply and is effective: through the addition of the line
rmmod snd-hda-intel
at the very top of the file /etc/init.d/halt.
The issue is caused when sound drivers cannot be unloaded correctly at shutdown time. It is likely that the next kernel update will include a more permanent fix and will not require the modification of the halt file.
Mandriva 2009 released
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
A significant release of Mandriva is available from today. Mandriva 2009 is chock-full of great features and software in a package that is traditionally easy to install and supports are variety of hardware devices.
The primary features of interest in release 2009.0 are the latest versions of the popular interface managers KDE and GNOME. GNOME 2.24 provides a Nautilus file manager with tabs and compact list views, the instant messaging client Empathy and built-in configuration support for multiple monitors. For KDE fans, KDE 4.1.2 with an updated version of Plasma is provided. Mandriva 2008 installed without issue on my Eee and recognized all hardware that device contains. Support for the Eee and other netbooks has been enhanced in 2009.0 through the inclusion of the lightweight desktop environment LXDE.
LXDE is optimized for systems with slower processors and minimal system and graphics adapter RAM. Core applications, such as file and task managers are optimized for smaller screen sizes and easier navigation. The Eee will certainly be upgraded to 2009.0 as soon as I can lay my hands on the ISO!
The core operating system runs with the latest Linux kernel (2.7.27). Thankfully, that’s not the one that has a reputation for overwriting Intel NIC firmware (a fix for that is available now). 2009.0 also sports improved and faster booting.
From a software perspective, the latest Compiz Fusion, latest VirtualBox, Firefox 3 and OpenOffice 3 have been included. OpenOffice 3 has not been officially released and is expected next week. The copy in the box is a very late release candidate, so it’ll be a wise move to update as soon as the official release is available. Google Gadgets and a lightweight ebook reader, FBReader have found a place in the delivered software stack, too. FBReader‘s inclusion is more than likely due to the increased support for netbooks.
See the full list of features in Mandriva 2009.0 here, then head over to one of the download links to get your free, personal copy. I will be springing for the Powerpack.
Since the OS has only just been released, the only available means of downloading the ISO is by accessing a torrent. Be patient and watch one of the local mirrors to save on international bandwidth and have a more reliable download – check here over the next few days.
Google G1 Android phone
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
The first Android phone has been launched by T-Mobile for European and American markets. Based on the HTC Dream, the G1 boasts both a touch screen and a slider keyboard. All the usual applications are available to the user including a web browser, media player, mail client and Google‘s suite of software.
From a hardware perspective, the G1 includes a 3MP camera, QWERTY keyboard, 3G and WLAN.
To combat the Apple iPhone app store, one-click access is provided on the device to the Android Market. Developers are encouraged to develop applications. The applications are available for wireless download to the device.
More details regarding the G1 can be found here. It should be available in the target markets at the end of Otcober. With a two year contract, the G1 should cost around about USD 180.
VMware ESX
Virtualization will drive computing into a very interesting future. I’ve been fiddling a fair amount with virtualization, preferring VirtualBox and VMware Server. The problem with those two solutions is the fact that they are not native (or bare-metal) virtualization solutions. In other words, the software that performs the virtualization function is installed on top of a host operating system, then utilizes that operating system to provide services to the guest systems it contains. That leads to poor resource allocation and, most of all, poor performance. The component that performs the virtualization is the Hypervisor, and ideally that component should be installed directly onto a system without the need for an operating system. In effect, the Hypervisor is the operating system, albeit one that performs very specific functions.
Of course, these solutions exist. They are just far too expensive for the hobbyist or small to medium enterprise. But, once again, there is hope. Aiming to gain traction for its high-end ESX virtualization product, VMware recently announced the free version: VMware ESXi. Certain features that make ESX a groundbreaking solution in large computing environments are not provided in the free version, but the most important virtualization functions are there. Best of all, the installed system is only 32MB in size! Has to be Linux 
The ESXi Hypervisor is installed in place of an operating system and hosts guest operating systems as required. I’ve downloaded the software but haven’t had the opportunity to try it out yet. It should run on a non-certified system, provided the components within the system are not too outlandish and support certain standards.
Mandriva 2009.0 beta available
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
The first beta of Mandriva 2009.0 is available. Seemingly, the French have taken note of Fedora‘s odd naming scheme: the beta of 2009.0 has been christened thornicrofti. Whether that name has been chosen to indicate sympathy with the residents of a certain country in Southern Africa run by a guy with the name Bob is one question I would like to ask the project team…
New features include KDE 4.1 just officially released a short time ago. GNOME users will find the latest 2.23.5 release, with the intention that the final 2009.0 release will include GNOME 2.24. The inclusion of Firefox 3 is a no-brainer and the additional interesting feature to be added is native synchronization support for Windows Mobile devices.
More information on this release and links to the ISO can be found here.
KDE 4.1
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
Two days ago, the KDE Community finally released a significant update to the brand new KDE 4. KDE 4.1 is marketed with the slogan Don’t look back, an indication of the problems the 4.0 release brought along with it.
I’m still partial to GNOME, primarily since I consider it cleaner and easier to navigate. KDE reminds me too much of Windows…
Nonetheless, KDE 4.1 solves the most irritating issue users had with KDE 4.0: the integration of many applications into the desktop manager and the correction of many Plasma issues. New in the release is KDE-PIM including the mail client KMail, KOrganizer for scheduling, Akregator (RSS feed reader) and KNode (newsgroup reader). Based on the announcement, the new Plasma shell should now be usable by all users and will replace the older KDE 3 shell.
KDE 4.1 is dedicated to Uwe Thiem. As a long-time contributor and educator to users in Africa about Free Software, his untimely death is a great loss to the FOSS world.
Terminal – not a drag
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
Here’s a cool trick for Mac OS and Linux users: if you spend a lot of time using the Terminal, there may be times when navigating to a certain location in the directory structure or typing a file and path name is just too much hassle. Of course, you have the history of previously typed commands at your disposal, replete with editing functions. Simply use the arrow keys to recall previously entered commands. And yes, you can auto complete a path or filename by typing what you know and pressing the Tab key. Even command-line averse species like Windows users have access to that.
In Linux and Mac OS X, there is one additional handy trick, though. If you want to complete a command in the Terminal and have the file location open in the file manager of your choice, but don’t want to type out an entire filename,
simply drag and drop the relevant file onto the Terminal screen.
It’s useful if you often work side-by-side with the Terminal and the GUI file manager, and can be quite a timesaver.
Boxing – virtually
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
Of all virtualization packages for the desktop I like the erstwhile Innotek VirtualBox solution the best. German-developed, it boasts a tiny footprint and runs efficiently. Now, it is owned by Sun who have graciously maintained its open-source status. VMware has the advantage of being able to claim greater distribution and a huge library of downloadable virtual machines. In the end, the need decides the product, I guess. In any case, I constantly seem to battle with something when it comes to the installation of VirtualBox on Linux. Frankly, if I don’t write the solution down, I tend to forget it and start the solution search cycle again the next time I want to install the product. I haven’t bothered with the installation of VirtualBox on my Mandriva 2008.1 release yet and decided to get it going.
The downloaded rpm is roughly 21MB in size – get it here. A double-click and it’s installed. Up to the point where the virtual machine (in this case, for Windows XP) is being defined, everything works. Then, the first error:
It fails to find the appropriate driver, for some or other reason. Running the command vboxdrv setup as root from the /etc/init.d directory has little effect, other than showing another error. Basically, the required service for VirtualBox cannot be started and hence the hypervisor won’t run. The issue with my system was relatively easy to diagnose.
OpenSUSE 11 released
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
This week has seen the release of a new Firefox version and today, openSUSE 11 is available for download. openSUSE is a good distribution, building on the well-known and widely-used SUSE stack.
Release 11 includes all the modcons a new distribution in 2008 should contain, among them KDE 4 and Gnome 2.22. openSUSE 11 promises faster installation times and enhanced support for media playback. PulseAudio is included and should make multimedia easier and less of a hassle.
The software is available as a download for a host of target platforms and, if you’re testing the waters, you may be interested in the LiveCD version. The disk management tools are of interest to me: I intend running Vault on openSUSE. More on that some other time.
Get openSUSE 11 here.
fortune
3 years ago
by manfred
in Linux/Unix
I enjoy the little addition to my terminal window in Linux: a small message printed out whenever it is opened or whenever I change to a different user account. The program that does this is called fortune.
I’ve added fortune into the bashrc to print a message everytime I log in. Modify the file bashrc in the /etc directory by simply adding the line
fortune
right at the very bottom. Save, and that should be it. You’ll probably want to edit the file as root. Check to see whether all users are able to execute it. The default location is /usr/games. Either add that to the path for everyone or take a chance and copy the fortune executable to the /usr/bin directory like so:
cp /usr/games/fortune /usr/bin/fortune
A coincidence this evening: the daily backup job has chomped up all the available space on my second drive in katana.
I was about to do something about that in a terminal session when fortune popped up this message:
Pause for storage relocation.
Quite appropriate, no
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