Adobe Flash missing some mouseclicks November 3, 2009
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux, UNIX.Tags: Adobe flash, bug, Ubuntu, ubuntu 9.10
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While trying to play a flash game with my daughter, I noticed that flash wasn’t working properly on Ubuntu 9.10 on some sites. The fix is trivial, and can be found here.
As Internet posts tend to disappear or move after a while, I copy the fix just in case:
First you need to edit /usr/lib/nspluginwrapper/i386/linux/npviewer file from terminal
gksudo gedit /usr/lib/nspluginwrapper/i386/linux/npviewer
Add the following line before the last line of text
export GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS=1
Save and exit the file.
Fix for slow virtual desktop switching with Nvidia 96.* and Ubuntu 9.04 August 14, 2009
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux, Hardware, Ubuntu, Uncategorized.add a comment
I have a dual-cpu Sun W2100z workstation I really like. It’s getting rather old, but it’s pretty fast for things like programming and Internet use. Until the release of Ubuntu 9.04, the machne was running fine. After installing the new release it was pretty obvious that the X performance was terrible. Things like glxgears ran fine on this dual screen setup, but things like switching virtual desktops (I use the shortcut ctrl+alt+arrows a lot) took a few seconds when windows were maximized. Sadly, the free driver didn’t work with the 3300 x 1050 resolution I use.
After playing around with the millions switch and config options of the nvidia driver, I found a working setting:
nvidia-settings -a InitialPixmapPlacement=2
To enable this permanently, you can add it to System – Preferences – Startup Applications:
(put “nvidia-settings -a InitialPixmapPlacement=2″ (without “”) in the command field).
JavaFX compiler for Linux very soon? May 11, 2009
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux, Java, Programming, Solaris.Tags: Java, javafx, netbeans, sun
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Good news. It seems that Linux and Solaris are getting the JavaFX development kit. Finally. In the fight against Silverlight and AIR every developer counts. Still some questions remain open:
- Will SUN open JavaFX completely now (don’t make the JDK error twice!)?
- When will -at least- Netbeans get a JavaFX graphical editor in the same level as the Netbeans’ Matisse Swing editor?
- And last but not least, what will Oracle do with JavaFX when it owns SUN?
Anyway, if the apparently well-informed rumour is true, it is indeed good news.
Indymedia.be FOSS tech call March 20, 2009
Posted by claudio in GNU/Linux, Misc, UNIX, Ubuntu.Tags: "tech call", foss, media, volunteers
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I received this very interesting mail from indymedia.be. They are a 100% free and open source based organisation heavily based on drupal and GNU/Linux.
Hello,
Indymedia.be, the belgian chapter of the global Indymedia network, is forming a tech volunteer team to work on their website. The goal is to build an advanced participatory news website, based on Drupal. Features will include: an on line newsroom, sub websites to allow local and thematic groups to operate their own part of the site, automated video transcoding, and much more. If you’re interested in helping out and being part of a group of highly motivated tech people, read on at http://www.indymedia.be/en/node/32264.
thanks,
- bruno
Specially for people on the belgian planet grep, this is a great opportunity to combine foss ideals, technical knowledge and social commitment.
Avahi/Zeroconf and the local domain: fix your router… November 11, 2008
Posted by claudio in GNU/Linux, UNIX, Ubuntu.add a comment
I have a nice new Linksys WRT54GL router. A hackable router, nevertheless with the linksys firmware for now.
I noticed that the local domain for internal machines (provided by avahi) did not work any longer. If you don’t know what this is: you can connect to your local machines by their hostname in the local domain (e.g. brugge.local) instead of the ever changing IP. Poor’s man DNS.
Fixing Linux webbanking on Belgian ING bank November 2, 2008
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux.Tags: ING, Linux, Ubuntu, webbanking
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Most banks use a token generator device in combination with a -Operating System independent- website. However, for cheap Internet banking accounts, ING uses a software “Security module” to save some euros on hardware. Crap.
When I had a look at their homebanking website, I was surprised that there were debs available. Sadly, the debs are rather old and depend on old versions -not installed- of libraries. Nothing that can not be easily fixed.
Upgrade to OpenOffice.org 3 on Ubuntu 8.10 October 31, 2008
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux.Tags: Desktop, office, OO.o, openoffice.org, Ubuntu
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The brand-new Ubuntu has OpenOffice 2.4 in its repositories. In case you prefer to use the more recent OpenOffice.org 3, you can upgrade with these steps.
Home network low-tech trick for a very fast Ubuntu release upgrade October 31, 2008
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux.Tags: tips & trick, Ubuntu, upgrade
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If you have many computers at the office or at home, it a good idea to set up a local mirror. apt-mirror doest the trick.
However, if you only have a few computers at home (we have 3 for 2 persons, and one of those is used as a music player), setting a local mirror is a little overkill. However, not downloading everything 3x should save us a lot of time (hours) and bandwidth (gigs).
Bug: Ubuntu 8.10 and older nvidia video cards October 31, 2008
Posted by claudio in Desktop, GNU/Linux, Hardware.Tags: bug, nvidia, ubuntu bug, workaround
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EDIT: Workaround not longer needed as the drives has been fixed on the Ubuntu repositories.
Yeah. New Ubuntu release. Traditionally, this means upgrading without reading the release notes.
<Curse>. This is what it says (I read today):
nVidia “legacy” video support
The 71 and 96 series of proprietary nVidia drivers, as provided by the nvidia-glx-legacy and nvidia-glx packages in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, are not compatible with the X.Org included in Ubuntu 8.10. Users with the nVidia TNT, TNT2, TNT Ultra, GeForce, GeForce2, GeForce3, and GeForce4 chipsets are affected and will be transitioned on upgrade to the free nv driver instead. This driver does not support 3D acceleration.
Users of other nVidia chipsets that are supported by the 173 or 177 driver series will be transitioned to the nvidia-glx-173 or nvidia-glx-177 package instead. However, unlike drivers 96 and 71, drivers 173 and 177 are only compatible with CPUs that support SSE (e.g. Intel Pentium III, AMD Athlon XP or higher). Systems with older CPUs will also be transitioned to the nv driver on upgrade.
The “nv” driver does not support my dual-monitor 2 x 1680×1050 resolution. After looking for some workarounds (compiling kernels) and at the point of a downgrade to 8.04, I found an easy solution.
Desktop Virtualisation Today September 23, 2008
Posted by vruz in Desktop, GNU/Linux, Ubuntu, Virtualisation.Tags: Ubuntu, Linux, VirtualBox, Virtualization, Virtualisation, xvm, hardy heron, photoshop
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VMware is in serious trouble. (have a look at the screenshot)
It’s the latest release of Sun xVM VirtualBox 2.0.2 running on my Ubuntu Hardy Desktop edition, with Windows XP (that came with this laptop) as a guest, and Adobe Photoshop, the only remaining Windows application I still use. (if you discount the browsers I use for web development testing on different platforms, with Chrome being the latest addition)
It’s isolated from viruses and malware of any kind, I can backup the virtual machine as easy as copying files, and it’s free software under the GPL. (more…)
