Java 6 update 10 on Ubuntu 8.10 && Firefox November 5, 2008
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.Tags: 6u10, Java, Ubuntu
7 comments
EDIT: Then new Ubuntu release (9.04) fixes this problem, and installing the plugin can be done by typing this in a console: sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts
When I wanted to test some new features of the latest java 6 re update, I noticed that firefox wasn’t showing any applets at all. Reviving applets from the death is probably voodoo business, but anyway, there is an easy solution:
Install the sun jre (openjdk6 is installed by default):
$ sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin
Enable the firefox plugin:
$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.10/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/
That’s it.
You can test your java-firefox installation here.
Fixing Linux webbanking on Belgian ING bank November 2, 2008
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.Tags: ING, Linux, Ubuntu, webbanking
1 comment so far
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 Uncategorized.Tags: Desktop, office, OO.o, openoffice.org, Ubuntu
5 comments
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 Uncategorized.Tags: tips & trick, Ubuntu, upgrade
add a comment
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).
Desktop Virtualisation Today September 23, 2008
Posted by vruz in Uncategorized.Tags: GNU/Linux, hardy heron, photoshop, Ubuntu, VirtualBox, Virtualisation, Virtualization, xvm
9 comments
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…)
Get rid of the annoying Caps Lock July 6, 2008
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.Tags: "Caps Lock", keyboard, Ubuntu
add a comment
EDIT Sept 5 2008: So far still getting used to “the efficient use of space”. At times it’s feels a little awkward, but I haven’t used it much lately. This will change now as I need to do some writing in the home office.
EDIT October 13 2008: Pretty used to the keyboard by now. This baby stays.
These days my desk at home is full of books and articles. That’s why I bought a cheap logitech ultra-flat keyboard. So far, pretty nice once you get used to the efficient use of space. Anyway, I seem to hit the Caps Lock to often, and because I don’t see any use in WRITING LIKE THIS, I disabled it.
Dual monitors on Ubuntu 8.04 bug July 6, 2008
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.Tags: bug, dual monitors, gnome, Ubuntu
6 comments
Nowadays, the GNOME screen resolution setting allows you to configure multiple screens pretty easy. It seems to work just fine. However, it’s a front-end to the X config an as such it has some problems. In my case, it allows me to clone my main monitor (is that useful to anyone?), but not to extend my desktop over both monitors.
The problem is related to the frontend not passing the errors from the underlying system (xrandr), so you don’t get any hints why it does not work. Maybe my home setup is kind of strange as I use two different resolutions (an LCD 1280×1024 connected though vga and the laptop 1024×768 screen as a second monitor), but still it shouldn’t be that uncommon. I enable the dual monitor setup when useful (gimp), but most of the time I find the different resoltion annoying. At work I use two 1680 x 1050 LCDS.
Anyway, the solution to enable a dual monitor is pretty simple. (more…)
VirtualBox: Install Windows XP using pbx boot June 24, 2008
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.Tags: GNU/Linux, Linux, Sun, Ubuntu, VirtualBox, Virtualization, WindowsXP
16 comments
VirtualBox is a great product for a developer (or even a regular user) to run several OSes simultaneously. I run Linux on my laptop, but I need a Windows partition with certain software and updates to connect to the work network. A virtual machine is a fine solution. Specially when running in seamless mode (only the program is open in your Linux desktop and not the complete Windows desktop).
Installing Windows from cd on a VirtualBox instance is really easy. However, I need a *specific* windows installation that can only be installed from a Windows PXE server at work. Sadly, the virtualbox open source edition delivered with Ubuntu 8.10 is unable to do this. This is what I did: (more…)
How to change the default shell editor in Ubuntu June 18, 2008
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.Tags: editor, Shell, Ubuntu, vi, vim
1 comment so far
Using nano as the default shell editor is probably a great choice for a Gnu/Linux distribution (also) aimed for Unix newbies. If you know your way on the command line however, you’ll scream from frustration for every “i”, “:wq!” or “ZZ” you type and you see the characters in the text you are editing. Specially frustrating in cron. If you don’t know what “i”, “:wq!” or “ZZ” do, don’t worry, nano is working fine for you. (more…)
CPAN on Ubuntu fails on bug IO/Uncompress/RawInflate.pm: solution May 30, 2008
Posted by claudio in Uncategorized.Tags: bug, cpan, GNU/Linux, Linux, Perl, Ubuntu
13 comments
apt-gettable perl modules on Ubuntu are great. A nice packager at Debian Gnu/Linux compiled the modules and included all dependencies specially for you 
.
This is extremely handy when you are looking for a solution for a programming problem that you know someone else solved before. You apt-get the modules you need and have a quick try.
While doing exactly this (tryng to install HTML::TextToHTML) , I discover CPAN on Ubuntu was broken:” Can’t call method “value” on an undefined value at /usr/share/perl5/IO/Uncompress/RawInflate.pm line 64.”.
I don’t think it’s a Debian/Ubuntu problem, but rather a upstream bug. Some people have the same problem on Windows. How nice the apt-gettable modules are, there are always cases when you need to build modules not yet in the Ubuntu repositories or you need a newer version (both cases here). A non-working CPAN is not acceptable. This is what I did. (more…)
