I read an article over at Ubuntu Blogspot about the Lucid Lynx release and some of the plans

One of the things that caught my eye was the above diagram showing off the Ubuntu One service. While it’s already included in Karmic Koala, this diagram indicates to me that they are going to push it a little further, leaving it in the background for now for users to play with and route out any bugs.

But this is a real step forward, Canonical has found a way to charge for users on Ubuntu, but for a service that will be useful – Microsoft (to my knowledge doesn’t push a similar service) and Apple has Mobile Me but I view that as more of a phone -> computer link. The thing I love about this, is that I’m confident that’ll be a great, affordable service worth the money. Then this money will hopefully go part into the development of Ubuntu. Then to get Ubuntu to start matching some of the big boys in terms of simple things you might take for granted on other platforms, is the music store on rhythmbox.

Another way for Canonical to make a little money through Ubuntu?

All in all – awesome news as monetising Ubuntu in a way that doesn’t force any user to pay for Ubuntu, but rather extras that certain users may want is just a fantastic idea.

Installing LAMP

Simple run this command:

sudo tasksel install lamp-server

It’ll ask for a MySQL password which you can enter and it’ll sort out the rest for you (Check http://localhost/ in your browser to confirm)

Set-Up New Site

sudo cp /etc/apache2/sites-available/default /etc/apache2/sites-available/gauntface

Where you can replace gauntface with any site name you want

sudo gedit /etc/apache2/sites-available/gauntface

This will then open up the config file for your new site, delete what is in it and replace with the following:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

DocumentRoot /home/matt/Sites/GauntFace/Local/
ServerName gauntface.localhost

<Directory /home/matt/Sites/GauntFace/Local/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride None
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>

But replace the file directory and site name with your appropriate file. Now is probably the best time to go add your files, but also right click on it, select properties and make sure the permissions are set so everyone can have read write access to the files.

Set Up Sub Domain

sudo gedit /etc/hosts

Then add in your new server name like:

127.0.0.1    gauntface.localhost

To make these changes take effect, just use the following command

Enable the Site

sudo a2ensite gauntface

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2

I tend to ignore any and all messages from the second command as the site tends to work anyway.

NOTE: To make these changes take effect try the command ‘sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart’

MySQL Adding Databases

Load MySQL using:

mysql -u root -p

Then enter your password in that you entered when you installed your LAMP setup.

Then create a database with:

mysql> CREATE DATABASE dbName;

MySQL Adding Users

mysql> CREATE USER ‘<Username>’@'localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘<Password>’;

mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO ‘<Username>’@'localhost’;

I just installed the new Eclipse for the year ahead and found I couldn’t install the Android Eclipse Plug-In. I did some googling and found out the problem is to do with my mouse clicks not getting to the buttons I was pressing.

So basically I was pressing the button and the UI changed colour to indicate it was pressed but nothing actually happened, however if you use hte <Tab> key to highlight the button and press enter, it registers the button click and works fine. Whether this is a ubuntu bug or eclipse, it’s pretty annoying either way.

Anyway just thought I’d let anyone trying to Add Site to Available Software in Eclipse Galileo and not getting any response from button clicks should try using the keyboard. Just strange how some buttons (i.e. the cancel button) works without problem.

It’s that time of year again when the friendly people of Ubuntu release a new version of their OS and this one is just as awesome as it’s predecessors!!.

The UI has been tweaked again and is getting there, the new icons on the gnome panel are fantastic, I was tempted to even try Evolution Mail, in place of Thunderbird, just to keep the mail icon there. So here’s my installation experience for you all . . . .

Installation

I have ReFit installed on my machine to dual boot Mac OS X and Ubuntu, I formatted and installed over my old Jaunty install, (I chose Ext3, just to be on the safe side) and then at the final stage I clicked on Advanced and changed the boot loader to sda3/ where karmic was actually going to be installed.

Update, Update, Update

Then once installed I had no problem opening it, now all you got to do is open up Synaptic package manager, click refresh, mark all upgrades and click apply. This will update a number of files including the restricted drivers. (p.s. you don’t need to enabled 3rd Party Repo’s they are enabled by default now)

Wireless

Now to get wireless working go to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers and hopefully you’ll see the wireless card come up (If not just restart your machine), enable it and the wireless will work without even needing to restart.

Sound

My sound seems to work without any problems, although I need to test how it reacts with headphones and use of the mute button, which caused problems on Jaunty. However to get your microphone working, right click on the volume control on the gnome panel and select ‘Sound Preferences’. Go to the ‘Input’ tab and for the input volume turn it right up to the top and you should see the input level move as you talk.

Webcam

Next webcam, go here and download the Apple iSight Driver – http://www.mediafire.com/?81xtkqyttjt, then move it to your Desktop. Open a terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal) and type:

cd Desktop/

sudo apt-get install isight-firmware-tools

Then on the dialog that opens inside the terminal select ‘Yes’ you have access to the driver and in the next option, delete what is currently there and type:

/home/<Your Username>/Desktop/AppleUSBVideoSupport

Next we need to do a little tidying up on the Mac keyboard functions and 2 finger scroll + click

Mouse

Mouse Scrolling and clicking – Oh god this is good, ready?

Go to System->Preferences->Mouse

Then under the Touchpad tab click on “Enable mouse clicks with touchpad” which does both single and double finger tap and also select “Two-finger scrolling”. Done.

Keyboard’s Extra Buttons

Type in the following into your terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mactel-support/ppa

sudo apt-get install applesmc-dkms hid-dkms

(Now at the time of writing this command gave an error message -

gpg: requesting key 2B97B7B8 from hkp server keyserver.ubuntu.com
gpg: keyserver timed out
gpg: keyserver receive failed: keyserver error

But this should be fixed soon)

Once fixed we should just need to type the following commands – Taken from (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook5-1/Karmic)

sudo apt-get install applesmc-dkms hid-dkms

Dual Screens

I have tried dual screens with a DVI Monitor and it didn’t like being plugged in while the computer is turned on but unplugging and then re-plugging seemed to fix it and I could set it all up in System->Preferences->Display. I’m fairly confident that it’ll be the same for VGA outputs.

Then this should be all you need to be up and running with the best Ubuntu yet!