David Baldaro – ubuntu

Using WebEX, in Mozilla Firefox on Ubuntu 9.04

We regularly use WebEX within our organisation – and whilst I mostly work under Windows; sometime it would be great to have the other PC on my desk (using Ubuntu 9.04) running the WebEX in the background.

I have always struggled in getting this to work – but now I have a solution.

Firstly you will need to enter:
sudo apt-get install libstdc++5 sun-java6-plugin
followed by added the following two lines into your ~/.profile file:
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.66
export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH
Then restart your server all just your X-Server and you should be able to join the WebEX meeting successfully!

By David Baldaro|July 28th, 2009|General|4 Comments

NetworkManager in Ubuntu sucks!

I recently switched by ubuntu 8.10 server/desktop to using the NetworkManger applet that comes as part of ubuntu. By default it was sat that; but wouldn’t let me change or adjust any of my network settings. I discovered that in order to make it work I needed to modify the /etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf. david@george:~$ sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf Then change the managed=false line to managed=true managed=false However, once I did this every time that I booted the machine it always come up using DHCP, and not using the static IP address that I had originally set. I discovered that I could always manually change the interface using the NetworkManager to use the static IP opposed to dynamic; but that was a manual task and not great for a machine that is supposed to be acting as a server. I also noticed that the NFS Server failed to load at boot as well whilst I was using the NetworkManager. So – today I decided to go back to manual network configuration as it seemed more stable than using the GUI! But that was not as straight forward as I hoped. Firstly, I reverted back the line in /etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf to say false. Secondly I quickly sorted out my /etc/networks/interfaces file so that it was correct. auto lo iface lo inet loopback auto eth0 iface eth0 inet static address 192.168.3.3 […]

By David Baldaro|April 15th, 2009|Blogging|6 Comments

Come on Lexmark support Linux a bit more please!

Why is it in today’s open market that some suppliers seem to ignore major trends in the market? Take Lexmark and their support of Linux…A while ago, I purchased an all-in-one Lexmark x4550 printer; it was cheapish, and more importantly wireless so I could plug it in anywhere. Getting it working wirelessly under Windows wasn’t to bad, although scanning back wirelessly is still a bit hit and miss. However recently I tried to install it under ubuntu … and then things got annoying. No driver, no PPD and no support – there seems to be people screaming all over the Internet that there is no driver and no support from Lexmark. I’m quite happy to install a virtual XP box, and share the printer from that – however I still need a PPD to configure it correctly. I’m not even asking for full support – just the ability to print a sodding page would be nice! A Page in colour would be even better. But no, the best that I have managed to date is to get a blank piece of paper pushed through. “ohhhh” I hear you shout!I have to admit that this was one of those impluse purchases that I should’ve checked more on!Won’t be buying another Lexmark printer any time soon though!

By David Baldaro|December 16th, 2008|General|0 Comments

Parental control across a home network – made easy!

My son is now starting to independently surf the Internet on his own (admitted on a PC in a public place) but knowing the Internet like I do, I still worry. Having turned on Parental Control in Vista – I am consisently regretting it as it now asks to authorise every page and turn – which is madness. So whilst I continue in removing Vista from my Home network – I explored a few ideas about how to make the place safer – and I stumbled across www.OpenDNS.com which is a simple solution to what could be a huge problem.With roughly 5 computers, wireless links, and internet enabled games console securing the lot was a snip – quite simply reconfigure your ADSL router to use OpenDNS’s DNS servers, and then create an account at OpenDNS and turn on the filtering option!Now, as all the devices on my network route traffic and requests through my ADSL router (as they should) my router is now using OpenDNS to resolve and check the domain names against a set of criteria. So now purposely attempting to visit www.playboy.com returns an OpenDNS blocking page any any device. Beautiful and yet simple!Well done OpenDNS!

By David Baldaro|December 15th, 2008|General|0 Comments

Finally: Managed HDMI support in ubuntu 8.10 with MythTV

Well, it took me some time – so I figured that I would write up the details; so that when I rebuild my HTPC or just in case anyone else is having the same issues!Firstly; I have MythTV 0.21 running on a Shuttle XPS SG33G5M with Ubuntu 8.10I have my TV connected by HDMI from the Shuttle – however never been able to get my audio through the HDMI, so always had to run a phono cable from the rear of the Shuttle to separate speakers.My devices were reported as:david@Rosy:~$ aplay -l**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****card 0: Intel Subdevices: 0/1Subdevice #0: subdevice #0… and my outputs shown as … david@Rosy:~$ aplay -Ldefault:CARD=IntelHDA Intel, ALC888 AnalogDefault Audio Devicefront:CARD=Intel,DEV=0HDA Intel, ALC888 AnalogFront speakerssurround40:CARD=Intel,DEV=0HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog4.0 Surround output to Front and Rear speakerssurround41:CARD=Intel,DEV=0HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog4.1 Surround output to Front, Rear and Subwoofer speakerssurround50:CARD=Intel,DEV=0HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog5.0 Surround output to Front, Center and Rear speakerssurround51:CARD=Intel,DEV=0HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog5.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Rear and Subwoofer speakerssurround71:CARD=Intel,DEV=0HDA Intel, ALC888 Analog7.1 Surround output to Front, Center, Side, Rear and Woofer speakersiec958:CARD=Intel,DEV=0HDA Intel, ALC888 DigitalIEC958 (S/PDIF) Digital Audio OutputnullDiscard all samples (playback) or generate zero samples (capture)Firstly my version of ALSA was not the latest …david@Rosy:~$ cat /proc/asound/versionAdvanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.17a.After failing to download and install the latest ALSA drivers from http://www.alsa-project.org/ I stubbled across a fantastic script which did it all for me. This Alsa 1.0.18 Installation Script (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=962695) automatically download, compiles, installs and configures ALSA 1.0.18a for you. God […]

By David Baldaro|December 9th, 2008|MythTV|0 Comments