Setting System Wide Proxy on Ubuntu

Put your export settings in /etc/environment

https_proxy=http://<host>:<port>/

http_proxy=http://<host>:<port>/

64-bit Linux, 32-bit Chrome & Cisco AnyConnect

Obvious when you think about it but 32Bit Chrome will fail to connect to make the initial the SSL/HTTPs connection and so download/prompt for the client.

Switch to Firefox (Other 64Bit browsers are available) and you'll be good.

Cleaning up BackTrack/Ubuntu NIC's

Copying BackTrack virtual box images around and the network wouldn't start.  I'm Recording the commands here as its not something I do everyday and I will have the same issue again .. Same process would work for Ubuntu.

root@bt:~# ifconfig eth0 up
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device

root@bt:~# lspci
Will list all the hardware devices.  Confirm the Ethernet controller is loaded.

root@bt:~# ifconfig -a
Will list all the interfaces known to the system regardless if they are 'UP'.  In my case the card was ETH4.

root@bt:~# ifconfig eth4 up
Worked.

I wanted to clean this up as ETH0-3 are all a result of switching machines and MAC address.

nano /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

remove the redundant config and switch your NIC to ETH0

Chrome 20 - VERY laggy

After an Ubuntu 11.10 update my Chrome became utterly un-usable.  I mean really laggy when typing and scrolling.


Found a forum post that suggested the problem is a recent Flash update.


http://askubuntu.com/questions/161228/chromium-input-fields-lag/161539#161539

1. Install the adobe-flashplugin package

1. In Chrome, go to: chrome://plugins/

1. Disable the /opt/google/chrome/PepperFlash/libpepflashplayer.so instance of Flash Player

1. Restart Chrome

Problem fixed, at least for now.

Change the Grub Boot Order Ubuntu

GRUB can be configured using the /etc/default/grub file. Before you make any changes to it, it may be a good idea to back it up by creating a copy:sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.bak

You can restore the copying the backup over the original:sudo cp /etc/default/grub.bak /etc/default/grub

Open the file using the text editor with root privileges:gksu gedit /etc/default/grub

The line GRUB_DEFAULT=0 means that GRUB will select the first menu item to boot. Change this to GRUB_DEFAULT=saved . This change will make it easier to change the default item later.

Save and close the file. Run this command to apply your changes to GRUB’s configuration:sudo update-grub

The configuration change we made allows the grub-set-default and grub-reboot commands to be used at any time. These allow you to change the default boot item permanently or only for the next boot, respectively.

Run grub-set-default or grub-reboot (with sudo) with the number of the menu item to boot (the first item is 0). This command will change the default to the second item:sudo grub-set-default 1

In the screenshot above, Windows Vista is menu item 5. If you want to select an item from a submenu like Previous Linux Versions, you can specify the position in the main menu, followed by a greater-than sign (>), followed by the position in the submenu. You can also name an entry instead of giving its position. There’s a Forum post about how this works. The Ubuntu Wiki also has more details on configuring GRUB.

I can't click on the flash plugin 'Allow/Deny'

Ubuntu, Chrome & Firefox both had this.  IM app tried to invoke a flash URL to launch a video share service.  The Flash 'allow/deny access to your camera' dialogue box would pop up but nothing was active, no clicky mouse.

Go to :

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager09.html

and it displays the flash global settings for your workstation.  Set the site you want to allow to 'don't prompt' and all is well.

AWN & Compiz = My Ubuntu Desktop

Avant Window Navigator
Compiz

MAC Keyboard with anything other than OSX

My friend @coringrieves recently posted a picture of his desktop. Which is a Windows PC (he is averse to anything other than Windows) and a wired MAC keyboard. After mocking him furiously I then went and did the same myself.

Still persevering with Ubuntu it has an English (UK, Macintosh)keyboard layout which works great.

Not so the VirtualBox Windows 7 VM I run nor the Win64 alternative OS I sometimes boot into (Never did find a decent/working H.232 Linux video client).

Trawling around it seems the options are mostly based on installing Apples bootcamp.  Which is huge, I'd rather have gone and bought a Mac looky likely kb than install that bloat-ware.

Stumbled across another suggestion of using Microsofts keyboard layout tool to create your own, or in this case someone else kindly did it.

http://www.logikdev.com/2010/02/18/apple-uk-keyboard-layout-for-windows/

Installed, VirtualBox VM and vanilla OS all work fine.

Ubuntu/Backtrack eth0/wlan0 Missing

My good deed for the week was to offer my laptop as a replacement for one with a screwed VGA port.

'Yeah just switch the disks' - Linux is clever, it will work it out. #FAIL

Dual boot with Ubuntu 11.10 & BackTrack (Ubuntu).  Both failed to connect to the network and had created eth1 & wlan1 interfaces.

Google took me to http://www.orzeszek.org/blog/2010/07/25/fix-missing-eth0-when-cloning-ubuntu-vmware-virtual-machines/

Its discussing the same problem, but in a virtual environment.  The conclusion is the same in that the MAC address has changed and Ubuntu stores this as a reference in :

/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

Delete the file, reboot, problem fixed.

Windows Killed my MBR

Having recently acquired a SSD and some more geebees I re-installed Ubuntu x64.  The SSD already had a OEM Windows partition and I (foolishly) decided to just resize it 50/50 and put Linux on the back end.  With a mind to come back and build the Windows OS as a dual boot.

Well this morning I went back, built the Windows OS and then fried my GRUB boot loader.  Bye bye Ubuntu, insert sad face.

Recovering it wasn't so bad although as usual there is LOTS of conflicting documents and ways to get yourself out of this mess.  This method worked for me :

• Boot Ubuntu DVD in live mode.
• Jump into a terminal and switch to sudo -i and run parted -l to establish which partition you need to rebuild the MBR for.

~$ parted -l
Model: ATA SAMSUNG SSD PM83 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 128GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Number  Start   End     Size    Type      File system     Flags
 1      1049kB  106MB   105MB   primary   ntfs            boot
 2      106MB   45.1GB  45.0GB  primary   ntfs
 3      45.1GB  128GB   82.9GB  extended
 5      45.1GB  120GB   74.4GB  logical   ext4  <---- Ubuntu Install
 6      120GB   128GB   8453MB  logical   linux-swap(v1)

• mount the partition 

mount /dev/<partition> /destination

eg : mount /dev/sda5 /media/sda5

• run 

grub-install --root-directory=<mount> <disk>

eg : grub-install --root-directory=/media/sda5 /dev/sda 

Assuming you get a success message your good to go.  Reboot and you should have Linux back and in my case Windows 7 also now existed on the GRUB loader.

Caveat : The first time I tried to boot Windows it complained of a missing loaded.  The second time it worked fine .. I never got to the bottom of that.

Moral of this story is install Windows first and Ubuntu second.  Ubuntu is a clever OS and Windows is not.

Empathy new IM notifications / window

Part of my continued insistence on using Linux rather than Windows has meant using Pidgin as my IM client for corporate Sametime and Google chat.


Not being 100% happy with it I switched to Empathy.  Much cleaner interface and generally more happy.


But, new IM conversations appeared on the notifications bar (Gnome3) rather than launching a new window.  Annoying and very easily missed.


Nothing obvious in the preferences.   Clutched at straws by disabling (Preferences | General) 'Display incoming events in the notification area' and bingo. 
 
New tabs/windows open on a new IM - happy (for now)

Ubuntu 10.04 netbook install on Sony Vaio

I have a really old Vaio,  PCG-TR5MP, I think circa 2004.  I use it really as a travelling backup for my photos and earlier in the year upgraded it to a massive 1Gb RAM and installed Windows 7.  Which worked surprising well and actually better than XP !

Having recently acquired a Mac book which I'll now carry around I thought I'd try one of the netbook versions of Linux on the Sony. Just for giggles.

I've always preferred the Ubuntu distro so went with 10.04 ..

First problem was the Vaio BIOS doesn't support USB boot .. So burnt a CD/DVD.

Boot, install starts, pretty graphics, black screen .... nothing.  Google.  Apparently its an issue with the intel chipset - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes

To resolve :

1) At the purple screen with a keyboard and stickfigure, press Enter to get to the menu.

2) Hit Enter to select your language, and then press F6 and then Esc.

3) Add "i915.modeset=1" after "quiet splash".

4) Press Enter to boot the LiveCD.

This then installed, but on the first reboot again stuck on the black screen .. so to fix and boot follow :

1) Hold down Shift while booting to enter the GRUB menu.

2) Press 'e' to edit.

3) Add "i915.modeset=1" after "quiet splash".

4) Ctrl+x to boot.

Ubuntu loaded, logged in .... WTF ... the GUI is slow as anything, unusable. 

I then ran :

echo options i915 modeset=1 | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/i915-kms.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u

Which I think make the i915 changes permanent ..

and

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:glasen/intel-driver 
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Rebooted and the GUI was much better ...

For the hell of it I also did :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:glasen/855gm-fix
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install dkms 855gm-fix-exp-dkms

I think I did most of this out of order but ultimately I have a functioning install now.

This is why Linux will not win .. sorry Linux people.