Dave's Tech Blog
A Third Eye on Technology

Last updated Mar 11, 2010: This post was originally intended to be used along side Ubuntu 8.10, which is over a year old now.  While many aspects of it still apply to today, there are a few differences that I have made clear below by crossing out the inaccurate text and following it with a correction where necessary.  It is now intended to be used with Ubuntu 9.10.  Cheers!

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Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) was officially released yesterday.  Boosh!! Often with each new release comes a spike in the number of people who are trying it out for the very first time.  So to help the new users out, I’ve written this guide to introduce you to this popular Linux-based operating system and some of the cool software you can install on it.

Here’s what we’re going to go over:

1. Customize the appearance of Ubuntu (wallpaper, theme, fonts, dockbars, etc.)
2. Run Update Manager.
3. Install Flash, Java, Windows Media Codecs and MS fonts with just 4 clicks!
4. Install Compiz Fusion Advanced Settings Manager with one more click.
5. Install WINE with one more click and use it to run Windows based software.
6. Reveal Archive Manager in the Accessories menu and use it to create zip archives.
7. Install the libdvdcss2 decoder so you can watch DVD’s.
8. Install Skype from a *.deb file.
9. Install Google Earth using Terminal.
10. Install Virtualbox.

1.) Customize Your Ubuntu Desktop
Difficultly: Very Easy

The first thing anybody should want to do with their own computer is make it look the way they want it to look.  Who wants an OS that forces its users to conform to one particular layout over another?  With Ubuntu, you have a lot of flexibility.  You even have the option to use a different desktop environment.  GNOME is the default environment for Ubuntu and it’s what we will see used in the example screenshots in this guide. KDE (which looks very similar to Windows XP/Vista/7) is the default environment for Kubuntu;  xfce is the default for the lightweight Xubuntu.  There are others, such as Fluxbox and IceWM, that are geared towards being minimalistic in resource usage and makes them perfect for older, slower machines.

Below is a screenshot I took of my own desktop shortly after upgrading my computer from 8.04 to 8.10.

You may or may not like the looks of the default desktop.  I’ve always though this default background just looked like a bunch of coffee stains… You can modify the interface in so many different ways the possibilities are endless.  Check out this small gallery of Ubuntu screenshots I put together to see some examples of what you can do to your own Ubuntu desktop.

The best way to explain how to customize your desktop is to show you a video (albeit, from an older version of Ubuntu) that demonstrates how you can modify the following things:

• Changing Wallpapers
• Changing Screensavers
• Panel Properties (Location/Auto-hide/Background)
• Changing/Adding Desktop Themes
• Adding/Moving Launcher Shortcuts to your Panel/Desktop
• Modifying Menu Layouts
• Adding Applets to your Panels
• Modifying your About Me user info
• Customizing your Login screen layouts/themes
• Using Multiple Workspaces

EDIT: Since the original posting of this blog, Alan Pope has removed the video below from Google and I have not yet found a comparable replacement. A very good guide about how to do all of the above can be found here.

There are several little applets that widgets that can be added to your panel, but you can also make changes to the panel itself such as its orientation (Bottom/Top/Left/Right edge of the screen), its background (solid color or transparent), its width and a couple other minor things like auto-hide.  Be careful, it’s easy to accidentally delete a panel.  If that happens, right-click on a remaining panel and click “New Panel” to create a new one. Newly created panels will be completely empty and you will have to right-click on them and select “Add to panel” in order to add things back like a task switcher.

The video makes use of http://art.gnome.org/ during it’s demonstration of changing wallpapers and themes, but another noteworthy site you should check for such things is http://www.gnome-look.org/. My personal favorite website for wallpapers is InterfaceLift Wallpapers.  You should also check this site out for wallpapers, too.

You might have noticed in some screenshots of Ubuntu that some people have added a dockbar (similar to the one used in Mac OS X) to their Ubuntu installation.  Below is a picture of one in action.

Check out this guide I’ve written about adding Cairo-Dock to your Ubuntu install as it is one of the best available for Ubuntu (in my opinion).

2.) Run Update Manager
Difficultly: Very Easy

Typically, a fresh Ubuntu install is actually a tad bit older than the current status of the distribution (this happens with all operating systems, including Windows). So often times after a fresh install, your system might be needed a few updates to be applied. Running Update manager manually after installing can bring your system up to date with the latest security and software patches.  While Update Manager does check for updates automatically, it often doesn’t do it immediately after you login for the first time.  So after a fresh install it is a good idea to force it to check for updates.  To do this:

• Click System>Administration>Update Manager
• Click on the “Check” button to check for updates

If there are updates available, you simply click “Install” to install them.  It will ask you to enter your administrative password when you do this.  This is the password you created for the “first” user during installation. Piece of cake.

*Note: If you’re having hardware issues (e.g., 3D video acceleration not working, wireless adapter not in use, etc.) after installing all available updates, you should check in System>Administration>Hardware Drivers to see if there are any proprietary drivers that need to be enabled.  You simply check the appropriate boxes off for the driver needed, and they will be installed for you.

3.) Install Flash, Java and Extra Video Codecs in just four clicks!
Difficultly: Very Easy

In order to get the best multimedia experience out of our computer, we need to install a few programs and plugins.  Most of you out there are familiar with Flash, Java and multimedia file formats like Divx, Xvid, MP3, ASF, Apple Quicktime, etc. Installing decoders to open these types of files has been made simple by bundling them all together into one package.  And installing it is very easy.  To get started, do the following:

• Click Applications>Add/Remove (now called Ubuntu Software Center).   A new window will appear (see below.)
• Change the “Show:” drop menu in the upper right corner to “All Available Applications” (In Ubuntu Software Center, click View>All Applications)
  
• Search for the word “restricted”

• Once the search returns its results, check off the box next to “Ubuntu Restricted Extras”
• Sit tight. Don’t click the Apply Changes button just yet.  We’re going to check off a few more things

Frequently Asked Question: “What does it mean by restricted extras?”

Answer: The word “restricted” in this context is used to describe these types of multimedia plugins and decoders because most of them are closed-source and proprietary.  Hence, you are restricted from modifying their source code.

4.) Install Compiz Fusion Advanced Settings Manager
Difficultly: Very Easy

Compiz Fusion (the program responsible for the dazzling eye-candy special effects on Ubuntu) is included by default, but its advanced control panel is not. Need of this advanced control panel comes up if you are a power user who wants to use the 3D window management features to the MAX, which means turning your desktop into a rotating cube of multiple workspaces, among other nerdy things. You can also greatly customize your special effect animations and window behaviors using this control panel. So let install it!

• After you’ve checked off Ubuntu Restricted Extras in the above step, do another search for the word “compiz”

• Check off “Advanced Desktop Effects Settings” (shown above)
• Sit tight, and don’t click apply just yet.  There’s more we’re going to search for and check off.

Once the control panel applet is installed, it can be found in System>Preferences>Advanced Desktop Effects Settings.

*Notice: You will want to make sure you have Compiz enabled in System>Preferences>Appearence>Visual Effects before using the above control panel you’ve installed.  Otherwise changes you make with it will not be seen.

5.) Install WINE for running Windows-based software in Ubuntu
Difficultly: Very Easy

WINE is a program that acts as a sort of emulator for Windows programs to run on top of.  Instead of needing to use Windows for running that favorite application or game, you can run the program right in Ubuntu with the help of WINE.  The only catch is that not all Windows program run on WINE yet.  So you should search the WINE applications database to see if a program you’re wanting to use works with WINE.  Below is a screenshot of Half-Life 2 running in Ubuntu, thanks to WINE!

To install WINE:

• In the Add/Remove Applications applet (should still be open from the previous step), search for “wine” and then check off the box next to WINE in the results window.
• Finally, click Apply in the lower right corner to install WINE, as well as the other programs you’ve already checked off in Add/Remove.

Now if you want to run a piece of Windows based software, you simply double-click on the executable (like setup.exe) and it should run just as it would in Windows (provided the WINE Application Database lists that the program you are trying to use and says it works with WINE).  Shortcuts created by software installers are typically added to the Applications>Wine>Programs menu.  You can read more about using WINE here.

NOTE: If double-clicking on an EXE causes the Archive Manager to open instead of WINE, it’s because your default file-association needs to be changed.  To fix this, right-click on an EXE file then click Properties.  A new window will pop up with a few tabs along the top, one of which says “Open With”.  Click this tab, then select WINE from the list and click Close.  From now on, EXE’s will always open with WINE. Also, if you get a message that complains to you about an “execute bit”, it means the EXE file needs to be given permission to run as a program.  To change permissions, right-click on the file, click Properties, then the Permissions tab and check the box off near the bottom that says “Allow to be executed as a program”.

6.) Enable (reveal) your Archive Manager and create zip files
Difficultly: Very Easy

Some of you might be wondering: How can I create a zip file? The answer is with the included Archive Manager. This tool (for some weird reason) isn’t shown in the Applications>Accessories menu by default. But we can reveal it very easily by doing the following:

• Click System>Preferences>Main Menu
• Click on the Accessories menu in the left panel, then check off the Archive Manager (see below). Then click Close.

That it! Now when you open your accessories menu, you’ll be presented with a new shortcut to your Archive Manager. You can use this utility to create zip files. Keep in mind that it can also create other types of archives, such as tar.gz, and a few others (not RAR, at least not without an additional package installed to provide this option to you).  To explore the possibilities, click Applications>Accessories>Archive Manager.  Once open, click New in the upper left corner and take a look at the bottom of the window where you can specify archive file type, password locking and spliting.  After you create a new archive, you simply drag and drop files into the archive manager and it will add them to the new archive.

One other simple way to create an archive is to select all the files you want to put into a zip file (by CTRL-Clicking or SHIFT-Clicking them) or even by clicking on a folder containing the files you want.  Then once they’re selected, right-click on any one of these files or folders and a drop menu will appear.  Just click “Create Archive” and a wizard will appear asking you where you want to save the new file and what format you’d like it to be in.

7.) Install the libdvdcss2 decoder for DVD playback
Difficultly: Medium

Click Applications>Accessories>Terminal.  This will open a new terminal window.  (If you would like to know more about Terminal, check out my Terminal for Beginners guide). Copy the following command and paste it into the Terminal window and press Enter:

sudo wget --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list && sudo apt-get --quiet update && sudo apt-get --yes --quiet --allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get --quiet update

This will add the Medibuntu repositories to your 3rd party software sources (in other words, this tells Update manager to check one additional server when it looks for system updates).  Next we’ll install the libdvdcss2 decoder for playing commercial DVD’s as well as an additional set of video/audio decoders that weren’t included with the “restricted” extras from the steps above.  To do this, paste this command into Terminal:

• sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2 w32codecs
  

..And press the Enter key.  It will ask you to type your password (which will not produce any characters on screen while you’re typing, so don’t expect to see *****’s show up) and say “y” for yes to confirm your command.  Once installed, you should be able to watch a DVD simply by inserting a disc into the computer.

NOTE: You may have heard a rumor that installing the libdvdcss2 decoder is illegal. If you live in the US and someone tells you this, refer them to 17 U.S.C. Sec. 1201(f). The binaries to crack the DVD video stream encryption are not illegal if you have a license to the content.  In other words, if you have purchased your own legal/legit DVD, then that means you have license to watch it.  After all, the content must be decrypted in order to make the content usable.  However, the law is not the same in all countries so you should check your local country laws.

8.) Install Skype
Difficultly: Very Easy

Skype is a very popular Voice Over IP application that allows you to make cheap phone calls from your computer.  They ask you for 10 bucks for your first set of calls and send special offers your way from time to time.  I’ve been paying 30 bucks a year for the last 3 years to make unlimited calls to anywhere in the United States, so that’s a pretty good deal if you ask me.  It also features webcam capabilities and conference calling.

Installing Skype is easy.  All you have to do is download the deb file from Skype.com.  Here is a direct link:

http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-ubuntu

Once the deb file is finished downloading, double-click on it.  An installer window will appear with a “Install Package” button in the upper right corner of the window.  Click that button, and when it’s finished, you’ll find Skype in Applications>Internet.

9.) Install Google Earth
Difficultly: Medium

First thing you have to do is download Google Earth. To do that, visit this link: http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

After you agree to the license, you’ll be taken to a new page where an automatic download will begin and ask you what you want to do with a file called GoogleEarthLinux.bin. Simply save this file to your Desktop for now.

Next we’ll need to open up a terminal window. To open Terminal:

• Click Applications>Accessories>Terminal

When you first open terminal you’ll be given a prompt where you can enter commands. You also will be sitting in your Home Folder. If you type in the letters “ls” (That’s ls, short for the word “list”, in lowercase), you’ll be shown the files and folders in your home folder. Notice that one of them is called “Desktop”. We need to change our directory so we can run our GoogleEarthLinux.bin file. To do this:

• Type “cd Desktop” (no quotes) and hit enter.

In the world of Linux, everything is case-sensitive, so be sure to Capitalize the word “Desktop” in the above command. This command will bring you to your Desktop folder. If you type “ls” again and hit enter, you’ll see the files which reside on your desktop right now. Listed somewhere should be the bin file you just downloaded.

Now for the magic!

• In terminal, type: “sh GoogleEarthLinux.bin” (no quotes) and hit enter.

After you press enter, the following window will appear, and begin to install Google Earth for you:

Shortly after the above screen appears, you’ll get another one that says the program successfully installed. You’ll then be given the option to run Google Earth right away. If you don’t want to, you can just click Quit, and start it later by going to Applications>Internet>Google Earth.

NOTE: Google Earth runs best on PCs that are equipped with 3D graphics acceleration cards/chipsets.  Some video cards require you to have their proprietary drivers enabled in order for them to be utilized by the system.  You can check to see if you need to enable any such drivers by clicking System>Administration>Hardware Drivers.

10.) Install Virtualbox
Difficultly: Medium

Virtualbox is a popular application used on many different operating systems that allows you to create Virtual Machines, upon which you can install any number of operating system.  So, for instance, you could be running Windows XP inside of a window on top of Ubuntu.  This is good for users who are trying to migrate from Windows to Ubuntu but are not quite ready to take the big leap or are being held back by one or two applications that won’t run in Ubuntu.

So here’s what you need to do:

1. Download the Virtualbox deb file for your particular processor architecture (i386 or AMD64) from here.
2. Double-click on the the deb file you downloaded to start the installer.  Click “Install Package” to install Virtualbox.
3. Once that is finished, you will need to add yourself to the vboxusers group.  To do this quickly, open up a Terminal window (Applications>Accessories>Terminal).  Once Terminal is open, paste in the exact text and press the enter key:  sudo adduser $USER vboxusers
4. Reboot the PC.

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Well, that wraps up this list of things to do. There are plenty of other very cool applications out there worth installing, such as Audacity, Avidemux, VLC, Amarok, DeVeDe and many more. Most of these programs can be installed using the Add/Remove applet Applications>Ubuntu Software Center which we used to install our Ubuntu Restricted Extras package. Simply searching for the program name will produce a result that you can check off install with a couple clicks, and that sure beats the hell out of looking through a filing cabnet for a software CD or a serial number.

Another cool thing you can do is add scripts to your Nautilus file browser that will give you new abilities when you right-click on something.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your new Ubuntu Linux operating system!

Yesterday I decided to upgrade my installation of Ubuntu 8.04.1 to 8.10 Release Candidate.  The upgrade went over pretty smoothly, save for a few minor bugs that were easy to fix (bugs are to be expected when you’re using “beta” software).  But the biggest issue I had after upgrading was with trying to run Virtualbox.  The first error message I got when I attempted to start up my XP machine in Virtualbox was this:

The VirtualBox kernel driver is not accessible to the current user. Make sure that the user has write permissions for /dev/vboxdrv by adding them to the vboxusers groups. You willneed to logout for the change to take effect..
VBox status code: -1909 (VERR_VM_DRIVER_NOT_ACCESSIBLE).

This threw me off because, for one, I am already a member of the vboxusers group. And attempting to recompile the kernel headers using the sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup terminal command also did not work.  So I had to do a little digging around and finally found the solution, and it is EASY!

The Magic Trick

Let’s keep this short and sweet, okay?  We have four things to do:

• Copy and Paste an entry to our Software Sources list
  
• Copy and Paste a command into a terminal window
• Copy and Paste a line into our fstab file
  
• Run Update Manager

Click on System>Administration>Software Sources.  You will be asked to enter you administrator password.  Once open, click on the “Third-Party Software” tab.  You will likely see something that looks like this:

You can just ignore all of those entries that are unchecked.  What we want to do is add one to this list.  Click the Add+ button at the bottom left and then paste in the following text in the box that appears:

• deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian hardy non-free

I know some of you out there are thinking, “Hardy?  I thought we’re running Intrepid Ibex now…”  Don’t worry, it will work.  Now that you’ve added the above text, click the Add Source button. It will add a new entry to the window.  You can click the close button now.  The following message will then appear:

Click Reload.

Now, open a Terminal window by clicking Applications>Accessories>Terminal.

In here, copy and paste in the following text by using the Edit>Paste menu option in the Terminal window.

• wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Be sure to include all the text above (from the wget to the minus-sign at the end) when copying.  Paste the text into Terminal and press enter (if necessary).  It may also ask you for your administrator password again.

We’re already half way finished.  Now we need to add a line of text to our fstab file.  We are doing this to reestablish Virtualbox’s access to your USB ports.  To edit the file, paste this into the terminal window you should still have open (open another one if you closed the first one).

• sudo gedit /etc/fstab

This will open a text editor.  Paste in the following text at the very bottom of the file:

• none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=46,devmode=666 0 0

You don’t need to make any other changes to the file, though if you see another line at the bottom of the fstab that looks very similar to the one you just pasted it, comment it out by inserting a couple of pound-symbols ## in front of that line, like this:

• ##none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=125,devmode=664 0 0

I suggest commenting out, as opposed to deleting it completely, so that if there is a problem after, you can just reverse the edit you made by removing the pound signs later.  You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to though.  I did it just to be tidy.  For this edit to take effect, you will need to restart the computer after saving the file.

Finally, once you are booted up and running again, run System>Administration>Update Manager.  Check for updates, apply all that are available, and you should be good to go!

If this fails, try downloading the latest copy of Virtualbox from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads and reinstall it (although I did not have to do this as Update Manager took care of all downloading and upgrading automatically after following the above steps).

A new feature has been implimented in 8.10 that will automatically update the kernel headers whenever there are future Linux Kernel updates, so you should’t have to worry about recompiling them in the future.  However, it is possible that come Ubuntu 9.04, you may have to repeat the above steps (or something close to them) in order to fix Virtualbox again.  The alternative to this is to not upgrade Ubuntu to the latest distrobution, which is perfectly fine because 8.04 has Long Term Support (LTS) and will continue to recieve normal updates until April, 2011.

Every six months Ubuntu Linux users get to enjoy the offering of a major upgrade for their favorite operating system.  This time around we are about to go from version 8.04 (Hardy Heron) to 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex).  These upgrades often slam the hell out of the distro servers which often results in partially failed upgrades, very slow downloads (we’re talking dial-up-modem slow) and otherwise a lot of time wasted on the part of the user who has sworn to never touch any key until the upgrade is finished (lest he accidentally interrupt upgrade).  So, what is there to do about this inconvenience?

Of course, the simplest way to avoid this traffic jam is to do just that:  avoid it.  Put the upgrade off for a week until the servers aren’t under so much pressure and then use the built-in Upgrade Manager.  This is the perfect solution for the laziest of users who stopped reading this before the end of the previous sentence.  But for antsy users out there (especially us Americans who are addicted to having immediate satisfaction with everything) there is another way to go and it’s the BEST way to upgrade from here on out if you want to do it right now and avoid the traffic.  This is an esspecially useful tactic for people who have multiple computers running Ubuntu who don’t want to wait for each one to download updates, because you can now just go to each one with an upgrade CD and save yourself a lot of time.

What you’ll need:

• A blank CD
• To make sure all current updates for 8.04 have been applied (use the Update Manager to install them)
• An opportunity to walk away from your computer for a couple of hours

Once the upgrade is underway, you will want to leave it running alone and treat the PC like a Crock Pot of stew that will take a couple hours to cook, checking it on occasion but waiting till finished before sipping the flavor.

Here’s What We’re Going To Do

Very, very briefly, here’s the plan:

1. Download (from here) the Ubuntu 8.10 Alternate ISO torrent file and open it up with Transmission Bittorrent Client (included with Ubuntu 8.04 by default).
2. Use Brasero Disc Burning to burn the downloaded ISO to a blank CD.
3. Insert the CD and click “Run Upgrade” when prompted.

Piece of cake.

Downloading Ubuntu 8.10 ALT via BitTorrent

First, visit this web address:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.10/

From this page, scroll down until you start to see a listing of file names like this:

Note: The above screenshot shows Release Candidate copies of Ubuntu.  The official release will not contain the letters “rc” in the file name.

There are many files listed here, but the ones you need to look for are those ending in .iso.torrent.  Choose between the i386 and the amd64 versions of Ubuntu and download the appropriate torrent, selecting “Run with Transmission” when you are asked what you’d like to do with the file once it’s finished downloading. You can see the i386 Release Candidate version of 8.10 that I clicked on above in purple; odds are you will likely want the same file.  Don’t download the “desktop” iso files (not shown, but further down the list); otherwise known as the Live CD version of Ubuntu.  These ISOs do not provide the ability to upgrade, so be sure you select one of the two alternate iso.torrent’s.

When transmission loads the torrent file, it will ask you where you want to save the iso file it is about to download for you.  I would select the desktop just to keep things simple and hit OK, then Transmission will begin downloading the iso file from the swarm of other bittorrent users.

A Word About BitTorrent…

For those of you who are not familiar with BitTorrent, here a little summery of how it works:  Instead of having everybody try to download the same thing from a central server, individual users share the overhead by uploading to each other what they’ve already downloaded from others before them and vice versa (everyone is a server AND a client).  As you can see from the screenshot above, this can result in very fast download speeds because you are downloading from multiple locations simultaneously.  This animation helps illustrate how data is shared between multiple users while keeping the work decentralized.

For the purposes of this guide, it’s not very necessary go further into the technical details, but it should be said that BitTorrent performs best either with a direct Internet connection (i.e., no router between your PC and your modem) or with port-forwarding configured on your router if you have one.

Burning Your Alternate ISO File To CD

Once Transmission is finished downloading the ISO go ahead and close transmission.  You’ll now want to burn the ISO file you downloaded onto a blank CD.  Right-click on the downloaded ISO file and select Open With>Brasero Disc Burning.  A small dialog box will come up asking you for other options, but you can just click on the Burn button to get the ball rolling.  Once the CD is burnt, you’re ready to do the upgrade.

Performing The Upgrade With Your Burnt CD

Insert your freshly burnt Ubuntu Alternate CD into your PC while logged into your current Ubuntu installation.  Within a few seconds, you should see a popup that looks like this:

Click “Run Upgrade”.  You’ll then be presented another popup that asks you if you want to use the Internet to check for updates along-side the CD you just inserted.  It’s up to you, but I would select “Yes” to this question.  This way you can be sure your system will be as up-to-date as possible without the need to download everything.  Selecting “No” will still work, and work even faster, but you will still have additional (non-essential) updates that will need to be downloaded in the future.

At some point it will ask you if you want to remove obsolete packages, which you can answer “yes” to.  The computer will generate a summery of everything that is about to take place (what packages will be upgraded, how much data needs to be downloaded, etc.) then you can Start the Upgrade.

And that’s pretty much it.  So enjoy your new upgrade!

I was browsing over Ubuntu Forums yesterday and came across a cool thread filled with uploaded screenshots users have taken of their desktops.  You’ll find this thread here, but please note that you need to login if you wish to see all the uploads in the thread.  Below is a small selection of some of my favorites.

Wikipedia, hailed as the shining zenith of collective human knowledge (and critizised as a “knock off” educational institution by those who fear their job will one day be replaced by it) has decided to switch over to Ubuntu for it’s server infrastructure.  You can read a lot more about it in this article.  The switch will help expose Ubuntu Server’s capabilities to the world, supporting demand as high as 50,000 clicks a second at peek traffic.  This system wide migration (the servers previously ran on Red Hat Linux and Fedora Linux) to Ubuntu will help make the task of administration of the complex website more simple.

Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) Beta was just released and it is a routine event that precedes the fast approaching final release of the next major upgrade to Ubuntu Linux.  A lot of hype and speculation has been generated over the last 6 months about what new features and changes would be included with Ibex.  One change that users have been hoping to see since before the release of 8.04 was a new appearance theme that would look a little glossier and polished.  There are a couple reasons this hasn’t really happened yet and won’t happen for at least another 6 months.  For one, it has met resistance from users who don’t think extra resources should be allocated to eye candy at the expense of system performance.  Compiz is an exception to this, mostly because it can easily be shut off and even when it’s running it barely uses the CPU.  The other reason a visual, thematic overhaul of the interface hasn’t occurred yet is because, simply put, there are more important things to worry about right now.

So you shouldn’t look forward to a major visual upgrade to your Ubuntu system, although such an improvement is not entirely out of the cards.  After all, there will be newer appearance themes included with Ubuntu for you to select from, and that might be all the freshness you feel is necessary with your current installation.  And of course, there will be many other significant improvements made to Ubuntu.

Here are some of the new features you can expect to find in Ubuntu 8.10 -

Encrypted Private Directory

A new folder will be available in your Home Folder that will encrypt any data you place into it.  This is a great security feature for people who have a lot of stuff on their PC that has to remain absolutely confidential, even in the unfortunate event of theft.  Because all of the data is encrypted and locked with your account password, it can only be accessed by you (or, more correctly, by anyone who knows your password).  Pretty nifty feature, if you ask me.

A New Guest Account

One of the features that most Windows users are familiar with is the ability to turn on a Guest account.  This allows people who do not have their own account on the PC to use the computer with the most limited permissions.  They do not have any administrative privileges, nor do they have an account password.  This allows you the ability to let strangers, or otherwise annoying computer illiterate relatives with an affinity for breaking things to use the computer with no worries about them accidentally fouling up the system.  It’s a convenient idiot-proof account in other words.

Faster Booting and Logging In

Once again, as was achieved with the upgrade from 7.10 to 8.04, the upgrade to 8.10 will incorporate even faster booting and user login times.

Flash 10 Player

Ubuntu 8.10 will include Flash 10 RC, which includes drastic performance improvements as well as solves many technical issues involving Pulse Audio.  Full screen flash videos play much more smoothly too.

Built-in BBC News Stream Player

Totem Movie Player will have a new plugin added to it that will allow you the ability to stream content from BBC’s website.

A “remember my password” Checkbox for Root/Sudo Dependent Tasks

Now when you open up something like Update Manager or Synaptic, and you are asked to type in your password so as to grant yourself root privileges, you will be presented with a box that says, “Remember my password” that will type your password in for you for all future sudo password prompts for the remainder of your session.

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There are other more technical upgrades being included with Ibex, such as the improved Samba networking services, GNOME 2.24, Xorg 7.4 (which is said to completely eliminate the need for the xorg.conf file; no more manual tweaking necessary), and a lot of other minor things (like an eject button being placed next to removable/ejectable devices).  Oh, and don’t forget Linux Kernel 2.6.27 which is a big leap forward in the hardware compatibility department.  So, not a whole lot on the surface that most users will be able to see and appreciate, but there is a LOT under the hood that is being upgraded which will provide new users with a better first impression of the OS than before.

Ubuntu Linux 8.10 is scheduled to be released October 30th.

There is probably a small number of you out there who have seen a little bit about the Google phone on the web.  You probably won’t see TV commercials for it for a little while, because they want supplies to last for a particular demographic who this phone is being targeted towards:  the geek (specifically, software developers).  I’ve been drooling over this phone and stressing out over the fact that I don’t qualify for the $179 price tag that new T-Mobile users are going to be able to take advantage of.  I, on the other hand, would have to shell out $300 for the phone.  And as much as I would love to have this phone in my hands on October 22nd, I won’t feel down about the fact that it’s not going to happen for me.  And probably won’t happen for another year (which is when my current T-Mobile upgrade contract expires and will allow me to take advantage of a contract discount offer).

So why will I not feel so sad about the fact that I won’t soon be playing with the wicked GPS enabled software, the 3 mega-pixel camera, the open-source Android Linux operating system, the Wi-Fi network capabilities and all that other jazz?  Because something better is right around the corner, and the phone I currently have (a Motorola K1 KRZR) suits my needs quite nicely for now.  I can browse the web with it, send and receive e-mail, look up directions with Google Maps, and a few other neat things.  Though it’s all through a tiny screen using slow typing T9 to enter web addresses that aren’t in any dictionary… you know how much of a pain in the ass that is?  Still, it gets me by and is still classy looking (anything shiny is classy to me).

Speaking of Motorola, I’ve learned that they are currently headhunting for 350 new employees to focus exclusively on developing Android Linux capable phones.  LG and Samsung have made similar announcements of intentions to have Android phones on the market by Q3 of next year, which means we’re going to have a ape shit throwing storm of competition that will result in insane price drops.  Remember when Motorola came out with their first RAZR which debuted at $300, and less than a year later it was considered one of the cheapest pieces of crap for sale on eBay?  I don’t think the G1 will suffer than kind of rapid obsolescence, but it will certainly be outpaced with newer phones that run faster.  Hence, I can’t wait to see what the G2 will have in store (hopefully with an actual USB port and not that proprietary HTC ExtUSB crap).