Archive for the ‘Ubuntu’ Category

HOWTO: Change VNCs Listen Port # in Ubuntu

VNC is the default remote-desktop protocol for Ubuntu Linux and it can be used by anyone to access their home PC while they are away from home.  Anyone who has used VNC and also has a router are likely familiar with setting up a port-forward rule in their router so that all inbound traffic destined for port number 5900 is sent to the correct/desired PC.  But what if you wanted to be able to do this with multiple PCs on a home network and not have to relay through one PC in order to access another one?

You can do this by setting Ubuntu’s default VNC server (vino) to listen on an alternative port number.  Up until recently, changing this port number was as easy as clicking on an Advanced tab in your Remote Desktop preferences window.  For some reason, this new panel was removed after a more recent update so changing this port number became a bit of a mystery.

I’ve not done any hard digging to find out why this panel was removed, but my guess is they actually rolled the version of vino back to something older to temporarily avoid a known bug encountered with vino on servers that had Compiz enabled.  I’m sure they’ll get it fixed eventually.

In the mean time, this setting is still easy to change if you know where to go.   Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Open your Gnome Configuration Editor.  You can do this quickly by pressing Alt-F2, then typing gconf-editor into the box and pressing Enter.
  2. In the editor, click Desktop>Gnome>Remote Access.

Once you get to this point, you’ll notice several VNC related settings on the right half of the Gnome Configuration Editor window.  There are two we need to alter.  The first is at the top, where it says “Alternative Port” and should state 5900 (which is the default VNC port).  You’ll want to right-click on this and select “Edit Value” to change this number to whatever you want the new listen port number to be.

Second and lastly, you’ll want to check off the box that says “Use Alternative Port” or similar.  Now close Gnome Configuration Editor.

That’s it!  Restart the computer to get the settings to take effect.

You should also do one or more of the following:

  • Use Firestarter to add a rule allowing inbound traffic on the new port number you specified above so that your host firewall doesn’t block it.  (Click Applications>Add/Remove and search for Firestarter to install it if you don’t have it already).
  • Set a new port-forwarding filter up in your router to direct inbound traffic on that new port towards the PC you just modified (duh!)

To connect to a VNC server on an alternative port, you just add a colon and the new port number to the end of the host address.  Lets pretend the new number if 5901 instead of 5900.  You would type the host address like this:

  • 192.168.1.10:5901
  • dyndnshostname.homeip.net:5901
  • ubuntu.local:5901
  • I’ve also used a 1 instead of 5901 and it works.  For 5902 you could probably use just the number 2 by itself, and so on.

And that’s all there is to it!

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Techguy.org Mods Think Bittorent Is Illegal

Every now and then I post questions on www.techguy.org when I’m having difficultly with something computer/networking related.  It was a good place to get your feet wet when aspiring to become a grade A guru and occasionally pull your hair out if you wanted to get into a civil debate with someone about politics.

Recently, I posted the following in their Networking forum:

I have a new Linksys/Cisco router WRT54G2 v.1 with the latest firmware installed. I currently use port forwarding for things like VNC and SSH into my home PC. However, every time I try to set a new rule (for both TCP and UDP) up for bittorrent, the bittorrent clients I try say the port is closed. I’m using an Ubuntu Linux system, and both Transmission and Deluge will say the ports I select are closed, even if I change the port numbers and do another test. So I’m just wondering if anyone has encountered anything like this before and might have an idea of what could be causing this problem.

The thread was alive for a matter of seconds before a moderator locked the thread and replied with the following:

Please read the rules. We will not help with P2P apps.

I was surprised to see this happen, and that’s probably because I use www.ubuntuforums.org more often than any other forum for technical assistance.  Linux people like me approach the controversial topic of bittorrent a little differently…  I decided to send the moderator a private message to let him know what I thought about his decision:

Sorry for violating the rules. However, I would argue that I did not ask a question pertaining to P2P applications at all but a question strictly about networking problems with a Linksys router. I should also remind you that bittorrent is a common protocol used for the transfer of free, non-copyrighted information spanning from GPL licensed open-source software to free music or movies released under the creative-commons license, which is becoming more popular. There is nothing inherently illegal about using bittorrent (the protocol), but it would seem the moderators of techguy.org hold a contrary consensus that I feel they should consider revising in recognition of the legitimate and legal uses of bittorrent.

The above comment and any replies received in any form will be posted publicly on my blog. Thank you for your time.

I got a reply fairly fast.  Here’s what it said:

We cannot and will not assist in the illegal downloading of software through P2P applications, and that includes any impediments offered by networking components to such downloading. Any legal uses of such software are few and will unfortunately need to be included in this prohibition.

The policy has been in place for quite some time now and will not be changed.

Thank you for your concern,
Elvandil

I like his use of the word “prohibition”; like bittorrent is some sort of drug paraphernalia.  I also noticed Mr. Elvandil happens to be Microsoft MVP and a die-hard Windows user who is probably adverse to anything of value that isn’t proprietary.  This is just my own opinion as he is ignoring the fact that millions of people use Linux and a large portion of us download and share our Linux ISO files (for burning to CD) via bittorrent, among many other things 100% legal to share.  It is a world he is unfamiliar with or in denial about.

Fortunately in the world of Linux it’s recognized that bittorrent itself is not illegal at all and I was glad to see a helpful reply in ubuntuforums.org within minutes; a reply that made me realize that sometimes I can be a completely narrow-minded person, too.  ”Did you check your host-firewall?”  Why… NO!    So I opened my firewall manager Firestarter and sure enough saw blocked events taking place on the port I told my bittorrent client and router to use.  All I had to do with allow inbound traffic to take place on that port.  Talk about overlooking the obvious!

Sunday, June 7th, 2009

How To Setup A Fingerprint Sensor In Ubuntu

(Special thanks to this blog post for showing me how to get this working finally).

About 2 months ago or so I read the tutorial in the above link to help get my fingerprint sensor setup in Ubuntu.  The problem was that it left one simple instruction out:  Paste a line of  text AT THE TOP of a config file (and not at the bottom like I did).  The mistake has been corrected and I’m happy to say my finger print sensor is working in Ubuntu 9.04.  Based on the directions from the the link above, here’s how to set it up (these instructions are meant for version 9.04; see the above link for instructions for 8.04 and 8.10):

Step 1: Click Applications>Accessories>Terminal and paste in the following command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install aes2501-wy fprint-demo libfprint0 libpam-fprint

Step 2: Still in Terminal, paste in the following text:

sudo gedit /etc/pam.d/common-auth

This will open a text file called common-auth in Gnome Text Editor.  (Here’s where I screwed up last time).

Step 3: If you want to use both the password and the fingerprint to authenticate (more secure) add at the bottom:

auth required pam_fprint.so

If you want to use either the fingerprint or the password to authenticate (i.e. completely bypass the password through the fingerprint) the following string must be placed at the top of the file:

auth sufficient pam_fprint.so

Once pasted, save and close the file.

Step 4: Press Alt-F2, type “fprint_demo” without the quotes and press enter.

This will launch the fingerprint utility that you can use to enroll the finger you wish to use for future authentications.

That’s basically it.  Special notes:

  • If you happen to screw something up in the config file by mistake and lock yourself out of your PC by accident, you can boot into Recovery Mode from the GRUB boot menu to access a root command prompt and edit the above config file using nano (nano /etc/pam.d/common-auth).
  • Not all login screens are compatible with this feature.
  • To test your finger print in fprint_demo, click on the verify tab at the top and use the verify button to compare an enrolled fingerprint to another finger (or the same finger) and you’ll see the difference.

As of Ubuntu 9.04, I’ve noticed the following quirks:

  • Often you will not see an on-screen prompt asking you to swipe your finger across the sensor if the system is waiting for it.  Examples include the login screen, running Update Manager or Synaptic Package Manager, and otherwise most other programs that required your password to run them.
  • The only actual on-screen requests I’ve seen so far is when you are unlocking a screen-saver, or are running a program with sudo privileges in a terminal window.

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

The Best Place To Buy Ubuntu Case Badges

About two years ago I went looking through Ebay trying to find a cool sticker/case-badge with the Ubuntu logo on it.  I had just purchased a new laptop, had installed Ubuntu on it with Compiz Fusion effects running, and was quite happy and proud about it.  So I wanted to get a sticker to replace the “Built For Microsoft Windows XP” sticker that was on my laptop.  I was fortunate enough to find this little guy, on sale from China, for about $5 dollars after shipping:

That’s the original auction photo, and not only did it arrive looking as good as it did above, but a second sticker with the Linux penguin mascot also came along with it, which I didn’t expect.  So I was quite happy with what I purchased.

That laptop bit the dust about 3 weeks ago and I’ve since replaced it with a new laptop.  Again, I wanted to get a cool case badge like the one above.  But had some trouble finding it.

A lot of people would tell me, “Go to System76.com!  They’ll send you a few badges for free.”  I did that.  Here’s what I got:

It’s thin, cheap looking and with a solid white backing instead of a thicker, shinny alluminum backing.  I’m not really complaining though; it’s nice that System76 will send these to you for free by just asking for some.  But you get what you pay for, and they don’t offer nicer quality stickers either.  So the search continued.

Then I recently discovered another place online.  I think I was using google’s formerly named “Froogle” online shopping search engine, and discovered a site called ZeReason.com.  And to my delight, I found they sell good quality stickers at one hell of a discount (10 badges for $5.00 shipped)!

Well those stickers were ordered about a week ago and they just arrived today.  Here’s what they looked like:

And here’s one on my laptop after I ripped off the XP sticker and replaced it with the new Ubuntu sticker:

So if you’re looking to totally nerd out your Ubuntu laptop or PC, then stop on by www.zareason.com.  I’m quite pleased with the quality of these stickers and you will be too.

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Vote For This Idea On Ubuntu Brainstorm

EDIT:  My idea has been marked as a duplicate of another that was posted back in March of 2008.  So visit this link to go vote for its posted solution.

Every now and then I drop by the Ubuntu Brainstorm website to post an idea that I think would help improve the user experience of Ubuntu Linux. Sometimes these ideas are geared more towards a specific application rather than the operating system and in this case the suggestion I made recently has to do with Firefox.

One of the things that’s bothered me about using Firefox in Linux is the fact that when you click on a link for a file, an Open With dialog box appears, but if you want to open the file with something other than the default application shown, you are forced to browse the Linux root file system. This strikes me as an unfriendly way to have the user select an alternate application. If anything it wreaks of Linux elitism, the kind that acts like nothing is wrong with the way things are currently being done. If this were Windows or Mac OS and you wanted to find a different application to open a file, you wouldn’t expect to have to wade through sub-directories of a file structure most sane users wouldn’t want to be familiar with.

Let me show you what I’m talking about.  This is what appears when you hit Browse (for applications) button in Firefox on a Windows PC:

You’re presented with a simple list of applications to scroll through and pick the one you want.  It works the same way with Internet Explorer, and I would suspect all browsers do this in Mac OS X as well.

Now, here’s what you get in Linux when you click on the “Other…” button (which is equivalent to Browse in this context):

Do I even have to ask you which of the two above examples looks more user-friendly?

Anyway, if you’re a member of Ubuntu Brainstorm, I encourage you to vote for my idea by clicking here. And if you’re not a member, sign up! It’s free and only takes a minute and you could post an idea that will forever change Ubuntu Linux for the better.

Now, I’m not the first person to submit a suggestion about this quirk. In fact someone submitted a bug report about 4 years ago suggesting the exact same thing.  You might ask yourself, “If they submitted a bug report that long ago, why hasn’t it been fixed by now?”  Because in the eyes of developers (who are obviously a strange, bizarre species of emotionally sensitive anti-social hermits), this isn’t a bug.  It’s a “feature request”, and is considered something of a lower priority as a result.

It’s damn frustrating, I know.  Just look at the responses I got when I tried to point out that Amarok was installing missing a certain mp3 decoder package in GNOME systems, and was told that in order to get it to work correctly out of the box, a “feature request” would have to be submitted and approved before the app would install with all the necessary packages.  So for things like this it seems the only thing that gets developers off their pias/lazy asses are statistics (votes, in this case) showing them that people (normal earth-dwelling humans) actually want a feature to be added to an app.  I would suspect they need this kind of persuading because they have a very difficult time understanding what non-technical people expect from their computers.  But seriously, what idiot out there thought it was smarter to force users to browse the root file system instead of present a simple list of installed applications to pick from?  So please go vote this idea up, because it seems that sometimes a “feature” is actually something that should have been there in the first place, but wasn’t implimented for very stupid reasons.

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

Wow! Kubuntu looks very nice!

I started using Ubuntu heavily about 3 years ago and I’ve been using the default interface known as GNOME.  Lacking an expansion of the technical differences, here’s a picture of what GNOME looks like:

 

I’m not going to go into the technical differences.  All I want to say is that I liked this interface because it felt like a good blend of the interface between what you find in a default Windows install (a task bar on the bottom used for switching between open applications/show the desktop/house the trashcan).  It also had an upper task bar that reminds me of the classic Mac OS (upper panel with application/places/system menus/clock/sound controls, both panels are completely customizable).  But there’s another interface called KDE, which is more like Windows than GNOME or Mac OS.  Here’s a screenshot I just took from my laptop after installing the kubuntu-desktop package (Click to see full size):

It’s something very nice to play with and try out if you have some free time.  (EDIT:  Don’t try this on a production machine.  Do it on a machine that you can tinker with in case something goes wrong). If you’re runing GNOME right now and you’d like to try this out, do this following:

1.  Click Applications>Accessories>Terminal

2.  Type:

  • sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

After it’s finished, log off.

When the login screen appears, click on the “Options” button in the lower left and then click “Change Session”.  Here you’ll be shown a list of the different “Front End” (Interfaces, such as KDE, GNOME and others) that you can use with Ubuntu.  KDE should be in the list.  Select it, and then click OK.

Proceed to login with your username and password.  It will then ask you if you want to make KDE the default, or if you want to just use it once for now, and revert back to GNOME at the next login.

If you’ve never used KDE on your PC before, it will take some time to load all the way to the desktop on the very first run.  I believe it sets up all the menus and shortcuts for all the installed software.  If you log off and log back into KDE, all the logins (and the  splash screen) will load a lot faster

I’m experimenting with this interface just for fun and to become acquainted with it.  I’m not going to criticize it, although there are tiny things about it that I don’t like.  That happens to everybody who tries a new GUI.  But other than the minor things, I’m liking it a LOT.

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

“CRITICAL” Internet Explorer Flaw! AGAIN!

As much as it would probably sooth the stiffness in my neck and shoulders from doing busy work inventorying computer equipment today, I’m going to try to not turn this into a sarcastic sounding slam against Microsoft… although they damn well deserve it.

I’ll just keep this very short.  Internet Explorer has once again dropped the ball in the realm of Internet security and it’s something that’s been present for over 48 hours already.  You can read about the problem via BBC’s website by clicking here.

The article states in bold letters at the top, “Security experts recommend switching to a rival browser until the problem is fixed.”  Need a rival web browser?  Download Firefox at www.firefox.com.  It’s free, faster and much more secure than Internet Explorer ever will be.  Seriously.  Why is it more secure, you ask?  Because it’s open-source, just like Linux.  But again… don’t wanna turn this into a “Microsoft sucks” bashing post.

Also, on the side, I should mention that I’ve see a LOT of Windows systems get hit with viruses in the last 3 weeks, a good chunk of which have come in from emails on Facebook.  Which isn’t to say that Facebook is bad.  It just doesn’t have much of an effective spam filter or virus scanner built into it.  You would think that after a few people have recieved the same spam from their friend whose computer was compromised, they’d start filtering messages with the same links, the same stupid subject line, and all the rest that comes along with basic social engineering-based viruses.  It’s what Yahoo and Google do.  So to you Facebook/Myspace users out there (and everyone else who doesn’t uses these services), be VERY cautious about clicking on links to websites you’ve never visited to before in email sent to you by a friend.  They may not have actually sent you something.  In fact, it’s possible their account password was phished, changed, and their account used as a lauch pad for spreading the same infection to other people (like you).  So be careful.

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Virtualbox/VMware Kernel Update Pow-wow

For the last couple of months I have been under the impression that the DKMS package that was developed by Dell and included with Ubuntu 8.10 was going to take care of all our worries regarding Linux Kernel header modules.  One of the biggest annoyances I’ve had to put up with ever since I started using virtualzation software (like VMware Server and Sun Virtualbox) is the fact that after a new Linux Kernel came down the wire, I would have no choice but to open a terminal window and run a command to manually recompile Kernel headers.  I’ve been telling people for weeks, “Yeah, 8.10 does it all for you automatically.  No need to mess with the terminal anymore.”  To my surprise yesterday I downloaded the latest updates including a new Kernel, and yet I still had to recompile my Virtualbox kernel headers.  (By the way, this kernel update patched a security vulnerability that was found the day before, but now it’s fixed.  24 hours to fix a hole = lots of envy from Windows users).  I’m waiting for someone to reply to a post I put up in Ubuntu forums about this to find out what’s going on, but in the mean time here’s what you need to do to fix your VM software:

Virtualbox:

Open a terminal window and paste in the following text:

  • sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
You’ll be asked to enter your admin password and that’s about it.

After about 30 seconds or so it should be finished and your Virtualbox should be back to normal. Whew!

VMware Server:

Open a terminal window and paste in the following text:

  • sudo vmware-config.pl -default
If all goes well, VMware Server should be up and running as it was before the updates.  If it’s not, you might want to reinstall VMware.  The best way to do that is to uninstall it with this command:
  • sudo vmware-uninstall.pl
And then follow this guide to reinstall (This guide is for versions 1.0.7 and 1.0.8).

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

Is Ubuntu Family Friendly?

Yesterday while I was browsing Ubuntu Forums I came across a thread posted by someone named EssexJames.  He recounts a recent experience with showing his 10 year old son Ubuntu:

I enjoyed setting up Ubuntu 8.10 with my 10 year old son. We learned about Ubuntu together and I was pleased that he was really engaged and interested in the whole process of installation and the philosophy of Ubuntu.

We looked at the various packages that can be installed – to see if there was anything that looked really interesting. We got some graphics and video applications. All excellent.

Then we hit a snag. “Daddy, what’s Brainf**k?” he said. (This is the name of one of the packages).

Can I ask the community that develops Ubuntu and those that compile distributions, to please bear in mind that computers are family devices.

This forum’s terms and conditions state “…you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar…”. It’s a great shame that the development community don’t apply similar rules.

He continues in a follow up post:

If the objective of Ubuntu and other Linux distributions is to provide an operating system which people can use to replace Microsoft software, then it will need to tidy up the use of profanities in the code and application names. Families with children will see these things, decide it’s not for them, pay the devil and go to Microsoft instead.

I’ll happily f and blind with the best of them, but don’t expect profanities to appear on-screen when installing operating system software.

I wanted my son to become enthused by Linux and to learn about it himself. I install filters for web browsing for him – but I didn’t think I’d need one for an operating system and its components.

There have been several good replies to these two posts that I wanted share with you.  Indeed, it would be rather awkward for any parent who is showing their child a free OS and then discover within the package manager (which organizes over 26,000 different individual programs/dependencies and actually requires you to type in an administrator password before it can even be looked at) an uttering of profanity.  Here’s what some members of the Ubuntu community had to say in response to this:

From “steveneddy”:

I suggest that you explain it to him politely and professionally and if it bothers you, don’t mention it to him again.

All children are going to learn these words eventually.

This is a good time to wear the Daddy hat and sit down with the little tyke and have a man to man talk.

I also raised my two daughters, now 20 and 23, and have my two grandchildren here living with me.

We just have to decide that when that day arrives, and it will, that we are man enough to explain things like this to them in an adult manner so that they understand why it is that way and why some of us choose not to use those types of words around our children.

Don’t think worse of the whole community just because of the lapse in judgment of one developer.

From “starcannon”:

It is best to preview any material that you wish to expose your children to. It would be wrong to drop software simply because someone does not like the name. I would say that if freedom of speech and all of its implications are not something your prepared to deal with, perhaps some other OS is appropriate for your situation; I think Ubuntu is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have 2 daughters, one is 11 and the other is 12, I do not see that they have been damaged at all by the occasional exposure to a slang word in the package manager, they hear much worse on the school bus; and then there is popular media such as television, movies, and music, all 3 of which have much more offensive words and ideas than a satirically named and obscure [programming] language.

There is plenty of xxx software for MS Windows, arguably much more than for any other OS, the difference is that when one searches for software for windows they may use the google search engine, when one searches for software for Ubuntu they use the Synaptic search engine; ironic isn’t it that if one runs across the “F” word on google while looking for windows software, that is acceptable; if however, one runs across it on the Synaptic search engine it is not acceptable. Ultimately I don’t care what a package is named, I care what the package does, indeed I never even knew about BF until you posted about it, /shrug, and again, it is your responsibility as a parent to do the parenting, not Microsoft’s, not Canonical’s, not Linux’s, not GNU’s, not Apple’s. Accept responsibility or don’t either way I certainly hope that package availability is never based on psuedo puritan ideals that have not even come close to actually existing in over 125 years.

“Grant A”, complimenting starcannon adds:

You are 100% correct. People say they are getting their kids ready for the real world, and THIS is the result. V-Chips, and their kin have made parents very lazy and thus devaluing the social standards the U.S. once held. Life has cuss words, believe it or not your children WILL hear these words. It is up to YOU to teach your child what it means. And no matter what you do, you can train him, you can stick a shock collar on him (please don’t) he WILL still say cuss words, or think them. I know a preacher who is a profane cusser. I am very offended that you want to step upon my rights to FREE speech as declared in over 200 countries, I do not tolerate fascism.

I am aware that this post may have sounded derogatory, but it wasn’t. Sometimes the blunt truth is the best truth. I’m not going to sugar coat everything I say on the Internet. I tried to keep this as civil as possible and avoided all the flaming I wanted to do. Please teach your children yourself, who else will? The Internet is not your baby sitter. If you don’t want your kid to see cuss words, you might as well have left him illiterate.

I agree with all of what was said in the above responses.  It ultimately falls on the parent to do the parenting of their child.  Grant A’s mentioning of the V-Chip, I think, is a good example of how some parents try to use technology to avoid awkward conversations with their child about things like sex, violence, drugs and “adult” language.  That being said, it should be emphasized that the Internet itself is a far more profane place than a simple package manager ever could be. Slightly off topic, I think to call any computer which is attached to the Internet a “family device” is a contradiction, no matter what operating system you choose to use.

EssexJames has marked his thread as “Solved” since posting it yesterday, but he’s not posted any kind of followup to indicate exactly what the replies have solved for him.  So I sent him a private message asking him what he’s decided and he says, although little can be quickly done to enable a profanity filter in Synaptic (and possibly won’t be implimented quickly because of resistance/misunderstandings), he and his son will continue to use Ubuntu.  He added that he will also start keeping a closer eye on him and his computer activities.  Good job, dad!

Monday, November 24th, 2008

The Matrix Runs On Windows XP

Just wait for the very end.  ;)

Hey, Ubuntu freaks!  I’m going to have another Terminal tutorial coming out on Wednesday with an introduction to creating bash scripts.  Sit tight!

Monday, November 10th, 2008