tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-291960512024-02-20T22:35:39.016+08:00SOHO UbuntuExperiences installing and maintaining an Ubuntu Linux installation on various home and small office PCs.ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-42655149460330052782011-07-15T17:58:00.000+08:002011-07-15T17:58:12.857+08:00Gnome Panel Slow to AppearI have a single gnome panel at the top of my screen that holds all the applets I need. It started taking ages to appear (tens of seconds) after logging in. I tried deleting various applets in the hope that one of them was responsible for the issue but nothing worked.<br />
<br />
Some Googling lead me to <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-keyring/+bug/593226">Bug #593226</a> in Launchpad. I opened the <i>Passwords & Encryption</i> tool (in Applications > Accessories) and found that my passwords included two for <a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/desktopcouch">Desktop Couch</a>. I deleted both - problem solved.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05461074601050876693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-74845811648492161072011-06-28T09:55:00.000+08:002011-06-28T09:55:12.226+08:00How to Delete an Invisible Panel AppletSomething went wrong with my Weather Report applet. It had disappeared from its panel but was still present as it kept displaying a warning message about its inability to connect with the weather server.<br />
<br />
I added a second Weather Report applet, configured it and it worked properly. So, how to delete the faulty one? I couldn't right-click and remove it as it wasn't visible.<br />
<br />
The panel's applets are represented in the file system in<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">~/.gconf/apps/panel/applets </div><br />
and are (usefully) named applet_0, applet_1, ... <br />
<br />
I could have opened each one's XML configuration file and examined it to locate the Weather Report applet but a quicker alternative was to run gconf-editor and examine each applet's configuration directly.<br />
<br />
This also gave me the opportunity to compare the configurations of the working and broken Weather Report applets but other than their locations in the panel their configurations were identical. <br />
<br />
It turned out that applet_13 was the the malfunctioning one, so I deleted it from ~/.gconf/app/panel/applets.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05461074601050876693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-53012625519451563552010-08-11T11:37:00.002+08:002010-08-11T11:45:15.029+08:00InstallShield Wizard Fails With OpenJDKI tried installing software packaged using <span style="font-style: italic;">InstallShield</span> but each time I ran the installer it would fail with the message:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">could not load wizard specified in /wizard.inf (104)</span><br /><br />The problem turned out to be that after recently <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2010/08/installing-lucid-lynx-1004-on-dell.html">installing Lucid Lynx</a> the JRE is OpenJDK, even though I had installed the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sun</span> Java packages (sun-java6-*) I hadn't updated my Java alternatives. All that was needed was to switch to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sun</span> JRE, thus:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">sudo update-java-alternatives -v -s java-6-sun</span><br /><br />In fact, I subsequently removed all OpenJDK-related packages.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05461074601050876693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-41870942459164788112010-08-05T12:43:00.003+08:002010-08-05T12:52:28.065+08:00External Monitor as Primary/Default DisplayI recently <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2010/08/installing-lucid-lynx-1004-on-dell.html">installed Lucid Lynx on my Dell Inspiron 9400.</a> One niggling annoyance was that the Dell's LCD screen was the primary display, whereas I wanted my external monitor (BenQ T2200D via DVI) to be the primary display.<br /><br />Ultimately, the solution was simple:<br /><ol><li>run the <span style="font-style: italic;">NVidia X Server Settings</span> tool (<span style="font-family: courier new;">gksudo nvidia-settings</span>)</li><li>in the <span style="font-style: italic;">X Server Display Configuration</span> I made sure the Dell's display (Seiko) was <span style="font-weight: bold;">disabled</span></li><li>when saving to the X Configuration file, i.e. /etc/X11/xorg.conf, I chose <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> to <span style="font-style: italic;">merge with existing file</span></li><li>restart X<br /></li></ol>Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05461074601050876693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-81055536366606369692010-08-05T11:13:00.005+08:002010-08-05T11:43:26.375+08:00Installing Lucid Lynx 10.04 on Dell Inspiron 9400After successfully <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2010/05/installing-lucid-lynx-1004-on-compaq.html">installing Lucid on a Compaq Evo 510s</a> and a Fujitsu-Siemens Lifebook T4020 I decided to get serious and upgrade my workhorse Dell Inspiron 9400 from Hardy to Lucid.<br /><br />I decided to do a clean install rather than an upgrade as I've generally had better success doing so in the past, and the result is usually cleaner as I only reinstall packages that I need rather than upgrading packages that I might no longer use. The downside is that it can take considerably longer.<br /><br />The installation went smoothly and I have only a couple of unresolved problems:<br /><ol><li>I have an external monitor (BenQ T2200HD) connected to the Dell via DVI. Whenever X-windows (re-)starts (e.g. boot, logout) the display switches back to the Dell's LCD display, so I have to manually switch to the BenQ (Fn+F8 twice) <span style="font-weight: bold;">before</span> logging in. Switching displays after logging in results in the LCD's display resolution being applied to the Benq, which is annoying.</li><li>If I switch users and then logout of the second user account the display goes irretrievably blank/black rather than displaying the first user's screen-saver (locked). This appears to be a <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/578139">known bug</a>.<br /></li></ol>Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05461074601050876693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-34258482946095682052010-05-30T14:30:00.002+08:002010-05-30T14:35:02.723+08:00Lucid Lynx cifs support needs smbfs packageAfter a recent <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2010/05/installing-lucid-lynx-1004-on-compaq.html">upgrade to Lucid Lynx</a> I attempted to mount a network drive using mount -t cifs ... It failed each time with the following in dmesg:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">CIFS VFS: cifs_mount failed w/return code = -22</span><br /><br />Ultimately, the solution was to install the smbfs package.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05461074601050876693noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-45214330238129079942010-05-22T17:19:00.000+08:002010-05-22T17:19:26.883+08:00No XDMCP in Lucid GreeterI recently <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2010/05/installing-lucid-lynx-1004-on-compaq.html">upgraded</a> a Compaq Evo 510s from Hardy to Lucid. The Evo is essentially a thin-client via XDMCP. However, after upgrading I found that the gdm greeter in Lucid no longer offers an option to remotely connect to another X-server.<br />
<br />
This appears to be a <a href="http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=806">bone of contention</a> for many users, me included. Several <a href="http://www.peppertop.com/blog/?p=712">options</a> exist to work-around this problem. Ultimately, I chose to install kdm, whose greeter does include an option to use XDMCP to connect to a remote X-server.ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-61605179157522722822010-05-22T16:57:00.000+08:002010-05-22T16:57:20.344+08:00X unstable running Lucid on a Compaq Evo 510sI recently <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2010/05/installing-lucid-lynx-1004-on-compaq.html">upgraded</a> a Compaq Evo 510s from Hardy to Lucid. The first problem I encountered was instability running X-windows. The display would go black with a few white stripes.<br />
<br />
It seems I wasn't alone - other Lucid users with Intel's integrated graphics chip were reporting similar problems. Several <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes">solutions</a> have been proposed. I went with the simplest - switching to the VESA video driver. This solves the problem at the expense of losing hardware accelerated graphics. However, as the Evo is essentially a thin-client this wasn't a problem.ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-9882305745430407292010-05-22T16:45:00.001+08:002010-05-22T16:59:27.602+08:00Installing Lucid Lynx 10.04 on a Compaq Evo 510sI have a policy of only installing Ubuntu's LTS releases, so with the release of Lucid Lynx it was time to migrate from Hardy. I started with an aging Compaq Evo 510s. I used the upgrade path via the update-manager.<br />
<br />
Things went smoothly aside from a couple of warnings regarding the flashplugin-nonfree package. I dismissed these, however, at the completion of the upgrade the warning became an error and the upgrade process exited before clean-up and completion.<br />
<br />
Upon rebooting the Evo appeared to have Lucid installed but it was very unstable (a separate <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2010/05/x-unstable-running-lucid-on-compaq-evo.html">issue</a>). Fortunately, the Evo is little more than a (XDMCP) thin-client. So, I burned a Lucid ISO and performed a fresh installation. This time the installation completed successfully.ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-45929505738509776122009-03-18T12:00:00.006+09:002010-05-22T16:47:19.857+08:00Java Plug-In Next Generation with Firefox 3.0I wanted to use Sun's <a href="https://jdk6.dev.java.net/plugin2/">Java Plug-In "Next Generation"</a> (NG) with Firefox 3.0. However, at the time of writing the latest packages available in Ubuntu's repositories are sun-java6-*, which correspond to Java 6.0 update 7. This contains the "classic" plug-in; the NG plug-in was introduced in Java 6.0 update 10.<br />
<br />
So, I <a href="http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp">downloaded the latest Sun JDK</a> - v6.0 update 12 - and installed it in /opt/java. Then I performed the following steps:<br />
<ol><li>Create a symbolic link from /usr/lib/jvm to the installed JDK<br />
<pre>cd /usr/lib/jvm
sudo ln -s /opt/java/jdk1.6.0_12 java-6u12-sun</pre><br />
</li>
<li>Created /usr/lib/jvm/.java-6u12-sun.jinfo. I simply copied .java-6-sun and editted (see below).<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Note</span>, that in order to use the NG rather than "classic" plug-in, I specified /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so for the *-javaplugin.so alternatives. I also needed to add an entry for firefox-3.0-javaplugin.so, which is missing from .java-6-sun.jinfo.<br />
</li>
<li>Installed alternatives for /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun. For each line of .java-6u12-sun.jinfo I ran update-alternatives --install, e.g.<br />
<pre>sudo update-alternatives --install \
/usr/bin/firefox-3.0-javaplugin.so \
firefox-3.0-javaplugin.so \
/usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so \
64
</pre>Doing this manually is a bit tedious, so I created a Perl script to do - see below.<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>Selected the java-6u12-sun jav alternative, i.e.<br />
<pre>sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6u12-sun</pre></li>
</ol>The /usr/lib/.java-6u12-sun.jinfo I created in step 2.<br />
<pre>name=java-6-sun-1.6.0.12
alias=java-6u12-sun
priority=64
section=non-free
jre ControlPanel /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/ControlPanel
jre java /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/java
jre java_vm /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/java_vm
jre javaws /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/javaws
jre jcontrol /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/jcontrol
jre keytool /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/keytool
jre pack200 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/pack200
jre policytool /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/policytool
jre rmid /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/rmid
jre rmiregistry /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/rmiregistry
jre unpack200 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/unpack200
jre orbd /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/orbd
jre servertool /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/servertool
jre tnameserv /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/bin/tnameserv
jre jexec /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/jexec
jdk HtmlConverter /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/HtmlConverter
jdk appletviewer /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/appletviewer
jdk apt /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/apt
jdk extcheck /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/extcheck
jdk idlj /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/idlj
jdk jar /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jar
jdk jarsigner /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jarsigner
jdk java-rmi.cgi /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/java-rmi.cgi
jdk javac /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/javac
jdk javadoc /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/javadoc
jdk javah /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/javah
jdk javap /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/javap
jdk jconsole /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jconsole
jdk jdb /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jdb
jdk jhat /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jhat
jdk jinfo /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jinfo
jdk jmap /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jmap
jdk jps /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jps
jdk jrunscript /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jrunscript
jdk jsadebugd /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jsadebugd
jdk jstack /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jstack
jdk jstat /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jstat
jdk jstatd /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jstatd
jdk jvisualvm /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/jvisualvm
jdk native2ascii /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/native2ascii
jdk rmic /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/rmic
jdk schemagen /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/schemagen
jdk serialver /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/serialver
jdk wsgen /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/wsgen
jdk wsimport /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/wsimport
jdk xjc /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/bin/xjc
plugin xulrunner-1.9-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
plugin firefox-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
plugin firefox-3.0-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
plugin iceape-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
plugin iceweasel-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
plugin mozilla-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
plugin midbrowser-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
plugin xulrunner-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
</pre><br />
<br />
The perl-script used in step 3. above. Copy-and-paste into /tmp/java6u12sun.pl then:<br />
<pre>cd /tmp
chmod +x java6u12sun.pl
sudo ./java6u12sun.pl</pre><br />
-----<br />
<pre>#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
# Read .jinfo file.
my @lines = ();
open(JINFO, '/usr/lib/jvm/.java-6u12-sun.jinfo')
or die "Can't open .jinfo file.";
@lines = <jinfo>;
close(JINFO);
# Install alternatives.
for (@lines)
{
if ($_=~ m+/usr/lib/jvm/java-6u12-sun+)
{
my @split = split ' ', $_;
system "update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/@split[1] @split[1] @split[2] 64";
}
}
1;
</pre>ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-26304040228494730102008-10-15T11:08:00.002+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.588+08:00Sun Java 6.0 update 7 resets alternativesFor some reason the recent updates for the sun-java6-* packages to v6-07-3 reset my Java alternatives to java-6-openjdk. Fixed with<br /><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun</span>ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-25040068053753126132008-07-21T11:49:00.004+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.590+08:00SOLVED: Firefox 3 Sun Java Plug-InHaving recently <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2008/07/solved-firefox2-removal.html">switched from Firefox 2 to Firefox 3</a>, I found that the Java Plug-In was no longer working. Looking at the list of browser plugins being used by Firefox 3 (enter "about:plugins" in the browser's navigation field) I discovered that the OpenJDK GCJ was being used rather than Sun's JRE v6.0 plugin (from the sun-java6-* packages).<br /><br />It took some time to work out why this was the case - /usr/lib/firefox/plugins contained a symbolic link to /etc/alternatives/mozilla-firefox-javaplugin.so, which in turn was set to Sun's JRE v6.0 plug-in.<br /><br />The only Java Plug-In alternative set to OpenJDK's was that of xulrunner-1.9. So, I changed it's setting to Sun's JRE v.6.0 of the plugin:<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">sudo update-alternatives --config xulrunner-1.9-javaplugin.so</span><br /><br />and upon restarting Firefox 3 it used Sun's Java Plug-In.<br /><br />Very weird, and <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openjdk-6/+bug/226911">possibly related to this bug</a>?ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-36301619527082857062008-07-21T09:59:00.005+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.591+08:00SOLVED: Firefox2 removalAfter <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2008/05/dapper-drake-to-hardy-heron-upgrade.html">upgrading from Dapper Drake to Hardy Heron</a> I decided to keep using Firefox 2 rather than Firefox 3, even though the latter had been installed - no problem.<br /><br />However, a few annoying problems with Firefox 2 prompted me to make the switch. So, I ran<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser</span><br /><br />to set Firefox 3 to the default web-browser and uninstalled the firefox-2 package. However, clicking on the Firefox icons continued to run Firefox 2.<br /><br />After digging around I realised that I still had a <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2007/06/upgrading-to-firefox2-using-ubuntuzilla.html">local copy of the Mozilla Firefox 2 build due to having used ubuntuzilla</a>. To fix this I did the following:<br /><ol><li><a href="http://ubuntuzilla.wiki.sourceforge.net/#tochome7">uninstalled the local copy of Firefox</a></li><li><a href="http://ubuntuzilla.wiki.sourceforge.net/#tochome8">uninstalled ubuntuzilla</a><br /></li><li>reset System > Preferences > Preferred Applications > Web Browser to Firefox</li></ol>ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-16796461039859430682008-07-18T09:36:00.003+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.592+08:00SOLVED: vpnc and resolvconfI've been using <a href="http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/vpnc">vpnc</a> to connect to a Cisco 3000 VPN Concentrator. Since <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2008/05/dapper-drake-to-hardy-heron-upgrade.html">upgrading from Dapper Drake to Hardy Heron</a> I noticed that after about 20 minutes domain name resolution would fail even though the VPN was still up.<br /><br />It turned out that /etc/resolv.conf we being overwritten by the DHCP client when the DHCP lease expired (and needed renewal).<br /><br />The solution was to install the <a href="http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/resolvconf">resolvconf</a> package, which manages /etc/resolv.conf.ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-75626595967413843282008-06-06T11:38:00.003+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.593+08:00SOLVED: Thunderbird Lightning extension upgradeAfter recently <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2008/05/dapper-drake-to-hardy-heron-upgrade.html">upgrading from Dapper Drake to Hardy Heron</a> I noticed that the <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/2313">Thunderbird Lightning calendar add-on</a> wasn't working. I could see that it was installed but the calendar toolbar was not available. <br /><br />The upgrade had installed Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 and I had installed the latest available version of the extension (0.8) directly from <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/">Mozilla</a>.<br /><br />Ultimately, I discovered that several files (in $HOME/.mozilla-thunderbird) related to the Lightning extension were owned by root. The fix was simply change ownership to me.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: courier new;">cd $HOME/.mozilla-thunderbird/</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;">my_profile_dir<br /></span><span style="font-family: courier new;">sudo chown -R </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: courier new;">my_user_id:my_group_id *</span>ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-47479141438797682462008-05-16T18:15:00.004+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.594+08:00Compiz effects causing problems for Java Swing applicationsAs a Java developer I use <a href="http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/">IntelliJ's IDEA Java IDE</a>, which is itself a Java Swing application. Unfortunately, after <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2008/05/dapper-drake-to-hardy-heron-upgrade.html">upgrading to Hardy Heron</a> I noticed that some IDEA dialogs weren't being displayed as empty windows. This turns out to be a <a href="http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6429775">known bug with Java Swing and Compiz</a>.<br /><br />I tried two workarounds:<br /><ol><li>Setting the environment variable <span style="font-family: courier new;">AWT_TOOLKIT=MToolkit</span>. This solved the problem with empty Swing dialog windows but introduced a new problem with windows losing keyboard focus.</li><li>I also installed Sun's <a href="https://jdk6.dev.java.net/6u10ea.html">JDK6.0 update 10 beta</a> (build24) and used this to run IntelliJ IDEA. Compiz now works correctly with IntelliJ IDEA.</li></ol>ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-50573761992542588022008-05-13T14:41:00.005+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.595+08:00Rhythmbox segmentation faultsAfter recently <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2008/05/dapper-drake-to-hardy-heron-upgrade.html">upgrading from Dapper Drake to Hardy Heron</a> I noticed that Rhythmbox was intermittently crashing (segmentation fault).<br /><br />The problem appears to be a <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-vfs2/+bug/94893">known bug</a>.<br /><br />Meanwhile there is a work-around which involves (re-)enabling the cover art plug-in. This worked for me.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update 2008-06-06: </span>unfortunately the problem persists. Let's hope the recent update (0.11.5) solves the problem.ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-9704772098819330512008-05-13T13:16:00.007+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.596+08:00Dapper Drake to Hardy Heron upgradeI took the plunge and decided to <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading#head-db224ea9add28760e373240f8239afb9b817f197">upgrade from Dapper Drake to Hardy Heron</a>. I was motivated by the fact that Hardy is a Long-Term Support (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">LTS</span>) release and finding that fewer third-party software packages were being released in a format compatibly with Dapper.<br /><br />I kicked off the upgrade with a simple:<br /><br /><span style="font-family:courier new;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">sudo</span> update-manager -d</span><br /><br />and then clicking the "upgrade" button listed in the update manager. The <a href="http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading#head-db224ea9add28760e373240f8239afb9b817f197">upgrade notes</a> suggest you can do this via gksu but I found I had to use sudo from a terminal command-line.<br /><br />I ran the upgrade overnight so am not sure how long it actually took as there were user prompts waiting to be answered the next morning.<br /><br />After upgrading I had only one major problem:<br /><ul><li>the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Nvidia</span> video driver wasn't working, which I fixed after a lot of hassle, </li></ul>and a few minor problems:<br /><ol><li>No sound from the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Firefox</span> Flash <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">plugin</span> if another audio application was running</li><li>No <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">NFS</span> client</li><li><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Thunderbird</span> Lightning extension not working (<a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2008/06/solved-thunderbird-lightning-extension.html">fix</a>)<br /></li><li>Rhythmbox intermittently crashing (<a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2008/05/rhythmbox-segmentation-faults.html">workaround</a>)</li><li>Java Swing applications, e.g. IntelliJ IDEA, now working with Compiz (<a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2008/05/compiz-effects-causing-problems-for.html">workaround</a>)<br /></li></ol>which were easily fixed.ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-26874172394299842892007-06-26T21:48:00.000+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.597+08:00Microphone Audio Capture Very FaintAfter installing <span style="font-style: italic;">skype </span><span>(via Synaptic) I found that audio captured via my microphone (plugged into the external jack) was almost inaudible on playback. Ultimately, I overcame this as follows:<br /></span><ol><li><span>From the command-line run <span style="font-style: italic;">alsamixer</span></span></li><li><span>Select the "Capture" channel and increase the recording levels, e.g. 75/75</span></li><li><span>In <span style="font-style: italic;">skype</span> select Tools > Options... > Sound Devices > Audio System to use: <span style="font-weight: bold;">ALSA</span><br /></span></li></ol>ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-39741854159079134442007-06-24T22:17:00.000+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.599+08:00Flash audio problems in Firefox 2 - SolvedAfter <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2007/06/upgrading-to-firefox2-using-ubuntuzilla.html">upgrading to Firefox 2</a> I had problems with the Flash plugin no longer producing sound when another audio application was running - a problem I'd not previously had with Firefox 1.5.<br /><br />The fix was fairly simple. I had <tt>libflashplayer.so</tt> in my <tt>.mozilla/plugins</tt> directory. This was being used by Firefox 2 for the application/x-shockwave-flash MIME type in preference to Shockwave Flash v9.0 (<span style="font-style: italic;">flashplugin-nonfree</span> package).<br /><br />After removing <tt>libflashplayer.so</tt> and <tt>flashplayer.xpt</tt> from my <tt>.mozilla/plugins</tt> directory audio playback works perfectly in the Flash plugin in Firefox 2.ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-44678765827236189592007-06-16T17:23:00.000+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.600+08:00Upgrading to Firefox2 using UbuntuzillaSince official support for Mozilla Firefox 1.5 expires at the end of June 2007, I decided to upgrade to Firefox 2.0. There are no official packages for Firefox 2.0 for Dapper Drake, so I followed the excellent instructions provided by <a href="http://pykeylogger.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Ubuntuzilla">Ubuntuzilla for installing the latest versions of Mozilla's Firefox, Seamonkey and Thunderbird</a>.<br /><br />At this stage I was only interested in upgrading Firefox, so I downloaded the <tt><a href="http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=147501&package_id=231543">ubuntuzilla.py</a></tt> script and ran<pre><br />python ~/Desktop/ubuntuzilla.py -a install -p firefox<br /><br /></pre>As noted, it is important to not uninstall the existing version of Firefox 1.5.<br /><br />From now on I can simply use Firefox 2.0's built-in update mechanism to keep Firefox up-to-date.<br /><br />I noticed two minor drawbacks resulting from the upgrade:<br /><ol><li>Font rendering is not as attractive in Firefox 2.0 as it was in 1.5</li><li>Sound in the Flash plug-in does not work if another audio application, e.g. Rhythmbox is being used. I must first exit all audio applications and restart Firefox to get sound working in the Flash plug-in. This was not the case in Firefox 1.5<br /></li></ol>ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-86233425631352867612007-06-16T15:58:00.000+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.601+08:00Sun Java6I decided to update my Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and development kit (JDK). I simply installed the following packages using <span style="font-style: italic;">Synaptic</span>:<br /><ul><li>sun-java6-bin</li><li>sun-java6-demo</li><li>sun-java6-doc</li><li>sun-java6-fonts</li><li>sun-java6-jdk</li><li>sun-java6-jre</li><li>sun-java6-plugin</li><li>sun-java6-source</li></ul>I did not have to uninstall any of my existing (<a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2006/06/installing-suns-java-problem-solved.html">1.5</a>, 1.4.2 & <a href="http://ubuntu-linux-dell-inspiron-9400.blogspot.com/2006/08/sun-jdk131.html">1.3.1</a>) JDKs and JREs.ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-88530442368671187342006-12-05T10:33:00.000+09:002010-05-22T16:48:02.602+08:00Adjusting for Western Australian (Perth) Daylight Saving TimezoneFollowing the sudden introduction of a <a href="http://wa.gov.au/daylightsaving/">three year trial of summer Daylight Saving in Western Australia</a> it is necessary to adjust the timezone information for Australia/Perth and Australia/West. This can be done by following the instructions in this <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1837334">useful posting</a>.ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-1156405412917770742006-08-24T15:35:00.001+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.603+08:00Sun JDK1.3.1I needed to install Sun's Java SDK v1.3.1, so I downloaded and installed j2sdk-1_3_1_18-linux-i586. However, when attempting to run it the following error was produced.<br /><blockquote>$ /opt/jdk1.3.1_18/bin/java<br />/opt/jdk1.3.1_18/bin/i386/native_threads/java: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++-libc6.1-1.so.2: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory</blockquote>To workaround this I installed the GNU stdc++ library (libstdc++2.10-glibc2.2) using Synaptic. This creates the file /usr/lib/libstdc++-3-libc6.2-2-2.10.0.so which I then symlinked to libstdc++-libc6.1-1.so.2 as follows:<br /><blockquote>$ cd /usr/lib<br />$ sudo ln -s libstdc++-3-libc6.2-2-2.10.0.so libstdc++-libc6.1-1.so.2</blockquote>ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29196051.post-1152866050658092762006-07-14T16:22:00.000+08:002010-05-22T16:48:02.604+08:00USB disconnect when downloading images from Canon PowerShot S50I have been attempting to download photos from my Canon PowerShot S50. When I connect the camera it is correctly detected. However, when I attempt to download (a large number of) photos it fails after some time, and I see the following in the kernel ring buffer:<br /><br />$ dmesg | tail<br />[17203180.356000] usb 2-1: USB disconnect, address 2<br />[17203648.852000] usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3<br />[17203953.496000] usb 2-1: usbfs: USBDEVFS_CONTROL failed cmd gthumb rqt 64 rq 4 len 118 ret -71<br />[17203953.544000] usb 2-1: USB disconnect, address 3ChrisPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00255200066588206062noreply@blogger.com0