Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with Ubuntu

admins: intelligent rate-limiting of error notifications?

zippy — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:55:28 -0800

I have a web service that generates errors. Currently, each time there's an error, it gets sent to an admin mailing list. Is there an open-source tool that will summarize repeated duplicate errors, rather than generating a separate notification for each? For example, say there are 100 'service foo threw exception bar' errors in a 15 minute window.

What I'd like to see is one initial 'service foo threw exception bar' notification, followed by a single second notification 'service foo threw exception bar repeated 99 times.'

This seems like it must be a solved problem, where there's a single 'sink' for all of the notifications from various services that can summarize duplicates and in doing so prevent alert fatigue (and enormous pager/SMS bills).

So I turn to the collective wisdom of ask.mefi - does this exist?

Need help getting Brother MFC-5460CN scanner to work with Ubuntu Hardy 64AMD

macadamiaranch — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 07:57:37 -0800

Need help getting Brother MFC-5460CN scanner to work with Ubuntu Hardy 64AMD. Oh, and I'm really tech challenged, so a step-by-step would help. I've tried Googling and reading various fora, and I still can't get this SOB to work. I can get the printer part working, just not scanning.

I've tried this. And this.

When I open XSane, I have the scanner as an available device, but when I select it, I get this error: Failed to open device 'brother2:bus6;dev2': Error during device I/O

I can get around with sudo commands and such, but I am at the end of my fooling-around-on-my-own rope, so I come to you, the AskMefi community (who I find less intimidating than the various linux/ubuntu forums) for your assistance!

Critical: How to fix MBR on Ubuntu/Vista dual-boot laptop?

meta.mark — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:45:22 -0800

How to I re-install, configure, or set the MBR on my laptop? I have a Sony VAIO VGN N series laptop. I recently partitioned and installed Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) successfully. Previously I had a Ubuntu/Vista dual boot using the default Ubuntu GRUB that was automatically installed during the setup. But I used EasyBCD in Vista and accidentally uninstalled the Vista Bootloader MBR. Now when I start up my computer all I get is something like "NTLDR not found Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart." In other words I have neither the Ubuntu GRUB or Vista Bootloader MBR working. How do I fix this so I can go back to dual-booting both systems? Please help!

how do I run a minimal Gnome session for intensive calc ?

nalf — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 06:19:18 -0800

[Linux/Ubuntu] I need to run some pretty intensive calculations. How can I load a very minimal Gnome session for that purpose ? The idea is to create a new user, whose session would load only the minimum necessary.
My script runs in Python with various libraries, but it won't run without an X session because it uses Pylab. It is very CPU intensive and uses lots of RAM too because the dataset is huge.

I know how to add a user to my Ubuntu installation. Once I've done that, what do I do to disable loading of most of the usual services for this user's session, but not for the main user ?
or should I try to use a lighter desktop environment for that ?

I welcome any piece of advice on that ! thanks.

[LinuxFilter] Resources to help learn everything there is to know about Linux/Ubuntu. (kind of)

Javed_Ahamed — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:56:45 -0800

Greetings! I was hoping you guys might have some suggestions on the best resources to learn about linux and how to use it to its max potential. I am using Ubuntu 8.04, but I want to learn everything about using linux. The problem is I cant find good resources as usual. I want to learn about the terminal in depth, and every little knook and cranny. I want to know what the good programs are and so on. So any books/websites/etc. you guys could link me would be great. And i already know about ubuntuforums i browse there all the time!

Backing up bootable image over a LAN?

nasty, brutish, and of average height — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:15:52 -0800

I'd like to create a bootable backup of my MacBook's hard drive 150GB hard drive. I've got a 500GB drive, but it's in an Ubuntu server on my LAN. Is there a good way to back up a bootable backup to another computer? And what would my restore situation be? I know Macs can netboot, but I don't know anything about it. Would I move the whole image to my laptop using target disk mode, or something similar? I've never worked with full, disk image backups.

Only other detail is, I'd like to do this weekly or so. However, I don't suspect that scheduling it will be the difficult part of this plan...

eeepc as a vista remote control?

meowN — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:27:24 -0800

Trying to control the screen of my windows vista desktop from my linux laptop. details inside. So what I'm looking for is a live desktop remote control (over a LAN) for my desktop running Vista Ultimate x64 from my Eee pc running Ubuntu 8.04.

My ultimate goal would be to have my PC's screen mirrored on my laptop, so, for example; I could switch between different video files or control dvd functions across my room from the couch. I remember being able to do this years ago when both my systems were linux and I could just use the terminal to ssh in my desktop, but I'm really unsure about the inner workings of vista.

I've seen my friend do this on his nintendo DS with the R4 chip, but I tried googling and don't even know where to begin looking for this solution.

Thanks in advance if you can guide me in the right direction.

Dual boot backup on external HDD.

kraigory — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:34:42 -0800

What's the best way to setup a 500gb external hard drive to backup windows and linux? I just got a seagate external hard drive for my laptop, which is out of hard disk room. Surprised by the $100 price tag, I splurged and got a 500gb model. So, I would like to set it up to backup my computer, as well as store files.

I dual boot ubuntu linux and windows xp. Should I make two ntfs partitions, and use windows to image backup my current hard drive? Or, should I use FAT32 and use linux to perform the backup? Would there be any complications when backing up ext3 from windows, if it's just a hard drive image? Also, I'd like to use open source programs to do this.

If I go the linux route, and format it with FAT32, are there any disadvantages, or limits on partition size?

Thanks for the help! Oh, and I use linux about 80% of the time, so It would be most handy to backup with linux, if that's the easiest solution.

Linux allows this mobo 2x RAM XP shows; can I VM XP and split it?

penciltopper — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:15:27 -0800

Would this OS/RAM/VM trick work, you think? Linux seems to allow this PC mobo double the RAM XP shows as possible; can I VM XP on a Linux host and split the RAM between the two? When under Windows, a RAM compatibility scan says the max installable is 2gb. Run the same scan (the Crucial Memory scanner) under Ubuntu, max comes out as 4gb instead. Makes me believe there's a difference between the mobo and XP's capabilities.

I'd like to have a 2gb RAM Ubuntu system and a 2gb RAM XP system to switch back and forth between, while they're running simultaneously (so dual-boot is out). 2 separate boxes with a KVM switch would be awkward due to space constraints, etc.

So if I installed Ubuntu as the OS, put in 4gb RAM, then set up an XP virtual machine running in VMware, can I assign the XP VM 2gb and leave 2gb for Ubuntu? Anything tricky about that, or that I should watch out for?

A little new for me to mix the 3 things, I also haven't done any complex memory assigning before. I've got little enough hair left that I'd prefer not to pull any more out trying to get this to work, so I figured I'd ask the smartest people I know before I get into it. Thanks, MeFites!

Skype install in the Heron

Dr.James.Orin.Incandenza — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:24:06 -0800

Very recently migrated to Ubuntu and want to install Skype... help! I have an Acer Aspire 3620 (that's running three to four times faster now, thank you very much Mr. Torvald --- and MANY MANY OTHERS!) that's had new life breathed into it by a kindly heron. I used linux a bit while I was in college but have lost most of my knowledge of the OS. I really need to install skype to talk to my folks in the US (I live in Taiwan).

Anyone want to humor me?

I do not want a Live CD, why can't you remember that?

tip120 — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:01:55 -0800

I am having problems making a persistent installation of Ubuntu on a usb thumb drive. I am attempting to make a persistent install of ubuntu 8.0.4.1 on a usb thumb drive. I am not looking for a Live CD on a usb drive.

I have followed several different tutorials (most notably the ones here and here*). I can, seemingly, get through the whole process without a hitch. When I start the target machine (a mini-itx with no internal or external drives, only the usb key), it will boot as if it were a Live CD. It asks for Live CD boot parameters, and no changes I make (simple ones at that, themes, or desktop background) are saved. The BIOS is set to boot off the usb key.

I feel I am missing something incredibly obvious here, but have no clue what it might be. I'm comfortable, but by no means a pro, with "the Linux," and have zero idea where to start looking for a solution.

I sent an email to the pendrivelinux dudes, but doubt I will hear back anytime soon.

*I realize this second link is for xubuntu, but that doesn't matter so much to me as making the changes to stick.

ubuntu

amsterdam63 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:21:26 -0800

How do I install and use software I have extracted from the internet on Ubuntu? When extracted, the folder's contents are: CHANGE_LOG, configure, COPYING, lc3.def, lc3.f, lc3convert.f, lc3os.asm, lc3sim.c, lc3sim.h, lc3sim-tk.def, Makefile.def, NO_WARRANTY, README, symbol.c, symbol.h

Here's what the README file says:

The LC-3 tools package contains the lc3as assembler, the lc3sim simulator,
and lc3sim-tk, a Tcl/Tk-based GUI frontend to the simulator. All tools,
code, etc., were developed by Steven S. Lumetta on his own time with his
own resources for use in teaching classes based on the textbook by
Yale N. Patt and Sanjay J. Patel entitled, "Introduction to Computing
Systems: From Bits & Gates to C & Beyond," second edition, McGraw-Hill,
New York, New York, 2004, ISBN-0-07-246750-9.

The contents of the LC-3 tools distribution, including sources, management
tools, and data, are Copyright (c) 2003 Steven S. Lumetta.

The LC-3 tools distribution is free software covered by the GNU General
Public License, and you are welcome to modify it and/or distribute copies
of it under certain conditions. The file COPYING (distributed with the
tools) specifies those conditions. There is absolutely no warranty for
the LC-3 tools distribution, as described in the file NO_WARRANTY (also
distributed with the tools).

---------------------
NECESSARY TOOLS
---------------------

Installation requires versions of gcc (the Gnu C compiler),
flex (Gnu's version of lex), and wish (the Tcl/Tk graphical shell).
All of these tools are available for free from many sources.
If you have Gnu's readline installed, the configure script should
find it and use it for the command line version of the simulator.
I don't currently use the history feature, but will add it...someday.

Other necessary but more standard tools include uname, rm, cp, mkdir,
and chmod.

Currently, the configure script searches only a few directories.
If your binaries are in a reasonable place that I overlooked, send
me a note and I'll add it to the default list. If you have
idiosyncratic path names (e.g., the name of your fileserver in your
path), you will have to add the correct paths to the search path at
the top of the configure script yourself.

N.B. I have installed the package on Cygwin, Solaris, and Linux
machines. Linux has been used by 2-3 other schools at the time of
the 0.5 release; Cygwin is stable on my home machine; Solaris GUI
version caused me grief last time I launched it, but I haven't
had time to investigate.

-------------------------------
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
-------------------------------

The LC-3 tools package is designed to work as either a personal or
administrative installation on various flavors of Unix, including
Windows NT-based systems with appropriate support (e.g., Cygwin).

First, decide where the binaries and LC-3 OS code should be installed.
* If you want it in the directory in which you unpacked the code,
simply type "configure."
* If you want it in a different directory, say /usr/bin, type
configure --installdir /usr/bin
replacing /usr/bin with the desired directory.

Then type 'make'.

If you want to make the tools available to other people, next type
'make install'. If not, don't.

Ubuntu 8.04 on a portable hard drive?

penciltopper — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:37:58 -0800

Ubuntu 8.04 on a 40 gb portable HDD: LiveUSB w/persistence, or install straight to HDD? I'd like to be able to carry around a portable USB HD - NOT a flash drive; too small, and I'd wear it out too fast - with an Ubuntu install that I can boot to on any of the 9 or 10 machines I end up being in front of fairly often.

I've got an old install of Dapper on a 10 GB portable HD that I made work this way after some wrestling.
But every time I use it, I have to reconfigure Xorg. Doable, but annoying.

I haven't used it (or Ubuntu) in a while and I've missed it; I also figure it's time to update to Hardy Heron.
I did so researching and found that Heron has a LiveUSB installer all wrapped up now, which is cool.
Q#1: does that set up persistence too?

Q#2: Given that I'd like to do one install to a portable HD, and have that install boot from various different machines without reconfiguring X (or anything else if I can help it), would I be better off:

A) doing a LiveUSB install on the HD, with a partition for Persistence
or
B) just doing a straight install to the USB HD, because Ubuntu has some new cool thing that will adjust for different hardware now - no more reconfiguring X, etc.
or
C) some third thing I've never heard of but is supercool?

Three Monitors, One Linux (I know obscenity when I hear it)

SlyBevel — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:23:40 -0800

Please help me: Make my triple monitors work in Ubuntu ----OR---- Find a distro that will gracefully handle three monitors. Either one is fine, but this is killing me and I really need to get it done.

I'm currently running Hardy Heron. I used the open source driver for a while, but I was only able to get the two monitors on the first vid card working when I switched to the ATI driver.

I think part of the problem is that I have two cards: Radeon X1600 Pro AGP 8x, Radeon 9600 PCI. So far, Ubuntu is only using the primary card.

I've Googled extensively, and I've tried many xorg.conf tweaks, but none of them seem to get me to where I need to be, ie: Running a current distro of Linux with all three of my monitors functional.

Please help!

Why are more operating systems options appearing on my laptop?

sliderjc — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:28:07 -0800

Why do more operating system options keep appearing when I turn my computer on? I have installed ubuntu on my laptop, I also run windows on it, just in case I need something.
When the computer turns on, I have the choice whether to use windows or Ubuntu. Originally, there were only two choices, now more and more ubuntu options have been added, there are 5 now, what's going on?

Easy Linux versions

crapmatic — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:35:12 -0800

Which flavor of Linux is most likely to give the least trouble with hardware installations? See inside... I've had very limited experience with Linux but I do recall going through some trouble to get a Linksys wireless card working, and through enormous trouble to get WPA drivers for wireless working (in fact I was unsuccessful). I Googled around and found all kinds of voodoo tricks for doing this configuration but none of them worked.

This was, I believe, Ubuntu, and soured me from continuing with Linux, and I went back to Windows for several months. I have a new computer now, though.

Are all Linux flavors like this? If not, which ones will do the best job shielding me from doing fingernail-biting configuration work? I don't mind getting under the hood... I just need a year or two of experience, and I can't get that if half my devices don't work.

smash$ Xandros

trinarian — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:10:47 -0800

Is it worth changing to xUbuntu from Xandros? I purchased an Asus EEE 900 about a month ago. I've been wanting to make the switch to Linux for years and this finally put it in my lap. Like most MeFites, computers (or at least Microsoft software) are rather intuitive to me. That said, I've yet to be able to install a single application without tons of trial and error and with it a lot of time. I spent three hours today just trying to work around a Xandros bug to get Firefox 3 loaded, still with no success. Even rTorrent seems like another long slodge through terminal + forum/FAQ hell. The only thing I have managed to install was a JAR Chinese dictionary. Go me!

1) Is this something I'll just learn naturally in a few more weeks?
2) Will switching to xUbuntu make it easier to install programs?
3) Should I just install a copy of XP for when I want to do "real work"?
4) Why do repositories seem so out of date and have none of the software I actually want?

Multiple distros on one partition

finite — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:22:10 -0800

I have Ubuntu installed in a chroot. [How] can I boot into it? My system is running Debian stable, with a kernel from unstable. I've got an Ubuntu hardy install (created with debootstrap) in a directory on the same partition. Currently, I'm able to easily run programs in the chroot using the schroot command.

It seems like I should be able to modify something in my initfs to chroot into hardy early in the boot process, but I'm not sure how/where I need to make this change. Resizing partitions and keeping different distros on different partitions is the obvious thing to do, but I'd prefer a solution that works for any number of distros (which I can then copy on and off of my system whenever I feel like it) with a single partition. Any suggestions?

Vista/Ubuntu Dual Boot desperate help needed :(

thesonofmorgoth — Sat, 24 May 2008 20:51:51 -0800

How to dual boot vista/ubuntu hardy heron and get everything set up. More details Inside. Starting to pull hair out :( Just a warning guys im just going to spill every piece of info i think might help solve this problem below. Sorry in advance but im at wits end.

I was planning on dual booting Vista/Hardy Heron on my compalIFL90 notebook. To do this i completely formatted the harddrive and installed vista first, giving it 40 gigs and leaving the other 120 gigs as free space. After i had installed vista i went back and installed ubuntu using the desktop 32 bit cd and just told it to use the largest contigous file. After i started playing around with my new ubuntu desktop i heard that it would be nice if i got my own home, root, and swap partitions so i went back and deleted my ubuntu partition,this time starting the manual partition mode. I made a 20 gig root, 4 gig swap and the rest of the gigs as home. I thought i was home free.

I tried following THIS GUIDE to set up my Compal, as it seems some hardware was not supported out of the box. I also installed compiz fusion and emerald theme manager, as well as the restricted drivers for my nvidia card.

and now all of a sudden im getting all these problems:

1. When i start up the computer sometimes all it says is GRUB loading stage 1.5 and just hangs there. I have to manually shut down the computer to get it back up, and then it allows me to boot into ubuntu or vista.
2. When i boot into ubuntu i just come to a white screen with a cursor sometimes, and i again have to manually shut down.
3. Once when just surfing the web this pink or purple fuzz started to border my windows and just mysteriously diapeared when i restarted.
4. I cant hibernate or sleep in my ubuntu.... while this is discussed in the above link i really dont get it.

So basically my whole installation is just crapping itself up and i have no idea why. Im not sure what i did wrong :(

So any help would be appreciated guys, and I wouldnt mind reformmating everything and starting over if i know it would work Thanks :D for reading this long post and i really hope i can get this to work i wanna learn linux :(

How best to respond to a bad sector?

puffin — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:35:39 -0800

Inconsistent information about bad sectors on a hard drive -- what's going on, and what should I do? I am using an Ubuntu LiveCD to install Ubuntu on my friend's ThinkPad. When I try to run gparted in order to partition the drive, I get this error:
---------------------------
ntfsresize v2.0.0 (libntfs 10:0:0)
Device name : /dev/sda1
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 94034993664 bytes (94035 MB)
Current device size: 94035239424 bytes (94036 MB)
Checking for bad sectors ...
Bad cluster: 0x1300db4 - 0x1300db4 (1)
ERROR: This software has detected that the disk has at least 1 bad sector.
---------------------------------
I have run "chkdsk /f /r' and no errors were found. I also tried SeaTools (the Seagate hard disk diagnostic tool), which found 1 error and repaired it. Further scans with chkdsk and SeaTools no longer detect errors.

But when I boot the LiveCD again and run gparted, I still get the same error message about a bad sector from ntfsresize.

My questions:
- Which program is right, ntfsresize or chkdsk and SeaTools?
- Is one bad sector really something to worried about? Should I tell my friend to consider replacing the hard drive, and give up on installing Ubuntu for now?
- Will reformatting the drive fix the bad sector?
- If possible/advisable, how should I go about partitioning the drive without using gparted? I know I have to use ntfsresize using the --bad-sectors option, but after that I am not sure what to do.

I've dual booted Ubuntu and XP on my own computer for the past two and half years, but I never ran into a problem like this. (And yes, I checked the Ubuntu forums, where I found a lot of relevant threads with mostly conflicting and inconclusive responses.)

Backubuntu

tmcw — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:32:24 -0800

What's the best backup solution for (Ubuntu) Linux? I need a backup as complete as possible of a home directory of ~10+ GB, nightly, etc. I have two large external USB 2.0 drives for the purpose... I know some of the options (which I'll list out), but I'm wondering which is the community favorite / most popular / most reliable / most likely to be maintained.

What I've considered: flyback, rsync, rdiff, rsnapshot, timevault, unison...

Thanks! I've gone too long without good backups, and my home directory is becoming more and more valuable. Oh, and it absolutely must backup hidden directories, although I would guess that's standard (a lot of my data is SVN repos). Something that could back up various other files (my apache configs, site-applications, etc files are fairly vital). Maybe a separate system that would do basically a drive image on a less frequent basis?

Thanks!

Ubuntu/Vista Dual Boot With a Twist! - Virtual PC in ubuntu booting existing Windows Partition! (exp ins.)

Javed_Ahamed — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:08:54 -0800

Ubuntu/Vista Dual Boot With a Twist! - Virtual PC in ubuntu booting existing Windows Partition? last week i posted this askMe and have now decided to achieve the following setup:

1. Two partitions 1 with vista and 1 with Ubuntu
2. In the ubuntu parition have a program like (Virtualbox, VMware) which will boot up from the EXISTING vista partition on the computer.

My reasoning for this is to use Ubuntu as my main OS, use the virtual vista for non cpu intensive tasks and then load up in vista natively for cpu intensive tasks.

However I will only have vista installed once on my computer saving space, and allowing programs and files to be shared between the "two" vistas.

My Question:

Do you guys know any guides/resources/anything i could consult on how to do this? I have posted on the ubuntu forums but no one has really given me any good help. I tried following a random guide on the internet on my desktop computer and all I ended up doing was corrupting the MBR in my virtual machine. I guess part of the problem is also the fact that a lot of these linux howtos just tell you to copy paste things into your terminal and I have no idea what they are doing. Maybe a site that actually explains these things and what each individual line does would also be helpful. Every guide I have seen so far seems to do something different.

P.S i would prefer to use VirtualBox to do this since it seems to be the thing everyone seems to be using now :/. If VMWare is better i guess I would do that too however. Also I know you can access files from your vista partition in Ubuntu since it can read and write to nfts but is there a way to get vista to read/write ubuntu ext3 (i think) files?

How to make my phone play nice with my laptop

sliderjc — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:46:45 -0800

Is there any easy way to use my nokia phone to control my (ubuntu) laptop via bluetooth? I have tried using "anyRemote" but it's far to complicated to install and use. Are there any options that just allow me to install on my phone and pc and start using them?

Remote X11 desktop on OS X

caution live frogs — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:35:33 -0800

Using X11 forwarding to bring my Ubuntu server desktop to my MacBook Pro. Everything works fine if I run a specific program (e.g., Firefox) but goes to hell if I try 'startx' - I keep getting an AIGLX display error message. Any help appreciated. Mac is running Leopard, using the February Xquartz release rather than the standard Apple X11. (Latest Xquartz release is downloaded but not installed yet.) Server is a headless box running Gutsy + XFCE. Connecting using ssh -X with blowfish + compression (although ssh -Y without compression gives me the same error). While I managed to troubleshoot most of my problems, and have nearly everything working, I can't get the XFCE desktop to start. Error I'm getting is:



(EE) AIGLX: Screen 0 is not DRI capable

All my searches on this error message seem to make me think this is driver-related, but solutions I've found are all geared towards local X sessions rather than remote. Any ideas?

Hope my tiny Firefox!

mindsound — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:57:25 -0800

What's your best advice for reading multi-column and other large-minimum-width websites on a 480x800 screen? I have an Asus Eee 4G, running stock Ubuntu Gutsy. I really like rotating the video output so I can read things by holding the Eee like a paperback and thumbing the space bar, but many contemporary multi-column websites look like poo in Firefox 2.0 due to their fixed column widths running off the right hand side of the screen (as in this Digg screenshot which I totally didn't plan to have an Eee callout in). What should I do? I'm open to installing any addons or using other software in Ubuntu; I would install non-Ubuntu software if it was clearly for the win.

I found this 2005 question about full-page scaling in Firefox, indicating that it'd be in Firefox 1.5. I gather from ars technica that rendering for page scaling is in 3.0 previews but as far as I can google there's no UI for it yet?

And for the record, metafilter looks fantastic out of the box. :) Props to mathowie for bucking layout trends!