In this post we will show two great ways of seeing and editing the file in the easiest possible ways. The two methods will cover 99% of cases even if something has went really wrong with your system.

The first method should be your first port of call when you have a normal system and are accessing it through the normal GUI. It’s called gedit!

If for some reason you don’t have gedit installed on your system, install it via typing the following into a terminal:

sudo apt-get install gedit

Now to edit any text based file with gedit simply use the command sudo gedit path/to/file. For example:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Because you are launching gedit with your sudo credentials you can now edit and save files that would otherwise be read only.

The GUI makes gedit simple to use and it has lots of nice features such as a great find/replace, tabs for multiple files, highlighting and colour schemes for editing code etc.

But, what if you don’t have access to the GUI and you are working solely via the command line terminal? An example of when this might happen would be when you are working on Ubuntu Server, via SSH or something isn’t correct in your graphic card drivers, you cant access the GUI and you need to manually edit the xorg.conf file.

In these types of cases you need to know about Nano!

Nano is a very simple text editor that runs directly in the terminal. If it’s not installed, then use:

sudo apt-get install nano

To edit any text based file with Nano simply use the command sudo nano path/to/file. For example:

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Everything is pretty straight forward from here and it’s a simple text editor that you can type directly into. One thing you will see is that at the very bottom of your terminal you will now see a list of shortcuts that look like an up arrow followed by a letter. To activate one of these shortcuts, you simply press the Ctrl key plus the letter. For example Ctrl+g shows the Help text and Ctrl+x exits Nano (and gives you the option to save your changes).

The great thing about Nano is that it will save you in emergencies when you cant access the GUI. You don’t even need a mouse!

Of course updates are important, but the default setting of having this pop up every day drives me crazy. Here I show how to turn it off completely and what settings I am currently using that give me the best of both worlds.

Via the User Interface…

Open the Ubuntu Software Center then go to Edit -> Software Sources and the Updates tab. Choose the “Never” option from the Automatically check for updates list.

(I believe it is always best to keep well updated with security updates, so on this particular machine I have also changed the When there are Security Updates option to “Download and Install Automatically”. That option suits me and unless you have a valid reason for not doing it, I can recommend that option. If you do have a valid reason, then please share it in the comments box below )

Via the Terminal…

To turn off the Pop up notifier of updates via the command line, just open a terminal and type:

gconftool -s --type bool /apps/update-notifier/auto_launch false

To turn it back on, use this command:

gconftool -s --type bool /apps/update-notifier/auto_launch true

What is SSH and why should I know about it?

SSH stands for Secure SHell and gives a robust and secure way to control another computer (including servers) remotely.

You know how you can control your Linux box through the terminal command line? Well, if you have SSH set up, you can also control a remote computer over the network. This is really useful for taking control of things like webservers. If you use a host like Bluehost (Please note this is an affiliate link, but it is the hosting company I use and I recommend them totally) you can get a fixed IP address and SSH access which allows you to take control of the server using the command line.

To successfully have a SSH connection, you need an SSH Client and a SSH Server that speak to each other.

The SSH Client

The SSH Client is the piece of software that you have on the computer you are sitting in front of and typing on. It sends messages to the SSH server which is on the remote computer (such as the webserver). We’ll assume that there is already a valid SSH server up and running that you are trying to connect to.

In Ubuntu, there is a SSH client installed as standard and it is called Open SSH.

To use it, you simply open a terminal and proceed any command with “ssh”.

For example, if you would like to log in to your remote server, just use the command…

ssh username@mysite.myserver.org

However, as this is a blog that likes to keep things simple (and annoy a lot of the die-hard Linux geeks), I’m going to suggest a different tool… PuTTY.

PuTTY is a client program for SSH (among other things) and gives a neat little interface for making SSH connections. It is also in my opinion one of the best pieces of software ever written. It has been around for ever and can also be used on Windows without installation (just runs as a .exe). Learn this little guy and you will never look for another SSH client.

Install PuTTY by typing the following into a terminal…

sudo apt-get install putty

You will then find the PuTTY program among your other internet applications.

(When you start it up, you will be able to enter the ip address or name of the remote computer you wish to contact and click connect. You will then be asked for password etc. If you are going to be using SSH regular, you can save that connection as a profile which makes things easier).

The SSH Server

We’ve assumed up to now that you already have a SSH server to connect to. If this is not the case, then we need to install a SSH server on what will be the remote computer. (If you are using Bluehost, just speak to their support guys and they will do this for you).

If you have access to the computer that will be the remote computer, just open up a terminal and type…

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

That wasn’t too difficult now was it?

A couple of tests and a Security improvement

Let’s test that everything is up and running.

On the remote computer, start up PuTTY as mentioned above. Put int he local IP address of your machine (nearly allways 127.0.0.1 as shown below and click “Open”.

You will get a warning box talking about Keys and Certiicates, but just be like an iPad user and click accept to everything that pop-s up

You now need to log in using your username and then your password for the remote machine.

That should be you logged in over SSH!!!

(You can now go off and see if you can use a different computer to log in to this system , remember that you will then need to use the external IP address of the remote computer when logging in via PuTTY).

A good way to test using your SSH connection is to make a little security update. The default port for SSH is 22 and some bad boys out there try and force their way in via this port. Let’s open the SSH config file and change that port to something else.

Via your PuTTY session, type in…

sudo vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

This lets you edit the config file directly through the terminal. Use the arrow keys to find the line that shows the “Port 22″, press Shift+i on the keyboard and this lets you edit the file. change the port to whatever port you want, for example 3901. Press Ctrl+x and then to save the file and exit.

You then need to restart the SSH server to change the port. Again in PuTTY type…

sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart

Next time you log into the SSH, via PuTTY you will need to change the SSH Port to the new one you set (i.e 3901).

There are lots of other security improvements you can make in this config file. If you know one, why not put it in the comments box below? (If you don’t know one, why not Like this article on Facebook and maybe your friends will know one )

The Problem.

I was visiting my parents home over Christmas when my Dad asked me to have a look at the computer which he said he had updated and was now running at a speed he described as “Soul Destroying”. As this was a low end computer just used for emails and internet and had been happily running Ubuntu for the last 4 years, I was expecting him to be over exaggerating the problem.

After trying to start Firefox on the machine and it taking about 5 minutes, I was on the verge of throwing the whole system through the (closed and on the second floor) window…

The Solution.

So what is causing a perfectly good Ubuntu install to grind to a halt after an update to version 11.1? Well, the answer is Unity. This is the new Graphical User Interface (GUI) used in Ubuntu.

There is a lot of (ahem) “controversy” about Unity in the community (that rhymes!) and I’m not going to delve into that here, but when you try it on a low spec piece of hardware it basically kills your computer and makes it unusable. (Does that make it a Graphical Unusable Interface?).

To get back on track, you need to tell Ubuntu that you don’t want to use Unity on this machine.
(The above line seems to have caused a bit of confusion to readers, see comments below, so it should be ignored and instead replaced with the following paragraph).

To get back on track, you need to tell your current operating system on your own private machine to use a different interface while still respecting the fact that some people are having no problems with Unity and that some people have faster computers than you and perhaps recognizing that you should run out immediately and spend several hundred dollars on a new machine.

If you are using a machine which is more than a couple of years old and if you just want to stick to the same user interface that you have became used to (buttons and menus all where you would expect them to be), then I would suggest using XFCE. This is a lightweight interface and will suit the needs of most users, such as my Mum and Dad.

Install it by opening a terminal and typing…

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

Enter your password and let it install (accept Yes to any questions).

This is Important! Now you need to restart your system. When you reboot, you should see a small gear icon on the login screen. This will allow you to choose which interface you would like to use by default. You choose the XFCE desktop.

Now you are back up and running at the speed of Linux! (and you still have all the non Unity benefits of upgrading). All that remains for you to do is to like this article on Facebook, or add this site to your Twitter feed…

In this article we’ll take 2 minutes to transform your Ubuntu box to an enchanted winder wonderland (or at the very least, stop it from looking like Scrooge’s desktop).

Linux Christmas Wallpaper

Here’s my favourite Christmas wallpaper for Ubuntu. Little Tux is dressed up as Santa and the presents have Ubuntu themed wrapping. It was drawn by Anne Dupond using Blender and she has made a couple of different versions which can be downloaded here.

A non-geeky (is that a word? think I might start using that a lot…) alternative is this beautiful christmas tree wallpaper by deleket at deviantart.com.

Just follow the links to download one of these to your local hard drive and then installing it couldn’t be easier. Just right click anywhere on your desktop and select “Change Desktop Background.”, browse to your downloaded file, double click it and then sit back and bask in the Yuletide spirit!

Linux Christmas Screen Savers

Now we need something to delight the rest of the world when you’re not actually at your computer. Some Snowy Screen Savers me-thinks!

The easiest one to get up and running is Fuzzy Flakes and I think it is quite nice. It’s bright and cheerful enough. Just go to System -> Preferences -> Screensaver Preferences and choose Fuzzy Flakes.

Not Christmassy enough for Ya!?!

OK, there will be someone reading this who says that having a penguin in a Santa hat and a few snowflakes on their screensaver just isn’t treating Christmas with the respect it deserves. No, these people want to spend a couple of hours bashing away on the Ubuntu terminal to pimp up their Linux Christmas. Well, for those hardy souls I can recommend jumping over to UbuntuGuide.net and having a look at firstly how to enable “Snow” on Compiz Fusion and then customising a wintery wallpaper. Warning: Not for someone who has a life, or for children under the age of 4.

Want to give a Christmas Present?

Have you any favorite wallpapers or ways to make your Linux box more Christmassy? Stick them in the comments box below and share some Christmas love…

Here’s what I did to get everything working (on an local web server that is NOT available to the public – To make it a public server, more security issues would have to be addressed):

I want to get some extra multimedia packages:

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

For some reason, the above command did not install the mediabuntu key. When I updated aptitude, it threw some errors, and I noticed that Authentication tab in Software Sources (System >> Administration >> Software Sources) did not list Medibuntu as a trusted software provider.

sudo apt-get –force-yes install app-install-data-medibuntu apport-hooks-medibuntu

gpg –keyserver subkeys.pgp.net –recv 0C5A2783 && gpg –export –armor 0C5A2783 | sudo apt-key add -

sudo aptitude update

Install some packages and codecs:

sudo aptitude install w32codecs libavcodec-extra-52 mencoder mplayer mplayer-gui non-free-codecs aacgain gecko-mediaplayer

Get DVD playback working and some packages:

sudo aptitude install libdvdcss2 libdvdnav4 gxine libxine1-gnome libxine1-plugins libxine1-all-plugins vlc mozilla-plugin-vlc mplayer mplayer-gui

I like the ability to copy music off my CD’s:

sudo aptitude install sound-juicer

Also, RubyRipper:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:aheck/ppa
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install rubyripper
sudo aptitude install rubyripper-gtk

A package to enable modification of PDF files:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pdfmod-team/ppa
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install pdfmod

A package for editing RAW images as well as a RAW converter and digital photo processing application:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rawtherapee/ppa
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install rawtherapee

Get Skype:

sudo aptitude install skype

No video? Try this:

Install v4l2ucp and change the preview program with v4l2ucp to skype instead of mplayer. Start preview, Skype loads, and video works.

Get some more media related packages:

sudo aptitude install devede easytag phatch dia thoggen

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-snapshots
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install handbrake-gtk

Some PDF related packages:

sudo aptitude install pdfshuffler pdfsam pdfchain pdfjam

Torrents:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:transmissionbt/ppa
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install transmission

Side note for those with printers:

To get printer available on the network: http://localhost:631
Go to the “Administration” tab, then select “Share printers connected to this system” and “Allow printing from the Internet”

Also… I like the ability to reprint old jobs:

sudo gedit /etc/cups/cupsd.conf

Now add this code:

#Save print jobs, but only save 100 of them
PreserveJobFiles Yes
MaxJobs 100

just underneath this code:

LogLevel warn
MaxLogSize 0
SystemGroup lpadmin
# Allow remote access
Port 631

Get some dev related packages:

sudo aptitude install build-essential subversion git-core checkinstall yasm texi2html libfaac-dev libmp3lame-dev libopencore-amrnb-dev libopencore-amrwb-dev libsdl1.2-dev libtheora-dev libvorbis-dev libx11-dev libxfixes-dev libxvidcore-dev zlib1g-dev

sudo aptitude install quanta gmountiso httrack isomaster

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kilian/trimage
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install trimage

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/ubuntu-font-family
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install ttf-ubuntu-font-family

Install another browser (Chrome) for front-end testing:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chromium-daily/ppa
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install chromium-browser

Let’s get the WordPress Dev environment installed…

Let’s get ffmpeg related installs done:

sudo aptitude install flvtool2 yamdi

Install x264:

cd
git clone git://git.videolan.org/x264.git
cd x264
./configure
make
sudo checkinstall –pkgname=x264 –pkgversion “2:0.`grep X264_BUILD x264.h -m1 |
cut -d’ ‘ -f3`.`git rev-list HEAD | wc -l`+git`git rev-list HEAD -n 1 |
head -c 7`” –backup=no –default –deldoc=yes

Note: To uninstall:

dpkg -r x264

Install LAME:

sudo aptitude remove libmp3lame-dev
sudo aptitude install nasm
cd
wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/lame/lame/3.98.4/lame-3.98.4.tar.gz
tar xzvf lame-3.98.4.tar.gz
cd lame-3.98.4
./configure –enable-nasm –disable-shared
make
sudo checkinstall –pkgname=lame-ffmpeg –pkgversion=”3.98.4″ –backup=no –default
–deldoc=yes

Install libvpx (for VP8 video):

cd
git clone git://review.webmproject.org/libvpx.git
cd libvpx
./configure
make
sudo checkinstall –pkgname=libvpx –pkgversion=”`date +%Y%m%d%H%M`-git” –backup=no
–default –deldoc=yes

Install ffmpeg:

cd
svn checkout svn://svn.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg
cd ffmpeg
./configure –enable-gpl –enable-version3 –enable-nonfree –enable-postproc
–enable-libfaac –enable-libopencore-amrnb –enable-libopencore-amrwb
–enable-libtheora –enable-libvorbis –enable-libx264 –enable-libxvid
–enable-x11grab –enable-libmp3lame –enable-libvpx
make
sudo checkinstall –pkgname=ffmpeg –pkgversion “4:SVN-r`LANG=C svn info |
grep Revision | awk ‘{ print $NF }’`” –backup=no –default –deldoc=yes
hash x264 ffmpeg ffplay

Not: To uninstall:

dpkg -r ffmpeg

Finally, let’s install qt-faststart, so that H.264 video can start playing almost immediately:

cd ~/ffmpeg
make tools/qt-faststart
sudo checkinstall –pkgname=qt-faststart –pkgversion “4:SVN-r`svn info | grep Revision |
awk ‘{ print $NF }’`” –backup=no –default –deldoc=yes install -D -m755
tools/qt-faststart /usr/local/bin/qt-faststart

Note: To uninstall:

dpkg -r qt-faststart

We need MySQL for the databases:

sudo aptitude install mysql-server mysql-client libmysqlclient15-dev

Important: Don’t forget to keep a record of your MySQL root user password! If not, phpMyAdmin will not be able to login later!

One quick Firefox tweak. I prefer Firefox tabs to open at the end (like the used to). Here’s the fix:

Open Firefox
In the address bar type:

about:config

In the “Filter” textbox, type:

browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent

Double click “browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent” that you see under “Preference Name” so that the “Value” says “False”.

Sometimes it helps to be able to record any sound piped through your soundcard, cam, etc.:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:osmoma/rec-applet
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install rec-applet

Install the Apache web server:

sudo aptitude install apache2 apache2-doc apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils libexpat1 ssl-cert

Let’s edit the hosts file, to make it a bit easier for the web server (Apache) to reliably determine the FQDN – So that it won’t use 127.0.0.1:

sudo gedit /etc/hosts

Here is what my hosts file now looks like:

127.0.0.1    localhost
127.0.1.1    asgard
192.168.1.107    asgard.localdomain

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

Restart Apache:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Let’s get some of the plugins we’ll need (ffmpeg-php, for example):

sudo aptitude install libapache2-mod-php5 libapache2-mod-ruby libapache2-mod-python php5 php5-common php5-curl php5-dev php5-gd php5-idn php-pear php5-imagick php5-imap php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-mhash php5-ming php5-mysql php5-pspell php5-recode php5-snmp php5-sqlite php5-tidy php5-xmlrpc php5-xsl php5-ffmpeg php5-json php5-ps

Enable some mods:

sudo a2ensite defaut-ssl
sudo a2enmod ssl
sudo a2enmod rewrite
sudo a2enmod include

We’d like to enable the WebDAV feature:

sudo a2enmod dav_fs
sudo a2enmod dav

Restart Apache:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Let’s get an FTP server working:

sudo aptitude install proftpd ucf menu

Side note: I selected “standalone” for the proftpd installation.

Let’s edit our Apache config (because I noticed that overrides are not working):

sudo gedit /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

Changed it to look like this:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

DocumentRoot /var/www
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride all
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride all
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
<Directory “/usr/lib/cgi-bin”>
AllowOverride all
Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined

Alias /doc/ “/usr/share/doc/”
<Directory “/usr/share/doc/”>
Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride all
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128
</Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Restart apache:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Warning message?

apache2: Could not reliably determine the server’s fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName
… waiting apache2: Could not reliably determine the server’s fully qualified domain name, using 127.0.1.1 for ServerName

Fix:

sudo gedit /etc/apache2/httpd.conf

The page will be empty, add this:

ServerName localhost

Restart Apache

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Now to install phpMyAdmin:

sudo aptitude install phpmyadmin

(Obviously select “apache2″ as the server).

Don’t forget the password you selected!

Now we need to get the databases that were on the old system’s hard drive (only if you need to do something like this). First, make a backup of the current (clean) MySQL:

sudo cp -Rp /var/lib/mysql /home/roger/Downloads/backups-mysql/mysql.backup

Note: To restore…

sudo cp -Rp /home/roger/Downloads/backups-mysql/mysql.backup /var/lib/mysql

I previously zipped, uploaded to an FTP server, and then downloaded the archive to my desktop. Now I want to restore the unzipped databases:

sudo cp -Rp /home/roger/Desktop/MySQL/dirs/mysql /var/lib

Restart MySQl:

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql restart

Sometimes the import of WordPress content (xml files) is over 2MB. Let’s increase this limitation so that we can import larger file:

sudo gedit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Find:

upload_max_filesize = 2M

and change to say:

upload_max_filesize = 20M

Save the edited file and restart Apache:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

I often record screen activity so that clients can see how to do something, or learn about issues of value to them. In particular, it’s most beneficial to be able to use the desktop screen activity, the web cam and the microphone to better explain or demonstrate something. Here’s how I set this up:

sudo aptitude istanbul ubuntu-restricted-extras pavucontrol

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/gtk-recordmydesktop
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install gtk-recordmydesktop

sudo aptitude install subtitleeditor

A simple GUI video converter:

sudo aptitude install winff

Note: RecordMyDesktop (Applications >> Sound & Video >> Desktop Recorder) will record in .ogv format. After installing ffmpeg, the conversion to flv becomes a simple command:

ffmpeg -i input_file.ogv -sameq output_file.flv

The above makes very large file sizes. To keep them smaller (and maintain a balance with quality, try the following command):

ffmpeg -i input_file.ogv -ab 256 -vb 400 output_file.flv

The -sameq flag instructs ffmpeg to keep the same quality as the original.

Enable the 3D editing:

sudo aptitude install blender

Need to edit title features in your OpenShot (installed after this) videos?

sudo aptitude install inkscape

Let’s get a simpler video editor:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonoomph/openshot-edge
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install openshot openshot-doc

Ability to transcode into other formats?

sudo aptitude install arista

Back to the server, let’s enable some remote administrative features:

sudo aptitude -y install perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl libmd5-perl apt-show-versions libapt-pkg-perl

libmd5-perl seems to be missing?

sudo apt-cache policy libmd5-perl reports the package cannot be found. We’ll have to get it from Debian.

I went to Debian’s FTP: http://ftp.debian.org/pool/main/libm/libmd5-perl/

so the command would be:

wget http://ftp.debian.org/pool/main/libm/libmd5-perl/libmd5-perl_2.03-1_all.deb

Now let’s install that package:

sudo dpkg -i libmd5-perl_2.03-1_all.deb

Let’s look for webmin verions:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/webadmin/files/

1.520 is the most recent as of this post. Therefore we should be able to get it via:

wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/webadmin/webmin/1.520/webmin_1.520_all.deb

Now we can install the package:

sudo dpkg -i webmin_1.520_all.deb

Now access the interface via:

https://<domain_name>:10000/ or https://<ip_address>:10000/

Note: The usr and pwd will be the same as your current credentials.

I sometimes work with PHPmotion, and it (unfortunately) requires that phpshield be installed.

First, we need to learn and confirm some information:

PHP version.
Thread Safety should be disabled.
enable_dl should be on (by default it’s normally off).
The path to the extention directory.
The path to php.ini

You can download and use the following file: phpinfo.php.gz (Just extract the phpinfo/php file, upload it to your web server and then call it in a browser).

Here’s what mine looks like:

PHP version = 5.3.2
Thread Safety = Disabled
enable_dl = Off
Extention directory path = /usr/lib/php5/20090626+lfs
Path to php.ini = /etc/php5/apache2

I need to turn “enable_dl” on:

sudo gedit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Find enable_dl Off

and change it to:

enable_dl On

Restart Apache:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Let’s use root credentials:

sudo su

cd /root

Create a directory to download the phpshield loaders:

mkdir phpshield
cd phpshield

From the URL http://phpshield.com/loaders/ I see that I need the Linux 32-bit version as: ixed4.lin.x86-32.zip

wget http://phpshield.com/loaders/ixed4.lin.x86-32.zip

unzip ixed4.lin.x86-32.zip

Several .lin files will be extracted and we need to copy them to our extension directrory.

the ls command showed me there is a version:

ixed.5.3ts.lin
ixed.5.3.lin

5.3 matches the installed 5.3 version of PHP.

cp ~/phpshield/ixed.5.3.lin /usr/lib/php5/20090626+lfs
cp ~/phpshield/ixed.5.3ts.lin /usr/lib/php5/20090626+lfs

We don’t need to be root anymore:

exit

Now we’ll add these extensions to the PHP configuration:

sudo gedit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Under the section that says “Dynamic Extensions”, add the following:

extension=ixed.5.3.lin
extension=ixed.5.3ts.lin

Restart Apache:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

The phpinfo.php file will now display something like the following:

SourceGuardian Loader Support     enabled
SourceGuardian Loader Version     8.2
SourceGuardian Loader Build Number     0×00000011
phpSHIELD Support     enabled

Some administrative features:

sudo aptitude install mysql-admin
sudo aptitude install phpmyadmin

Oops… FTP access is unable to upload files to/var/www. The fix:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www

Ubuntu Dropbox user?

sudo apt-key adv –keyserver pgp.mit.edu –recv-keys 5044912E
sudo aptitude install nautilus-dropbox

Install VLC 1.1.2:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome-media-player-development/development
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install vlc mozilla-plugin-vlc

Install VLMC:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:falk-t-j/lucid-latest
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install vlmc frei0r-plugins

Install GUVCview:

Online communications & chat:

sudo aptitude install xchat-gnome
sudo aptitude install telepathy-sofiasip telepathy-butterfly telepathy-idle libtelepathy-farsight0 python-tpfarsight

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:telepathy/ppa
sudo aptitude update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade # I suppose “apt-get install empathy” works as well

For me at least, the above pretty much gets the job done. Have anything to add…? Feel free to voice your comments!

Update Aug. 14, 2011:

Install QRencode to create QR codes for mobile users:

sudo aptitude install qrencode

“…I have trouble while installing ffmpeg-php, I downloaded the tar file but while executing the make command, I obtain stop, what to do?…”

Well, it’s been a while since I played with fmpeg-php on Ubuntu 8.04, I’ve since (about a year ago, if I remember correctly) installed a 9.04 based Ubuntu LAMP server. I use that server as a local development server for WordPress based sites, video based sites (as well as traditional xhtml sites), etc.

Without too much further (verbose) discussion, here are the commands I used to get this server up and running (on Ubuntu 9.04). It’s still working today, and is a great WordPress and site development environment!

Install your base 9.04 server as is. DO NOT select LAMP server install.

Then start getting the tools and services you need installed…

Video sites will need the flvtool (Yamdi is a Meta Data injector for flv):

sudo aptitude install flvtool2 yamdi

Of course we’ll need a database:

sudo aptitude install mysql-server mysql-client libmysqlclient15-dev

Now we need a web server:

sudo aptitude install apache2 apache2-doc apache2-mpm-prefork apache2-utils libexpat1 ssl-cert

Let’s get some of the plugins we’ll need (ffmpeg-php, for example):

sudo aptitude install libapache2-mod-php5 libapache2-mod-ruby libapache2-mod-python php5 php5-common php5-curl php5-dev php5-gd php5-idn php-pear php5-imagick php5-imap php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-mhash php5-ming php5-mysql php5-pspell php5-recode php5-snmp php5-sqlite php5-tidy php5-xmlrpc php5-xsl php5-ffmpeg php5-json php5-ps

Let’s make sure we enable some mods:

sudo gedit /etc/apache2/mods-available/dir.conf

sudo a2enmod ssl
sudo a2enmod rewrite
# sudo a2enmod suexec
a2enmod include
# sudo a2enmod dav_fs
# sudo a2enmod dav

Save and close dir.conf

Then restart apache2:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

FTP would be nice to install, that way I can work somewhere else and upload the files if I’m not local:

sudo aptitude install proftpd ucf gproftpd
(Install as inetd because we assume only a few connections a day, not high volume, in this scenario, running as inetd will save resources – Remember, this is just for dev work, it’s not a public production server!)

I want phpMyAdmin. Please give me a GUI to create databases and users / permissions, etc.:

sudo aptitude install phpmyadmin

Test server… Overrides are not working. Let’s edit the config:

sudo gedit /etc/apache2/sites-available/default

Ah ha! Default for AllowOverride is set as: none, should be set to: all

File now looks like this:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

DocumentRoot /var/www
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride all
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride all
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /var/www/cgi-bin/
<Directory “/var/www/cgi-bin”>
AllowOverride all
Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined

Alias /doc/ “/usr/share/doc/”
<Directory “/usr/share/doc/”>
Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride all
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128
</Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Okay, we’ll have to reload Apache for the changes to take effect:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

I’m getting a prompt that there is mail in the root mailbox, is there an easy way (for me) to quickly read it:

sudo aptitude install alpine

I want to read the message(s), I need to be root to do this:

sudo su

Start Apline and read messages:

alpine

Drop out of “root” after I’ve read messages and closed Alpine:

exit

Let’s get Ruby:

sudo aptitude install ruby ri rdoc libmysql-ruby ruby1.8-dev irb1.8 libdbd-mysql-perl libdbi-perl libmysql-ruby1.8 libmysqlclient15off libnet-daemon-perl libplrpc-perl libreadline-ruby1.8 libruby1.8 rdoc1.8 ri1.8 ruby1.8 irb libopenssl-ruby libopenssl-ruby1.8 libhtml-template-perl

…and do an upgrade…

sudo aptitude safe-upgrade

Create needed links:

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/gem1.8 /usr/local/bin/gem
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/ruby1.8 /usr/local/bin/ruby
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/rdoc1.8 /usr/local/bin/rdoc
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/ri1.8 /usr/local/bin/ri
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/irb1.8 /usr/local/bin/irb

Time for a Rails:

sudo gem install rails

Oops… access problems, maybe my default (I goofed in a couple edits)…

sudo gedit /etc/apache2/sites-enabled/000-default

File now reads as:

<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost

DocumentRoot /var/www
<Directory />
Options FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride all
</Directory>
<Directory /var/www/>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
AllowOverride all
Order allow,deny
allow from all
</Directory>

ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /var/www/cgi-bin/
<Directory “/var/www/cgi-bin”>
AllowOverride all
Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
</Directory>

ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

# Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
# alert, emerg.
LogLevel warn

CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined

Alias /doc/ “/usr/share/doc/”
<Directory “/usr/share/doc/”>
Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride all
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
Allow from 127.0.0.0/255.0.0.0 ::1/128
</Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Reload httpd:

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Installed a WordPress site, and it’s working. nice!

Granted, the above is a fast rundown, I didn’t get into too much details (as this could easily extend to several pages worth of information). Above all, everyone’s server environment has different needs and tweaks – Experiment, have fun!

The idea for this series was borne out of the excessive questions from clients in my work life. Some have made the switch to Ubuntu, many are interested and some don’t know enough, because they’ve never tried working with a Linux based operating system like Ubuntu.

The two Ubuntu versions I used (in my own business as well as suggest to clients) are:

Ubuntu Server Edition.
The server edition is where various business related packages are installed. Such as print servers, web servers, billing systems, firewalls, and so on.

Ubuntu Desktop Edition.
The desktop edition (also used on laptops) is where various applications are installed and used to access the resources on the server.

Note: The newest Ubuntu version “Lucid” 10.04 is scheduled for release in April of 2010 and will be an LTS (“Long Term Support”) version. At which time, I’d suggest this as the version to use.

For business owners not familiar with Ubuntu, please check the official FAQ found at: http://www.ubuntu.com/aboutus/faq

If you need to purchase support (or other services), that can be obtained by visiting the Ubuntu services from Canonical section of their web site. And to obtain local support, you can again visit the official Ubuntu Ubuntu Marketplace section of their site.

Please make sure you do spend some time reading the material on the official Ubuntu web site as it will provide a valuable resource to this simple introductory post.

To address the most common questions I receive from the business owners I work with, I can sum many of them into one common threaded question “What’s in it for me?”

To answer, the biggest benefit I’ve personally experienced and Ubuntu business users also express is “Reduced ownership costs!”

In general, I find that the following specifics provide business owners with some very tangible points:

Maintenance costs are lower as a result of simpler installation and package management.
Advanced security is provided by regular updates as well more flexible configuration.
Faster and easier updating as a result of superior package management applications.
Saves a lot of money as a result of using free and open source based applications and other packages.
System operation is generally faster and more efficient as there is no bloatware or like packages preinstalled with the desktop version.
Superior reliability in that the server system is a very stable robust. In fact the “2008 Server OS Reliability Survey” states that Ubuntu only had 1.1 hour of per server of downtime per year. That’s incredible!

As I alluded, this series (hopefully) will provide you with the knowledge on how to set up your own business network using Ubuntu, or at the very least, provide you with enough information you can use to discuss with an ubuntu support professional.

Needless to say, your comments, input and suggestions are most welcome!

ACPID: Exiting

NM_SYSTEM_SETTING: SCPlugin-Ifupdown: Devices removed (UDI: /org/freedesktop/hal/devices/net_00_30_1B_BE_38_3D)

[601.136038] CIFS VFS: Server not responding
[601.136085] CIFS VFS: No response for CMD 50 mid 166

Then the system would sit for several seconds before doing anything. This never occurred with my Ubuntu 8.04 system (remembering that I installed and configured the network shares the same way).

Side note: For those not familiar, “VFS” refers to “Virtual File System” (node) and “CIFS” is “Common Internet File System). CIFS VFS is a virtual file system / project for Linux to allow access to servers and storage appliances. More from the documentation I found during research, is found on:  http://linux-cifs.samba.org/

As near as I can surmise, since network-manager is installed, this is probably and issue where scripting for shutting down network-manager has higher priority than umount scripting and / or a permissions issue? A case in point is that the umount command would not work until I used sudo.

XKCD Comic - Make me a sandwich

Initially there were two ways I could fix this:

1) Various forums and site suggest removing network-manager from the system and configuring the network myself. It’s a possibility, but I didn’t want to do that.

2) Use terminal to sudo umount //192.168.3.10/sites && sudo umount //192.168.3.10/stock each time I wanted to restart, shutdown, etc. Again that’s a possible solution, but annoying to keep having to do.

Strangely, Google was not helpful (for me) as there were only a few mentions of this error in returned search results, and I could not glean much from them.

I played with the idea of using a script to automatically run the root based umount command each time, but that became problematic for me (I’m not a developer), as I had trouble getting the script to work properly. I did find a thread on Ubuntu forums, “Cifs not unmounting and causing a problem even on shutdown” but it was removed (this link is to the Wayback Internet Archive, that still, luckily,  had a copy of that content), and finally found another script already written by “max.durden” on the same forum: How to: Automatically umount cifs partitions.

I tried his solution and it worked! Because I’m worried about this thread also disappearing (I’ve encountered missing thread links several times on the forum), here are the steps below…

Download Max’s fix file: mountcifs.zip

Extract the contents and copy the extracted  file (named mountcifs) to the /etc/init.d/ directory (sudo cp mountcifs /etc/init.d/).

Make the file executable with the command sudo chmod +x mountcifs

Hard link that file using his names in the commands he specified in the original post:

cd /etc/rc0.d
sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/mountcifs K02mountcifs

cd /etc/rc6.d
sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/mountcifs K02mountcifs

The above fix works perfectly, no more errors, thanks to “Max” at Ubuntu Forums. It you have any questions about his fix, again, please visit his solution at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=293513 for much, much more information and follow up!

Leave the Num Lock on!

I recently (finally) upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04 (I’ve always had issues with x.10 releases for some reason). Until the upgrade I wanted to remain with the LTS track, but (it seems) less developers are supporting it, hence the move. I’ve performed excessive numbers of installs of Ubuntu and various applications on test boxes, but they (obviously) were not my primary system, it’s important to note this, as ordinarily I did not notice a small annoyance regarding Num Lock. On my updated primary system, I noticed this issue immediately, when I tried to log in.

Here’s the rant… If I set the BIOS in my hardware, to turn on the Num Lock, then I’ve done so for a specific reason! For Ubuntu to keep turning it off when I log out, reboot or start up the PC – That’s just plain annoying. I did a bit of Googling to try and find if the issue is being addressed (I remember fixing it using numlockx, and will get to that shortly), but only found a few threads where developers were discussing the “how tos” and “maybe” of the issue. While I’m not a developer, by any stretch of the imagination, I do know that other OS’s accomplish this feat (of abiding by the BIOS num lock settings). So… Ubuntu, please abide by the BIOS settings (with regards to Num Lock).

However, for those of you who want to ensure the Num Lock is on, we can use the numlockx tool. There’s probably a ton of sites listing this and discussing it at great length, but for ease of reference, here are my notes from the last time I had to fix this issue:

Install numlockx via aptitude –> sudo aptitude install numlockx

Edit your desktop management settings (make SURE up BACKUP any important data you do not want to lose, just in case):

sudo gedit /etc/gdm/Init/Default

Add the following just above the statement (in that file), that says “exit 0″:

if [ -x /usr/bin/numlockx ]; then
/usr/bin/numlockx on
fi

Make sure you manually turn your Num Lock off, log out and log back in.

One thing I found was that during the log in, the Num Lock was on, as soon as I logged in, it turned off again.  Grrrrrrrr…. My Bad! It worked properly on subsequent reeboots.

The Ubuntu Wiki for Jaunty says:

“System –> Administration –> Keyboard & Mouse –> Keyboard –>”turn on Numlock on Startup”

But… It’s not an option (Keyboard & Mouse)  in my Jaunty (which I just installed as a clean install).

Maybe there’ll be a fix for this in 10.04? (I hope so).

Have a better solution? PLEASE let us all know.