Ubuntu Linux Help

“… gorgeous fembots…” ha ha ha…

(Suddenly I’m being sent YouTube vids… Que Passa?)

A friend just sent a link to a cool YouTube video showing the world record for downloading and Ubuntu CD. I must say, after watching this I thought “Wow… can we get some of this bandwidth love!?” This is and incredible speed, check out the YouTube video embeded below:

This is an insane speed. According to the YouTube stats, as of the writing of this post, the video has 4,526,139 views, seems Ubuntu popularity is on the rise?

Clicking the info link (in YouTube), I learned that this is via Usenet and there’s a download for the software BUT… I found out it’s for pay (and I don’t know if there’s a Linux version). So sorry peoples, I’m not signing up.

The point of this post? I just wanted to share the video sent to me, because the speed was so amazingly fast!!

One of the people who switched to Ubuntu Linux recently, phoned me asking what kind of antivirus they should have installed. Quite frankly, I’ve never given that a thought. I’ve used Ubuntu for some time and have never had any virus issues, ever. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that Linux is impervious to a computer virus, rather I’m suggesting that (currently) it’s not an issue. As a matter of fact, I did a bit of research and found out that there are viruses, worms and malware that effect our Linux based systems.

Needless to say, my original answer to this individual saying “I don’t think we need to worry too much about that”, was perhaps not the most accurate perception. Just look at these links which clearly list some of the nasties that can effect our Linux systems (and took less that 1 minute to find):

Viruses and Worms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_computer_viruses#Worms
Malware: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware
Viruses: http://vx.netlux.org/ (http://vx.netlux.org/vl.php)

Needless to say, I’ve since installed antivirus on my Ubuntu system. Partly because of what I’ve learned in research and partly for ethical reasons. Imagine if an email sent to you contains a nasty Windows-based virus. Well… not being Windows based, I couldn’t care less, but if I forward a message that contains that payload to a windows user, he or she is not going to be happy (and in my opinion rightfully so). A couple others who are Linux users disagree with me saying, it’s up to everyone to protect their own systems. Personally, I think that perception is a band aid solution (and not very ethical). Think of it this way, if someone surreptitiously installed software on your system to participate in DDoS, would that be okay, as long as it did not effect you? Of course not! So the same ethics should apply to preventing our “safer” systems form forwarding on viruses and other negative payloads. The point is, if you have a computer virus, you don’t pass it around. But what’s a quick fix?

After Googling around a bit, I learned that AVG has a good antivirus of Linux. (And there are many others). I picked AVG simply because it was easy to find and subsequently, easy to install.

The download link for the Linux version is here: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/us/frt/0?prd=afl Ubuntu users should select the .deb version (currently 7.5.51). Save that to your system, perhaps the desktop. (I did this using Ubuntu Feisty, 7.10). After the download has completed, it’s a simple matter to just double-click the .deb file (in my case it’s called “avg75fld-r51-a1243.i386.deb”).

The package installer will begin (and ask for your password). The install is seamless, it’ll do everything for you.

To use the antivirus, you’ll find a new icon here: Applications –> Accessories –> AVG for Linux Workstation. Simply click on that and follow along. Very easy, and only took a few minutes to do.

For those newer to Linux, or those looking for a quick antivirus solution, I hope this post was helpful!

Did I read that title correctly? Yup!

There actually is a guide that allows XP users to make their box look like Ubuntu. Imagine that! While us Ubuntu users use the real thing, some Windows users are still stuck in that “theme” mode. (And I mean that in a humourous way!!)

A few lot of my friends are still XP users and I call them “Windows Weenies” as I’ve inherited the “Linux Geek” name. Jokes aside, I was very surprised when one of them sent me a link showing how XP users can mod their systems to look like Ubuntu. Of course, Me thinks tis better to use the genuine thing: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download no?

For XP (and other version) users, if you need some of your Windows based applications, you can always use Wine: http://www.winehq.org/ and check compatibility of software here: http://appdb.winehq.org/

Here is part of that moding article:

“People like to modify their OS for self satisfaction. Here are the ways Ubuntu fans can get the Ubuntu mood in their Windows XP based desktop.

Firstly, if you haven’t patch your uxtheme.dll file to enable non-Microsoft release visual style to be loaded in Windows XP, get the patch by Windows X at Softpedia . Run the file, follow the instructions, install, and reboot your computer.

Once you’ve done that, download Ubuntu Visual Style made by FioreSSJ for Windows XP at DeviantArt. Copy appropriate files in the zip file to appropriate folder. As examples:

• Files in Wallpaper folder to C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper..
• Files in Cursor folder to C:\Windows\Cursors..
• Files in Fonts folder to C:\Windows\Fonts..

and the rest to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\Ubuntu (create this ‘Ubuntu’ folder yourself)…”

To get the full story and instructions, you’ll have to read the complete guide here: http://www.bloganything.net/871/make-windows-xp-looks-like-ubuntu

Needless to say, I never expected to come across something like this, but it worthwhile, interesting and BlogAnything.net V2 posted a great mod. Good job!

This is just short, quick post for some for the dial-up users who have asked about downloading Ubuntu CD images. I appreciate that it’s not often feasible to download an image via a dial-up connection. Ubuntu themselves have one fix for that issue: https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

ShipIt will allow you to request that a CD, and it will be mailed to you at now cost. Sometimes it can take up to 10 weeks, but I’ve often got them faster than 10 weeks. For individuals that cannot wait that long (6-10 weeks), I can burn a CD and send it to you (usually within 2-3 days), providing that you pay for postage and the cost of the CD media. If that is a solution, please use the contact page  to request it. I checked with the licensing and that is legal to do, unless Canonical Ltd. says otherwise. More info here: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/shipit-faq

Or… even better, get a local person (friend) to download and burn the image for you. That’s way faster and probably cheaper (if you don’t want to wait for the CD).

While this post may not be 100% Ubuntu Linux related, I thought it might help some of you who are having problems with sites hot linking to your content. I’ve spent the last couple days trying to clean up some problems with my blog, and still have a way to go. In the process, I found out that Circuit City is hot linking to my original content. Imagine how I was surprised when I searched through all my web stats to find out that they have been doing this for some time. That’s right… they are stealing bandwidth.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe for one minute that this is an accepted practice from their management. I don’t think their corporate offices or management team would approve, but the point is, someone is doing it and managers are not following up. What’s all the fuss you ask? Well… Like many others, I have to pay for my server, which includes the bandwidth. If someone wanted to use your cell phone to make calls for their business (or personal use), and use up a lot of your minutes, would you let them? Of course not!

The specific URL doing the hotlinking is: http://internalforum.circuitcity.com/index.php and they are linking to: /the-simple-way-to-get-51-surround-sound-audio-working-in-ubuntu/

I checked and the IP address of their link is: 12.26.69.60

When I visit the site, I see it is a private login area for Circuit City personnel, therefore I assume they are hotlinking stealing bandwidth for use by their support personnel? I’m not certain, but it’s just a guess as to what they are using it for. If they wanted to use my content, they could have asked and I would have been flattered. But I’m on a tight budget and every penny counts, so stealing my bandwidth is just not cool.

I would never have realized this if I had not (taken my blog back to rebuild and) looked at the statistics (Awstats) and logs. While doing this, I bumped into the internalforum.circuitcity.com hotlinkers. A couple days ago I had to remove a very large number of IP address ranges that were being blocked (when I found out a lot of people were unable to view my blog). I wonder if I could use .htaccess to redirect the hotlinkers?

Googling found this for me: http://perishablepress.com/press/2006/01/10/stupid-htaccess-tricks/#sec10 and I wanted to share this because I think quite a few people in the community might find this information helpful.

Following the directions I created an entry like this:

# redirect any request for anything from circuitcity
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} ^http://.*circuitcity.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule .* http://internalforum.circuitcity.com/index.php [R]

Which should send the hotlinker’s requests to their own url and get a 404 error.

Edit the existing .htaccess (or create a new one) in the public root of your web server (commonly “public_html”).

This should work! I hope these resources (above) help some of you!