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It has been reported here that this file (/var/log/installer/cdebconf/questions.dat ) contains all the installation logs and included in the file are the default user and root passwords created in the install process in clear text. Can anyone check this out and see if it works? I’m running Dapper and it seems the bug is gone.

[tags]Ubuntu, root password, bug, exploit[/tags]

In case no one noticed, Dapper Flight 5 was released today. For what I read about it, it seemed stable enough for me to install it, but then again “appearances can deceive”. Every time I install an Ubuntu version, something happens, not quite the 1-2-3 install that I would like it to be, but then again, this is where the fun is.

Anyway, I installed Dapper in my Linux test box, an old Compaq Proliant ML350, with dual Pentium 3 at 800 Mhz. If you computer is as old as mine is you’re in for a surprise. The install (or any other of the images in the cd) doesn’t boot. An error message is shown:

[4294669.209000] ..MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC

And then it freezes. My guess was that the freezing happened because of some bug in the Kernel. In Hoary the same message was shown at boot time but no freezing occurred. I then added the “noapic nolapic” parameters at boot time and it booted / installed perfectly. After the install you’ll have to add the “noapic nolapic” parameters in /boot/grub/menu.lst or it will freeze again.

[tags]Ubuntu, Dapper, Dapper Flight 5, Linux, APIC[/tags]

Portugal could use a place like this!

More photos here.

[tags]Linuxcafee, Linux[/tags]

Is out. Get it here.

[tags]Gaim, messenger, Linux[/tags]

I updated my Ubuntu box today. Everything went smooth until I noticed that the system was slower. My 686 SMP kernel was replaced by a 386. 😐 Being used to surprises like this one with the Ubuntu updates, I downloaded and installed the lastest SMP kernel. After installation, the darn thing booted up slower than a snail… One way to fix this is to add “idle=halt” in the kernel boot options ( gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst ). This happens because of a bug in the ACPI CPU power states and affects HT processors as well as dual processor systems.

[tags]Ubuntu, SMP, Kernel, dual processor, HT[/tags]

I just ditched Google Reader and installed a personal web based RSS/RDF/ATOM reader / aggregator named Gregarius.

Gregarius runs on Apache/PHP/MySQL or SQLite and it’s great. Simple and functional as every web 2.0 app should be, it provides AJAX powered item tagging, categories, folders, filters, full text search, support for themes and plugins and a flexible configuration interface.

Forget about other subscription web based rss readers, with Gregarius you can keep your feeds always updated and independent for others. And forget about privacy issues, with this solution no one will know what you’re reading.

[tags]Gregarius, RSS, AJAX, Google Reader, Web 2.0, Apache, PHP, MySQL, SQLite[/tags]

Last week in my quest for something near a Linux / Unix environment I mentioned the UnxUtils and Cygnwin. Today I found out that AT&T RnD department has this cool Unix package that allows UNIX applications to be built and run on Win32 platforms.

UWIN has a set of libraries that emulate a UNIX environment using the UNIX API and includes the Korn Shell as well as other known GNU utilities (like ls, sed, tail, etc…).

I’m testing this package later on, and compare it to the other 2 solutions I have installed on my windows box.

[tags]Unix, Linux, UnxUtils, Cygnwin, UWIN, GNU[/tags]

Dunno wich Linux distrib is the best for you? Check the Linux Distribution Chooser.

Speaking about Linux, In my daily basis I’ve been blessed to work with Window$ at full time. Sometimes I have to retrieve and edit information from several text files and logs in order to troubleshoot problems that occurr. Not having a single Linux box in our network (except the proxy), I was in need to find utilities like tail, grep and other gnu/linux utils that worked in win32. I could install Cygwin, but I rather have something native instead of an emulated environment, so I installed UnxUtils – native Win32 ports of the GNU utilities I was looking for. It works like a charm!

Other app that I call essential is UltraEdit 32. Although it’s paid software, UltraEdit has great feautures.

Skipping to another topic: Reading.

I would like to share with you two excelent pieces of tech literature. One is a free book on Asterisk provided by OReilly , the other is a tutorial on Subnets.

[tags]Linux, Windows, GNU, grep, tail, Cygnwin, UltraEdit32, Asterisk, Subnet[/tags]

A few weeks ago I gave [tag]Ubuntu[/tag] another chance. The update bug was corrected and now I could enjoy my Ubuntu box without losing too much time with bugs. My ULAMP (the U is from Ubuntu) box was now ready to work, the only thing missing was the remote access. I installed [tag]SSH[/tag] and explored the [tag]Remote Desktop[/tag] feature that comes with Ubuntu. [tag]VNC[/tag] based, worked well, fast and functional, but when you logoff there’s no more Remote Desktop available. I needed VNC available from the login screen, or [tag]GDM[/tag] in Gnome/Ubuntu. So here’s a quick how to:

First, disable Desktop Sharing under System -> Preferences -> Remote Desktop.

Now install x11vnc, you can do this with [tag]apt-get[/tag] or [tag]Synaptics[/tag], this package is available in the Community Maintained (Universe) repository.

Now with [tag]x11vnc[/tag] installed, you will need to create a password file:

sudo x11vnc -storepasswd yourpasswordhere /etc/x11vnc.pass

Then configure GDM to run x11vnc when at loading time:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/gdm/Init/Default

and this line to the file:

/usr/bin/x11vnc -rfbauth /etc/x11vnc.pass -o /tmp/x11vnc.log -forever -bg -rfbport 5900

(you can change the port and other parameters)

So far so good, but if you restart your pc at this stage you’ll only be able to login, then the GDM will kill your session. To avoid this we must change another file:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf

now search for this line :

#KillInitClients=true

And change it to this:

KillInitClients=false

Restart you PC and now you have VNC at login time. 🙂

[Usability] Re: [Desktop_architects] Printing dialog and GNOME

——————————————————————————–

From: [tag]Linus Torvalds[/tag]
To: Till Kamppeter
Cc: usability gnome org, jody gnome org, mclasen redhat com, desktop_architects lists osdl org
Subject: [Usability] Re: [Desktop_architects] Printing dialog and [tag]GNOME[/tag]
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:46:21 -0800 (PST)

——————————————————————————–

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005, Till Kamppeter wrote:
>
> Frederic told that the options from the PPD file are intentionally mot
> listed in the printing dialog, the usability team of GNOME was against
> listing these options. They clutter the dialog and can be more confusing
> than useful to the user.

I personally just encourage people to switch to [tag]KDE[/tag].

This “users are idiots, and are confused by functionality” mentality of
Gnome is a disease. If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will
use it. I don’t use Gnome, because in striving to be simple, it has long
since reached the point where it simply doesn’t do what I need it to do.

Please, just tell people to use KDE.

Linus

and

[Usability] Re: [Desktop_architects] Printing dialog and GNOME

——————————————————————————–

From: Linus Torvalds
To: Jeff Waugh
Cc: usability gnome org, desktop_architects lists osdl org
Subject: [Usability] Re: [Desktop_architects] Printing dialog and GNOME
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:35:58 -0800 (PST)

——————————————————————————–

On Tue, 13 Dec 2005, Jeff Waugh wrote:
>
> That’s definitely not a point of view of the GNOME Project – we’re focused
> on making Free Software appropriate for users who are smart (we don’t talk
> about ‘dumb users’), but just don’t care about computing technology. We’re
> just like every other Free Software project – fixing stuff requires the work
> and attention of people who care about the problem at hand.

No. I’ve talked to people, and often your “fixes” are actually removing
capabilities that you had, because they were “too confusing to the user”.

That’s _not_ like any other open source project I know about. Gnome seems
to be developed by interface nazis, where consistently the excuse for not
doign something is not “it’s too complicated to do”, but “it would confuse
users”.

The current example of “intentionally not listed in the printing dialog,
the usability team of GNOME was against listing these options.” is clearly
not the exception, but the rule.

Jeff, if the explanation had been “exposing PPD features is too hard, we
need developer manpower”, I’d have understood. THAT is what open source
projects tend to say. Not “powerful interfaces might confuse users and not
look nice”.

If this was a one-off, I’d buy it. But I’ve heard it too damn many times.
And only ever from Gnome.

The reason I don’t use Gnome: every single other window manager I know of
is very powerfully extensible, where you can switch actions to different
mouse buttons. Guess which one is not, because it might confuse the poor
users? Here’s a hint: it’s not the small and fast one.

And when I tell people that, they tend to nod, and have some story of
their own why they had a feature they used to use, but it was removed
because it might have been confusing.

Same with the file dialog. Apparently it’s too “confusing” to let users
just type the filename. So gnome forces you to do the icon selection
thing, never mind that it’s a million times slower.

Linus

You can find the entries here and here.