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BostonPeng on Open in Firefox … from…
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Phil_M on Has wicd gone stupid? There…Posts Tagged ‘update’
Ubuntu Tweak, and it’s website, get a major upgrade
Posted by BostonPeng on 11 January 2010
[Updated 13 January to give good news on the UTweak website annoyance. -Peng]
Today I fired up the Update Manager and found that Ubuntu Tweak has been updated to version 0.5.0. Among the changes included is the use of all system-native icons (meaning that instead of seeing icons from Ubuntu Tweak it now uses the icons in your current theme wherever possible), a redesign of the sidebar and titlebar, only showing the sections that your system can use, and the ability to do online syncs with the application center.
For all the new features, as well as a bunch of screenshots, just check out the release announcement on the Ubuntu Tweak blog.
Speaking of the UTweak blog and website, it turns out that they marked the new year with a redesigned website. You can now register with the site itself, which will let you use not only the program but also their website, and use the combination as an even bigger software resource.
There is one slight problem with the new website. It turns out that if your browser window is narrower than 957 pixels the site will be centered in your website with no way to see the content on the left side of the screen. I’ve already let TualatriX know about the problem so hopefully we can get it resolved before long. In the meantime you’ll have to either make your browser wider or simply take it full screen. yes, it can be annoying, but you’re users of Ubuntu Linux so I know you can handle it. 
Updated 13 January 10:00am: I just got an email from TualatriX informing me that the website width issue has been fixed. Sure enough, you no longer need to set your browser window to full screen to see all the content. Thanks for the quick work on fixing the issue, TualatriX!
If you’re already a Ubuntu Tweak user you’ll love the update. If you use Ubuntu 9.10 you definitely owe Ubuntu Tweak a look. It’s that good.
Posted in GNU/Linux, Open Source, Ubuntu | Tagged: Ubuntu Tweak, update | 2 Comments »
Peng’s links for Saturday, 14 November
Posted by BostonPeng on 14 November 2009
That’s right, I’m finally getting another links post written. I’m sorry it took so long. I’ve been trying to run down some bugs, and when I haven’t been on bug hunts things have been simply crazy here in Boston.
I’ve got a couple of things from early this month, but I ended up dropping some of the article I noticed last month because they’re just to old to post. I promise to try to do better and do what I can to get at least a post on every week.
Martin Owens, Karmic Art, What the Paintbrush is Saying. Martin has found some great Ubuntu-themed artwork on deviantArt. Check them out, and if you have any you’ve created why not share them as well? Risto H. Kurppa: Smile – a great photo show software for Linux. Not only is it easy to use, it gives some damned nice results. Miguel de Icaza: The future of Moonlight. Miguel has some updates for us, although it isn’t a software update just yet. If you think you even might want to enjoy Silverlight content Miguel has some good news for you. Aurélien Jarno: Thought of the day. It’s a short post, but if you want to see a new feature in a software app you should take the time to read it. Colin Watson: Tissue of lies. Some knucklehead has posted that there will be a service pack for Ubuntu 9.10 in this coming spring. (Ubuntu releases new versions every six months, not service packs.) I’m passing it along, not to give the asshat more “ink” but to make sure our readers know it’s just a bunch of malarkey.
That’s it for today. Before I go I want to congratulate Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp and second baseman Orlando “O-Dawg” Hudson on winning Gold Glove Awards this week. Congrats also go out to outfielders Kemp and Andre Ethier for receiving Silver Slugger Awards this week. I have to wonder if Juan Pierre would be getting honored if only Manny hadn’t been the team’s primary right fielder this year. There are still some awards to be handed out this week so hopefully we’ll have more good news for Chavez Ravine before the month is out.
Posted in GNU/Linux, Open Source, Tech, Ubuntu | Tagged: artwork, backups. GNOME, games, gbrainy, graphics, karmic, Moonlight, Silverlight, testing, Ubuntu, update | 4 Comments »
Have you gotten your koala yet?
Posted by BostonPeng on 30 October 2009
The bad news is that everyone and their brother (or sister) seems to be either trying to get the disk image to burn or trying to perform the upgrade. Randy Cole posted a comment on the Mass. Ubuntu Local Community maillist that the upgrade script being used is “extremely inefficient.” But as Paul Smith points out in his response, “Probably your better bet is just to wait a week or so. Then it won’t be so bad.”
If you’re finding that downloading the disk image seems to be flowing through molasses, it’s because the download servers are getting hammered on all fronts. You may want to try the download via BitTorrent if you can. I’m hearing that torrent downloads are going pretty fast as people have finished their download and making it available to others via torrents, in fact Randy posted a response to Paul’s advice and pointed out that he got the got the ISO in about an hour from torrents. Yes, Virginia, there are files being shared via torrents that are perfectly legitimate. Go figure, eh?
If you’re not sure if you want to take the time to even download an ISO file your can burn to test out the latest version of Ubuntu, you may want to take the tour of all of the features and benefits that Ubuntu 9.10 brings to the table.
Once you get Ubuntu 9.10 installed you will want to check out an article by Danny Piccirillo, another member of the Mass. Ubuntu LoCo Team, Top things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux 9.10 Karmic Koala. It’s filled with great advice, in fact I plan on going through it once I finish checking my email to see if there’s anything I missed in the past week and a half of using the beta.
Posted in GNU/Linux, Tech, Ubuntu | Tagged: download, karmic, torrents, Ubuntu, update, upgrade | Leave a Comment »
A pair of Jaunty fixes, and an AWN update
Posted by BostonPeng on 4 June 2009
There are a pair of bugs that popped up when I upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope, or should I say one popped up when I made the upgrade and the other sems to have popped up in the last several days, but I’m glad to be able to say that I have found fixes for both of them thanks to the Ubunutu community.
You may recall that I mentioned that pympd stopped working when I made the upgrade, and yesterday threespacemen posted a great solution to my thread on the Ubuntu Forums about the issue.
Same thing happened to me on two different boxes after the upgrade to 9.04 – looks like a python upgrade might have been the issue. If you open /usr/bin/pympd in your favourite editor, you’ll see that the first line reads:
#!/usr/bin/python2.5
Change the 2.5 to 2.6 so that it reads:
#!/usr/bin/python2.6
Worked perfectly for me, but ymmv…
It worked beautifully for me and I now have mypd available as an MPD GUI in addition to Relaxx and my all time fav, Sonata.
What the hell broke Frostwire?
Several days ago I tried to fire up FrostWire to do a little downloading but for some reason it resulted in errors. I have no idea what changed on my system other than some updates I’ve taken, but I don’t know which one caused the issue. All I know for sure is that FrostWire could no longer see my Java installation anymore. Luckily I found the FrostWire docs on the Ubuntu Community Documentation site, and sure enough the first thing on that page talks about an invalid JRE message. All I had to do was to run sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-6-sun in a terminal and select the alternative that matches the installation of Sun’s Java that I have installed.
:~$ sudo update-alternatives --config java
[sudo] password for peng2:
There are 5 alternatives which provide `java'.
Selection   Alternative
-----------------------------------------------
*+Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 1Â Â Â /usr/lib/jvm/java-gcj/jre/bin/java
2Â Â Â /usr/bin/gij-4.2
3Â Â Â /usr/bin/gij-4.3
4Â Â Â /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun/jre/bin/java
5Â Â Â /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java
Press enter to keep the default[*], or type selection number: 5
Using '/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java' to provide 'java'.
:~$
Once I did that I was able to fire up FrostWire and get back to the downloading I needed to do.
We have a progress report on AWN 0.4
Today when I was checking for new posts on the Avant Window Navigator Forums I saw a new thread from Mark Lee (aka malept) that includes a link to an update on the current progress on AWN 0.4, along with a video. For all of you who have been wanting to move the AWN dock to the sides of your desktop, you’ll love what Mark’s video shows.
As a matter of fact, the video is so good I’ll provide it for you here, although you’ll want to read his post for some information that the vid doesn’t include.
He also has a link to Moonbeam’s update post, but he does include the highlights for those who only want to read a single post. Both malept and Moonbeam rock, and one day I’m going to have to buy both of them several brews a piece.
Posted in Open Source, Tech, Ubuntu | Tagged: AWN, bugs, FrostWire, MPD, pympd, update, video | Leave a Comment »
Peng’s links for Sunday, 22 Mar
Posted by BostonPeng on 22 March 2009
As much as I tried to stay on top of my feeds this week I still end up with 25 items in my ToBlog folder. 
Luckily I’m going to cull out some of the older ones as well as a few things that aren’t so post-worthy at this point. But I have a great (OT) vid to share with y’all at the end.
Jon Beebe: Top 10 Reasons I’ll Never Use Ubuntu. Yes, it’s from a Linux guy, but it’s a great tongue-in-cheek list. Srinivasa Ragavan: Announcing ‘Anjal’- the new mail for netbooks. If you use a netbook you should definitely check out Anjal for your email client. Stefano Forenza: Chinese MID deploying Ubuntu by default. Speaking of netbooks, I may have to find a way to get one of these. Not only do they run my fav OS, but they’re pretty darned inexpensive as well. Stefano Forenze: New wallpapers for Jaunty. Don’t hold your breath. I’m liking how some of them look, although I know they won’t be everyone’s cup of espresso. Wouter Verhelst: Dealing with apt’s GPG signing stuff — the right way. If you use third party sources for installing and updating your GNU/Linux you know about adding GPG signing keys. Wouter has instructions for adding them in a way that doesn’t inject a security flaw, and that defeats the purpose of importing a GPG key in the first place. Jose Carlos Garcia Sogo: Is ext4 unsafe? The next update to Ubuntu will add support for ext4 partitions, and lately people have been talking about security concerns with ext4. Luckily Jose has info to set your mind at ease. Josselin Mouette: Which logo for the main GNOME menu in Debian? I could have skipped this post from Friday, but the “swirl foot” icons are so cute I may have to grab them for my own system.
I had a few other links I was going to share with y’all, but I think that’s enough for a weekend. If you’re in need of a good laugh (and some of your NCAA brackets may be in the toilet by now from what I’m hearing), check out this vid. As much as I try not to laugh at what happens to the poor feline I just can’t help myself.
Posted in Entertainment, GNU/Linux, Open Source, Ubuntu | Tagged: Ext4, GNOME, GNOME Do, Google Earth, GPG, HP, humor, jaunty, Microsoft, netbooks, Ubuntu 9.04, update, upgrade, wallpapers | 1 Comment »
Peng’s links for Monday, 22 December
Posted by BostonPeng on 22 December 2008
[Sis? Why is your name showing up as the author of this post? I'm pretty sure I'm the one who wrote it. - Peng]
Yes, I’m still alive. Just busy over the last few days do I’ve collected a bunch of links I’d like to share with our readers.
I’ve got more links to share, as well as a response to a post by Jono Bacon, but they will have to wait until tomorrow as my time’s getting short. I don’t know why we’re getting so much traffic today (over a thousand hits today after usually staying in the 300-400 range), but if you’re new to our little blog then welcome! I hope Nanci and I have some content that will give you reasons to visit us again.
Posted in GNU/Linux, Mozilla, Open Source, Tech, Ubuntu | Tagged: Chrismukkuh, desktop environment, Exaile, Firefox 2, Flash, GNU/Linux, Nautilus, promotion, shortcuts, update, VLC | 2 Comments »
Are you getting a weird error when you try to update your package indexes?
Posted by BostonPeng on 3 December 2008
Yesterday I started getting a weird error message when I tried to check for updates using Update Manager.
That text box with the horizontal scroll bar says
Method gave invalid 400 URI Failure messageMethod gave invalid 400 URI Failure message
If I were to run sudo apt-get update I end up with this cryptic message:
E: Method gave invalid 400 URI Failure message
E: Method gave invalid 400 URI Failure message
I’ll say it: The hell?!? There’s absolutely zarro info to try to track down the problem, but this morning I did a search on Uboontu and found the culprit, thanks to a comment by sloggerkhan on this post. Back in Spetpember I told you about the new Playdeb repo from the good folks at GetDeb.net, one of the best places to find software, especially updates, that hasn’t made its way into your OS’s official repositories yet. Evidently the PlayDeb repo goes stupid from time to time and can kick back a 400 error. Just go into your sources.list and comment out the PlayDeb repo, or go into System > Administration > Software Sources and uncheck the box next to your PlayDeb listing. Then update your indexes and you will be able to find updates that have been waiting for you. Today I found updates for Avant Window Navigator (AWN) that I heard were coming and even an update for the GlobalMenu that I was just wondering yesterday how long it would be before I saw it. Just remember, you don’t have to close AWN and GlobalMenu before you start the update process (this ain’t Windows, after all) but you won’t see the changes untill you close and restart them, which means at leats logging out and then back in again to see the update in the GlobalMenu.
Posted in GNU/Linux, Ubuntu | Tagged: 400, error, playdeb, update | 1 Comment »
I knew I was forgetting a change. Main Menu got updated in Intrepid, too
Posted by BostonPeng on 26 October 2008
I knew there was another change in Ubuntu Intrepid I wanted to blog, and it wasn’t until I was checking an Ubuntu Forums question about Google Earth not launching did I remember what it was. The Main Menu applet, the window that lets you modify the main application menus in Ubuntu, also got a very nice change. If you’ve used it at all in the past you know that if you want to delete or modify an existing menu item you had to right click it and select an option from the context menu. Not anymore.
Now there are Properties and Delete buttons right on the right hand side of the window so you won’t have to hunt down how to make changes.
Posted in Open Source, Ubuntu | Tagged: Intrepid, Ubuntu, update | Comments Off
OpenOffice.org 3 is here!
Posted by BostonPeng on 17 October 2008
OpenOffice.org, the open source productivity suite that keeps many of us from having to shell out so much dough for Microsoft Office (or have to run it under WINE) released version 3 of their software on Monday. I would have blogged it sooner (before Wednesday) but I had been having some issues with the spreadsheet component in the beta versions, but once I got the final version everything works like a champ.
The changes are obvious even from the moment the splash screen pops up, and there are also a new start screen, new icons, and a boatload of improvements. Among them are
I’ve been using Writer to work on some software documentation and it’s even easier to use than the previous version, and while I hadn’t been able to work on a spreadsheet while beta testing OOo3 I can now say that it was definitely worth waiting for, not just in the better graphics but also in just plain being easier to use.
OSX users can rejoice in finally having OpenOffice.org as a native program, without having to run it in a compatibility mode. With Microsoft admitting that MS Office/Mac isn’t nearly as nice as it is for Windows users they may find they’re losing even more market share to the FOSS upstarts.
There are even more extensions available than version 2 had and I’m looking forward to taking some time to see what new and improved goodies are available.
You can read the official release announcement, release notes and a guide to all the new features, and you can download the latest version for yourself.
Tombuntu has info on how to install it in Ubuntu Hardy and Intrepid, but it won’t be available by default in Ubuntu Intrepid. Granted, if you follow Tom’s innstructions you’ll still have to create launchers for OOo 3, but if you uninstall the older version of OpenOffice.org (Tom shows you how) you can install the Desktop Integraton package included in the installer and it will create menu items for you.
Posted in GNU/Linux, Open Source, Tech, Ubuntu | Tagged: Hardy, Intrepid, Microsoft, Office, OpenOffice.org, OSX, presentations, productivity, spreadsheet, Ubuntu, update, word processor | Leave a Comment »
Peng’s links for Thursday, 9 October
Posted by BostonPeng on 9 October 2008
You’d think that with the Dodgers sweeping the Phillies Cubbies so early that I’d have more time to do blog posts. I’m still not sure where the last three days have gone, but I do have a few links for you.
I have news of an update to a favored program, but there’s a slight glitch in one file. The bug was reported and resolved, but until it makes the PPA archive so we can easily grab it I’m going to make you wait to see which app it is. Trust me, it will be worth the wait.
In the meantime, I trust at least some of you will be catching game one of the NLCS tonight. I plan on obeying a wallpaper I made for at least the next week or so.
Posted in GNU/Linux, Open Source, Tech, Ubuntu | Tagged: Google, Open Source, Picasa, update, Veza | Leave a Comment »
