Fluxbox Screen Resolution

Now that I have my Fluxbox setup established, I turned my attention to the screen resolution because VirtualBox had it set to low (and didn’t offer any options to increase it). I wanted it the same size as my Windows XP  screen so I could switch between the large desktops and have it fill all of my monitor’s real estate. I know there is a way to modify the xorg.conf file, but I was hoping for something simpler. I found an Ubuntu forum post about using the following method:

/usr/share/applications/ Screen & Graphics (icon)

After you use your file manager to navigate to the applications folder, you click on the Screen & Graphics icon to bring up a  simple GUI. I manually chose a generic LCD that displayed at 1024×768. After I made my selection the system told me I had to reboot or something. I did that and was greeted by my new (larger) screen resolution after I logged in. Sweet!

VirtualBox Guest Additions – Build Essentials

I have been playing with VirtualBox and setting up a minimalist Ubuntu install with the Fluxbox window manager. I did a basic command line install off a live CD, so I ended up with a very small hard drive system foot print – perfect for adding whatever programs I wanted.

I also wanted to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions module to get the cool benefits of the seamless interface and mouse integration. When I tried to do this, I received some error message that the system needed the build and header files for my kernel. I first had to find out what kernel I was running and then I had to get the files. This is how I did it…

In a terminal, I ran the following command which told me I was running kernal 2.6.24-19-generic:

uname -r

I then ran the following command to install the needed files:

sudo aptitude install build-essential kernel-header-2.6.24-19-generic

After the data was downloaded and installed, I tried the Guest Additions again and everything went as smooth as butter. Now I can pop in to and out of my Ubuntu guest with ease.

Fluxbox Wallpaper Flicker

This is a reminder to myself… when setting the wallpaper on a Fluxbox managed Ubuntu system, I need to comment out (#) any line that sets the background to a solid color after my wallpaper line. I kept getting a wallpaper flicker (to black screen) at boot time after I added my image location line to the startup file (/home/ubuntu/.fluxbox/startup) like so:

fbsetbg -f /home/ubuntu/.fluxbox/backgrounds/debian1600.png

After examining my startup file again, I noticed that there was another command a few lines down from my wallpaper location that set the background color to black like so:

/usr/bin/fbsetroot -solid black

This black background line might have been inserted automagically when I tried to load the wallpaper without the proper program to do so. After the system alerted me to this error, I installed the Eterm package that was required and went about adjusting the startup file without really looking at it. It is now fixed and I have purdy wallpaper!

Ubuntu Firefox – No Flash Sound

I recently started playing with the Ubuntu desktop again and really like it. After the install my sound was working fine, but I noticed there was no audio during flash videos (e.g. YouTube, Diggnation, etc.). I started Googling the problem and found that a component was needed to fix the problem. I searched Synaptic for the latest and greatest release of the libflashsupport module, and (after installing it) I was able to enjoy goofy YouTube videos again in all their audio glory!

Lighttpd Versus Apache2

Do you run a LAMP or a LLMP? When I jumped into the server realm I thought that Apache was the natural/right choice to use for my webserver. I found out that this isn’t necessarily true as Apache has some worthy competitors. A very popular one is called lighttpd and it is freely available for download and use. If you run an Ubuntu server like I do, lighttpd is in the repositories and is an easy install/setup.

After reading some blog and forum entries on the Apache versus lighttpd issue, I stumbled across someone who had actually taken the time to speed test different file size transmission rates on both webservers. It turns out that lighttpd can serve pages faster than Apache2. In some cases it was much, much faster. Therefore, I decided to change my LAMP to a LLMP. To accomplish this I had to remove Apache2, install lighttpd, and then configure CGI correctly. As you can see by the following entries, the change was simple and painless for me.

In the terminal, I ran through these four commands:
1) sudo aptitude remove apache2.2-common
2) sudo aptitude install lighttpd
3) sudo lighty-enable-mod cgi
4) sudo /etc/init.d/lighttpd force-reload

If you decide to go this route, you can test to see if lighttpd is now working. All you have to do is open your web browser (hopefully Firefox) and go to your localhost address (http://localhost/). You should see the lighttpd hold page instead of the Apache2 ‘It Works’ page. If so, you are golden! Happy lighttpd serving.

Web Server Tutorial – Part 2

For some crazy reason I decided to resurrect my home web server. I have been playing around with virtualization lately and see how it is wonderful for server management/server consolidation. I just tested out the VMware Server software and it is awesome.

I decided to blog the steps I am going through to set up my live web server so I have it for future reference. It might even help someone else who wants to give this a try. The first step in getting this all going is setting up the VMware server client on a minimal XFCE Ubuntu server installation (to keep it lightweight). Here is how I accomplished this:

Install – Ubuntu Server
1) Download the Ubuntu Server 8.04 edition and burn it to a CD
2) Put it in your PC/server’s optical drive and set the BIOS to boot via CD
3) Install Ubuntu, but only select the SAMBA server software (nothing else)
4) Complete the install, reboot, and login to your system

Terminal – Get Your GUI
1) sudo aptitude update
2) sudo aptitude install xfce4
3) sudo aptitude install firefox-3.0
4) sudo aptitude upgrade
5) startx

The following part of the tutorial was taken/modified from here.

Firefox – Get Serial Number
1) Register and get your free serial number here.

Terminal – VMware Server Needed
1) wget -c http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmserver/VMware-server-1.0.6-91891.tar.gz
2) sudo aptitude install build-essential linux-kernel-devel linux-headers-generic xinetd
3) sudo aptitude install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Terminal – Unpack and Install
1) tar xf VMware-server-1.0.6-91891.tar.gz
2) cd vmware-server-distrib
3) sudo ./vmware-install.pl
4) accept all the defaults (just keep hitting enter)

Terminal – Symbolic Links
1) sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/gcc/i486-linux-gnu/4.2.3/libgcc_s.so /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1
2) sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0

VirtualBox – Ubuntu Server 8.04

I have been playing around with VirtualBox and the Ubuntu Server 8.04 LTS distro for possible web site hosting. Everything installs fine for the Hardy Heron server, but when the reboot comes to get into the new system, I get the following error message:

This kernel requires the following features not present on the CPU: 0:6

I first tried changing the OS Type in VirtualBox’s settings area, but that did not help. I then did some forum searching and finally found an answer that worked. I had to go into the Settings >> General >> Advanced tab. Once there, I checked the ‘Enable PAE/NX’ box in the Extended Features section and tried the virtual machine again. That fixed the error message and my new server sprang to life. Thanks forums!

Xubuntu Lost Desktop Panels

I was playing around with my Xubuntu installation again and somehow managed to make my top and bottom desktop control panels disappear. This was very frustrating as I couldn’t find a simple right click solution to bring them back.

I quick surfed over to the Ubuntu forums and found a two step process to get the Gnome/Ubuntu panels back. I simply changed the Gnome part to XFCE4 and ran the program command and bam – my panels were back. Here is the command in Xubuntu and Ubuntu.

1) In Xubuntu hit the Alt-F2 keys together to bring up the “Run Program” window.

     Now type in the following and click run: xfce4-panel

2) In Ubuntu the process is identical, except you insert gnome instead of xfce4.

     After hitting Alt-F2, type in the following and hit enter: gnome-panel

Stop Ubuntu’s Request for Installation CD

Because Ubuntu keeps the CD as an installation option (by default), it sometimes asks for it when installing software and such. Lifehacker recently listed instructions (derived from FOSSwire) on how to disable this annoyance.

1) In Ubuntu (the normal Gnome version), go to:

     System > Administration > Software Sources

2) In Kubuntu, head to the Adept Manager application, then go to:

     Adept > Manage Repositories

3) In Xubuntu, hit the Applications button on the top panel, then go to:

     System > Software Sources

4) Go to the Third Party Software tab.

     In Ubuntu 7.10, this option is in the “Ubuntu Software” tab.

5) Uncheck any entries starting with “cdrom,” then reload software lists if prompted.

Printer Setup in Xubuntu

Now that I have been using Xubuntu for a couple days I decided that I wanted to print a few PDFs I had created. I realized I had no idea how to connect to a network printer that is attached to a Windows XP machine. After some Ubuntu forum searching I discovered that I needed to use SAMBA. Lucky enough it appears that this software is already loaded in the 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon Xubuntu release – sweet!

After some Google searching I came across and article on how to add a new network printer in Xubuntu/Ubuntu. It seemed simple enough. I ran through the wizard and discovered that my particular model didn’t have a driver in Xubuntu. After some more searching I found a linux driver for my Canon PIXMA MP210 on the Australian Canon website (at least I think that is where I ended up).

After I read the directions on how to get my new driver installed (thanks to another website’s instructions), I was up and printing. After doing some post installation searching on this issue, I discovered that the Ubuntu Screencast website has a tutorial on how to set up a printer using different methods. Why couldn’t I have found this earlier! Oh well – at least I had a grand web adventure.

One thing I want to try is using the generic PostScript driver that the screencast video mentioned. It seems a lot easier than the route I took and my printer should be PostScript compatible. At least with my method I also found the scanner driver for my all-in-one printer model. I think I will tackle that at a later date though.