Max says…

As I continue my journey toward migrating to Linux for full time desktop use there are a few applications that I miss, and I can’t always find suitable open source alternatives. One of those applications is iTunes. From reading forum posts and other articles on the web the consensus tends toward either Rhythmbox or Banshee. [Read more]

• Linux

There seem to be a number of bugs related to video playback while compiz desktop effects are enabled, specifically on systems using the Intel 965GM chipset.  If desktop effects are enabled, any attempts to play video files result in the player closing.

This problem can be resolved by setting the output module for your player of choice to X11.  In VLC, goto Settings->Preferences->Video->Output Modules.  Check the “Advanced Options” box.  Select “X11 video output” from the drop down box and save the changes.

• Linux

I recently tried to get compiz working on my laptop; a Toshiba u300 running Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy Gibbon”. The Toshiba U300 uses the Intel 965GM chipset which doesn’t seem to be compatible with compiz. After some digging I discovered a repository that contains a modified xorg-xserver-video-intel package. This combined with the 915resolution package allowed me ues the native 1280 * 800 resolution, and enable compiz desktop effects.

# as root / sudo

echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kyle/ubuntu gutsy main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list"

apt-get update

apt-get upgrade

apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-intel

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

One reboot later and all was well.

• Linux

A simple shell script that can be used to run a diff between local and remote files using scp.

• Linux

As some of you might be aware, I have rencetly been having some problems with my web/development server. It’s a Fedora 7 machine with a LAMP install, Java 5 and a few other odds and ends, and although I appreciate that Fedora tends to be an experiment vehicle on which Redhat tests new bits-and-bobs I was a little put off when I discovered problems with my network after updating the kernel to 2.6.22.4.

Essentially, everything seemed to be working okay, but for some reason I couldn’t ping any other computer on the network from the web server; nor could I ping the web server from any other machine on the network. The eth0 interface was up; I could ping localhost, and the static IP address I’d assigned the NIC; the Ethernet cable was good (I tried two cables, both of which I was certain were good). However, the LED on the hub was constantly on for the web server connection, and ‘ethtool etho’ indicated that there was no link.

After several days of trying to fix the problem, I tried building an older kernel to use. It was the first time I had tried this, and it all went well - however, this did not fix the problem. It would seem that my initial assessment that the kernel update was causing the problems was incorrect.

Then I came up with the solution. Prior to the problems, I had been using the onboard NIC, a SiS900 based interface. I disabled the onboard, and put in a PCI SiS900 based NIC. This solved the problem and all was well. I still can’t think what the problem was - and don’t have the expertise to go through the logs and reverse the updates. For some reason - beyond my ken - updating the system interfered with the onboard NIC, but a PCI NIC with the same chipset worked fine. It wasn’t the kernel because I reverted that to the version prior to the update.

All’s well that ends well as they say… I now have my web server up and running. Well, almost. I used to do a lot of coding and administration using FreeNX over SSH to get a desktop. FreeNX has now stopped working! I’ve won the battle, but still the war goes on!

• Linux