Posted by on October 30, 2007 under Uncategorized | 
I’ve tried to separate the chaff from the wheat. Here is a list of application I’ve found to be the best (my opinion) in their particular areas. Suggestions for additional applications/ categories are always appreciated.
Outlook replacement:
Still looking. Evolution, Kontact, and Thunderbird (and its variants) don’t come close to the speed and usability of Outlook yet. I’d like to see something integrated/ included in the OpenOffice system that could better compete with Outlook in this respect. Evolution has support for Exchange (via WebDAV, i.e.Exchange Webmail) and stores the local cache in MailDir format, a big plus. Thunderbird works great, along with SOGO and FUnambol, I just wish it used MailDir. Kontact… well, I’m still looking into that one.
I currently prefer Thunderbird.
Office replacement:
OpenOffice.org. I don’t even use MSOffice (other than Outlook I use Evolution now) anymore. OpenOffice has come a long way - and most distributions include it. If you are using Ubuntu (I recommend it) than you have it already.
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Posted by on October 26, 2007 under Uncategorized |
Next, I want to make sure I can play MP3s, DVDs, etc. You should first check with your local laws to make sure this is legal. I am not sure why that is listed on every site that says anything to do with MP3s and DVDs, but there it is, the disclaimer. You have been warned.
UPDATE:
Apparently, there is a new way to enable some of these items, right within Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy):
- Go to Applications ? Add/Remove…
- Set Show: to All available applications
- Search for ubuntu-restricted-extras and install it. Note that there is also xubuntu-restricted-extras and kubuntu-restricted-extras.
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Posted by on under Uncategorized |
Now that Ubuntu is installed the fun begins. First things first:
- Install all available updates
- Reboot if necessary
- Add medibuntu repository (check your local laws for usability)
- Install VMWare Server for virtualization
To install apps from the repositories (that is this great big pile of software that Ubuntu maintains for you to easily access over the Internet) you can use the Synaptic Package Manager (Menu:System-Administration). I personally prefer to use the command line where possible, as it makes it easier (for me) to make a list of what I will do.
To get started, let’s update the system: Menu:System-Administration-Update Manager. Note: You can’t have Synaptic and Update Manager open at the same time. The Update Manager is basically a subset of Synaptic - it just checks for updates for packages you already have installed. Also, after login (with an Internet connection) you will see a pop-up dialog in the top right menu of your Desktop letting you know if there are updates available.
Moving on… check for updates, install any available, and reboot if required.
Step 5 will be on multimedia configuration
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Posted by on under Uncategorized |
You want to make sure your Virtual starts automatically when your server boots up?
drop to a terminal:
sudo nano /etc/rc.d/rc.local
add the same command you would, as starting from the command line:
vmwar-cmd /fullPATHtoVMWAREfile/thevm.vmx start
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Posted by on under Uncategorized |
When you are running VMWare on your desktop, you are likely doing it for testing (or, like me, for running XP so I can use Outlook - please point me to a good FAST Outlook replacement - Evolution, Kontact, Thunderbird aren’t there yet).
But when used on a server, for ‘production’ purposes, you are likely running it ‘headless’ (without a keyboard/mouse/monitor) and don’t use a GUI - you want everything manageable remotely, or by the command line.
VMWare can be remotely managed, via a remote console, or you can install their web management tools. But, if you have SSHServer running on your Linux server (who doesn’t), you can easily make changes via the command-line.
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Posted by on under Uncategorized |
This is for VMWare Server 1.04 on Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon):
- From a terminal prompt, I would first create a directory to store VMWare, and from that directory:
- download VMWare Server http://www.vmware.com
as of 11/07/07, you can execute the following command to download version 1.0.4:
wget http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmserver/VMware-server-1.0.4-56528.tar.gz
- download the required patch to make it work at:
wget http://knihovny.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/vmware-any-any-update115.tar.gz
(if this link doesn’t work, just google for the VMWare Any Any patch)
- register for licenses for Linux on the VMWare website
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Posted by on October 24, 2007 under Uncategorized |
Now that you have either partitioned your hard drive, or are skipping the partitioning part, it is time to install your Operating System.
Pop the CD in your PC, and turn on the computer. With Ubuntu, it is a ‘Live CD’. That means it will boot into the full Ubuntu OS, and you can use it without installing it. Since it is running from the CD drive it will be slow. When you are ready to install, click the Install icon on the desktop.
You’ll be asked some basic questions. The tricky one is the partitioning. If you followed my steps, then select Manual, and then select the partition mark as ‘/’ - your primary Linux partition for installation.
If you didn’t partition, and want to just use the free space of your existing hard drive (and keep whatever OS you already have installed intact), select the first option to use a percentage of free space for the install. Try to give your new OS at least 10 GB of space (although that much is not required).
Click next a few more times, and reboot when told to. You are done with the install!
When your computer reboots, it will take you to the ‘Grub Bootloader’. You will have a few seconds to pick from the list of options - a list of the avaialble Operating Systems to boot into. If you had Windows previously installed, it will be listed. However, it will default to the OS you just installed, so just wait a few seconds, and Ubuntu will startup.
Login with the user name and password that you responded with at installation.
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Posted by on October 23, 2007 under Uncategorized |
This page is under construction, but to get you started, here is my 2 cents thus far:
There are a few major technologies in the Virtualization (on Linux) world. VMWare, Xen, and KVM (and KQemu, Qemu).
The long/ short of it - you’ll want to end up on KVM, but will probably use VMWare Server in the short term.
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Posted by on under Uncategorized |
http://www.ubuntu.com
The latest version of Ubuntu has been released! Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) is now available. For those of you that have been waiting to try out Ubuntu, the wait is over. You can download the CD from the Ubuntu site (www.ubuntu.com). However, it has been really slllloooooowwwwww today. I have almost completed the download myself - so if you let me know, I can burn you a CD of it.
It is a Live CD. That means you can startup your computer from the CD. It will load Ubuntu into memory, and you can check it out without uninstalling it to your PC. It will be a bit slow because it is running from the CD, but it allows you the opportunity to check it out.
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Posted by on under Uncategorized |
If you are not very geek, and want to simply add Linux to your existing desktop/ laptop computer (alongside Windows, probably) then you may not want to even bother with this step. Simply boot with Ubuntu LiveCD, select the option to install, and when prompted for how to use your disk space, select the option to use a percentage of free space.
However, if you are setting up a brand new computer (or don’t mind wiping an existing one) then read on:
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