Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq Evo N610c running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron) and Compaq Armada M300 running XUbuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

1. Open Terminal Window
2. If you already know your hostname skip to step 4
3. To find your hostname run the following command

hostname

4. Make a copy of the existing dhclient configuration file

sudo cp /etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf /etc/dhcp/dhclient.original

5. Edit the dhclient configuration file

sudo vi /etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf

6. Search for the line send host-name (On XUbuntu it is missing completely and you will need to add it in)
7. Uncomment the line and replace <hostname> with the hostname identified in step 3. The line should look similar to

send host-name "ubuntu-laptop"

8. Save the file and exit gedit
9. Restart networking

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

That’s it … test if other machines on the network can now look up your machine by using the FQDN. If you notice something wrong you can always restore the original dhclient configuration file.

The above instructions should work for KUbuntu too although I have not validate it myself.

Ubuntu 8.10 core includes GNOME 2.24 desktop which introduces 2 major enhancements - Nautilus file manager now has tabbed support and the File Roller archive manager adds support for ALZ, RZIP, CAB, TAR and 7Z archive types.

File Browser has tabbed support on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex

Intrepid Ibex includes X.Org 7.4 which is the latest stable and this version addresses the resolution issue with ATI Mobility Radeon 7500. You can now adjust the resolution without making manual changes to xorg.conf file. Extra Visual Effects are also supported.

Ubuntu 8.10 has support for ATI Mobility Radeon 7500

Extra Visual Effects are also supported

Ubuntu 8.10 adds Guest session functionality. You can now create a temporary password-less user account. This  temporary account cannot permanently store data and also cannot access any regular user’s data.

Guest Session creates a password-less user

With Ubuntu 8.10 you can create a USB Startup Disk. You have been able to do this with earlier versions too but it is now much easier.

Ubuntu 8.10 lets you make a USB Startup Disk

Specific to Ubuntu 8.10 on Evo N610c you no longer see the ugly ACPI error messages during boot up. ACPI works much better - the sleep and hibernate functions work correctly. The fan is not on constantly and only kicks in when required.

Ubuntu 8.10 includes the latest 2.6.27-7-generic kernel and the rev 1300 of orinoco drivers for Compaq Wireless LAN MultiPort W200 doe not build correctly. I had to play around quite a bit to get W200 to work and a special patch is required. To help other users I have updated  WifiDocs/Device/CompaqW200 - Community Ubuntu Documentation. A patched version of the driver is available here for your convenience.

One disappointment I had with Ubuntu 8.10 is that it includes OpenOffice 2.4.1 instead of the latest 3.0 version. However upgrading to OpenOffice 3.0 on Ubuntu 8.10 is easy.

Overall Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex runs much better on Compaq Evo N610c as compared to Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. If you enjoy Ubuntu and own a Evo N610c give Intrepid Ibex a try.

Good luck!!!

Intrepid Ibex releases of Kubuntu - Ubuntu with the K Desktop Environment and Xubuntu - Ubuntu with the XFCE desktop environment are available for download too.

I am in the process of downloading the release and will post my experience soon.

I happen to have the optional Mobile Expansion Unit (MEU) for docking the M300 and hence can use the CD ROM drive. If you do not have the Mobile Expansion Unit and have a purely disk less M300 you can still install XUbuntu on it although it is a bit more complicated. See UbuntuGeek’s post on Installing Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Edubuntu/Xubuntu without CDROM Drive.

M300 does not have enough horsepower so install via Live CD does not work. Use Alternate install CD instead. During the install process the detection of the network adapter fails. Ignore this error and continue with the install. The rest of the install should go smoothly.

When XUbuntu starts 2 things do not work correctly - the network adapter and the sound card. Both of this can be fixed by loading the appropriate modules.

First step is to identify the type of network adapter and sound card. To do this open the terminal window and run the command lspci

lucidtipster@lucidtips:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (AGP disabled) (rev 03)
00:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1211
00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage LT Pro (rev dc)
00:07.0 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 03)
00:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: ESS Technology ES1978 Maestro 2E (rev 10)
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9/0/1 Ethernet Pro 100 (rev 09)
00:09.1 Serial controller: Agere Systems LT WinModem

The listing above tells us that the network adapter is Intel Pro/100+ Mini PCI Ethernet and the sound card is ESS Maestro 2E sound card

To load the module for network adapter. Open the command prompt and run the command

sudo modprobe eepro100

At this time if you do not see any error message your network adapter should be working. If you are configured for DHCP you should have aquired an IP address. To check open the terminal window and run the command

ifconfig

If you did get an IP successfully you should be able to browse the internet. If you did not get an IP try running the following commands.

sudo ifdown eth0
sudo ifup eth0

Now again check if you have acquired an IP. One down and one to go … To load the module for sound card open the command prompt and run the command

sudo modprobe snd-es1968

If you do not see any error message your sound card too should be working as well. Download sample.ogg to test the sound.

To make sure both these modules are loaded automatically upon system boot up modify the /etc/modules file and add the following lines to it.

eepro100
snd-es1968

To edit the /etc/modules file using vi the command is

sudo vi /etc/modules

The content of my /etc/modules file is listed below

lucidtipster@lucidtips:~$ cat /etc/modules
# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.

loop
lp
fuse
eepro100
snd-es1968

Lastly my M300 had old BIOS from 1999 and I would get an error message during booting. I managed to fix this by downloading and upgrading to the latest BIOS. This too turned out to be a little tricky because I had to make a bootable CD with the BIOS upgrade on it. If anyone is looking for this CD please leave a comment and I will upload the ISO image of the M300 BIOS upgrade CD.

Good luck!!!

Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq nc6000 running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

Prerequisites

Check if your video card can support 3D graphics

1. Click on System->Preferences->Appearance
2. Select Visual Effects tab
3. Select Normal or Extra
4. If you see “Desktop effects could not be enabled” message then your video card cannot support 3D graphics and you will not be able to use these docks.
5. Click Close

Install compizconfig-settings-manager

To you use AWN or Cairo Dock you need to have composite manager such as Compiz-Fusion installed. You can install it using Synaptics Package Manager (System->Administration->Synaptics Package Manager) OR from the command line using the following command (you will be prompted for password)

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Avant Window Navigator (AWN)

AWN positions itself at the bottom of the screen and can be used to keep track of open windows and behaves like a normal window list. Appreance and functionality of AWN can be customized via various plugins and applets that are available for download. By default it does not include themes.

AWN Wiki states that the AWN package included in Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04) LTS however it is very old and outdated. It recommends using PPA to install the packages instead. To do this edit /etc/apt/sources.list file using either vi or gedit and add the following lines

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/awn-testing/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/awn-testing/ubuntu hardy main

Now you need to update the package cache

sudo apt-get update

You are now ready to install AWN

sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-trunk awn-manager-trunk awn-extras-applets-trunk

Now that AWN is installed you can start it from the menu Applications-> Accessories->Avant Window Navigator

To have AWN autostart when you reboot your machine select Automatically start AWN on login on the General tab of awn-manager.

Cairo Dock

Cairo Dock is similar to AWN and can be used to launch application and utilize small applets that reside on the bar. You can attach it to either top or bottom of your screen and is highly configurable.

There are more than one way to install Cairo Dock and the instructions below are for using the repositories. You can also install Cairo Dock with the deb package

Similar to AWN Cairo Dock too has its repositories. You first need to download and install the signed key for authentication. This prevents security errors from popping up. Open Terminal Window and run the following command

wget -q http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu/cairo-dock.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Next edit /etc/apt/sources.list file using either vi or gedit and add the following lines

deb http://repository.cairo-dock.org/ubuntu hardy cairo-dock

Once again update the package cache

sudo apt-get update

You are now ready to install Cairo Dock

sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins

To run Cairo Dock press Alt-F2 and type cairo-dock

Minimizing / Closing Bottom Gnome Panel

If you are going to use AWN or Cairo Dock the default GNome panel at the bottom of the screen is redundant. You can close or minimize it.

Final Thoughts

So which one is better - well try both and decide for yourself it ain’t gonna break anything. My personal preference is Cairo Dock. It is much nicer to use comes with a bunch of themes/launchers that you can use.

My family and me survived the hurricane OK. The house sustained minor roof damage but thanks to modern engineering it was able to withstand strong category 1 (119–153 km/h 74–95 mph) hurricane force winds. We were also not affected by floods. The only problem we have is no electricity, no phone, no internet and the cell phone service is very erratic. Overall we are in much better shape than the rest of Houston and surrounding areas. Driving around you can see all the destruction. TV images do not do justice to what has really happened here.

I do not know when we can expect power but will have my next post up as soon as possible …

Disclaimer:

1. The instructions below have worked for me and tested on Compaq EVO N610c running openSUSE 11.0 (2.6.25.11-0.1-pae). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to your machine.
2. Using KNetwork Manager with W200 causes system to hang up. Use ifup instead. (On SUSE forums it has been mentioned that my post is wrong and you do not need to disable KNetwork Manager. However I have to admit I have not figured out a way to make W200 work with KNetwork Manager).
3. I have only tested with WEP. Do not know the status of WPA/WPA2. If you do test with WPA/WPA2 I would appreciate your feedback.
4. You need to repeat these steps after any kernel updates.

Prerequisites

Check your kernel version

uname -r

Using YaST Software Management install the following packages

cpp43
curl
gcc
kernel-source
linux-kernel-headers
make
subversion

Configure the kernel

Before we proceed further we need to configure the kernel source

cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build/
su
(root password)
cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config
make oldconfig
make prepare

Downlading the driver

Download the suitable revision of the orinoco_usb driver from SVN. For me revision 1300 has worked correctly.

svn co -r 1300 https://orinoco.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/orinoco/branches/usb/

Compile and install the driver

cd usb
make
sudo make install

Download the firmware

The firmware directory has a script that makes this task easier

cd firmware
./get_ezusb_fw

Copy firmware to appropriate location

sudo cp orinoco_ezusb_fw /lib/firmware

Activating the adapter

Almost there … load driver into the kernel

sudo /sbin/modprobe -v orinoco_usb

The tiny green light on the side of W200 should come on. Eureka!!! (if it did not come on, try rebooting)

Disable KNetwork Manager and Configure wireless card

1. Start YaST and select Network Devices->Network Settings
2. You should see “Compaq WLAN Multiport W200″ listed there with “Not configured” in the IP Address column
3. Before we proceed we need to disable use of KNetwork Manager. Click on “Global Options” tab and select “ifup” instead of KNetwork Manager
4. Click on “Overview” tab
5. Select “Compaq WLAN Multiport W200″ and click the “Edit” button
6. Click on “General” tab. Select “At Boot Time” under “Device Activation”
7. Click on “Address Tab”. Select “Dynamic Address DHCP” or Statically Assigned IP Address depending on your network setup.
8. Click on “Next” button
9. On Wireless Device Settings select “Managed” under “Operating Mode” and other options to match your network settings (reminder I have only tested with WEP. If you do test with WPA/WPA2 do send me your feedback)
10. Click “Next” button
11. Click “Finish” button

Configure Wireless Connection

Now you need to configure the wireless connection and since we have disabled KNetwork Manager all this needs to be done via command line. It is very easy to do and the command that does this is iwconfig.

iwconfig <interface> essid <ESSID> key <wirelesskey> mode <managed|master|secondary|ad-hoc|monitor|repeater|auto>

Example (Open Terminal Window and run)

sudo /usr/sbin/iwconfig eth1 essid "Linksys" key abcd1234 mode managed

susegeek has a good post on using iwconfig to configure wireless.

You now need to stop start your wireless card for the changes to take effect. Open Terminal Window and run

sudo /sbin/ifdown eth1
sudo /sbin/ifup eth1

Testing

Open Terminal Window and run

/sbin/ifconfig

to see if you have obtained IP address.

The final step of the journey is to make sure you can surf the internet. To truly test this we should disable the wired network card

sudo /sbin/ifdown eth0

Now see if you are able to traceroute

/usr/sbin/traceroute www.google.com

If you did not get any errors you should be able to launch Firefox or Konqueror and surf your favorite web sites.

Prevent KNetwork Manager from auto starting

KNetwork Manager hangs while using W200. I have not been able to figure out how to get W200 to work with KNetwork Manager. In SUSE forms it has been mentioned that my instructions are incorrect and KNetwork Manager does work with W200 if you use wpa_supplicant package. I would appreciate if someone could tell me how I can update this post entry which could help other openSUSE users as well.

To prevent KNetwork Manager from auto starting when machine is started open the Terminal Window and run the following command

sudo mv /opt/kde3/share/autostart/knetworkmanager-autostart.desktop $HOME/

Modify boot.local file

In my testing I noticed that when the laptop was rebooted the DNS settings would not stick. I got around this by modifying the /etc/init.d/boot.local file

sudo vi /etc/init.d/boot.local

and add the line

/sbin/dhclient eth1

Save the file and reboot the laptop and ensure you are able to connect to the internet via the wireless card.

Final Thoughts

I am not sure why I had to run iwconfig in addition to wireless card configuration made via YaST. Maybe just running dhclient would have sufficed but the steps above are the sequence I followed and it worked out all right. I would appreciate your feedback. Good luck!!!

Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq Evo N610c running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

The packages for both Pen and Balance are available for Ubuntu (both packages are available for OpenSUSE as well). You do not need both Balance and Pen. Either one of them will work. I have included instructions for both so you can test them yourselves and decide which works best.

Installing Balance on Ubuntu

Balance is simple but powerful generic tcp proxy with round robin load balancing and failover mechanisms. It is Open Source Software and released under GPL licensing terms. Inlab Software the developers of Balance also have a commercial version called BalanceNG^®

To install Balance run the following command (see screenshot)

sudo apt-get install balance

Using Balance

It is very easy to use Balance. The syntax is

balance port host1 host2

So if you wanted to setup load balancing for two machines that run Apache the command would be

sudo balance -df 80 192.168.1.105 192.168.1.108

The -df tells Balance to display debugging and tracing information messages on the screen and to stay in the foreground. Note we need to run using sudo because we are trying to access ports lower than 1024. (see screenshot)

To use failover mechanism the you need to specify the failover host

sudo balance -df 80 192.168.1.105 192.168.1.108 ! 192.168.1.110

See Balance Manual for more information

Installing Pen on Ubuntu

To install Pen the command is (see screenshot)

sudo apt-get install pen

Using Pen

Pen usage syntax is very similar to Balance

pen port host1 host2

To setup load balancing for two machines that run Apache the command would be

sudo pen -df 80 192.168.1.105 192.168.1.108

The -df displays debugging and tracing information messages on the screen and stay in the foreground. Note we need to run using sudo because we are trying to access ports lower than 1024. (See screenshot)

See Pen web site for more information

Though Load Balancing as listed above is not suitable for Production systems it certainly is helpful if you are developing software and want to test how it would behave behind a load balancer.

Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq nc6000 running Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

Installation of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS on Compaq nc6000 was very straight forward. After the install it automatically detected the ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 and prompted me to install restricted drivers which allows you to fully utilize the 3D potential of ATI cards. See screenshots.

Check if your video card can support 3D graphics

1. Click on System->Preferences->Appearance
2. Select Visual Effects tab
3. Select Normal or Extra
4. If you see “Desktop effects could not be enabled” message then your video card cannot support 3D graphics and you will not be able to use Advanced Desktop Effects.
5. Click Close

Install compizconfig-settings-manager

To you use Advanced Desktop Effects Settings you need to install compizconfig-settings-manager. You can install it using Synaptics Package Manager (System->Administration->Synaptics Package Manager) OR from the command line using the following command (you will be prompted for password)

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

You should now be able to use Advanced Desktop Effects. My favorite is the Rotate Cube effect which allows you to switch between workspaces.

1. Click System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings (see screenshot)
2. Select Rotate Cube (see screenshot)
3. A message “Rotate Cube requires plugin Desktop Cube” will be displayed. Click Enable Desktop Cube (see screenshot)
4. A message “Plugin Desktop Wall provides feature largedesktop which is also provided by Desktop Cube” will be displayed. Click Disable Desktop Wall (see screenshot)
5. Click Close

To use Round Cube to  switch between workspaces by using Ctrl-Alt-Left or Ctrl-Alt-Right. To use Desktop Wall to swtich between workspaces first press Ctrl-Alt-Down and then Ctrl-Alt-Left or Ctrl-Alt-Right.

Another cool effect is Water Effect (see screenshot)

There are many more effects … play around with different settings and have fun

apt-cache and apt-get are the commands that work with APT and help searching/installing packages.

Disclaimer: The instructions provided in this howto make changes to your system. Please proceed with caution. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.

apt-cache does not make any changes to the system but does provide options to search the package metadata. Using apt-cache is very easy and the syntax to search for a package is

apt-cache search <searchstring>

For example the following command can be used for searching packages related to Java.

apt-cache search java

Note that it searches through the package name and description and the search result is a big list. The grep command is handy to filter the list

apt-cache search java | grep sun

Now that the package is identified you can see additional details about the package

apt-cache show <package>

This will show details about the package such as maintainer, version, dependencies, long description etc. For example to see details about Sun Java5 JDK the command would be

apt-cache show sun-java5-jdk

If you wish to install a package the command is apt-get. Since apt-get makes changes to the system you need to run it using sudo and will be prompted for password.

sudo apt-get install <package>

For example to install Sun Java5 JDK the command would be

sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jdk

Note that apt-get will automatically identify all the dependencies to run the package being installed.

Multiple packages can be installed at the same time using the syntax

sudo apt-get install <package 1> <package 2> ... <package n>

The syntax to remove a package is

sudo apt-get remove <package>

Multiple packages can be removed at the same time as well

sudo apt-get remove <package 1> <package 2> ... <package n>

apt-get can also be used to apply the latest patches to the system.

To update the list of packages available run the following command. This will only download the list of packages and not apply them.

sudo apt-get update

Now to download and apply the patches run the command

sudo apt-get upgrade

APT-HOWTO manuals at debian.org provide good information on APT and its features and also provides good examples.