Author Archives: cviorel - Page 8

Terminator – nice multi terminal application for Linux

Hi folks!

I’ve been using Terminator for quite a long time now and I find it very usefull.

Install it in Ubuntu by running:

There is a feature I would like to see in the future releases: saving the layout of the window or maybe a way to start the application with the predefined number of tabs.

Cannot use USB devices on Virtualbox 2 in Intrepid

There is a quick fix if you get some USB related errors when opening Preferences in Virtualbox 2.
You only have to add these lines in your /etc/fstab file:

Nokia N73 synchronization with opensync under Ubuntu 8.04

Yeap, Nokia N73 is a great phone and the N-Series PC Suite looks very nice.
But if you are using Linux, you can’t use the Windows PC Suite. Don’t hurry to fire up a Virtualbox or VMWare machine running Winblows just for that. My guess is is that if you are using an USB cable, it won’t work.
But the good news is that you can use OpenSync to synchronize your Nokia Symbian based phone, with your Evolution (Calendar, Tasks and Contacts) and/or with Google Calendar.
OpenSync act as an mediator between to entity to be synchronized, mapping the data between the entities types and synchronizing when possible the records exchanged, in case of conflict the standard behavior is to prompt the user for correction/decision.

I will explain the steps to you need to follow to sync a Nokia N73 (or any Symbian based phone) with Linux (I used Ubuntu 8.04), via bluetooth. Many credits going to Nailor which posted a nice guide on Ubuntu Forums.
1. Install the needed packages:

2. Configure msynctool:
You can configure opensync via a graphical interface using multisync-qad (using similiar settings as below) or you can use command line. Guide below is for commandline.

Add plugins to group. If you get errors, they are propably due to missing plugins so check you’ve installed all required plugins.

Next is the ‘trickiest’ part. Installed plugins need to be configured. First, you have to find your phone’s MAC. Use hcitool to do that:

It should return something like:

Now, configure the syncml-obex-client:

Replace the context of the configuration (should be open in separate editor after running previous command) with the following XML:

To find out what bluetooth_channel to use, run:

and look for SyncMLClient:

After configuring the syncml-obex-client it’s time to configure evo2-sync. Open configuration file with command:

It should look like this, so you don’t need to modify it:

4. Sync!
You should be good to go now, so you should try synchronizing:

Ubuntu 8.10 on Lenovo ThinkPad T61

Just installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my T61. Works great!
I hated that bloated Vista Business!

Items that work out of the box:
– Nvidia: 2D works, 3D requires the installation of the proprietary drivers (nVidia Quadro NVS 140)
– Wireless: Atheros card
– Bluetooth keys
– Brightness keys
– Network Card Intel 10/100/1000
– Firewire
– Wireless switch
– 4-in-1 card reader

Worked with some simple tweaking:
– fingerprint reader for login and sudo

1. Install latest thinkfinger packages:

2. Update the pam configuration files:

3. Restart computer
4. Enroll your fingerprint (creates $HOME/.thinkfinger.bir)

5. Check fingerprint enrollment

My custom bash prompt (PS1)

Pimp out Linux / UNIX shell prompt!
You can find a nice guide here, and a nice collection here.
Here is mine:

Have fun!

aria2 – wget and curl replacement

aria2 is a command line utility for downloading files. The supported protocols are HTTP(S), FTP, BitTorrent (DHT, PEX, MSE/PE), and Metalink. To install it on Ubuntu, just type in terminal:

Enable/Disable GDM in Ubuntu

By default Ubuntu Loads Gnome GUI.
If you need to disable X.org / Gnome under Linux, so you can get text only login, this is the right guide to follow.

Using command line (CLI):
Ubuntu comes with rcconf and update-rc.d command.
rcconf allows you to control which services are started when the system boots up or reboots. It displays a menu of all the services which could be started at boot.
The ones that are configured to do so are marked and you can toggle individual services on and off.
Install rcconf:

Now start rcconf:

Now you will be prompted for the administrator password, this is necessary because the changes done with this tool will affect the whole system. After entering the administrator password, the following text based window is displayed on screen:rcconf
Next enable/disable GDM service by pressing space bar (check the checkbox) > Click OK to save the changes.

Using GUI tools:
The Services Administration Tool allows you to specify which services will be started during the system boot process.
You can type the command:

Or just click on System -> Administration -> Services
Again you will be prompted for the administrator password, this is necessary because the changes done with this tool will affect the whole system. After entering the administrator password, the following window is displayed:

ubuntu-linux-services
Make sure you remove GDM (Gnome login manager) by disabling the the checkbox and close the window.

Alternative method (wich seems to be a better approach):

PulseAudio and 5.1 surround sound on Hardy Heron

The new Ubuntu 8.04 look very good and has many improvements over the older releases. I will not discuss about them now. I’ll just stick on the new default sound server, PulseAudio that offers sophisticated mixing capabilities and network transparency.
The purpose of this post is to help other Ubuntu users to enable 5.1 surround sound on their computers, using PulseAudio (you must have a 5.1 capable sound card).
I have a Creative Labs SB Audigy sound card but I tested this solution on a Creative Labs SB Live!. The results were the same in both cases.
The solution is very simple. Run this in your terminal:

Uncomment the line containing:

and replace '2' with '6' (if you have a 7.1 card, replace '2' with '8')
Restart the window manager and enjoy the new sound!

Reset the root password on MySQL

Have you ever forgotten the root password on one of your MySQL servers?
This is a quick h00tow (how to) reset your MySQL root password. It does require root access on your server.

First things first. Log in as root and stop the mysql daemon. Now lets start up the mysql daemon and skip the grant tables which store the passwords.
mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables
You should see mysqld start up successfully. If not, well you have bigger issues. Now you should be able to connect to mysql without a password.
mysql --user=root mysql

update user set Password=PASSWORD('YourNewRootPassword');
flush privileges;
exit;

If you are using Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron, when you try to restart the mysql service using
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql restart
you’ll get an error like

error: 'Access denied for user 'debian-sys-maint'@'localhost' (using password: YES)'

The debian_sys_maint user is the one used by mysql user system under debian sytems.In order to fix this (seeming to be a grant error) do like this:

Save the password of debian-sys-maint user which is localized in /etc/mysql/debian.cnf file (readable only by root):


sudo more /etc/mysql/debian.cnf
# Automatically generated for Debian scripts. DO NOT TOUCH!
[client]
host = localhost
user = debian-sys-maint
password = lP3Ufasdas3AVm7EdC
socket = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
[mysql_upgrade]
user = debian-sys-maint
password = lP3Ufasdas3AVm7EdC
socket = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
basedir = /usr
root@scrat:/etc/mysql#

Save somewhere this password, then connect on mysql under root:
mysql -u root -p

and execute following command:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO ‘debian-sys-maint’@'localhost’
IDENTIFIED BY ‘your_password’ WITH GRANT OPTION;

Everything should be OK now.

There is another method to reset the root password on MySQL in Ubuntu:
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql reset-password

Sample firewall script for Ubuntu

I just thought that you might be interested in a small script you can use in Hardy Heron.

It uses the new UFW (Uncomplicated firewall) introduced in this new Ubuntu distro.

The script is well commented, so everything is easy to understand.

Here is the script:

You can modify it by adding/removing rules accordingly.