ubuntu - Muffin Research Labs

How do I know if my ubuntu server needs a restart?

A file at /var/run/reboot-required is created that's used at login to tell you a restart is needed in the MOTD. You can check for the presence of this file to know if the updates you just did require a restart To do something with this information

pbuilder

Fixing pbuilder dependency 404 errors

If you're building packages with pbuilder sometimes you might hit something like the following errors which cause the build to fail because the dependencies can't be found. Err http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main devscripts i386 2.11.6ubuntu1.2 404 Not Found [IP: 91.

ubuntu

Linux: Spotify Screensaver D-Bus Script update

Following on from my previous post [https://muffinresearch.co.uk/archives/2010/11/03/spotify-screensaver-toggle-with-dbus/] about a script to Pause and Play tracks on spotify based on the status of the screensaver as reported by D-Bus on a Linux Desktop, here's an update: With the latest versions of

ubuntu

Ubuntu: add-apt-repository: command not found

When you're using a minimal Ubuntu install if you find the 'add-apt-repository' command is missing (it's useful for adding PPAs and other repositories), then simply run: sudo apt-get install python-software-properties

Python

Linux: Spotify Track Notifier with added D-Bus love

I've recently updated the spotify notifier example I'd previously posted as an example along with my spotify screensaver script [https://muffinresearch.co.uk/archives/2010/11/03/spotify-screensaver-toggle-with-dbus/]. First, I made an update to have it listen to the PropertiesChanged signal. Annoyingly for some unknown reason

ubuntu

Ubuntu: java.net.SocketException in ec2-api-tools

Having installed ec2-api-tools under my lucid dev environment I was trying to shut ec2 instances down with ec2stop [instance_id] and I was getting the following exception: $ ec2stop i-XXXXXXXX Unexpected error: java.net.SocketException: Invalid argument or cannot assign requested address at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Native Method) at java.

ubuntu

Linux: Fix for apt-get update - Waiting for Headers

If you're a Google chrome user on Ubuntu you may have noticed apt-get update seems to wait around for two minutes sitting at 99%. The culprit is the google apt repo having issues with http/1.1 pipelining. Fortunately there's a bug for it on Launchpad

ubuntu

Solved: VirtualBox Ubuntu Karmic Server VM crashes

Had a weird issue when setting up an Ubuntu Karmic JEOS VM under VirtualBox. When it was installed it rebooted and then the VM window dissappeared. I tried to boot it a second time and it got to grub and then as soon as I selected the kernel I wanted

ubuntu

Ubuntu: Changing the default java binary

Since upgrading to Karmic I've had a weird issue with Charles Proxy [http://www.charlesproxy.com/] in that the windows for settings like rewrites seemed to get completely screwed up making it very difficult to see the boxes for entering information. Here's a screenshot of what

Python

Spotify: Linking to a specific time in a track

For a while I've wanted to be able to share a link to a track on spotify so that it jumps the right place. An example is when learning covers for the band I play in; or just to point out a great part of the track. The

ubuntu

Ubuntu: Lock Screen and Pause Spotify

When I used a mac I had a shonky little applescript to pause iTunes when I locked the screen [https://muffinresearch.co.uk/archives/2008/04/24/mac-tip-lock-screen-and-pause-itunes/]. These days I mostly listen to Spotify (running under wine) on Ubuntu which of course doesn't have applescript. What I

ubuntu

Ubuntu: Turn off changing workspace with mouse wheel

I found the changing with the workspace with the mouse wheel really annoying. To disable it go to System → Preferences → CompizConfig (available if the compizconfig-settings-manager package is installed) and uncheck "Viewport Switcher" which is under the "Desktop" heading.

OSX

From OSX to Ubuntu

I've recently switched to using Ubuntu full-time as my primary operating system having previously used Macs for the last 4+ years. Moving over to ubuntu has been easy enough, I bought a lenovo R61 which has extremely good compatibility with Ubuntu out of the box. I've

ubuntu

Ubuntu: Mounting a TrueCrypt volume at startup or from the CLI

All you need is a mount point e.g: mkdir /media/ and then use the following: truecrypt /path/to/truecrypt/diskimage /media/. This is handy when you want to mount a truecrypt image at start-up or just do it quickly from a shell. It's far more direct than

ubuntu

Ubuntu: change editor globally

I found the update-alternatives on my travels and very handy it is too especially when on a bytemark box by default the editor is set to "joe". From the man page: > update-alternatives creates, removes, maintains and displays information about the symbolic links comprising the Debian alternatives system.

ubuntu

Ubuntu: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#0 stuck for 11s!

So this post falls neatly under the "watching paint dry" category, so if you're susceptible to rage induced by reading terminally dull posts avert your eyes now. I've been having some interesting issues with VMs running on VMware server of late. Basically the problem

ubuntu

Ubuntu Hardy: Setting up VMWare-tools from the CLI

First you need the vmware tools tar from the cd image. This is found at /media/cdrom once you've run "install vmware tools" from the server console. When I did this the CD didn't seem to be available even though it looked like it

ubuntu

Parallels tip: Upgrading to Ubuntu Feisty from Edgy

Upgrading your parallels image to try out feisty really couldn't be easier. Simply clone the disk image you already have of Edgy and rename it so know what it is. I followed the second set of instructions found at ubuntugeeks.com [http://www.ubuntugeek.com/upgrade-ubuntu-610-edgy-eft-to-ubuntu-704-feisty-fawn-2.html] First

Linux/Unix

Ubuntu Edgy under Parallels Desktop for mac

As Ubuntu [http://www.ubuntu.com/] Edgy has not long been released I thought I would see how it runs on parallels [http://www.parallels.com/] desktop for mac. I downloaded the standard .iso and followed pretty much the same instructions as when I installed Ubuntu Dapper [https://muffinresearch.co.

ubuntu

Running Ubuntu under Parallels Desktop for Mac

Installing Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake under Parallels Desktop is really easy to do so here's a few pointers how to do it and to customise it to be easier to use via the mac keyboard: The installation 1. Download the Desktop CD .iso image from the Ubuntu

Linux/Unix

Ubuntu Breezy Badger install horrors

I decided to check out Breezy Badger the latest version of Ubuntu linux [http://www.ubuntulinux.org]. First I thought I would try the in place upgrade from Hoary to Breezy by altering /etc/apt/sources.list to the Breezy repositories and then running sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get

Linux/Unix

fscked up beyond all recognition

Strange things were afoot this evening when I switched on my laptop. Ubuntu [http://www.ubuntulinux.org/] did the intermittant "HAL could not be initialized" error first of all. A quick reboot and everything seemed ok for a couple of minutes. The update indicator was red so I

Linux/Unix

Ubuntu Ubuntu they drink it in the congo

XP Pro started giving me grief on my laptop with a blue screen every time I booted it up, which seemed to relate to the wireless card. So to fix the problem I installed Ubuntu Linux [http://www.ubuntulinux.org/], problem solved! Installation is text based, and I found that