I've Figured out the How, Now for the What!

I really don't know why it's taken so long. My friends in the various discussion forums that I've contributed to over the years are accustomed to me berating them for not doing it and I know from bitter experience that it's better not to get caught with one's pants down: so I'm embarrassed to admit that recently I haven't been making regular system and file backups!

The reason for my slovenly behaviour? I couldn't figure out how to get Simple Backup to write the backup to a remote network drive!

My early attempts to implement a backup strategy were thwarted by my difficulties with Samba and recently my attention has been monopolized by upgrades and laptops. However, today I set myself the goal of getting my backup strategy back on track. As always, it took an awfully long time to realize that it shouldn't have taken such an awfully long time.

Having fixed Samba (not that it was really broken!), I thought that pointing Simple Backup to my chosen destination directory and telling it how often to backup my files was all that was required. However, every time that I pointed to an existing directory on the network drive, Simple Backup demanded my login and password: that's not ideal if you want to automate a backup process. I tried mounting the drive without success and even looked at alternative solutions; including using rsync via the terminal.

Ultimately, it proved easier to start from scratch and, using Windows Explorer (on a Vista machine), I created a new CIFS share on my network drive called (in my case) UBUNTUBACKUP. In this share, I added two additional directories, one each for my laptop and desktop.

I had to set some pretty liberal read/write permissions, but the vanilla directory did the trick.


It's worth noting that, despite the inference to the contrary on the Simple Backup Help Page you don't have to use a secure shell (ssh) or file transfer protocol (ftp): Samba (smb) works just fine!

Moreover, you don't have to use the ip address of the remote machine: NetBIOS names also work.


After assigning the destination addresses in both Ubuntu machines, I rebooted to test whether the login/password issue would return: it didn't and subsequent test backups showed that I had finally managed to achieve the simplest of tasks! It seems that the point that I'd missed is that writing files to another machine on your network requires the destination directory to be a shared directory with permissions that are liberal enough to allow access for a remote source.

Now that it's working, all I need to do is to figure out what is worth saving and how often!

In the Beginning...

So far, so good: I'm pleased with the upgrade to Lucid.

However, like some other users, I've experienced some start-up problems, particularly the dreaded Gnome-Power-Manager on restart.

A simple workaround if the system hangs on boot with a GPM error message:

• Open the Configuration Editor (instructions)
• Navigate to /apps/gnome-power-manager/general
• Deselect the use_time_for_policy option
• Close the Config Editor

No need to reboot for the changes to take effect and it seems to have solved my problem!



Thanks to dh04000 at the Ubuntu Forums for the information.

References:
MSI Wind u100 Ubuntu 10.04 Problems/Workarounds

The Lynx is Loose (Finally)

Today I treated myself to a new graphics card.

You may recall that I was unable to upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) because the graphics card in my DELL Dimension 8400 wasn't supported and it simply couldn't cope with Lucid's graphical overhead. Ironically, when I began my Linux experiment, I promised myself that I wouldn't spend any more than the £100 required for a replacement hard-drive, however, over the intervening months, Ubuntu has become my primary operating system (completely replacing Windows) and recently I've been determined to find a way to upgrade to the latest release: hence the new graphics card.

I went with a Gainward GeForce GT220 (512MB) card which cost around £70. Opening the case and removing the existing card was simple enough, but the GT220 comes with a built-in fan and the casing wouldn't clear the sound card to fit into the expansion slot. Fortunately, the 8400 has a spare slot and I managed to rearrange the existing cards so that the motherboard would accommodate my latest acquisition: it took only a few minutes to complete the physical upgrade.

Next came the OS and this took a little longer.

You can force Ubuntu to keep track of major releases in its operating system via the settings option in the Update Manager.


Upgrading via the Update Manager allows you retain your existing files and settings post-installation and there's an additional benefit of not having to burn or check installation disks: something that I learned to my chagrin last time I attempted to upgrade! Nonetheless, this is no quick option and installing the new version of Ubuntu can still take a couple of hours. Clicking on the Upgrade button in the Update Manager starts the process.


You'll receive a warning message asking you to confirm your desire to start the process.


Just click the Start Upgrade button. The process will disable any third-party repositories during the download.


The Update Manager will also warn you of any unsupported applications post-upgrade:


Now all that you have to do is wait:


There are some options to select during the installation process, but these seem to be (mostly) self-explanatory.

Once the installation is complete, reboot the PC. Remember to enable any of the suspended repositories once you have rebooted.

I'm please to report that Lucid is running on my eight year old DELL Dimension and that all the visual effects are working as they should! Samba, video and flash all work without intervention and my files remain in tact! Thus far, my Linux experiment has cost under £200 (excluding the sunk cost of the pc) and I'm running a state-of-the-art system.

Well, almost: I sense another upgrade looming.

Snap Happy!

Yesterday, the Guys over at OMG! Ubuntu! blogged on the release of the latest version of Shutter. Shutter is a screenshot tool and, as such, not something that I'd usually get terribly excited about: however, looking at OMG's description of this feature-rich application, I thought that I'd take a closer look (for obvious reasons, this is going to be a post with a lot of pictures!).

You can download from the Ubuntu Software Centre or from the Shutter Project Page.


After installation, you'll find Shutter in the Applications > Accessories Menu:


As you can see, Shutter takes screen-caps of cascading menus! However, this versatile application will also allow you to grab windows or even sections of windows and upload the capture to your online storage account directly from the user interface. One benefit of this versatility is that you can grab web pages without the accoutrements of your browser.


The application also gives you a session summary screen à la Firefox's ShowCase function.


You can force rounded window borders from the preferences menu and grabbing screencaps of panels is simplicity itself!


One of the really nice features is the ability to capture Tool Tips:

Just activate the relevant tip and wait for the capture delay - easy!

Reducing the need to edit screen-caps is great, but not content with their excellent application, the Project Team have included a built-in editor, accessible from the interface. This saves time on routine tasks such as cropping images or adding highlights, particularly if you use screencaps in your day-to-day blogging activities :)

I didn't think that it was possible to get excited about a screen capture tool - clearly, I was wrong!

Rhythmic Eyecandy

Today, quite by accident, I discovered a plugin for Rhythmbox called RhythmArty: it lets you browse music by album art and it looks really cool!



You can download it from the RhythmArty page at SourceForge. Download it and use your package installer to unzip and install it to Rhythmbox.

Once installed, (in Rhythmbox) go to Edit > Plugins and check the RhythmArty check box.



It may take a while to download the album art, but it's worth the wait. You can toggle the browser window from the new toolbar button.

Enjoy!

Absolute Power

My power problems with Karmic on the DELL Inspiron continue!

Just to recap: when I plug my ac power cord into the laptop when the battery runs low (or I receive a low/critical power warning), I get a critical battery status message and, after a few seconds, my laptop suspends.

Despite spending several hours trying to find a solution, it seems that there are multiple causes of this phenomenon and none seem to fit the the profile of my power issue. During my research, I did come across a cryptic thread in the Ubuntu Forums asking for guidance on how to prevent the power manager from taking any action when the battery level reaches critical. The Power Management editor (System > Preferences > Power Management) doesn't give a nothing option by default in the when battery power is critically low drop-down box, but alesserfate (the OP in the Ubuntu Forums) found a way to encourage Ubuntu to add the option! This prompted me to think that this might offer a workaround, if not a solution, to my problem: I reasoned that, if my laptop takes no action when the power cord is plugged in (regardless of the reported battery state), then I can at least continue what I'm doing uninterrupted.

Using the Configuration Editor (Applications > System Tools), navigate to /apps/gnome-power-manager-actions and click in the critical_battery value dialog.



Simply type nothing as the value and close the editor. If you don't have the Configuration Editor in the Applications menu, you can add it by right-clicking the menu and editing or, open a terminal and type:

sudo gconf-editor

Last night and again this afternoon, I've tested the theory!



When the status indicator dropped below 30%, I plugged in the power cord and received the anticipated warning.



However, the warning disappears after a few seconds and the Power Manager takes no further action. The battery continues to charge as it should.



Of course, there is a (potential) downside to this workaround: you can't leave your laptop unattended if there is a chance that your battery will completely discharge! However, it does demonstrate just how configurable Ubuntu can be.

MANhunt

Using the Command Line Interface (CLI) on Ubuntu can be a pretty effective way of getting stuff done, but it does require some commitment to master the multitude of commands and their options. One way of finding out how commands work is to use the man pages that come pre-installed as part of the Ubuntu OS (indeed, man pages are installed in almost all Unix based systems). For instance, if you wanted information on the chmod command, you simply open a terminal and type:

man chmod

The output appears in the terminal window.



You can use the Page Dn, Page Up, or arrow keys to move through the document (to exit the man page, hit the "q" key).

However, whilst it's a very useful feature, I also find reading the man pages in the terminal window a little clumsy so I was surprised and delighted, therefore, to find that the complete set of man pages for every release of Ubuntu are available online. The html format is much easier to read and each web page (or man page) has links that are much easier to follow than scrolling through a document in the terminal. There's also a search bar to speed up access to each man page rather than using the file hierarchy.

One thing that is missing is an apropos type search, but I suppose you can't have everything!