Rudkin On Linux

For the last couple of weeks I have been running the 64bit beta version of Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope which will be released on 23rd April.

The computer I am using is a Dell 1525n which has an Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller. After my initial install of Jaunty Jackalope beta all was well, the graphics card was detected and Compiz enabled. This however was short lived as some days later I applied some updates and Compiz could no longer be enabled.

On investigation I discovered that Compiz had ‘blacklisted’ my video card. I have yet to find out why because Compiz has worked without complaint on every version of Ubuntu since Gutsy Gibbon.

I was initially gutted and planned to downgrade to Intrepid, but not to be defeated I did some searching and found out that you can force Compiz to skip the black list checks. To do this you need to create the following file:-

~/.config/compiz/compiz-manager

and add the following line:-

SKIP_CHECKS=yes

After this I was then able to enable Compiz and continue working as I have done for the last year or so. So far I have not seen any issues, so it is still a mystery as to why the GM965/GL960 was blacklisted.

I hope this helps somebody!

paul Hardware, Operating Systems, Software, Ubuntu 1525n, 9.04, Compiz, Dell, GL960, GM965, Graphics Controller, Intel, Jackalope, Jaunty, Ubuntu

Having recently acquired a DroboShare I have been experimenting with the various applications that are currently available and install. What I felt was missing from the collection was Gerd Knorr’s webfsd. This is a simple and very lightweight http server for serving static content. This would provide me with web access to the contents of my Drobo from any web browser, including Safari on my iPhone.

The question I had was how on earth do I go about doing this? Although Drobo provide an SDK with the information on how to do this, what I needed was a step by step guide to give me a push in the right direction. Fortunately I came across this blog post which takes you through the steps of compiling MediaTomb. This was exactly what I needed. I am familiar with compiling applications for my Ubuntu system, what I wasn’t familiar with was cross compiling – I didn’t know where to start!

I was a little nervous about doing all of this on my main system, so I created a virtual machine of Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10 using VirtualBox. I followed the instructions to the letter up until the compilation of the libraries, I then substituted the webfsd compilation, and the result is now available for download at the DroboSpace Developer Community

paul General, Hardware, Operating Systems, Software drobo, droboapp, droboshare, intrepid, Ubuntu, virtualbox, webfs, webfsd

I have been running the Firefly Media Server (mt-daapd) for sometime now. I initially installed the version that is supplied in the Ubuntu universe repository which is currently version 0.9-svn-1586.

Recently I purchased a Pinnacle Soundbridge (Roku Soundbridge outside of the UK) and wanting to be bleeding edge I check out the Firefly Media Server website and discovered that the latest nightly build is version 0.9-svn-1696. According to the descriptions of the various releases this had several bugs fixed, including a major memory leak. The author kindly produced deb packages for most versions of Ubuntu except for Gutsy, so I decided to see if I could compile from source and get the latest up and running. Not being a Linux expert I did some research and did not find a single guide that was 100% correct, so I have hopefully captured all the commands that I used to get this up and running. I hope this is sufficient information for those like me who are unfamiliar with compiling from source.

Read more…

paul General, Hardware, Software 7.10, Compiling, Firefly, Gutsy, Media Server, Pinnacle, Roku, Rokulabs, Soundbridge, Source, Ubuntu

Well in a previous post I said that my scanner didn’t work, which was true.   However recently I had to use it so I booted into Windows XP and all was well.   I decided to see if I could get it to work under Ubuntu 7.10 and low and behold it worked first time….what a mystery?

The bad news is that I went to use it today and it isn’t working again!   So this needs further investigation.   If anybody can point me in the right direction then please drop me a line!

paul Hardware 3590, Epson, Linux, Scanner, Ubuntu

This is the break down of the main hardware in my system:

• ASUS A8N5x Socket 939 Motherboard
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200
• 2.5GB DDR RAM
• ASUS Nvidia GeFource 6200 256MB PCI-E video card
• LSI Megatrends 150-4 SATA RAID Card
• 3 x 320GB SATA configured in a RAID 5 Array
• Epson Perfection 3590 Photo Scanner
• Canon Pixma IP5000 printer

The only piece of hardware that has specifically been chosen to work with Linux is the LSI Megatrends 150-4 SATA RAID card. I discovered that most of the RAID provided on motherboards is referred to as Fake Raid which requires software drivers in conjunction with the hardware. Unfortunately there are not many (or maybe any) that are supported under Linux so I decided to find a cheap hardware RAID card that was supported.

All in all Ubuntu 7.04 and Ubuntu 7.10 worked out of the box with the above hardware, with one exception. The Epson Perfection 3590 Photo Scanner. Doing research it appears that there are not many of the modern day scanners supported under Linux, which is a real shame. I however will keep searching to see if I can find a solution and get this scanner working.

In general I am impressed with the hardware detection. I have installed Ubuntu 7.10 on a cheap Chinese laptop that is about 4 years old and it works perfectly, including the wireless card! So I would certainly not hesitate anybody giving it a go!

paul General, Hardware