Ubuntu 13.04 Beta on a Dell Latitude XT

I finally got a replacement 1.8 inch hard drive for my Dell Latitude XT, after the old one failed, so I thought, since I have a fresh drive, I might try Ubuntu Raring Beta to see how well it runs. I downloaded and copied it to a USB stick using Unetbootin (it's in the Ubuntu repos), then booted the machine with it (press F12 to get the boot menu up on the XT). The first improvement I saw was during the installer, it picked up my Broadcom wireless card and utilized it, which previous releases did not do. Last time I installed Ubuntu on this, 12.04, I had to have the ethernet plugged in during the install.

The installer was pretty smooth as usual, I did not notice any other changes, though there may be some that I did not notice. After the install finished I was greeted with the Lightdm screen with the new Raring default wallpaper, which though recognizable I'm not too keen on, which I changed later. On a touch screen PC like the XT you can tap on the Accessibility icon in the top right to bring up the on screen keyboard. Unlike on 12.04, this onscreen keyboard now pops up at every login from then on without further tweaking.

Once logged in, the default desktop is Unity of course, which sadly looks like this on the XT, apparently because of shoddy ATI support and the Blur plugin, which apparently can be fixed once you install the Unity Tweak Tool and disable the Blur plugin.

I however shall switch to my preferred desktop, Cinnamon. It's a more traditional desktop environment that might suit those like me who are not keen on either Gnome Shell or Unity. Cinnamon also has a 2D version which can be selected at the login, which is what I'll use on the XT. You can install Cinnamon with the following commands:

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable
• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install cinnamon

And here's how my desktop looks with Cinnamon installed. That's the new look Nautilus, it does look very nice, not sure about features though, I have not explored what's been added or removed yet.

The wallpaper tool looks very nice now, I just had to switch from that after-birth wallpaper to something more soothing....

There, that's much better. I have also installed a few apps I like such as Guake drop-down terminal, Gimp, and Pidgin (I'm not keen on Empathy). I have also configured screen rotation using Magick Rotation, as I did before. I may also get the fingerprint reader working again too.

Ubuntu 13.04 is an improvement in some ways such as speed and hardware support, improved Nautilus, but many other improvements are with Unity which won't be of interest to those like me who don't use it. I'm sure I might find some other improvements I have not covered here.

Update 23/04/13

For some reason 13.04 is very sluggish on my XT right now, even with 2GB RAM (minus 128MB for graphics), possibly because of the poor graphics performance, I decided to install the XFCE/Xubuntu Desktop (sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop). Unsurprisingly, Xubuntu Desktop is definitely a lot less sluggish than either Unity or Cinnamon,on the XT.

REVIEW: Copy, A New Cloud Backup Service

Cloud Backup Newcomer

I've tried quite a few backup/sync apps over the years, including Sugarsync, Spideroak, UbuntuOne, Box, and Google Drive, but I still mostly use Dropbox, mainly because of it's decent cross-platform desktop and mobile apps and LAN-syncing features. Now there's a new contender, the snappily titled Copy. It has Linux, Windows, OSX 10.7+ desktop applications and Android and iOS mobile apps. Since I do not have an iOS device, or an Intel Mac, and rarely use Windows, I shall focus mainly on the Linux and Android apps in this review. Feel free to let me know how well the Mac and Windows apps work in the comments.

Copy is very much like Dropbox in many ways. It has a similar referral process except that, at least for a limited time, gives you 5GB for each referral which is a hefty size compared with Dropbox's 500MB. You can also get another 2GB for tweeting the referral link on the Copy website during their 'Tour'. Here's my referral link, which will give you 10GB initial storage instead of the 5GB when you sign up without a referral. With just a few people signing up with your referral link you can quickly get a decent amount of storage, I currently have 32GB as of now! Also like Dropbox and others, Copy also allows you to share files with others, though only so far through the web interface.


Linux Desktop App

The Linux app comes in a tar file and once extracted, the app runs from that folder, best to unpack it somewhere you'll remember it, then choose the appropriate architecture (32 or 64bit for your system).  For a desktop system, (I'm using Ubuntu with Cinnamon Desktop) double-click CopyAgent and it asks for your account details and other settings. It automatically sets itself to start at login and runs like Dropbox and UbuntuOne do, with a little icon or Indicator. You can also set where you want notifications to appear (it does not use native notifications) and you can pause sync like you can with Dropbox. Also, like Dropbox, Copy syncs over local LAN to save bandwidth. You can set bandwidth limits and like Dropbox has Selective Sync, so you don't have to sync all the files in your Copy account (handy for small SSDs). You can also choose where you want the apps main folder to be, much like you can with Dropbox. You start with an empty Copy folder, apart from a quick start guide PDF. One thing missing with Copy on Linux is there doesn't appear to be much integration with Nautilus, there are no little emblems on the files and folders to show they are synced or syncing. It does create a bookmark in the side pane, but it appears as a blank icon for me. It's also possible to run Copy on a headless, commandline-only system using CopyConsole, instructions are in the Readme file.


Android App

The Copy Android app is a lightweight and simple to use and has image and document previews, though they are not as good as Dropbox's, which you can flick through like a slideshow, while Copy only lets you view them singularly. Copy's app works well though oddly my Android apks I backed up from my phone don't seem to appear in the mobile interface. Edit: They are showing up now. Other than that it works just fine on my Motorola Atrix 4G, LG optimus 2X and cheapo Scroll Engage tablet.


Web Interface

Copy's web interface is quite nice, clicking on Browse to view your files shows a folder structure that reminds me of the way Finder shows nested folders, and shows image previews much like the mobile app.

Conclusion

Overall I would say with a little more polish, Copy could be a good contender for Dropbox and it has certainly come along at the right time as my Dropbox is really rather full right now! Dropbox still has a few advantages like better integration with Nautilus and LAN-sync, and also though not important for most but handy for me, PowerPC Mac support! However for sheer size of storage, especially with 5GB referrals (at least for now, it's not stated how big referrals will be after this limited time), and having most of the features of Dropbox, Copy is winning me over.

Linux on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-27

Having been given a Toughbook CF-27, I decided to see if I could run Linux on it. As you can see from the specs below, it's quite low powered but it's very solidly built and also splash proof. It's also completely silent due to the lack of any fans and has a very nice, bright, screen. I was hoping it would be the touchscreen version, but alas it isn't.

Specifications









Panasonic Toughbook CF-27 (Mark 2)
Model no. CF-27 EJ6K3EE
CPU: 300Mhz Mobile Pentium II
RAM: 128MB 100Mhz SODIMM
Hard drive: Toshiba MK8113MAT 6.4GB (now 30GB)
Floppy (Interchangable)
Screen: 12.1 inches (None-touchscreen version)
Connectivity: Connexant 56k modem,
2x PCMCIA slots
1x USB port.
Sound: Yamaha YMF-744B
Graphics: Neomagic MagicGraph 256AV


OS Installation and Customisation

As the Bios has a password on it, it won't boot from anything but the hard drive, so I had to take the hard drive out and use another PC to install the OS. I chose Debian Lenny as it's well supported and a little more lightweight than the latest versions of the *buntu family. But first I had to take the hard drive out of it's metal caddy, which was easier than I thought. An access plate on the bottom of the laptop is only held in with two latches, and the caddy comes out quite easily. Removing the drive was easier than other Toughbook models.

Notice the sim-card slot, it also has an extendible flexible antenna. (click for larger images)



























I then attached the hard drive to a mini-IDE to IDE adaptor and installed it temporarily in my test box (AMD socket A/Via board, 1.6Ghz). I installed the XFCE and Gnome desktops (type desktop=xfce at the boot prompt for an XFCE-only system), build-essential, lm-sensors, fusesmb and a few other bits. Once finished, I shutdown, removed the drive and reinstalled it back in the Toughbook. I'm pretty sure Windows would have had a fit at this point but Debian booted quite happily, despite the big difference in hardware. I downloaded Google Chrome to replace Epiphany and Iceweasel (aka Firefox 3.0.6). I haven't always got along with Chrome but it's quite handy for low spec PCs since it's fairly lightweight and I like the built-in browser sync for bookmarks and themes using your Google account. Of course there's always the other option of Midori. Due to the lack of an ethernet port or wireless (which was an option), I'm using an Edimax PCMCIA wireless card, which worked once I downloaded the Ralink firmware. I installed the deb package with 'dpkg -i firmware-ralink_0.14+lenny2_all.deb' as root, as the Gdebi tool isn't installed by default.



























As I don't plan on storing much on this laptop, I decided to keep the original 6.4GB hard drive but I've seen some with 30GB or 40GB drives. I may upgrade it later. My next job is getting the onboard sound working. I've had trouble before with Yamaha sound cards on Toshiba laptops. I'll update this post once i get it sorted!

Update:

Fixed the sound problem thanks to this bug report, that includes the solution. Debian doesn't include the alsa-firmware package anymore so I had to download it from here and compile it ("./configure" and "make" in the alsa-firmware directory once you've extracted it) and copy the firmware files (.fw) to /lib/firmware/yamaha (need to create it). Rebooted and now it works!

Update 2

Added the Debian backports repository and installed the later version of Pidgin so I can now chat on MSN on it.

Update 3
I've now upgraded the RAM to 192MB and using the Gnome desktop as i had problems with disappearing panels in XFCE, plus I generally prefer it.

Update 4
I've just upgraded the hard drive to a 30GB Toshiba drive (often cited as the maximum this can take which is wrong, the maximum is 120GB, limited by the age of the controller) that came from an old defunct laptop and also served in my Compaq N400C at one time. It already had Debian installed, booted straight away and bizarrely has no problems with the onboard sound.

Update 5
I have recently upgraded to Debian Squeeze without any problems, although it did take awhile!

Why The Motorola Atrix 4G Deserved an ICS/JB Upgrade

A powerful phone with lots of promise...

I bought my Motorola Atrix 4G (MB860) awhile back, mainly because I liked the idea of Webtop with the Lapdock and Work & Play Dock that allows you to connect to a TV and use a wireless keyboard and mouse like a PC. However though nice at first this turned out to be a bit buggy and quite slow, especially with a few other apps running. It often took ages to switch from phone to Webtop mode, so it wasn't very convenient. Sometimes I even had to reboot first to get it to work.

At the time I bought the phone, an ICS update was on Motorola's schedule so I thought I would be able to upgrade at some point. Sadly Motorola reneged on it's promise, and cancelled particular upgrade path, eventually saying that the Atrix would not give a decent ICS experience. It seems Motorola would rather people buy a new phone than support a phone that was less than 2 years old. Naturally myself and many others were and still are outraged at this, and the hashtag #motofail trended on Twitter at the time. They did offer some trade in scheme but I'm not sure I'm even eligible for that since I bought mine secondhand from eBay.

Gingerbread problems.

I've found the stock Gingerbread can be quite annoying at times, especially with a few apps running in the background. I'm generally flicking between Facebook, Twitter client, and Google+ apps most of the time and maybe Poweramp if I'm listening to music. With stock firmware, no matter which player I use always had stuttering playback. I also often had high CPU and keyboard input lag. Even a quick Google search took longer than I wanted.

Alternate ROMs

There are now quite a few alternate ROMs for the Atrix 4G, including variants of Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. The most well known being CM10, a version of JB, by Cyanogen Mod. I recently upgraded by Atrix to an unofficial CM10 build called Avatar, which puts a MIUI look on a CM10 (JB 4.1.2) base. I mainly chose it because it's a very recent build. Anyway I already had my phone rooted and the bootloader unlocked for a long time so I gave it a go after a particularly frustrating time with the stock Gingerbread. It didn't take long to flash and I was pleasently surprised by the results. It's absolutely blazing fast! Even with the same apps running I had on stock, it's just so smooth and a pleasure to use. I get none of the sluggish feel of the Stock firmware nor the audio lag and jitter. Poweramp works very well in Jelly Bean and also the keyboard lag has gone too. This phone certainly deserved an upgrade to ICS and even JB!

Now the only downside of the third party ROMs for the Atrix is a lack of camera drivers, so the default camera app does not work. Other camera apps work, but have no hardware acceleration. I have installed Camera Illusion and Video Camera Illusion and they are both stuck at 640x480 resolution. Now if Motorola could just quietly release some drivers to the XDA devs that would be great!  Apart from the camera, and also Webtop and fingerprint reader (both of which I I'm not too bothered about), everything else works fine. HDMI video output works, it now mirrors the phone screen (no Webtop), but sound does not seem to output through HDMI anymore unfortunately.

Options

So either I downgrade to Stock to get a working HD camera, but annoyingly sluggish OS or stay on Jelly Bean and enjoy a fast, smooth OS but no HD camera (and maybe hope it gets fixed one day) or alternately buy another phone. Slight problem I have with downgrading is I cannot find the original UK T-mobile firmware for my phone! If anyone can find a working download link, please post in the comments.

Installing Ubuntu Linux Inside Android on a Scroll Engage Tablet

There have been various ways of running a Linux distro inside of Android, but most use a chrooted Live CD and VNC server that you connect to with an Android VNC client app, and it often involved long sessions of commandline wizardry and scripting to get it to work, until recently when some nice coders have packaged them into an easy to use app and disc image. One such version is "The Complete Linux Installer" by Linux On Android, a free version of which is available on Play. But firstly I had to root my Scroll Engage, which is surprisingly easy to do I used an app called Super SU.  Just install it and run it and it's done.

Next, install the free Complete linux Installer app from Play, open it up and tap Install Guides follow the instructions. I chose the Ubuntu 12.04 guide but there's also Arch, Backtrack, Fedora 17 and OpenSUSE12. Follow the instructions and make sure you have all the prerequisites. The Engage supports loop devices that's required. The app offers links to VNCViewer and Terminal apps if you haven't got them already, and a link to download the special Ubuntu disc image. You can also download this separately from their site, which is what I did, then I ftp'd it across. It has to be extracted into a folder called 'ubuntu' on your SD card (it asks for the directory if it is not in /sdcard/ubuntu). Once you have that, click next and folow the rest of the instructions, for setting up Ubuntu's user and password, and VNC connection.

I found when I first tried to start Ubuntu it came up with this error:

Validating image checksum... /data/data/com.zpwebsites.linuxonandroid/files/bootscript.sh[74]: /data/data/com.zpwebsites.linuxonandroid/files/busybox: cannot execute - Permission denied
FAILED!
 

After a little bit of searching I found the solution here.
 

"Either navigate with a root file manger to  /data/data/com.zpwebsites.linuxonandroid/files/ and set the busybox files permissions to execute.
Or just delete the busybox if you have already got a busybox install on your device itself (normaly in /xbin or /sbin)
Or wipe the apps cache and data then re start the install app and it should ask for root access, grant this and the app will set busybox to executable itself"

I found it easiest to set the right permissions with Root Browser Lite file manager (freely available from Play, but any root enabled file manager should do). Once I did that Ubuntu worked just fine, it boots to a commandline and starts a VNC server. Once all is running fine then switch to your VNC viewer and enter the details (as listed on the last page of the install guide).

 

IP: localhost

port: 5900

For Ubuntu

Password: ubuntu

24 bit colour

Once saved and the VNC client is started it should connect to the chrooted Ubuntu system. With the large Ubuntu image, it looks like the standard Unity desktop and there's 1GB of free space to play with and you can install any apps that are in the Ubuntu (ARM) repositories. I found it a little awkward to use VNC and I think it's easier with a USB keyboard and mouse, using it like a little netbook. I'm not sure what i'm going to use it for yet, but it's pretty cool to have!

Even as 2012 Ends, My Powerbook G4 Is Still Useful!

I have recently upgraded the RAM in my 1ghz TiBook to 1GB from 512MB, it makes so much difference to the performance of both OSX Leopard and Xubuntu 12.04. I'm using it more than my main laptop (a Dell Latitude D430) at the moment as I prefer the larger, nicer, screen and keyboard of the TiBook, though I often end use my tablet for YouTube. The Tibook is fine for general browsing (Facebook, G+, Twitter web etc) using TenFourFox, but YouTube is a bit heavy going for it.  I also find the Powerbook's DVD/CDRW drive useful (My D430 does not have one) for ripping CDs (Yes people do still have those) with X Lossless Decoder which is a very nice ripper similar to Exact Audio Copy on Windows.  I can't decide which I prefer using on my TiBook, Linux or OSX, as they both work well, OSX still has (an old version of) Flash but at least on PowerPC Linux there are proper free Twitter clients like Turpial though Twidget on OSX is useful for quick tweets. Anyway. all the best for the new year, see you on the other side!

Hands-On With Splashtop Desktop Streamer For Ubuntu

Splashtop Streamer is a remote desktop set of tools allowing you to access your Windows, OSX and now Linux desktops on mobile devices over the Internet . It's easier to setup than using VNC over the net, it streams the audio output to the client app and also has the advantage of being encrypted with SSL and 256-bit AES encryption.

 

There are apps for Android and iOS that are ideal for large screen phones or tablets and you can download the Ubuntu package here, in either 64bit or 32 bit versions. Once that's installed and up and running, sign up for an account on the mobile app, or sign in if you already have an account, and you should be able to access the Ubuntu machine.

The Ubuntu application is a little basic but apparently there are various commandline tweaks not in the other platforms, and it's also 15% quicker than the Windows and Mac versions. One thing I'd like is I wish the application would run in the background rather than having to minimize the small login window. The Android app works pretty well on my Scroll Engage tablet, though I haven't yet got used to all the various gestures you can use.

Overall Splashtop is quite a useful tool for remotely administering an Ubuntu desktop or server and I'm quite pleased with it, though it would be nice to have a desktop client app for Ubuntu aswell as the iOS and Android ones.