Recommended Watching: Revolution OS

Revolution OS is a 2001 documentary film made in the United States, directed by J. T. S. Moore, which traces the twenty-year history of GNU, Linux, open source, and the free software movement.

It features interviews with prominent hackers and entrepreneurs (and hackers-cum-entrepreneurs), including Richard Stallman, Michael Tiemann, Linus Torvalds, Larry Augustin, Eric S. Raymond, Bruce Perens, Frank Hecker and Brian Behlendorf.

It is a great documentary, I want to to call it required watching. It is a must see if you want to learn about to the genesis of GNU, Linux and the people involved.

Check out the trailer here:


If it has caught your interest you can watch the full movie on Google videos here.

I'd love to know what you guys and girls think of it. I love the ideas behind GNU.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Hardy Heron Alpha 4 on the Dell 1501

I usually do not install alpha software. It's too buggy and unpredictable. The reason why I use Ubuntu is because it just works for me. So when I decided to try alpha 4 of Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04, it was with much hesitation. Unfortunately Heron didn't do much to change my perception of alpha software.

The Good
1. Heron LiveCD works and boots without a problem on the 1501.
2. Installation works without a problem and the GRUB resolution bug (Ubuntu 7.10 taking forever to load) didn't effect me.
3. Migration of my old accounts worked without a problem.
4. Restricted Driver Manager named has been changed to Driver Manager. I like this, calling it restricted may give new users the wrong idea.
5. Tracker notified me when it was indexing and when it was done, I liked this.

The Bad
1. After installation I received this error message:

2. Driver Manager recognized my ATI graphics card but not my Broadcom wireless card.
3. Wireless doesn't work out of the box right now. (It should be working for the beta)
4. After installing ATI driver out of Ubuntu's repositories, my computer wasn't able to boot and my Heron partition became unusable.

The Ugly
Now I know Hardy Heron Alpha 4 is not intended for production machines/everyday use but it is really rough around the edges on the Dell 1501. New and advanced user alike may not want to spend the time fixing all the problems that arise in the alpha. I know I don't. This is the second time that installation of the Ubuntu ATI driver has killed my machine while running an alpha version of Heron. With all the bugs shipped in Gutsy I really hope the developers are taking the time to make Ubuntu 8.04 just work.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Happy One Year Anniversary To Me

This month marks the one year anniversary of Ubuntu1501.com

As usually I'd like to thank you guys for reading and coming back. I'm glad that I've helped so many people discover Ubuntu, Linux and open source software. I seem to never have enough time but the blog is a definite labor of love for me.

I do want to touch on a couple of subjects:

1. This coming month I will finish the iPod in Ubuntu guides. They have said coming soon for 5 months and it's about time.

2. I don't like Gutsy, and find it difficult to write about a release I dislike so much. Hopefully Heron will not have the same usability bugs Gutsy did. Four months later and I still am unable to encode CDs in VO. In Fesity, Edgy & Dapper it worked.

3. Dell doesn't sell the Inspiron 1501 anymore, so the site might not be as busy as it once was. I plan on updating with every release. It's a shame, I'd love to pick up a 1521 and continue the site but I think this is my last non-made for Linux laptop.

4. Some readers have complained that some of my guides aren't specific to the Dell Inspiron 1501, a lot of people find these guides useful. I'm not going to stop writing them anytime soon.

Enjoy the articles.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Quick & Dirty Samba Guide

This is my very inelegant Samaba guide. For over a year I've been struggling to get Samba working properly. This is the best configuration I have found so far. I don't need to share a printer, I just need to get my laptop and desktop to share a couple of folders. This guide does just that, it allows you simple access to folders on different computers. If you guys have any suggestions or a better understanding of Samba please share them.

Step 1: Setup
Install Samba
sudo apt-get install samba

Stop Samba services
sudo /etc/init.d/samba stop

Backup your old samba.config
sudo mv /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.template

Create a blank samba.conf file
sudo touch /etc/samba/smb.conf
Start samba services
sudo /etc/init.d/samba start

Add a user
sudo smbpasswd -L -a (username you want to add)

Enable user
sudo smbpasswd -L -e (username you want to add)

Step 2: Create a name for your network:
Go to System>Administration>Shared Folders


You should see this, In the General Properties Tab:


Enter a Network Name, if networking with a Windows or Mac make sure you have the same network name entered for all your computers.

Step 3: Share a folder
To share a folder right click the folder you want to share, select the share folder option.


A box will pop up asking you how you want to share the folder and, if you want to make it read only. (These are my default settings)


To browse a network, go to Places>Networks

edited by pHreaksYcle

Ubuntu1501 in your language

In response to many comments from users who have mentioned being from countries other than the U.S., we have implemented Google Translate on the site to make it easier for those who have a different native language. You can find this feature on the left side of the site, near the top under the Ubuntu1501 logo. It should be noted that the colored text, (red, green and blue) is also translated, so please refer to the original articles for correct commands.



Hope this is useful!
pHreaksYcle

edited by redDEADresolve

Power Saving In Linux

Craig Russell sent me a very cool link about going green in Linux.

Less Watts is a great site about how to save power in Linux. These howtos and tips not only save energy and cut down on useless consumption, but give you better battery life.


It's well worth checking out if you go mobile often.

edited by pHreaksYcle

Flash Plugin Not Installing

I just spent the last few hours struggling, trying to install the Flash plug-in in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, only to find out the package is broken. The Launchpad bug has already been filed.

The md5 checksum error doesn't allow the installation to complete.

You can find a better explanation and the .deb file with the correctmd5 checksum on this ubuntuforums.org thread.