hype-o-thetic?com

1 - Compile and install driver:
Source: http://wiki.cchtml.com/
sudo aptitude install build-essential cdbs fakeroot dh-make debhelper debconf libstdc++5 dkms
sh ati-driver-installer-9-6-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/jaunty
# i386
sudo dpkg -i xorg-driver-fglrx_*.deb fglrx-kernel-source_*.deb fglrx-amdcccle_*.deb
# AMD64
sudo dpkg -i xorg-driver-fglrx_*.deb fglrx-kernel-source_*.deb fglrx-amdcccle_*.deb

2 - Generate xorg.conf:
sudo aticonfig --initial=dual-head --screen-layout=right
sudo aticonfig --dtop=horizontal --overlay-on=1
sudo aticonfig --xinerama=on

Note: you can do “dpk-reconfigure xserver-xorg” to reset you xorg.conf to default values.

3 - Bug workaround:
Source: http://jen3ral.wordpress.com/

1. Login to a tty (ctrl+alt F1) and type sudo killall gdm.
2. Type sudo nano (or gedit, whichever you prefer) /etc/ati/amdpcsdb to edit the file. Go to the [AMDPCSROOT/SYSTEM/DDX] section and add:
   EnableRandR12=Sfalse.

3. Type this into a terminal, sudo nano (or gedit) /etc/X11/xorg.conf, to open the xorg.conf file.
4. Under the “Device” section add these options on separate lines:
   Option "EnableRandR12" "false"
Option "DesktopSetup" "horizontal"

5. Now just restart your computer and it should be good to go.

Compiz still not working…

Edit the file 70-persistent-net.rules to remove the old eth0 card:

vi /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

And reboot.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FreeNX

dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config

Choose: “mail sent by smarthost; received via SMTP or fetchmail”

Get root access:

sudo su

To backup:

tar cvpzf backup.tgz --exclude=/proc --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=/backup.tgz --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/sys /

To restore:

tar xvpfz backup.tgz -C /

Source: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=35087

To backup on an other mount:

tar cvpzf /mnt/data/backup.tgz --exclude=/proc --exclude=/lost+found --exclude=/mnt --exclude=/sys /

Use DeltaCopy (as rsync server) on the Windows box:

http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp

You’ll need to open port TCT/873 in your windows firewall.

Note: To fix the accentuated characters issue in the filenames, you can replace the “Cygwin1.dll” in the DeltaCopy directory by a UTF-8 compliant Cygwin dll (http://www.okisoft.co.jp/esc/utf8-cygwin/). Then restart the service or reboot.

And here’s my bash script running on my Linux box (all the files are in a “backup-tools” directory):

#!/bin/bash
passwdfile=~ACCOUNT/backup-tools/passwd
excludefile=~ACCOUNT/backup-tools/exclude
options="--delete-after --recursive --exclude-from=$excludefile --human-readable --stats --times"
# This gives a  bored user something to watch
if [ "$1" = "--progress" ];
then
options=”$options –progress”
fi
echo “–starting–”
rsync OPTIONNALUSERNAME@SEVERADDRESS::DELTACOPYMODULENAME /WHERETOBACKUP –password-file=$passwdfile $options
echo “–done–”

Then I run it daily in the crontab (command “crontab -e”):

@daily ~ACCOUNT/backup-tools/rsync.sh | mail ACCOUNT -s "daily rsync result"

Ref: http://dailycupoftech.com/windows-backup-with-rsync-and-freenas/

1. Use the Ubuntu “alternate installer” disc
2. At the start menu press F4 and select “Install a commande-line system”
   
3. Complete the installation process
4. After add the gnome-core package and gdm:
   aptitude install gnome-core gdm

Voilà!

I am now installing Ubuntu without a swap partition and I use a swap file afterward.

Here’s the details from Ubuntu Swap FAQ:

Should I reinstall with more swap?

• Definitely no.
• With the 2.6 kernel, “a swap file is just as fast as a swap partition.”(Wikipedia:Paging, LKML).

How do I add more swap?

• Usually, people associate swap with a swap partition, maybe because they’ve been proposed to create a swap partition on install. In fact any file can be used as a swapping device, be it a partition or a conventional file. If you’re considering responsiveness, my advice: add more RAM. Swapping to a partition or a file won’t change anything.
• We will add more swap by adding a swap file.
• Adding more swap is a four-step process :
• a- Creating a file the size you want.
• b- Formatting that file to create a swapping device.
• c- Adding the swap to the running system.
• d- Making the change permanent.
• We will consider (as an example) a 512 M swap need.
• a- Creating a file the size you want :
• We will create a /mnt/512M.swap swap file.

  sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/512M.swap bs=1M count=512

• What is important here is count=512, which means we want our file to contain 512 blocks of bs=1M, which means block size = 1 MegaBytes.
• Be careful *not* to do this dd of=/mnt/512M.swap bs=1M seek=512 count=0
  Though the file grows to 512M immediately,it will have holes that makes it unusable. 
• b- Formatting that file to create a swapping device :

  sudo mkswap /mnt/512M.swap

• c- Adding the swap to the running system :

  sudo swapon /mnt/512M.swap

• You can see with “cat /proc/meminfo” that your additionnal swap is now available.
• d- Making the change permanent :
• edit your /etc/fstab:

  gksudo gedit /etc/fstab

• and add this line at the end of the file:

  /mnt/512M.swap  none  swap  sw  0 0

• save and reboot

Ref: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapFaq

Dell is working on their smallest and greenest desktop PC (81% smaller and 70% less enegy-consuming). No name yet only this rendered preview. It should also be shipped in recycled and recyclable packaging.  !

Source: GIZMODO

My HTPC lack a graphical display. I want to see the play length of my movies, the temp of my CPU and the upload/download information of my torrents.

I first thought to purchase a VFD based display, but aren’t we after year 2000? Therefore, a greenish old style display is not really appealing.

But, I found what I needed at Matrix Orbital, a Canadian based company specialized in VFD AND LCD display.

They have a complete line of character USB display. And the all mighty Matrix Orbital GX Typhoon USB Graphic Display.

All software and documentation is available on their website: http://www.matrixorbital.com/