LAVA Linux: Customizing Ubuntu

LAVA 5.0 Remote Tool

2010-01-27T16:32:00.003-06:00

I added the remote tool to the new build of LAVA I am going to upload.

Now users of LAVA can use my desktop remote tool I posted earlier upon install or via livecd. Once ran, they can select a live session to a technician. The technician can then remotely login to the desktop to help out.

The remote service is a paid service I am developing here at my company Ansotech.

The remote tool I built and is installable on Ubuntu, Fedora and OpenSuse.

I am planning on bundling the remote service backend and front end so internal ITs or corporations have a easy remote solution for their linux clients.

The server backend piece runs on XP, 2000, 2003, Vista, Windows 7, MAC and of course Linux. This piece is the software that runs on a technicians pc.

Let me know if anyone out there would like information on this product as it is a new product we are going to offer and obviously are looking for feedback as well as users willing to try out the initial offerings of the product.

Thanks

LAVA PLus 5.0 released

2009-11-11T15:42:00.002-06:00

Finished the DVD multimedia edition of my lava.

Added thunderbird and extensions such as zindus, google imap, google calendar, signature, etc.

Added alot of custom context sensitivie menu keys for 'convert to mp3', 'convert to avi' , 'add subititles' , 'convert to wmv' , 'convert flv to avi' , 'fix avi index' , etc.

also added a huge list of apps for media encoding and authoring as well as audcaious, exaile, streamtuner, tvtime, etc.

added alot of games as well and emulators.

Let me know what you think.

[ Download Here ]

LAVA 5.0 CD Version

2009-11-05T12:48:00.001-06:00

I finished version 5 of LAVA based on 9.10.

Here is the CD version

I will upload the PLUS and DEV edition in the next day or so.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks

New LAVA

2009-11-05T12:16:00.003-06:00

New Version of LAVA CD Version will be uploaded today based on Ubuntu 9.10

Features:
* Custom sysctl.conf for increased bandwidth and security as well as filesystem and memory tweaks
* Enabled hdparm.conf for dms, hard disk cache, etc
* Installed , configured preload
* a suite load of addtional software to make it easier to use: gnochm, ntfs-config, eggscups, etc.
* removed usual gnome menu and replaced with gnome-main menu
* added custom templates like NEW Excel Spreadsheet, New Word Docuemnt, New Python Script into right click -> New
* added a bunch of nauitlus context menus - convert ot BMP, convert to PSD, convert to GIF, merge images into a PDF, extract images from PDF, burn Xbox game
* added firefox addons - text to link, dns cache, adblock, etc. and reconfigured firefox for safer browsing.
* added network utils like traceroute, aircrack
* added cd converting utils like nrg2iso, binchunck
* added mediubuntu repos to software lists so you can download media codecs or apps
* changed all media to play thru smplayer - avi, mpg, mpeg, mov, wmv, wma, mp4, flv, etc

etc, etc , etc.

Let me know what you think.

should have it uploaded by this afternoon.

Not Ubuntu related

2009-10-31T01:33:00.008-05:00

But it is open source related.

I built a backup utility for our datacenter based on rsync. It used rsync in the background but gives our non unix technicians the ability to backup shares, folders with rsync on windows without needing us unix gurus to setup the backups.

It has all the rsync features, plus scheduler and can build the UI options into a script so you can have a nice icon to just double click on to do the backups whenever and/or throw them into your own schedules uses the scheduler for windows.

here's a video of it I posted on youtube.

Ubuntu 9.10

2009-10-30T12:10:00.002-05:00

Yeah! Been pretty busy the last two months with work, web development, drupal, server management - I have not had time to jump on and blog about the cool things I have been doing. But since the new release of ubuntu is out in the wild, I decided to download it and begin working with it in a VM and start retooling it for a new LAVA and LAVALite release.

Lately I have been working on some projects for clients with RAILO, drupal and cakephp. All web based applications but it's been amazing to build some apps that look and run just like desktop apps all built on opensource software. I have been using LAVA based on Ubuntu 8.04 with apache, tomcat, cakephp, drupal and RAILO depending on the project. I have grown to really enjoy coding this way. I started about 8 years ago as a COLDFUSION programmer and started to write smaller apps with RAILO when it became opensource. Now with a UBUNTU stack and I throw in either RAILO, drupal or cakephp and volia instant backend for some really robust apps. Having ubuntu as a solid test environment really makes development so much faster cause I can make a custom cd for the client which has all the software and runtimes necessary to completely install a new instance of the application within their environment without the need for an apache guru or a mysql guru, etc.

Throw in some Yahoo UI, EXTJS or Jquery and your apps look awesome.

I am really excited about this new version of ubuntu - supposed to be alot faster. I played with the betas but now to see the true release.

Will post something once I have tested out a couple builds.

Microsoft datacenter woes

2009-10-11T16:56:00.003-05:00

Looks like Microsoft datacenter had a huge loss this week. Actually all the mobile sidekick data for all the USA.

This just in time for Microsoft's unveiling of their new Azure online cloud service and Microsoft's bid to get people to use Microsoft Office online.

I know it's not ubuntu news but it's interesting to see with everything going to the cloud. The new version of Ubuntu allows cloud service integration with Amazon. And although I think everyone who has been using cloud services have come accustomed to some lose of service whether that is disconnects to their data or some downtime, this is the first time I have ever heard of complete data loss.

having lost data on local hds, I understand hardware fails but come on. When someone like a Microsoft loses data - it's unforgivable and a real testament to their growing lack of technical skill. Reading the article, they do point out that Microsoft inherited it's sidekick infrastructure a year ago, but that does not help their case - if anything it makes it worse. They had a whole year to put in place a backup strategy. For me being a person who likes the idea of cloud computing and even uses Google Apps cloud service it puts the fear in me that Microsoft could be so complacent. Let them be an example to all in the cloud business - make backups.

Read the article here:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/10/11/microsofts_danger_sidekick_data_loss_casts_dark_on_cloud_computing.html

New Ubuntu and apt-build fun

2009-10-06T10:13:00.004-05:00

Looking forward to the new build of ubuntu coming out at the end of the month. I've been holding off on uploading my new builds as I thought early last month that i would just end up replacing them when the new build comes out anyways.

I have been playing with apt-build. For those who do not know - apt-build allows you to install apps like normal but during the install, downloads the source if it is available from the repos and builds a version of the intended app on your machine to take advantage of your specific hardware.

I've been playing with it and it really does speed up your system. I ran apt-build and built my entire system from the ground up - kernel, openoffice, gnome, etc. And everything just pops.

Unfortunately it took like 8 hours to do. :) But now - openoffice and gnome in general just is lightning fast. If you have the time I would highly suggest trying it out.

New build on it's way

2009-05-27T12:16:00.001-05:00

Been awhile since i built a new version of lavalite and lava. I've been playing with the new build of ubuntu and xubuntu. Each time there is a new version, I like to reformat my test pc and run my scripts and see if there is any way to improve upon the great work Canonical does with ubuntu and xubuntu. The process takes some time as I like to see if there are any new programs in synaptic I might want to include as well as all the tweaks I normally include that may or may not be necessary with the new builds.

I'm almost ready and will probably have a new version of the CD, Plus and dev out by early next week.

Please let me know if there is anything you have seen which you think might make for a better experience.

Along with the normal changes, I'm thinking of changing the default mediaplayer from vlc to mplayer. It seems to run wmv files better.

SSH Gateway Portal

2009-05-03T21:17:00.003-05:00

Several people have asked about the portal application i wrote so I wanted to go into further details.

The application is a windows based single self contained exe designed so administrator can publish rdp, vnc, www, and x to Window users thru ssh without having to install ssh, explain to the users how to connect to the ssh internal servers, or setup ftp, vncview or manually configure rdp settings at the client level. The Portal has vncviewer embedded, filezilla embedded, knows the x86 and x64 paths for terminal service client and has an xclient embedded.

Basically the administrator logs into a web interface on the ssh server, adds published apps describing internal servers hidden behind the ssh server and assigns those published apps to Active Directory groups. The admin then adds users to those groups. The user can only see the published apps they have been assigned when they login to the portal.

They click on their published app and the app connects thru ssh to the internal resource. If it is an rdp server, the portal generates an rdp file based on what parameters the admin setup, and forwards the necessary ports and then launches the windows terminal client and connects it to the forwarded port - all without the user knowing ssh was used, what ports were used, etc.

The same is true with ftp, gets parameters from what admin setup, forwards port and then launches the embedded filezilla to the port. Again user did not need to setup or install filezilla, nor did they need to know ssh was involved or what internal ports or servers were used.

X same thing, and VNC same thing.

I basically made a ssh web version of metaframe web interface but instead of pushing out ica i am doing rdp, vnc, ftp, and x

The ssh gateway is built on ubuntu but can be any linux os, apache and php. But I am thinking of replacing the php portion with rails or django. The portal client piece is built with realbasic and i built a version with visual studio 2003.

Linux Remote Control Help

2009-02-20T13:14:00.002-06:00

Added an icon that shows up in gnome under Applications->Internet menu.

Also added compression for image relaying and added wireframing techniques to make the redraws faster.

Deb can be found at same place as previous post.

Ubuntu Remote Control Help Desk Tool

2009-02-19T00:43:00.004-06:00

Just built a small app which allows you to make a connection to a technician so they can remotely see your desktop and help out when you have problems with your ubuntu.

I built a version for windows about a year ago and we use it in the office instead of webex for all our clients. It was really popular so I built a mac version later that year and this year I built a gtk version for Ubuntu. I only tested it on Ubuntu 8.10 64bit and 32bit and my LAVA but it should work across all the ubuntu family that has gtk installed. In fact it technically should work on any debian based distro that can install a deb and has gtk installed.

I attached a screen shot.

http://office.ansotech.com/share/LAVA/remotecontrol.deb

iFolder on Ubuntu

2009-02-02T15:27:00.004-06:00

IFolder on Linux

iFolder is a simple and secure storage solution that can increase your productivity by enabling you to back up, access and manage your personal files-from anywhere, at any time. Once you have installed iFolder, you simply save your files locally-as you have always done-and iFolder automatically updates the files on a network server and delivers them to the other machines you use. It was originally developed by Novell but they have since open-sourced the product.

You can find the source code as well as some binaries and installer online. I've taken the source code and compiled a server for Ubuntu as well as client for Windows and Ubuntu, Lava. I've been playing with using a Source Code version solution lately but I might stay with iFolder and a local version of git or subversion as iFolder makes my source code directories syncronized whereever I may be at - Windows at work, Linux at home, etc.

Also it is a great way to replace pcs at a workstation level. If a user is about to receive a new pc, just iFolder their data and swap out their pc and then install iFolder back on and it will sync their data back onto the pc. For sales or marketing people, iFolder helps their group colloborate on documents they are going to present to a prospect. Also it is a great way for a company to expose a workgroup to a folder of item which may not have a file server or a workgroup who may actually be in seperate offices or at different locations.

Since iFolder also works in an offline mode, it is better than Gdrive or SkyDrive where you basically place your files on their servers and need some form of internet access to edit or work on your files. Plus with other solutions, your access is limited by your current internet access so it can be slow if accessing database or other huge files. With iFolder you still have native full access to your files. Only bit changes within your files are syncronized so updates are fast and bandwidth friendly. Also other solutions can cause data corruption if you are working on a file and your internet connection goes down. With iFolder you are always working on your local files and it only syncs those changes to the datacenter and to any computer you setup your iFolder account onto or to anyone you have shared any of your iFolders with. With iFolder you can specify a user to have access to any of your iFolders so you can setup a shared folder for
accounting or marketing etc. You can have fine security like read only, etc.

iFolder on Windows

I really like the technology and since I have access to the source code, I am already writing in a pidgin addon so you can send iFolder links to people you chat with and invite them to work on one of your iFolders or tunnel a voip call with someone who has iFolder installed. It would also be cool to add a twitter function so if someone modifies a file inside your shared iFolder, you receive a twitter alert on your phone. Great for a salesman on the go.

simplevms.com

2009-01-29T21:23:00.002-06:00

I recently purchased simplevms.com and plan to start building a website with virtual machine solutions built with ubuntu and lavalinux stacks. As many of you know virtual appliance are great when you want to test out a server solution without building a physical server. I have been building servers for the last 9 years and recently I have really taken vm technology to a whole new level within my company. I want to start making some of the technology available online so...

Some of the stacks I plan on building:
Developer stack : eclipse, php, python, ruby, apache, mysql, tomcat, oh may :)
Jabber Stack: apache, jabber server, admin site, jabber client site.
VOIP stack: asterisk, flash admin website, apache
Fileserver: samba, website admin, hylafax server, pdf printer server folder
SCV: Subversion, CVS, git, git web interface, apache, Bazzar
iFolder: Folder syncronization, Web admin, Web client installs,
SSH gateway: SSH server with webmin for admin.

If you have an idea for a virtual appliance send me an email and I might build it and post it.

Online complete Linux Books

2009-01-28T01:27:00.003-06:00

So I can across a cool site I wanted to share. www.scribd.com

It is a site where users can upload complete books, articles and self made documentation. they have everything online. Some of the books I was interested in were : ubuntu, server administration, eclipse programming, Adobe AIR, django, rails, etc.

I also found some gems like Linux magazines and sports, etc.

I came across a cool Ubuntu magazine called Full Circle. They have a bunch on the site.

Here is a link to issue 20.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/10167944/Full-Circle-Magazine-Issue-20

They have great articles on how to build a webserver to designing your own livecd.

Well just passing it on.

Subversion Ubuntu and a Panda

2009-01-25T06:05:00.001-06:00

I spent the last couple hours getting eclipse, python, panda3d onto my workstation communicating with a brand new server running ubuntu, apache, and subversion. Why?

It seemed like a great idea at the time. I have lots and lots of source code with various projects that I have and am continuing to write over the last 9 years and I am tired of hauling different external drives to and from work depending on the project I am working on.

I decided to start using subversion - I never really used any version control system but it is appealing to me to have a version control system in place to check code in and out to any machine I happen to work off of. But I really did not know what was involved in setting up Subversion. In all honesty however it would have been easier if the server was not a apache machine with virtual aliases etc. I also wanted to subversion repos to build themselves on an NAS sitting in the same area as the server which brought it's own level of issues with SAMBA and permissions. The process was so draining and long I really need to redo it and blog about it so others can benefit from it.

Well now I have a subversion box and I can check in code and put code into it from eclipse or any other subversion client.

Enough for tonight - I am off to sleep and dream about all the code I can make tomorrow. :)

General Opensource post

2009-01-06T23:21:00.004-06:00

Not really about Ubuntu but more about opensource. I'm blogging from my other pc right now :) the Vista one. I know, I know. But I am a developer and some of my clients cling to their Microsoft ways which means I still need a development pc with windows installed.

Anyways !!!! Being in a vista world is painful. I really mean it. Here I am paying over a hundred dollars for an OS which is slow on a quad core with 4 gbs of memory and a SATAII HD with 16MB cache raided as 0. I mean I really have to spend time when I install it to remove the Aero effects, add a bunch of registery tweaks for file system speed ups, increasing L Cache and hacking the tcpip stack to get more connections for my browsing. Needless to say besides the OS I try to make all the other software, opensource.

I include in my opensource arsena many projects and project spin-offs. A list can be found on the side of my blog. And I am constantly on the lookout for more. Well I found a cool site last week which I wanted to share.

Mulder's Homepage - I don't think it's Mulder the former FBI detective turned opensource but nonetheless - the man has built a bunch of cool apps with Delphi for Windows based on alot of opensource projects including Mplayer with Smplayer and lots of codes. :)

From his website
"This package contains the latest builds of MPlayer for the Windows platform as well as SMPlayer and MPUI. Thanks to the award-winning MPlayer engine, more than 192 Video- and 85 Audiocodecs are supported natively! For maximum performance the package includes optimized MPlayer binaries for various CPU types. Furthermore the Full-Package includes the Binary Codec Package to enable even more audio/video formats."

What I really like about his install is it checks your cpu and loads an optimized version of mplayer and during the install the installer actually recompresses the dlls and exes with upx and makes them lighter and faster.

The player works really great - no more Windows Media Player for me!!! and VLC although good sometimes cannot play wmv files right. This Mplayer build plays it all.

On his site he also has : AVidemux, MakeInstallPlayer, LameXP, SFXTool, and a version of mencoder with a gui. I actually loaded them all and they run fast and light.

Try them out - you'll find yourself using less of the windows bloat and more opensource.

http://mulder.dummwiedeutsch.de/home/?page=home

and an embeded remote help desk tool

2009-01-06T17:09:00.002-06:00

Also added a remote help desk tool which starts up vnc and send the users desktop streaming to a tech - the user can select a tech which has the vnc server portion loaded in their system tray. Basically the user logs into the portal - if they have an issue, they could go to Tools->Remote control and a separate window pops-up where they can select a tech. Once selected the tech recieves a popup and they can accept the connection. A new window comes up on the tech side and he can see the user's desktop. The user does not need to open any ports and it runs entirely in memory so no installing stuff like webex. :)

Embedded Ticket System

2009-01-06T17:06:00.003-06:00

Added a Ticket System within the portal so the user can post errors or issues and information is stored in a mysql data and an email is sent to the tech assigned during that time.

The user can see via a list if their issue was posted by someone else within their organization.

SSH RDP Client Admin

2009-01-06T17:02:00.002-06:00

Example of the admin piece within the portal. Admin is setting up a new published app.

Here he enters in the app information that will be generated into xml and sent to portal clients by client group.

Information such as term server ip or name, rdp settings such as compression or full screen, or drive mappings.

RDP encapsulated SSH client

2009-01-06T16:53:00.003-06:00

Well I've been coding all night and have a new version of the portal application.

Key features:
SSH enabled RDP session to Term servers.
LAVA SSH gateway listening at port 80 for clients to connect to via SSH.
Once they connect, they pull in some port forwarding information which is tied to their user id.
The SSH embedded client reads the xml information and then port forwards to their internal terminal server and sets up the port onto their local machine at port 3390
The client then generates an RDP file that is run on the localmachine and connects the MS RDP client to port 3390 on the localmachine. Voila - the client is using SSH and RDP without knowing it.

Beautiful part is the EXE is under 8 mb and runs entirely in ram. No install. Just run it off a usb and connect to your published apps via SSH and no port opening on firewalls cause the SSH server is listening on 80.

I might expand the published apps to include X servers and imbed an X client in the portal app , I could also add a vnc client embedded in the portal so you could vnc into servers via ssh.

I have a screenshot above:

SSH gateway for RDP

2009-01-05T16:18:00.002-06:00

SO I am building a SSH gateway to place in between some terminal servers we have at the office. The cool thing about the SSH server is that it will compress the RDP traffic and redirect the client to the internal RDP server.

What I am envisioning is a to build a small python app which will allow a user to login to a mysql database which will have some published app information, this information will be sent back to the client upon successfully logging in and tell the client which ssh server to connect to and which internal terminal server the client should call the rdp client to.

In essence the client connects to the ssh server and port forwards RDP to the local machine and then creates an RDP file that is autostarted by the localmachine which tells it to connect to itself at port 3389. That port will be forwarded automatically to the server running in the datacenter via ssh.

This way the only port that needs to be opened at the client end would be port 80 which is just web traffic port- I am going to have the SSH server listen on that port. Everything will be sent thru SSH so no RDP configuration on router.

I have tested it and file transfers work faster from RDP as well as screen refreshes. PDF rendering is alot smoother and I also like the fact that it is using SSH security and the data is encrypted.

Just another way opensource, ubuntu, python, ssh is helping me out.

Preload

2009-01-04T22:38:00.002-06:00

Along with playing with the 64bit os this weekend, I decided to mess with sysctl.conf and preload again.

For those who do not know /etc/sysctl.conf controls your kernel parameters - it's a nice way to adjust your operating system's running kernel without rebuilding the kernel from source and preload is a program you can install via 'sudo apt-get install preload' which preloads dlls and binaries into memory. It watches which programs you use and trys to load parts of the program into memory so when you launch the program it runs faster.

Still trying to find the best ratios for performance. I really like preload but you have to tweak it out a bit and also tune your system to be a little more aggressive with virtual memory garbage collecting via sysctl.conf. Preload obviously would not be too beneficial in a server environment but on the desktop it does make things pop up faster.

The whole test was to see if I could really shave openoffice and firefox launch times. And preload worked very well after I tricked out my sysctl.conf file.

Here are some of the changes I made in /etc/sysctl.conf
vm.swappiness=15
vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50
net.core.rmem_default = 256288
kernel.shmmax = 268435456
net.core.optmem_max = 57344
kernel.threads-max = 16379
fs.file-max = 16384
vm.page-cluster = 3

Then I adjusted my /etc/preload.conf
minsize = 1500000
memtotal = 30

Openoffice and firefox both noticiably increased in launch times. I don't have too many firefox extenstions but it does take a couple seconds for it to pop up - with preload and my new sysctl it comes up almost instantly. Openoffice runs faster also, it loads in about 10 secs and then each load afterwards is like instant. For Openoffice I changed some settings in it's preferences also, I increased the memory Openoffice could use to 64MB so it can load more of itself in the background. Now both come up fast.

64bits of power

2009-01-04T22:31:00.002-06:00

So I have been playing with Ubuntu 8.10 64bit this weekend.

I like it.

My home test machine an AMD 3400+ seems to run faster with it than the 32bit ubuntu I have been using. I was worried about alot of the third-party software i use as they come in debs already for ubuntu but building some from source was not too bad and I then make the newly built binaries debs for 64 so it worked out. I was really worried about my game library - panda3d - but the folks at panda3d started making 64 bit versions and they had a premade deb so it all worked out. I loaded it and ran the source code of my developing game and voila - it worked without any changes.

I'm going to start building a new pc for my home and since I am going to have more than 4gb it was important to me to see if the 64bit version was going to be any trouble but i have been running it for 2 days and burned some cds, played my music, hooked up my ipod, wrote some python, panda3d, and django code and even did some rails and everything worked well. YIPPPEEE!!! Who says computers are a pain?

8.10 build

2009-01-02T11:47:00.003-06:00

Almost done with CD version of 8.10 build. I've been doing alot of python programming lately with my game as well as my websites and haven't been developing lava for the last 2 months. I decided to replace my extra home development computer in the next month, so I am going to finish up my 8.10 build of lava and lavalite so I can load it onto the new machine.

As I am going to build my pc, I have been looking around for my new machine parts and found an Intel i7 920 Core chip and motherboard which I am eyeing. The motherboard allows for up to 24GB :) oh my! Obviously I am not going to buy all the memory at once but over time. 4 GB here, 4 GB there. Anyways, it made me think about the native 4GB limit in the Ubuntu 32bit kernel and how I would need to either install the 32bit server kernel or rebuild the 32bit kernel to get that extra memory. I haven't used the 64bit version and was wondering if anyone has and what their experience has been with it? Maybe I will build a 64bit version of my LAVA and LavaLite so the native 64bit kernel can see past 64bit without having to recompile or load a server kernel. Are there any downsides to install the server kernel as opposed to the desktop? Maybe I should just try the 64bit version out? I do alot of programming in panda3d now and it ships as a deb for 32bit ubuntu on their site. Not sure if there will be any issues with running it in a 64bit os. Also I have a bunch of other software not in the repos which are all 32bit. I guess the only way to know for sure it to install it and see.

Rsync Heaven

2008-12-12T14:58:00.002-06:00

In the last month I have had to rescue some pc data from family members computers. The PCs would not boot - they would die at the login screen. I grabbed my version of lavalite which I loaded onto a usb using UNETBOOTIN and voila - had a desktop where I could mount their NTFS drive, my external TB usb drive.

Once I mounted the drives all with clicks in xfce, I jumped to a command prompt and began to rsync the data they had under 'Document and Settings'

They had tons of photos, some home movies they ripped from their camcorder and lots and lots of ipod stuff. Total 68 GB.

Well Rsync worked like a champ: here is the command I ran
rsync -arvgzi --bwlimit=4096 --delete --itemize-changes "/media/HD/Document and Settings" /media/LACIE/backup/ > /home/ubuntu/rsync.txt

This command backed up all the files under Document and Settings and replicated them on my removable USB drive under a sub folder called backup and then it logged the files it backed up to a log file in my livecd ubuntu home folder.

I set the command to run at a bandwdith limit of 4096, which was about 4MB a sec, so I could also use Firefox and use their internet while the backup ran in the background.

After about half an hour, one of the kids needed to use the pc for homework so I showed her where her .DOCs were and she opened her assignment in OpenOffice and began to update it. After an hour the rsync was still going and she finished her assignment. She opened firefox and began to email herself the updated file so she could print it out at school.

After she finished, she asked me how she would chat. I showed her Pidgin and off she went, added her account and begain chatting. In between, she opened another instance of firefox and went to myspace and facebook and was there running off the livecd for another hour or so.

Once I had their data and she gave me back the keyboard I ran it thru CLAMAV and then restarted their pc and began reluctantly to install Windows XP Home Edition. After talking to the parents and her other sister, they had alot of video games that I was not sure would run under linux.

If anything this experience made me realize that even this 5th grader could get work and have fun on linux without windows. She realized everything looked different but she was able to learn how to bold, underline, click here, click there and got her work done and found time to have fun all off a live usb linux boot. Amazing.

They are now back on Windows XP Home Edition. They do not have their original install cds that came with the PC so I installed with an OEM disc and entered their key and activated Windows. Unfortunately they had Office 2003 which was preinstalled on the pc and now they can not find the software so I loaded OpenOffice and they were fine with that. I think it helped that the 5th grader was able to use it previously when she was using my livecd. They also had a bundled NERO install - again they did not have any of their original software so I loaded a fresh new install of InfraRecorder and they found it easier and faster than nero. I added 7 Zip for their compressing needs, I added defraggler and setup defrag schedules. I also added VLC and set it up to be their default player. Threw in firefox and added some extensions: Tab Mix Plus, Adblock Plus, Google Preview, URL Text. Added Foxit for PDF reading, Unlocker for unlocking files, and Antivir for Antivirus protection.

So in the end, they have their pc back with a Microsoft OS but they lost all of their bundled purchased software. It's funny cause they commented on how much faster the computer felt and I completely think it is cause all the apps they have on their system now run lighter and faster and they are free.

Although I could not convert them to Linux, I think I made them very aware of the value of free software which I think is a step in the right direction.

LAVA and UNetBootin

2008-11-27T12:20:00.003-06:00

So I have been using UnetBootin lately to build USB bootable OS sticks. I'll take a version of LAVA or even a PE Bart disk and run it thru Unetbootin and voila - instant USB Linux or rescure disk. I've used it to clean viruses off desktops, recuse files from pcs which will no longer boot, even do complete installs off the stick. Plus I sometimes use it as my desktop when I don't have my pc - Just go to someone's pc, boot up and you are working.

For more info - check out their homepage.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2008-11-27T12:13:00.002-06:00

Found this ascii art online and thought I should pass it on.

Hope you have a great holiday!

New Site is online

2008-11-26T12:40:00.001-06:00

My new lavalinux site is up and running. Latest builds and news - will be updating the content over this holiday weekend. Hope you like it. I have both lavalinx and lavalite available online.

http://www.lavalinux.com

New Server

2008-10-30T13:12:00.002-05:00

Setting up a new server for the office for my personal projects.

Yep finally was able to get myself a decent new server for all my personal projects. Right now all the pages, isos, code is on multiple shared servers. I'm going to start to consolidate it on my new beefy machine.

I have a new Dell server Quad Core with 16 GB RAM, Dual GB Nic, 80 SAS drive and 1TB secondary SATAII drive, 2MB cache on each core. Loaded LAVALite on it yesterday and setup a default install of Apache, SSH, ProFTPD, PHP4, Ruby, Python, WebMin and will install MySQL on it today along with configuring SSH and Apache for virtual domains.

Once I am done, I'm going to start moving all my isos and update my blog with the new links as well as move over all my Linux game programming code and builds over to it. I am also going to move newlava.ansotech.com to it and setup my domain lavalinux.com to point to it.

I was able to accomplish alot yesterday and in just 3 or 4 hours thanks to Linux, Ubuntu and of course my LAVALite. I just love free software.

Removed 3.0 and 3.5

2008-10-30T13:09:00.003-05:00

Removed the 3.0 and 3.5 builds of LAVA based on Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04.

The latest build of lava is 3.8 and is available on my download section on the right side of my blog.

I have decided to keep the 3.5 build of LAVA based on PCLinuxOS online as well.

LAVALite Released

2008-10-29T16:54:00.002-05:00

New LavaLite Builds available.

For those who do not know - I have created a version of my LAVA based on Xubuntu 8.04

You can find it here: http://lavalite.blogspot.com

YES I know Canonical is going to release a new version in a couple days but I wanted to get started and have an iso of my own now :) When Canonical releases their new build I get to start all over :)

My Current builds have context menu keys like : Convert Video to AVI, MPG, WMV, MP3, WMA, etc. I also added right clicks for converting image types and merge images to pdf, Add subtitles to AVI, rip out audio from avi.

I added all the same performance enhancements as in LAVA. Added vlc for media playing along with a whole slew of apps like guf firewall, OpenOffice and Microsoft Office 2007 compatibility, Gisomount , PyNeighborhood and more...

Let me know what you think.

NEW LAVALite Blog

2008-10-23T20:42:00.003-05:00

Decided to start a new blog to highlight my LAVALite project. Now that I have finished my Gnome LiveCD I have spent the last two weeks playing with XFCE and have started building a new livecd I call LAVALite.

Yes Jim - I really like it. Took awhile for me to warm up with Xfce but now after a two weeks I decided to load it on my laptop as well as my development machine.

Some of the new changes I made on Xubuntu version:

mp3, wma play in audacious : also changed defaults in audacious to put up OSD, etc

avi, wmv, mov, rm, mpg, mpeg play in vlc: changed defaults so it has shoutcast in playlist for movies and videos, HAL devices, Repeat all, etc.

removed abiword, gnumeric and added writer, calc, impress, draw

pre-installed some firefox and thunderbird extensions. Same extensions I placed in LAVA build.

Added a slew of right click context sensitive right clicks - some include email file, print file, search for files, convert to avi, mpg, wmv, convert to bmp, png, jpg, run iso as live cd, join avi files, add subtitles to avi.

Added some iso apps, system apps, etc.

If you have been following my LAVA project you will notice very similar functionality to the LAVA CD build. I will post some screenshots as well as some of the code for some of the scripts I wrote in Thunar filemanager.

New Blog is http://lavalite.blogspot.com

Older LAVA Builds and XFCE LAVA

2008-10-21T17:59:00.003-05:00

I'm going to remove the isos and links to the older builds of lava in the next couple days - Just a heads up.

Also I built 3 versions of XFCE which turned out really good. To be honest my first impression of XFCE was blah but it has grown on me. I had to tweak it out alot and add a bunch of right click context menus, change the media player, panels, etc to get more of what I wanted and throw in pyneighborhood and a host of other apps but when it was all said and done the xfce build is still super fast and I have it now on my development pc running strong. I'll try and upload the isos in the next couple days for my lavalite editon :)

LAVA 3.8 Gnome Dev Edition

2008-10-21T17:53:00.002-05:00

Here is the Dev version of new lava Build.

You can find the link to the right along with the CD Version and the DVD Plus Edition.

Here is a visual guide and change log for the Plus Version.

http://newlava.ansotech.com/builds/gnome/3.8/Lava3.8-DevVersion.pdf

This edition is the Deluxe LAVA version. It has everything included in the CD version and the Plus edition but also has a huge list of software aimed at developers. I think it is the only edition of Linux out there that has a bunch of game engines already setup, configured and ready for coding with. I included crystal space, Panda3d and many others.

If you don't know what panda3d is, you should check it out.

Panda3d Website

This edition also comes with networking toolkits and utilities. It even includes airsnort and aircrack.

LAVA 3.8 Gnome PLUS Edition

2008-10-21T16:54:00.000-05:00

Here is the PLUS version of new lava Build.

You can find the link to the right along with the CD Version and the DVD Version for Developers.

Here is a visual guide and change log for the Plus Version.

http://newlava.ansotech.com/builds/gnome/3.8/Lava3.8-PlusVersion.pdf

LAVA 3.8 Gnome Edition

2008-10-21T16:15:00.003-05:00

Finally uploaded the CD version of new lava Build.

You can find the link to the right along with the DVD versions of LAVA: Plus edition and Dev Edition.

Here is a visual guide and change log for the CD Version.

http://newlava.ansotech.com/builds/gnome/3.8/Lava3.8-CDVersion.pdf

SYSCTL.conf

2008-10-18T00:30:00.003-05:00

So the sysctl.conf file I posted in my last blog has gone threw some revisions and now I have a sysctl.conf file that seems to be very stable and gives better performance for higher end pcs. Any pc/server with 1GB or more. I added it to my lastest build of my custom ubuntu cd. I also added a bunch of new settings like setting more sensible defaults in hdparm.conf for more modern hardware - increasing the cpuFreq daemon cause I want my dual core to be at performance always, etc. I added them to my new build and also added them to my wiki site.

A wiki site is really a great tool. I have been using it extensively for the last couple months. I wiki everything I learn now so I can always come back to it. My custom apt-get scripts, my scripts to remove extra libs, languages, docs i don't need as well as the scripts that help me rebuild ubuntu.

I've also began using the wiki not only for my lava project but my game project and all the information I have learned on building email servers with ubuntu,fedora,suse,scalix, citadel. It really is helpful to know that once I successfully build or develop a new workflow, install, etc I can find it back in my wiki site without having to scour the internet and refind the information.

The wiki engine I choose was from mindtouch and it really is powerful and simple to use, plus they offer debs for ubuntu so setting it up was really easy. If you are in the market for a wiki, i recommend it.

http://wiki.developer.mindtouch.com/MindTouch_Deki/Download

SYSCTL.conf

2008-09-26T22:23:00.002-05:00

Has anyone tweaked their sysctl.conf lately to get the best desktop performance?

I've been playing with it for the last couple months. Thought I would pass on my sysctl.conf and see if anyone has any suggestions to improve it. It's rather long but I think if it helps anyone out get better performance or if anyone has any input on how I can make it better than what the hell.

Here it is :

#
# /etc/sysctl.conf - Configuration file for setting system variables
# See sysctl.conf (5) for information.
#

#kernel.domainname = example.com

# the following stops low-level messages on console
kernel.printk = 4 4 1 7

# enable /proc/$pid/maps privacy so that memory relocations are not
# visible to other users. (Added in kernel 2.6.22.)
kernel.maps_protect = 1

# Increase inotify availability
fs.inotify.max_user_watches = 524288

# protect bottom 64k of memory from mmap to prevent NULL-dereference
# attacks against potential future kernel security vulnerabilities.
# (Added in kernel 2.6.23.)
vm.mmap_min_addr = 65536

##############################################################3
# Functions previously found in netbase
#

# Comment the next two lines to disable Spoof protection (reverse-path filter)
# Turn on Source Address Verification in all interfaces to
# prevent some spoofing attacks
net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter=1
net.ipv4.conf.all.rp_filter=1

# Uncomment the next line to enable TCP/IP SYN cookies
# This disables TCP Window Scaling (http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/2/5/167)
#net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies=1

# Uncomment the next line to enable packet forwarding for IPv4
#net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

# Uncomment the next line to enable packet forwarding for IPv6
#net.ipv6.ip_forward=1

###################################################################
# Additional settings - these settings can improve the network
# security of the host and prevent against some network attacks
# including spoofing attacks and man in the middle attacks through
# redirection. Some network environments, however, require that these
# settings are disabled so review and enable them as needed.
#
# Ignore ICMP broadcasts
#net/ipv4/icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts = 1
#
# Ignore bogus ICMP errors
net/ipv4/icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses = 1
#
# Do not accept ICMP redirects (prevent MITM attacks)
net/ipv4/conf/all/accept_redirects = 0
# _or_
# Accept ICMP redirects only for gateways listed in our default
# gateway list (enabled by default)
# net/ipv4/conf/all/secure_redirects = 1
#
# Do not send ICMP redirects (we are not a router)
net/ipv4/conf/all/send_redirects = 0
#
# Do not accept IP source route packets (we are not a router)
net/ipv4/conf/all/accept_source_route = 0
#
# Log Martian Packets
#net/ipv4/conf/all/log_martians = 1
#
# Always defragment packets
#net/ipv4/ip_always_defrag = 1
# Controls the System Request debugging functionality of the kernel
kernel.sysrq = 0

# Controls whether core dumps will append the PID to the core filename.
# Useful for debugging multi-threaded applications.
kernel.core_uses_pid = 0

########## MY #######################
# Enable ignoring ping request
net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_all = 0

# Enable ignoring broadcasts request
net.ipv4.icmp_echo_ignore_broadcasts = 1

# Disables IP source routing
net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_source_route = 0
net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_source_route = 0

# Enable TCP SYN Cookie Protection
net.ipv4.tcp_syncookies = 1

# Disable ICMP Redirect Acceptance
#net.ipv4.conf.all.accept_redirects = 1
#net.ipv4.conf.default.accept_redirects = 1

# Enable bad error message Protection
net.ipv4.icmp_ignore_bogus_error_responses = 1

# Enable IP spoofing protection, turn on Source Address Verification
# Controls source route verification
net.ipv4.conf.default.rp_filter = 1

# Log Spoofed Packets, Source Routed Packets, Redirect Packets
net.ipv4.conf.all.log_martians = 0
net.ipv4.conf.default.log_martians = 0
net.ipv4.conf.eth0.log_martians = 0

# Allowed local port range
#net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 32768 61000

# Decrease the time default value for tcp_fin_timeout connection
net.ipv4.tcp_fin_timeout = 30

# Decrease the time default value for tcp_keepalive_time connection
net.ipv4.tcp_keepalive_time = 1800

# Enable packet forwarding
# Controls IP packet forwarding
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 0

# Improve file system performance
#vm.bdflush = 100 1200 128 512 15 5000 500 1884 2

# Improve virtual memory performance
#vm.buffermem = 80 10 60

# Improve and better control swapping into the system
#vm.freepages = 383 766 1149

# Increase swap bandwith system performance
#vm.kswapd = 1024 32 16

# Increase number of pages kernel reads in at once
vm.page-cluster = 10

# Improve files memory mapping and generic caching
#vm.pagecache = 50 80 100

# Improve number of page tables keeps in a per-proccessor cache
#vm.pagetable_cache = 45 75

# Improve the number of open files
fs.file-max = 16384
#fs.file-max = 8192

# Improve the number of inodes opened
#fs.inode-nr = 32768

#vm.max-readahead=128
#vm.min-readahead=64

#net.core.hot_list_length=256
net.ipv4.tcp_reordering=5
net.ipv4.tcp_fin_timeout=25
net.ipv4.route.flush=1
vm.swappiness=15

vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50
net.core.rmem_default = 524288
net.core.rmem_max = 524288
net.core.wmem_default = 524288
net.core.wmem_max = 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 87380 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 87380 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_mem = 524288 524288 524288
net.ipv4.tcp_max_tw_buckets = 1440000
net.ipv4.tcp_rfc1337 = 1
net.ipv4.ip_no_pmtu_disc = 0
net.ipv4.tcp_fack = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_ecn = 0
kernel.shmmax = 268435456
net.ipv4.ipfrag_high_thresh = 512000
net.ipv4.ipfrag_low_thresh = 446464

net.core.optmem_max = 57344

# tcp_window_scaling
net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling = 1

# tcp_sack
net.ipv4.tcp_sack = 1

# tcp_timestamps
net.ipv4.tcp_timestamps = 1

NY

2008-08-28T23:35:00.002-05:00

Just got back from my vacation in NY.

Went to The ED Sullivan Theater :) Very cool.
Went to Angelo's Pizzeria - David Letterman mentions it sometimes on his show.
Saw Times Square, Central Park - walked up and down broadway and had dinner in China Town and Little Italy.

All in all it was a great time.

I flew an airline that I never tried before - Jet Blue. If you haven't used them before - you should - excellent. your pick of 7 snacks - including animal cracks :) water, juices, sodas included. Direct TV on everyone's chair, XM radio and the seats are leather and lots of room to relax. Free wifi in the terminals - Loved it.

Now that I am back in Chicago - will update my lava site and obviously catch up with all my Ubuntu brethren :)

Portable Linux - sorta

2008-07-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

So I built a portable NX client that can be run from any windows machine and not require an install. The NX client is hard-coded to my development box running LAVA.

You can download zip file, extract, run the EXE and voila - you connect to a linux terminal server so you can test out linux software and run apps. Its sorta like Windows Terminal server and citrix without the licensing and without the configuring. I will keep a test account open for a day or so. Check it out.

http://newansotech.ansotech.com/download/LAVA.zip

Username: test
Password: test123

LAVA Plus 3.6 Build

2008-07-15T17:06:00.002-05:00

So now that lava is built, I finished the PLUS edition.

Here are the additions to LAVA base

#FileSystem stuff
apt-get install fuseiso -y
apt-get install fusedav -y
apt-get install fusesmb -y
apt-get install gmailfs -y

#System Utils
apt-get install macchanger-gtk -y
apt-get install macchanger -y
apt-get install ubuntu-docs -y
apt-get install ttf-baekmuk -y
#apt-get install ttf-arphic-uming -y
apt-get install gnome-user-guide -y
#apt-get install ttf-kochi-gothic -y
apt-get install ttf-dejavu -y
apt-get install grsync -y
apt-get install readpst -y
apt-get install netpbm -y
apt-get install sbackup -y
apt-get install nrg2iso -y
apt-get install mdf2iso -y

#APPS
apt-get install ekiga -y
apt-get install openclipart-openoffice.org -y
apt-get install openoffice.org-starter-guide -y
apt-get install openprinting-ppds-extra -y
apt-get install gnucash -y
apt-get install gnucash-docs -y
apt-get install gnome-backgrounds -y
apt-get install gnome-games-extra-data -y
apt-get install inkscape -y
apt-get install comix -y
apt-get install scribus -y
apt-get install scribus-template -y
apt-get install blender -y
apt-get install blender-ogrexml -y
apt-get install xaralx -y
apt-get install xaralx-svg -y
apt-get install checkgmail -y
apt-get install gtk-recordmydesktop -y
apt-get install planner -y
apt-get install gnotime -y
apt-get install gnome-art -y
apt-get install gimp-data-extras -y
apt-get install gimp-dimage-color -y
apt-get install gimp-gnomevfs -y
apt-get install gimp-help-common -y
apt-get install gimp-helpbrowser -y
apt-get install gimp-help-en -y
apt-get install gimp-refocus -y
apt-get install gimp-texturize -y
apt-get install gimp-ufraw -y
apt-get install gtkam-gimp -y
apt-get install gimp-libcurl -y
apt-get install gimp-plugin-registry -y
apt-get install icc-profiles -y
apt-get install flegita-gimp -y

apt-get install gimp2.0-quiteinsane --force-yes
apt-get install gimp-resynthesizer -y
apt-get install pandora -y
apt-get install gnomescan -y
apt-get install gnome-photo-printer -y
apt-get install icc-profiles -y
apt-get install gphoto2 -y
apt-get install gimp-gap -y
apt-get install nzb -y
apt-get install gpar2 -y
apt-get install pidgin-extprefs -y
apt-get install pidgin-guifications -y
apt-get install pidgin-plugin-pack -y
apt-get install wallpaper-tray -y
apt-get install create-resources -y

#Video / Sound
apt-get install ardour -y
apt-get install audacity -y
apt-get install avidemux -y
apt-get install acidrip -y
apt-get install easytag -y
apt-get install exaile -y
apt-get install gtkpod-aac -y
apt-get install gpixpod -y
apt-get install python-gpod -y
apt-get install gaupol -y
apt-get install hydrogen -y
apt-get install hydrogen-drumkits -y
apt-get install brasero -y
apt-get install devede -y
apt-get install tovid -y
apt-get install tovidgui --force-yes -y

#Needs an ICON Created
apt-get install dir2ogg -y
apt-get install drip -y
apt-get install dvd95 -y
apt-get install dvd-slideshow -y
apt-get install mplayer -y
apt-get install mplayer-skins -y
apt-get install mplayer-skin-blue -y
apt-get install mplayer-fonts -y
apt-get install mencoder -y
apt-get install oggconvert -y
apt-get install ogmrip --force-yes -y
apt-get install pitivi -y
apt-get install qdvdauthor -y
apt-get install soundconverter -y
apt-get install soundkonverter -y
apt-get install streamtuner -y
apt-get install streamripper -y
apt-get install thoggen -y
apt-get install transcode -y
apt-get install audacious -y
apt-get install audacious-crossfade -y
apt-get install audacious-plugins -y
apt-get install audacious-plugins-extra -y
apt-get install gopchop -y
apt-get install ogmtools -y
apt-get install gocr-gtk -y
apt-get install gocr -y
apt-get install gocr-doc -y

#KDE Apps
apt-get install kino -y
apt-get install k3b -y
apt-get install k9copy -y
apt-get install libk3b2-extracodecs -y

#Emulators
apt-get install dgen -y
apt-get install dosbox -y
apt-get install fceu -y
apt-get install gfceu -y
apt-get install gsnes9x -y
apt-get install snes9express -y
apt-get install pcsx -y
apt-get install snes9x-opengl -y
apt-get install vbaexpress -y
apt-get install stella -y
apt-get install visualboyadvance -y
apt-get install xmame-sdl -y
apt-get install xmame-gl -y
apt-get install mednafen -y
apt-get install psemu-input-omnijoy -y

#Games
apt-get install billard-gl -y
apt-get install beneath-a-steel-sky -y
apt-get install bomberclone -y
apt-get install bzflag -y
apt-get install wesnoth -y
apt-get install wesnoth-ei -y
apt-get install wesnoth-httt -y
apt-get install wesnoth-music -y
apt-get install wesnoth-trow -y
apt-get install wesnoth-tsg -y
apt-get install wesnoth-ttb -y
apt-get install wesnoth-utbs -y
apt-get install freeciv-client-gtk -y
apt-get install frozen-bubble -y
apt-get install gltron -y
apt-get install glob2 -y
apt-get install gnome-breakout -y
apt-get install lbreakout2 -y
apt-get install lincity-ng -y
apt-get install ltris -y
apt-get install madbomber -y
apt-get install moon-lander -y
apt-get install neverball -y
apt-get install pouetchess -y
apt-get install pingus -y
apt-get install scummvm -y
apt-get install supertuxkart -y
apt-get install trackballs -y
apt-get install trackballs-music -y
apt-get install tremulous -y
apt-get install torcs -y
apt-get install tuxkart -y
apt-get install uqm -y
apt-get install warsow -y
apt-get install warzone2100 -y
apt-get install widelands -y
apt-get install xscorch -y
apt-get install tmw -y
apt-get install tmw-data -y
apt-get install tmw-music -y

Built new version of deb assaultcube from website and added to iso.

apt-get install enigma -y
apt-get install enigma-level-previews -y
apt-get install flight-of-the-amazon-queen -y
apt-get install orbital-eunuchs-sniper -y
apt-get install tecnoballz -y
apt-get install vectoroids -y
apt-get install vegastrike -y
apt-get install vegastrike-music -y

#Joystick Support
apt-get install joy2key -y
apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-joystick -y
apt-get install jscalibrator -y

#Add Multimedia codecs and DVDstuff
apt-get install ffmpeg -y
apt-get install flac -y
apt-get install libk3b2-mp3 -y
apt-get install libdvdcss2 --force-yes -y
apt-get install ffmpeg -y
apt-get install libavformat0d -y
apt-get install libavcodec0d -y
apt-get install libpostproc0d -y
apt-get install libdvdcss2 -y
apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse -y
apt-get install python-opengl -y
apt-get install python-gtkglext1 -y

apt-get install miro -y
apt-get install dvgrab -y
apt-get remove gnochm -y
apt-get autoremove gnochm -y
apt-get install kchmviewer -y
apt-get install tunapie -y
apt-get install blogtk -y
apt-get install autotrace -y
apt-get install potrace -y
apt-get install thunderbird -y
apt-get install thunderbird-gnome -y
apt-get install lightning-extension -y
apt-get install mail-notification -y
apt-get install prism -y
apt-get install gobby -y
apt-get install evolution-rss -y
apt-get install feed2imap -y
apt-get install gnome-splashscreen-manager -y
apt-get install gok -y

apt-get install ruby -y
apt-get install hwinfo -y

manually built latest cairo-dock and cairo-dock-plugins, spicebird, thunderbird, ruby, added mp4ize and added a right click to convert videos to mp4.

Added numerous extensions to nautilus via the right click script menus.

Added a bunch of thunderbird extensions and some themes. Tweaked Thunderbird and Spicebird to be more like I like them. Specll check before sending, send in html, timezone change in calendar extensions to chicago.

Also updated firefox extensions to latest versions.

Tweaked audacious to do on screen, tweaked streamripper to use audacious instead of xmms.

Manually configured mp4, mp3, pls, wmv, wma, mpg, mpeg, mov, avi to play in vlc.
Adjust vlc to some common setting I like, repeat play, OSD, etc.

Tweaked Cairo-dock to have my favorite apps already on launch bar and set default theme.

Configured compiz with cube/rotation, 3d windows, window preview, 6 virtual windows, and changed minimize to burn, etc.

Adjust GTK menus to run faster.
Removed openoffice splash screen
Added gnome-do to sessions startup so its loaded in the background when you get to your desktop.

I'll upload the iso sometime before the weekend end.

Late Ride 2008

2008-07-08T23:12:00.002-05:00

So I am off tomorrow to pick up the tickets for my McDonald's L.A.T.E. Ride 2008. In case you are not familiar with the Bike Ride, it's a 25 Mile ride that is being held this Saturday. It features 10,000 bicyclists and benefits Friends of the Parks. It's a 33-year-old not-for-profit parks advocacy group whose mission is to protect and improve Chicago's parks and forest preserves in Cook County. If you are not doing anything or want to come cheer me on, you can get more info here: http://www.lateride.org/

I'll be the one with the Linux penguin T-shirt reading - "I'm cheap and Fun!"

Ubuntu 8.0.4.1

2008-07-03T21:44:00.000-05:00

Looks like a full maintenance release of Ubuntu. I found a couple bugs in 8.04 but found workarounds - since 8.04 came out. I'm downloading the 8.04.1 iso right now and will test it out in a VM. If it is significant enough and fixes some of the issues I had 'out of the box' I think I might regenerate my LAVA and upload a new iso based on it. Actually the fact that it has the final build of firefox might be incentive enough.

Also I found a beta of a pdf import/editor extension for open-office that I thought I might include in the next build. It will give me an excuse to add it in as well.

Bug

2008-06-20T17:08:00.003-05:00

Just found a bug in my lava build on pclinuxos. It does not effect the Ubuntu build. Apparently the image I created for the grub boot manager does not play nice on some pcs. Just remember to select the text menu as a boot option during install and you will be fine. I'm going to have to downsample the image and rebuild it later. For now just select the text menu for grub during your install within the livecd install wizard.

Thanks

Awesome Online Courses

2008-06-20T15:44:00.000-05:00

Happened upon this site and thought I would pass it on.

http://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2008/05/22/open-courseware-for-linux-geeks-50-resources/

Lava 3.5 - PClinuxOS Version

2008-06-20T15:12:00.001-05:00

Hi All,

Uploaded the PclinuxOS Version of LAVA.

It's almost the same as the Ubuntu version. Obviously some things are not available in the repository but for the most part it has all my tweaks as well as extensions.

Let me know what you think - you can download it to the right.

New Gaming Video

2008-06-20T13:51:00.003-05:00

Uploaded a sample video of a game engine I am making with Panda3d - building it all in LAVA and free software. Runs on Ubuntu of course and Windows. Runs on anything PANDA3D runs on. Tested it on LAVA 3.0, 3.5, Ubuntu 710 - 8.04 and also on Windows XP, Vista.

Its just a level right now but building the base tools to any video game is the most time consuming. I know it's not related to building a customized Ubuntu but it's cool - check it out on my gaming site to the right.

Bittorrents

2008-06-20T13:44:00.002-05:00

How many of you would like a bittorrent to supplement the regular ISO I provide?

I was thinking of setting up a bittorrent server in my datacenter to help seed the isos I build but wouldn't go thru the hassle if people wouldn't use it. Leave a comment and let me know. Thanks.

FYI - I finished both 3.5 lava based on Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS.

I finished uploading the ISO of lava based on Ubuntu and plan on uploading the PClinuxOS version by tonight.

Lava 3.5 release

2008-06-20T13:09:00.002-05:00

This Version of LAVA is built with Ubuntu 8.04

Added all the usual items in past builds.

Tweaked the sysctl.conf file for better handling on higher end pcs.
Disabled IPV6
Changed Menu to Gnome Menu
removed prelink.
Many application changes here are a few of the highlights
Openoffice now has 2007 support for Microsoft Word 2007 formats. OpenOffice defaults to save as Office formats - makes it easier for users who are coming off of Microsoft Office. My motto - "Change their app first then their format later."
Alien for rpm to deb conversions included
Deluge for bittorrents
Gnome Main menu replaces menu
Nautilus addons like 'Open Terminal Here', Convert Images, Run as Administrator, Search for Files, Sendto, Share, Wallpaper
GnoCHM - I have to read those CHM files. Lots of ebooks in this format.
BUM- Bootup Manager
SMBFS - so I can mount samba shares
HardInfo - Hardware information applet
Gnome OSD - Onscreen Display - Shows you what music you are playing onscreen, etc
SYSINFO - System Information Applet
NDISGTK - Helps load drivers for Wireless cards
Cheese - Webcam program
Gnomebaker - CD / DVD burner
gchangepass - gnome password changer - easy access to change your password
usermode / ntf-config - NTFS usermode applet in case you want to change how you mount NTFS drives
Eggcups - Printer applet - lets users know whats going on with their print jobs
gisomount - gnome iso mount utility
gnome-schedule - easy gui to cron
glabels - label program
compizconfig manager - extra config options for compiz
gftp - ftp program
curlftpfs - lets you mount ftp sites as drive mounts
isomaster - iso utility extra, build, etc
xnest - multiple x display to local and remote machines
p7zip , rar - compression progs
liferea - RSS feeder
Added a couple extensions to Firefox and set homepage to google.com
Changed some of the defaults for compiz-fusion
Changed the panel defaults to more my liking
Added adesklets
Also added a bunch of nautilus scripts available via right-click. A bunch I made myself.
Added Gnome-DO with all the extra plugins.
Added gedit plugins and changed gedit defaults.

The Roman Senate and Colloseum

2008-06-13T00:33:00.002-05:00

Here is a high vantage view of the remains of the Roman senate and the Colloseum. [more videos can be found on my personal blog on the right]

Back

2008-06-11T23:17:00.002-05:00

Been awhile since I have updated the site. Went to Europe for awhile. Got to go to Rome, Venice, Florence and then London. Simply amazing stuff. Really makes you realize how young the USA is.

Anyways, I see some of you have been asking for the PLUS edition. I'll upload it this weekend but like all things it is already out of date.

I have built a new iso based on 8.04 before I went on my vacation. I'll upload that as well.

I also played a bit with PCLinuxOS and was able to almost entirely recreate my LAVA using it as a base also. I might upload it so people can check it out. It seems faster on my hardware than UBUNTU and I wonder if it is just the tweaking of the kernel or runtime parameters like sysctl - going to have to do some research cause although I like the speed, PCLinuxOS has a smaller support personnel and less software available thru its package manager than Ubuntu.

I will say for having a lighter support infrastructure and less developers on it, the distro is faster and seems to run on lighter hardware. I was able to install it on a laptop that Ubuntu won't even run live on and that includes the infamous Xubuntu as well. Previously my only other distros I could get on the laptop was Windozes XP and Fedora. Partly cause Fedora automatically initializes the swap file and uses it during install and the Ubuntu and Xubuntu do not. Since the laptop in question only has 128 MB, it was problematic with Ubuntu and Xubuntu and even though I knew this and manually created and initialized the swap file, I think just running the live environment was too much for it. I suppose if I really wanted to I could have downloaded the alternate version of Ubuntu and installed everything from the commandline but that's just too much work especially since the laptop is not one I regularly use. It's more of a benchmark or challenge to any OS I want to check out. "Hmmmm, wonder if it will load on that old laptop of mine."

Anyways, I'll do some uploading this weekend and hope to hear next week how everyone is doing.

As they say in Europe, ciao.

A Looooooong day

2008-02-19T16:49:00.003-06:00

So it's been a long day today.

I know this blog is really about LAVA and customizing Ubuntu but I thought you might be interested in some of the things I have done with it so.....

I replaced Microsoft Exchange with Citadel for several of my clients and now I'm tackling the fun chore of pushing their email to their Blackberries as well as Nokia, Window PDAs. I've read about Funambol but never setup the server in production. I played with it several months ago but never deployed it.

For those who do not know what Funambol is, it's a server software which acts like a sync server between your client device or software and the email server. It essentially syncs your contacts, calendar, tasks with your opensource email server. In this case - Citadel running on LAVA.

Citadel has been running great! No spam and fast web interface. My client reports that they have virtually no spam whatsoever compared to the several hundred spam messages per user using Exchange 2003 with the latest service packs. Not to mention that it is easier to use and admin than Exchange. So now they want to expand it to their phones. Most of them have their email already setup on the phones but like most cell phone providers it really is just a push of their email minus the contacts, tasks, and calendar. With Funambol, you get everything realtime.

So I installed a new copy of LAVA 3.0 inside a virtual machine and began printing out the documentation, compile information, etc for Funambol. 3 hours later I had a compiled version ready for testing. Not bad for a days work.

Now the task of learning how to sync all the devices and manage them remotely using the Funambol management console.

New site almost done

2008-02-16T18:13:00.001-06:00

I'm almost finished with the new site.

You can view the beta of the site here:
New LAVALinux Site

I'm going to begin the transfer of www.lavalinux.com to this new site in the next couple days. I just have to finish programming the forums, my new remote tool and upload the isos for the PLUS and DEV edition.

Let me know what you think.

Build 3.0 is uploaded

2008-02-13T10:34:00.002-06:00

Version 3.0 build of Lava is finalized.

Performance Features
Firefox tweaking for better broadband support. Added additional firefox extensions; fasterfox, google preview, text link, adblock plus, adblock filtersetup updater, get directions from google maps, tab mix plus, wikipedia lookup
SYSCTL.CONF - Kernel parameter adjustments for faster processors, more cache utilization, higher TCP window and connections for broadband
PRELOAD - Preloads parts of programs into memory so they startup quicker
PRELINK - Prelink commonly used DLLS so apps start faster
Gnome, Openoffice, Gconf, Help XML compression so they open faster

Many application changes here are a few of the highlights
Openoffice now has 2007 support for Microsoft Word 2007 formats. OpenOffice defaults to save as Office formats - makes it easier for users who are coming off of Microsoft Office. My motto - "Change their app first then their format later."
Alien for rpm to deb conversions included
Transmission for bittorrents
Gnome Main menu replaces menu
Nautilus addons like 'Open Terminal Here', Convert Images, Run as Administrator, Search for Files, Sendto, Share, Wallpaper
GnoCHM - I have to read those CHM files. Lots of ebooks in this format.
BUM- Bootup Manager
SMBFS - so I can mount samba shares
HardInfo - Hardware information applet
Gnome OSD - Onscreen Display - Shows you what music you are playing onscreen, etc
SYSINFO - System Information Applet
NDISGTK - Helps load drivers for Wireless cards
Cheese - Webcam program
Gnomebaker - CD / DVD burner
gchangepass - gnome password changer - easy access to change your password
usermode / ntf-config - NTFS usermode applet in case you want to change how you mount NTFS drives
Eggcups - Printer applet - lets users know whats going on with their print jobs
gisomount - gnome iso mount utility
gnome-schedule - easy gui to cron
graveman - lightweight CD/DVD burner
glabels - label program
compizconfig manager - extra config options for compiz
gftp - ftp program
curlftpfs - lets you mount ftp sites as drive mounts
isomaster - iso utility extra, build, etc
xnest - multiple x display to local and remote machines
p7zip , rar - compression progs
system-config-samba - applet that has more features than standard ubuntu included applet
liferea - RSS feeder
Flash9

I also added the mediubuntu repo in app get list so you could pull down codecs, etc on your own thru synaptic.

I removed a couple things i did not like and or used.
ekiga
totem-mozilla
ttf-baekmuk
ttf-arphic-uming
ttf-kochi-gothic
ttf-dejavu
example-content

I made alot of changes in each app - example I enabled overburn in gnome, tweaked the burning, changed openoffice settings, firefox, rhythmbox, etc to what I liked.

I found each time I installed ubuntu, I made a huge amount of changes to get the desktop I liked so I bundled alot of these settings into this build.

Keep in mind this is the CD version of LAVA. I have 2 other versions, LAVAPLUS and LAVADEV which I will upload in the next week or so with more features which could not fit on one CD.

Gaming with Ubuntu

2008-02-06T17:24:00.000-06:00

For all those who would dare say Ubuntu is a terrible gaming platform. :)

I found a great site that lists games in category. Each game has been successfully tested on Ubuntu, some are native linux games while others are Windows games running in Wine.

If you have a taste for gaming and want to see if Ubuntu has games you like check out http://www.playubuntu.com/

Ubuntu Package

2008-02-05T21:10:00.000-06:00

Learned the fine art of packaging and am in search of cool ubuntu software to compile and build from.

I found a game on linux apps based on the DOS and Windows game of Orion so I decided to download it and build a package.

It took about 20 minutes and I uploaded it so others can play it. Here's a sceenshot and the link to the deb file

My DEB File
Original Project Page where I found the program

Switching to Internal Servers

2008-02-05T16:50:00.000-06:00

Hi All,

I'm going to start switching the main lavalinux.com to a new server so it may go down and thus the links to the isos. The new server is a quad core and I have lots more room and bandwidth plus I am going to setup a new mail server for lavalinux as well as alot more forum and support options. Basically I am redoing the old tired website and spicing it up a bit. This blog site will not be down during the transition but the links to the isos will be during the move.

Just a heads up.

Awesome Man Pages online

2008-02-05T16:35:00.000-06:00

http://www.linuxmanpages.com/

Just found this site and it's great. Any command that plagues you on your system is viewable online.

Learned about Zenity today thru the site. In case you don't know zenity lets you make GUI dialogs that will feed into your scripts. I'm making a bunch of nautilus scripts to add to the new build of LAVA and wanted to make easy context sensitive options in nautilus to run emulators on the system. I used to write it all in bash, now with zenity I can give it more of a polished ui.

Of course you can always open up a console windows and type 'man zenity' but this site is formated well and also is PRINTABLE :)

Check it out. I think you'll find it a valuable lookup page.

Build 3.0

2008-02-04T11:14:00.000-06:00

Thanks for sending me emails regarding the last minute changes.

SO
xnest, p7zip, system-config-samba, nautilus-search, pan and gpar2 have been added but the bittorrent client is going to stay transmission.

I have several people that say deluge breaks their system. The build is solid as it stands and if you really want deluge, its one apt-get away.

I'm going to wrap up the build and iso testing today and upload it later tonight. Let me know how it looks.

Last minute thoughts on build 3.0

2008-02-04T07:45:00.001-06:00

Hi All

I uploaded 3.0 but received some emails concerning some changes and I wanted to share them with the rest of you.

Several people want me to include the following apps to the standard build of LAVA:
xnest - allows you to have multiple xwindows on the same display to your local or remote pcs.
pzip - compression tool
system-config-samba - easier and more features then the standard sharing applet in ubuntu.
nautilus-search - right click context sensitive search add-on in nautilus.

and finally the torrent debate.
I added transmission, a light weight but slightly more feature rich than the standard bittorent client but some want deluge and others want bit tornado. So how's everyone's experience with either. Transmission seems to work fine for me and is really light weight. I've never used the other two.

New Build soon

2008-01-30T07:47:00.000-06:00

LAVA is about to turn 3.0

After a month or so of playing with all the 7.10 features and searching the net for the best tweaks and add-ons, I am about to release a new version of LAVA based on Gutsy. Check back here in the next couple days and check it out.

Some of the new features

1) More built in nautilus scripts - context sensitive
2) Longer list of included software
3) Main menu replaced with gnome main menu
4) OpenOffice customized for greater speed and automatically set to use Office formats as default.
5) Alot of performance tweaks - customized sysctl.conf, preload, prelink, etc.
5) Compiz-Fusion add-ons and customizations
6) Firefox add-ons and performance additions
7) Flash 9
and more...

Introducing Ubuntu

2008-01-28T14:18:00.002-06:00

I went to California this weekend and although it was not a business trip, I took my laptop in case I need to login and do some work. I stayed at my relatives house and alot of my family from California came over to visit. I really was laid back and not in 'computer mode' when a cousin of mine asked to see the magazine I had in my bag. It was a Linux Format mag. He began asking me questions about it and as I talked he began to see my passion for Linux in general. It was funny cause most of my cousins had brought their laptops as they were going to stay the weekend with me since we hardly see eachother. Since they were interested, I pulled out my laptop with Ubuntu loaded on and booted it up. Within minutes, everyone was excited about the eyecandy and the quick response. Needless to say everyone in Cali, is downloading the ISOs of ubuntu today.

It's cool to see people excited over free software. One of them even have an Apple Powerbook he purchased just recently. I just told them, if you can boot up the livecd and access your hardware then install ubuntu will probably be worth wild as it does everything I ever need from an OS and more. I of course gave them my update information in case they run into any problems or have any questions. I'm looking forward to hearing how they faired.

I'm Back!

2008-01-25T20:55:00.000-06:00

So it's been quite awhile since I disappeared. BEEN BUSY!!!!!

I was able to move most of my terminal servers over to modified version of Ubuntu running a modified version of FreeNX. That was most fun. Now Windows users can login to our Linux servers and run Linux apps and print to their printers without installing any software on their desktop or loading any java classes in their browsers. Everything runs in memory on the Windows pcs. The client is a standalone 1.4 mb exe.

Now I'm going to recreate the server installs I made using the newer 7.10 as a basis instead of Fiesty.

Along with moving people over to Linux, I was able to move the majority of my servers from our downtown location and collocate with another company near O'hare. For me it means better partnerships as well as over the board services. Within a week, I was able to provide my clients with bandwidth up to 10mbs a sec per server.

It's funny, I have come from a Windows background. Microsoft Windows has always been my bread and butter. Everything at one time in my company was running Windows, from the servers, routers, desktops. But now, those ISA servers are Linux Endian machines. The Exchange servers are Linux Citadel machines. My web servers which ran IIS, are now apache. And my fileserver running Windows 2000 adv server is now running Samba and Swat with AD integration. Now some of the terminal servers are now being converted to NX servers. Maybe by the end of the year I will be able to move the SQL servers to MySQL.

It's been 5 years since I started this journey and I have learned alot along the way. I guess I am just shocked that I could technically build a datacenter on almost complete opensource, especially when I was doing it for so long on Windows.

Quick Terminal Client How-to

2007-08-14T19:32:00.000-05:00

Working at a client site the other day and he wanted to see Ubuntu connect to his Windows 2000 terminal server. If you know me, you know I love to speak out and advocate whenever I can and this particular client had heard me talk at several functions on Ubuntu and how it can easily be an alternative to Windows. He invited me to his office for a presentation.

After speaking with him regarding his workstation requirements. I found that the client literally used his XP and 2000 workstations as HUGE, FAT Terminal clients. NOTHING was running except Windows - all their applications resided on a corporate terminal server.

This was too easy.

I literally opened my cd case: I carry a copy of Ubuntu with me when I am working, and asked him if there was a terminal I could borrow for 5 minutes. I explained that I would not alter any information or install anything on the client pc. Within 5 minutes I was on my livecd desktop and connected to his Terminal server with remote drive mappings, remote printer mappings and exporting excel documents to his local livecd desktop - opening them in Openoffice - I even added their printers on the livecd and was able to print documents. I literally replaced his client pc with a livecd. He was impressed to say the least.

The hardest part was getting the command for Ubuntu's remote client to connect to the terminal server with drive mappings and printer mappings. Within minutes I sold him on replacing his costly XP machines to lowcost Ubuntu terminal clients.

Here is the command in case you are interested:
rdesktop [ip address of terminal server] -r disk:v=/ -r printer:Cannon

rdesktop is your window into the terminal client built into ubuntu. This command connects to the server running terminal services, creates a V drive in the terminal session which remaps to the Linux client's root drive and also creates a printer inside the terminal session. Make sure you name pass it the same name of the default printer you are using in Linux.

You can save this into a bash file and launch as an icon on your ubuntu desktop.

Showcasing the power of ubuntu is always fun.

You may ask why did the client wish to replace Windows machines with Ubuntu when he had over 200 perfectly fine valid XP licenses as well as familiar XP desktops?

COST
It cost money to keep Windows on the desktop. Not only do you need an XP or Vista license, you need alot of auxiliary programs such as a defragmentation software, antivirus, security software, as well as several 24x7 tech, depending on your size, who are willing to run around every week and apply hotfixes as well as correct user created issues. The total cost of running a Windows shop can be much higher and frustrating than a Linux shop as my new client will atest to. ESPECIALLY if you are just using the desktops as terminal clients.

More Free Software

2007-08-14T18:12:00.000-05:00

Microsoft XP and Vista is part of my life. Regardless of how I feel, I cannot escape it. Almost everyone I know around me runs Windows. I have been able to convert some and some I will never convert.

In my endeavors I have found that although some will never convert, they are however ok with free software besides the operating system. Which in my book is one step closer to replacing Windows on the desktop. Programs such as OpenOffice, 7-zip etc.

Well I ran across another app worthy of including in anyone's Windows free toolkit.

You gotta love sourceforge. Well Infrarecorder was there waiting for me. Infrarecorder is one powerful opensource cd-burning software.

Eveytime I jump on sourceforge, I get excited because there is always something waiting for me. If you are looking to replace either your Nero, UltraISO, or someone else's, try out Infrarecorder.

I know this is my Ubuntu blog, but I think replacing proprietary software with great opensource software lends itself to a Ubuntu way of thinking and advocating replacing software on a Window's Desktop is getting people to acknowledge that free software can be every bit as exciting and useful as software that is not free even more so. One day they may look at their system and realize that the only thing they are running that they had to pay for is Windows and that will make it easier for them to realize they don't need it either.

"Replacing proprietary software one install at a time."

Microcenter Madness

2007-08-14T17:25:00.000-05:00

So I was at a Microcenter location today and ran across the most unbelievable bit of tech advice I ever heard.

If you have ever been shopping at any of the hardware/electronic chains then you probably ran into a similar situation: you are minding your own business looking or browsing for hardware/software in any given aisle and you can overhear technical information being handed down from the sales people to customers inquiring and looking for help.

Well I was in such a situation: There I was buying a powersupply for my brand new duo core pc and I could over hear the sales men talking to a customer in behind me. The conversation went like this:

Customer: "Well my pc doesn't turn on anymore and I saw some smoke just before the screen went dead."
SalesMan: "Sounds like an electrical problem. It might need a power supply or worse you have to buy a new motherboard. "

Customer: "Well what about my data and software?"
SalesMan: "You really can't tell until you get it to boot back up. You may have lost everything in which case you would need to reinstall all your software"

Customer: "Well I don't have all the software like Windows. It was preloaded on the computer along with Quicken, etc. I only use the computer mainly for school papers, etc."
SalesMan: "Well ... if you don't have the software, you can always download it. There's this site called bittorrent"

It was at this moment that I nearly dropped my power supply. Here I was in a commercial store and the salesman was advocating downloading pirated software instead of using legit free software or worse yet he wasn't even trying to sell the software to the customer.

Customer: "You mean I can get XP."
SalesMan: "Or Vista. They have that too."

Customer: "I heard Vista sucks. Should I just download the XP software instead."
SalesMan: "I have Vista on my computer and it runs fine, but you can get both and try it out."

Unbelievable. Normally I am silent when I hear bad tech advice given at the store. No matter how hard the temptation is, I always find a way to hold my tongue. Why? Well lots of reasons: I could be wrong, even if I am right, the person may not be technically knoweledgable to know what I am talking about and besides I don't work at Microcenter and am garnered with the responsibility of correctly every tech wrong I see. Nevertheless I decided in this one instance I would speak out.

When the salesman left, I approached the customer and pardoned myself for over hearing his problem. I explained that he probably could benefit from looking at the Linux book aisle at Microcenter. That there were alternatives to using Microsoft Windows XP or Vista and that he may not necessarily give up anything especially if all he uses his pc for was school papers and internet. The conversation was going great until I told him the software was free.

Customer: "Free??!"
ME: "Yep. Just download it or you can have a cd sent to you via the ubuntu shipit site."

Customer: "They'll send me a CD?"
ME: "Yep"

Customer: "I don't want to be on a mailinglist."
ME: {Looking stupidly at him} I could tell he thought I was a hippie or something.

Some people you just can't help. This person would rather pirate illegal copies of XP, Vista, Quicken then use legit versions of free software. I walked away feeling like an idiot and reminded myself that I should just keep my mouth shut when I hear stupid tech advice at a stupid electronic/hardware store.

LAVA 2.3

2007-08-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

Final Build complete for CD Version of LAVA.

http://www.lavalinux.com/builds/lava2.3.iso

Screenshot

Version log

Reworked artwork
Updated Kernel and backed patches, updates.
Added wine and Media Ubuntu to repositories
installed alien
install gnome-ku
installed gnochm
installed rar
installed cups-pdf
installed wine
install libmotif
install libxaw6
install bum
install davfs
install smbfs
install x11vnc
install sabayon
ntfs-3g
install hardinfo
install camstream
install nautilus-actions
install nautilus-gksu
install nautilus-image-converter
install nautilus-open-terminal
install nautilus-script-audio-convert
install nautilus-script-collection-svn
install nautilus-script-manager
install nautilus-sendto
install nautilus-share
install gnome-main-menu
install gnome-applets
install gnome-control-center
install gshare
install hardware-monitor
install music-applet
install netspeed
install sensors-applet
install service-discovery-applet
install wallpaper-tray
install gnome-osd
install sbackup
install sysinfo
install ndisgtk
install camorama
install gnomebaker
install gchangepass
install usermode
install eggcups
install ntfs-config
install xine-ui
install gisomount
install gnome-schedule
install graveman

Also added a bunch of printers via custom .debs and changed the menu from the classic ubuntu menu to the new SLED menu.

Removed several items I found most people do not use

Ubuntu-docs
ekiga
totem-mozilla
ttf-baekmuk
ttf-arphic-uming
ttf-kochi-gothic
ttf-dejavu
example content

also modified the following configuration options
#Made desktop icons visible like computer, network, trashcan
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/nautilus/desktop/computer_icon_visible true
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/nautilus/desktop/documents_icon_visible true
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/nautilus/desktop/home_icon_visible true
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/nautilus/desktop/network_icon_visible true
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/nautilus/desktop/trash_icon_visible true

#Made CD burning more to my liking
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/nautilus-cd-burner/burnproof true
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/nautilus-cd-burner/overburn true

#Configured OnScreen options when you play music etc.
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/gnome-osd/animations true
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/gnome-osd/avoid_panels true
gconftool -t string -s /apps/gnome-osd/osd_halignment "right"
gconftool -t string -s /apps/gnome-osd/osd_vposition "bottom"
gconftool -t string -s /apps/gnome-osd/osd_font "Serif 12"

#Screen saver configuration
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/gnome-screensaver/lock_enabled true
gconftool -t string -s /apps/gnome-screensaver/theme "Random"
gconftool -t string -s /apps/gnome-screenshot/border_effect "shadow"

#Search Tool options
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/gnome-search-tool/show_additional_options true
gconftool -t string -s /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/help "h"
gconftool -t int -s /apps/metacity/general/num_workspaces 4
gconftool -t bool -s /apps/panel/toplevels/top_panel_screen0/enable_buttons true

VISTA Sorrows

2007-08-04T20:14:00.001-05:00

Spent the afternoon visiting my family for a birthday party.

AHHHHHH!!!!!

Sometimes being a computer 'nerd' sucks. If you are one, you can relate. Everyone jumps you for help. "I installed something and my laptop does not work." "I visited a website and now I have pop-ups every time I get on the internet." etc etc etc.

Well being a computer "nerd" and visiting relatives can be an invitation for freelance work. Talk about being attacked. As soon as I walked in, I was told there was 2 laptops waiting for me and an xbox that wasn't working right. OH MY!

Well not only did I get a billion questions while fixing the laptops, I had to listen to every family member complain about VISTA. Yep. Several of them have upgraded or purchased new laptops and unlike their exciting transition from Windows 98 to Windows XP, they found their Vista upgrade very disappointing and painful.

One of my family members actually purchased a new laptop with extra memory etc and it runs worse than his 5 yr old xp laptop. the proof is in the pudding. I can see if only a handful of Vista upgraders have had bad feeling towards vista but the sheer number of complaints have really begun to annoy me. It seems like everyone I know who has vista, hates it. Except one or two media whores I know who think the shadows and translucently are the coolest thing since tv. Its these same people who need the latest Adobe products and/or Microsoft products. Like Office 2003 is ancient now and "How can you use Adobe Dreamweaver MX when CS3 is out?"

Well after hearing all the issues people have with Vista today, I left the party brain dead. I showed them Ubuntu, my LAVA Linux, I even said "Well go back to XP" But in the end it does not matter, Microsoft wins anyways because no matter if VISTA is a total flop, it is sold on every pc at the store. Literally my family, could not go back and ask for Windows XP to be installed on their laptops instead of VISTA. They are out of luck and I think this is the saddest part. Microsoft's days of innovation are over. It really is about exploitation now. How to best use it's strong arm. How to leverage it's monopoly. And even though I do not use Windows on my personal pcs. I inevitably have to deal with it on everyone else's. And they will be the first ones to say - It just sucks.

I think about it as I am typing this blog and using my ubuntu and I smile - at least I am free.

Game developing on Ubuntu

2007-08-03T16:53:00.000-05:00

Just for fun, I decided to start browsing the web for game libraries and or engines available on Ubuntu. Found a bunch.

Panda3d
Crystal Space 3d
OGRE
Irrlicht
Blender
Delta3d
Raydium

So I have a couple questions:

Has anyone who is reading my blogs, programmed or used any game engines on Ubuntu? Which ones? How was your experience?

I am considering making a MMORPG and would love it if I could make it work for both Ubuntu and Windows. Give me some feedback.

Surfing tonight

2007-08-03T00:48:00.000-05:00

Staying up a bit late tonight and came upon some websites which might be of interest to some of you.

Unix Tutorials and Videos based on Ubuntu. They also have tutorials on other distros. Nice site.
http://www.unix-tutorials.com/tutorials.php?os=Ubuntu

Tutorials on Ubuntu, GIMP, etc - both HTML and video tutorials also has a bunch of free ebooks.
http://vntutor.blogspot.com/2007/06/free-online-ubuntu-linux-books.html

Near the bottom of this page, they have whitepapers, articles and how-tos regarding Ubuntu. Also some comparisons of Ubuntu vs MSoft, MAC, etc.
http://www.easy-ubuntu-linux.com/add-ubuntu-software.html

Another Satisfied Customer

2007-08-02T13:04:00.002-05:00

The last week or so I have been working on creating a custom version of LAVA for a client which would like to deploy a linux desktop to 320 users. After several technical meetings and several showcases we have finally built a live install cd image that takes into account all the hardware typically found at the various client's sites.

The administrative managers have all been generous and are genuinely excited about moving off of Windows XP. Most have had really bad experiences with XP. The network has been plagued with spyware, dropped connections, trojans, and the occasional window's update that went terribly wrong.

Walking around and speaking to the users I have found many are surprised at how mature LAVA, Ubuntu looks. Most shockingly is their expressions when I map their Window's 2003 fileserver shares and double click on an .XLS and .DOC file. You can tell in their expressions they are baffled at how easy Linux is. It is such a great feeling to see how well LAVA, Ubuntu has made moving users over to an alternative desktop.

I had some problems with some of the printers at the client side but after playing with compatible drivers, I was able to select a driver that met all the reporting and formatting requirements.

Also RDP via a scripted bash file was easy enuff to create. The client wanted redirected printers as well as drives so command line scripting was necessary. Once I mastered the settings, I built a BASH script and voila a desktop icon for the users to click on.

Internet Explorer - I cannot seem to get away from you.

Yep the client had some websites that not only need IE but also the Microsoft VM. Yuck. But with Wine installed, IE4Linux worked like a charm.

Having meet all the requirements on the field, it is time to actually hardcode those into a ISO and build a cd.

Alot of work still to go but if it wasn't Linux work, it wouldn't be fun.

Back On The Saddle Again

2007-07-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while since I have updated my blog. So what have I been up to lately? Well I have been working with several new clients and new Ubuntu installs.

I just recently oversaw the conversion of an Microsoft Exchange installation.
We replaced Windows 2003 Enterprise server running Exchange 2003 with Ubuntu running Citadel. Total users: 523.

After running the prototype email service over the course of 6 weeks with a small subset of the company's employees we moved onto production in mid June.

The total conversion of 523 users took approximately two weeks. Part of the quick conversion was the fact that the client did not have to replace Microsoft Office. Once the server was setup, our technical support team just had to change Outlook settings on all the user's profiles. Approximately 36 hours to backup all the users email data and transfer to new host and approximately 15 minutes per user. We also spent three days working out the Push technology in Citadel to connect it to their blackberrys and PDAS which required us to setup the SMS gateway.

The system has been online for four weeks now and the following statistically data was data-mined by the client.

20% less false positives when sending and receiving
38.5 % less spam

The client also reports that the email system seems faster. Moving in and out of their individual folders has become instant.

The only con was the generic webmail interface when compared to the OWL interface provided by Exchange. To combat this we install apache and setup RoundCube Webmail and designed a new CSS template with customized company logos, etc. Roundcube has alot of AJAX goodness to it. With some customization it looks and acts like Gmail or Yahoo.

Needless to say they are happy. They are planning on converting the now obsolete Exchange server into a fileserver sometime in the future.

We are finishing up with setting up an RSync server to pull the actual data folders containing each users email. This way we have a live daily backup of the user's personal email, contacts, etc. The Rsync server will also be Ubuntu.

It is important to also note that new server is actually running on slightly less hardware than the Exchange server was. In fact, each of these servers are virtual machines running on 4 separate pieces of hardware all replicating to backup vm servers. Any one of them can go down and load balancing changes points the clients to the backup server. Host VM server is also running Ubuntu and VMWARE server. Part of the initial requirements was redundancy. The client in the past relied on the one Exchange server for the entire domain with just a bounce back service provided by their ISP.

Over the next couple weeks I will drop off the email project and begin converting their firewalls from Microsoft ISA to a Linux firewall called Endian. I have had great success with it and it allows much more control over your incoming and outgoing protocols than Microsoft ISA. Part of the initial requirement is that several of the firewalls need to support VPN tunneling as well as multiple WAN and VLAN support. I showcased Endian to the client and highlighted not only the functional improvements switching to Endian but also relayed the fact that Endian allows protocol priority, packet shaping, automatic Proxy filtering, etc.

WebPortal Structure

2007-06-01T09:26:00.000-05:00

Schema for WebPortal 1.0

Finishing up the structure for the internals of the Web Portal.

The schema just outlines the fields I would need to store published application information. This assumes all other information such as user name , password, and group is stored inside either Open LDAP or Active Directory. In this first version of WebPortal, I have added rdp, vnc and web links as publishable items for end-users. The weblinks I think is handy; it lets you centralize things like webmail, and/or company approved sites. After I implement the site and have all the features, I plan to add, X sessions and some features to admin the users account in OpenLDAP and/or AD. Things like allowing the user to change their own password, etc.

Project News

2007-05-31T10:46:00.000-05:00

Over the last month, I have been in heavy development with several projects, one of which is the LAVA project.

I wanted to update my blog and give an overview of some of the things I am doing with Ubuntu:

LAVA editions: CD, Plus, and Development Editions are pretty much done.
LAVA Terminal Server
LAVA LAMP: Apache, PHP, Webmin, ProFTP
LAVA Secure: Security toolkit CD
LAVA Share: Fileserver
LAVA Mailer: Email Platform: Picked Citadel as Exchange replacement.

I have worked the last several months outlining the changes for each edition with the specific goal of replacing Window servers in my datacenter as well as a viable desktop for my user's workstations.

I am still open with the Terminal Server. So far I have been able to build a terminal server without LTSP (Linux Terminal Server Project) For my users and customers. I find the LTSP too limiting for serveral reasons. It assumes the client pcs are on the same network.

The client pcs I am servicing are not and therefore, I cannot give them an IP from dhcp or require that they run Linux on their PC.

The whole value of hosting apps or an environment to me, means giving them the app or desktop to any device, anywhere. This means running it without installing anything on their desktop and running it reliable across; Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Phase One:
User Desktop
Using UPX has made this possible by bunding all the required OS dlls, exes, and resources into a single binary that can run without installing. SO I am able to make a client exe that connects to the terminal server and runs the desktop or application. I have been able to build a client exe that rdps into a server, a client exe that ssh into server and runs either app or desktop, and a NX client that connects to freenx on server.

Phase Two:
Picking a Terminal server on Linux.

Solution One: TO X or Not
Linux has always had a terminal server built into it via X. The ability to have remote X served to clients has always been available for as long as X has been around. But making it easy to implement has not been. Using openssh on the backend server and connecting to it from Mac or Windows is easier now. Using opensource products such as JCraft or Xwin makes a connection to an X server easier. With UPX and alittle fine tuning and you can create a connection as well as shrink-wrap it into a single exe that you can distribute to your users without having to configure it and you have a solution that will work for even non-savy computer users.

Solution Two: XRDP
A recent entry into remote hosting is XRDP. Simply put, it makes Linux into a RDP terminal server so your window users do not even need a client. The normal Remote Desktop applet works fine.

MAC uses can use several RDP clients and they work rather well on my IMAC. Without running tests on performance and compression, this solution seems the best and easiest way to implement a terminal server from an IT standpoint as well as from a consumer standpoint. But because the technology is new and because it is based on RDP, I am leaning towards the normal X way of connecting.

Solution Three: FreeNX
FreeNX uses a custom protocol as well as custom client. There are several design problems I see with the current NX implementation.
1) It requires a custom port to be open on firewalls. Corporate America hates this and I hate it cause, my techs would have many calls just regarding connecting to the service. "DO you have XP firewall, Do you have MCAffee or Norton Firewalls installed? Do you know how to disable your firewall? What model Belkin do you have?" - Too much trouble just to make a connection. It needs to be painless.
2) In order to get printers to work the client has to 'SHARE' out their printer via SMB. I really, really hate this, most users do not know how to share out a printer let alone a folder. This also makes printing for MAC users very hard.
3) The custom client has multiple issues with VISTA.

Printing has always been an issue when it comes to remote hosting apps or desktops. Windows, Citrix, X, RDP, and even FreeNX all have somewhat broken ways of managing printing. I have bypassed this problem in two ways.

1) I have used a cups filter on the server to spool print jobs and attach to email which is forward to client. The client prints to the printer and a dialog box pops up asking for email address. They input it once and it remembers it by writing a txt file in the user's home directory. The filter than makes a PDF of the print output and uses sendmail to send to email address. This solution is simple and easy to implement.

Unfortunately it does not work if the user/client is hosting email with you via Evolution or such.

2) Solution two is in the works. It involves building a webservice on the server and serving print output as a pdf file via webdav to client exe which then opens the user's default pdf reader. This solves all the issues but requires some programming on my end for Windows and MAC binary clients. This is a longterm solution.

Selecting the terminal server: I am leaning towards X via SSH but will be testing each out over the next month.

Final Phase.
Building a web portal.
Ultimately I would like the client to download a single exe, possible 5mb. Which will have everything bundled in it, FREENX client or XWIN, SSH, etc. whichever i choose ultimately. It will have everything in the exe that it needs to connect to server farms without installing.

The exe will be a custom web browser using either IE, Mozilla or Safari - depending on the client platform to connect to a website I am designing that will allow the user to login, and serve them apps via txt xml files.

The site will have an admin section where we would create published apps which are stored in MYSQL.

When the client logs in the credentials are sent to OpenLDAP or ActiveDirectory. Their Username and Passwords as well as their group are stored in session variables. The site uses this information to pull the list of published apps the client has been given access to.

The published apps will be links to dynamicall created xml files that will have extensions such as .RDP or .X or .NX

When the client clicks on the links of the apps and the file is served back to the client via apache, the portal application will run either freenx client if it recieves a .NX file or a RDP client if it receives a .RDP file, etc. It then runs the appropriate client I bundled in the exe and makes the connection to the hosted app or desktop.

This way, the portal will really be a portal to apps and desktops both hosted by me or hosted by others.

I am currently writing a version in PHP with LDAP library and it works fine. So far I have the portal service .RDP, .VNC, and .X files. I wanted to do it in Ruby but I am not that efficient yet in the Ruby language. I do most of my web programming in .NET, PHP or Coldfusion. Since I am trying to make my datacenter all opensource, I choose PHP.

There is alot of work still to do, but because of Linux, because of Ubuntu, because of Open Source, it makes all this possible.

Remote Applications

2007-05-01T14:36:00.000-05:00

I received a question on whether my previous exe could be customized to run an application 'headless.'

Specifically if an app could be run without giving access to a whole desktop experience. The answer is yes.

I have uploaded an example single exe on my site.
http://www.ansotech.com/debs/portalnxa.exe

I hardcoded the exe to remote into my desktop and run firefox.

The user will see firefox launch as if on their desktop.

Please use
username: demo
password: demo123

NX your worries away

2007-05-01T09:07:00.000-05:00

I wanted to thank Jim for sending me a post regarding NX.

For those who do not know what NX is, here is a summary. NX is a opensource alternative to Microsoft Terminal Services. It allows users on Windows and Linux to connect to a central server or workstation and run the applications that you centrally install for your enterprise. For IT administrators it saves time and money.

I have spent the last several months trying to make NX work correctly in Ubuntu and there is still work to be done. The ultimate goal is to replace the Windows 2003 servers I use as Terminal servers in my datacenter with Ubuntu running NX Server.

I wanted to give everyone a recap on my progress as well as allow you WINDOWEZ users a look into connecting the window clients to ubuntu or in my case LAVA Linux. Before I receive hate mail, LAVA is just a highly customized Ubuntu but it is still Ubuntu.

I have been able to UPX the windows based NX client as well as XMING and create a single exe that can be run without installing or configuring on windows. The user just saves the exe onto their desktop and double clicks. It automatically unloads all the dlls into memory that it needs as well as the configuration options that i have hard-coded for my environment. NOTE: It does not install anything on the Windows machine. Everything runs in memory. So removing it is as simple as deleting the exe. Upgrading is as simple as replacing exe.

The session connects to a default installation of LAVA PLUS I have running in my datacenter.

If anyone would like to try it out, please feel free to save the following exe onto your Windows 2000, XP or VISTA computer. That's right, I was able to compile and fix the client piece so that it runs on Vista.

Here is the link:
http://www.ansotech.com/debs/portalnx.exe

Username: demo
Password: demo123

Please let me know what you think. I am going to keep the access open until tomorrow afternoon.

Automatix will not die!

2007-04-25T14:51:00.000-05:00

So I removed the automatix software from the isos but forgot to remove it from the apt-get list so every time the Ubuntu updatemanger kicks on to grab updates it tries to re-install automatix.

Minor bug :)

So I pulled the isos off the site and plan to build them again removing the apt-get list entry of automatix and then recompiling the isos. Since I am actually working today, it will probably not happen until the weekend.

After hearing what a pain automatix can be, I feel it is better off if I remove it from the apt-get list before some user accidentally re-installs it when they get their security updates.

LAVA Releases

2007-04-24T12:06:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that the final versions of LAVA will be available tomorrow. Shortly thereafter I will release a tutorial, as well as video on how I customized each version as well as outline why customizing Ubuntu is important for users as well as IT. These isos are finished and I will queue them to upload tonight onto my blogsite: http://lavalinux.blogspot.com

Here is a list of the LAVA Editions I have planned for tomorrow's release. I will also have a list on my blogsite with details of every software change I made per edition.

LAVA:
Basic Edition: This is a CD Version for all those who do not have DVDs on their laptops and or PCs / Servers.
PLUS Edition: This is LAVA BASIC as well as software I think add to the overall gnome user experience. I also preloaded the best games, multimedia apps, etc. Because of the added software, this is a DVD Edition.
DEV Edition: The Developer DVD Edition. It contains all the Plus software as well as development tools for Gnome, Python, Web, etc. I also installed a bunch of game engines and 3d software. I think this is the only Linux installer that actually installs panda3d and crystal space, ogre, pygame, etc so you can start game designing right away. I also installed a bunch of business libs and utilities to manage and design business and database apps.

All editions have been the result of several months worth of trial and error. My next step is to document all the tweaks so everyone can build each version from a normal Ubuntu iso.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

2007-04-23T16:24:00.000-05:00

So after discussing Automatix with several of my Ubuntu brethren, I have decided to part ways with Automatix. As such, I will be removing it from all of the custom isos I am making for my Customizing Ubuntu project.

I want to thank everyone for their input and please let me know if there are any other software packages I am bundling which should be left out.

Automatix the great killer?

2007-04-23T13:51:00.000-05:00

For all those of you who have been following my little pet project of blogging the customization of Ubuntu, it has come to my attention that one of the apps that I selected may cause more harm than good. I have tested all the apps on a variety of hardware and have been deploying them within certain customer locations for the last year or so.

The program in question is Automatix. I have found Automatix to be a great time saver in grabbing and installing software typically not selectable from within the Ubuntu vast repositories. I realize there are other solutions such as EasyUBUNTU but since I have not had a problem with Automatix, I have added it to the list of software I would like to showcase in my custom iso.

As this is a pet project and really meant to showcase what is possible with Ubuntu and push forward the notion that customizing Ubuntu's already great distro into your own is a great and powerful thing I want to make sure it is stable and does not offer a broken app within it's included software bundle. If there are any cases where you have had problems with any of the software I am currently including, let me know and I will rip the misbehaving software out. After all what good is a solid Linux foundation if you have bad software running around.

Also if there are any software packages that you think I should include, please throw me a line or comment in my blog.

Exchanging Exchange for OpenSource

2007-04-23T09:11:00.000-05:00

Most companies looking at corporate email today overlook the various free email servers available on the internet today.

Of course there is the famous sendmail but many newer mail servers have come into light with feature sets that rival if not outright put Exchange to shame. Enterprises are looking more and more to enabling users on their PDAs, giving WIKI like functions in Email, RSS Feeds in their email client, and of course the much valued Global Access List. (Shared Email lists)

I found this website on the wiki samba site detailing some of the email servers one might push onto a linux installation and serve email to open source clients or closed clients like Outlook.

http://wiki.samba.org/index.php/Exchange_Server_Alternatives

Looking over the list, many do not have direct Ubuntu support. As Ubuntu makes a sprint into the Enterprise, it is important that we understand that some companies love their Office and even though it might be a hard sell to these users for a Ubuntu desktop sporting your favorite email client, we can steal market share in the server arena. With open source email servers now offering direct connectors to Outlook, it makes a shift to a Ubuntu run data center and user environment so much easier.

One year you can replace the Exchange server, next year move to Open Office and Evolution, etc. If anyone would like to take on building a Ubuntu Exchange killer, send me a email and we could spend some time exchanging Exchange for something more penguin friendly.

LAVA 2.1 ISO Released

2007-04-22T16:39:00.000-05:00

I have finished testing the new build of LAVA 2.1 based on Fiesty on the following Hardware:

1) Dell Inspiron 2100
2) HP Proliant DL 320s
4) Sager Laptop SL130
5) HP wx6200
6) Visionman Opteron Dual Tyan

All worked fine - SATA picked up, RAID, Nics, wifi, sounds, etc. Let me know what you think

Download iso can be found here.

LAVA Plus Custom ISO

2007-04-22T16:25:00.000-05:00

LAVA PLUS

So I finished picking the apps to be placed into LAVA Plus. Please feel free to comment on apps you would like included in next build.

So here are the commands I entered after extracting Ubuntu iso to a directory.

#Set default page for firefox to Google
echo "user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://www.google.com");" | tee -a /etc/firefox/profile/prefs.js

#Get automatix key for installation
echo "deb http://www.getautomatix.com/apt feisty main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

wget http://www.getautomatix.com/keys/automatix2.key
gpg --import automatix2.key
gpg --export --armor E23C5FC3 | apt-key add -

#Get Wine Key for installation
wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | apt-key add -

wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/feisty.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

# update apt
apt-get update
apt-get autoremove

# install LAVA software
apt-get install automatix2 --force-yes -y
apt-get install alien -y
apt-get install gnome-ku -y
apt-get install gnochm -y
apt-get install rar -y
apt-get install gisomount -y
apt-get install cups-pdf -y
apt-get install wine -y
apt-get install libmotif3 -y
apt-get install bum -y
apt-get install davfs -y
apt-get install smbfs -y
apt-get install glabels -y
apt-get install x11vnc -y
apt-get install sabayon -y
apt-get install ekiga -y
apt-get install ntfs-3g -y
apt-get install hardinfo -y
apt-get install graveman -y
apt-get install qemu-launcher -y
apt-get install camstream -y
apt-get remove totem-mozilla -y
apt-get install nautilus-actions -y
apt-get install nautilus-gksu -y
apt-get install nautilus-image-converter -y
apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal -y
apt-get install nautilus-script-audio-convert -y
apt-get install nautilus-script-collection-svn -y
apt-get install nautilus-script-manager -y
apt-get install nautilus-sendto -y
apt-get install nautilus-share -y
apt-get install gnome-main-menu -y
apt-get install gnome-applets -y
apt-get install gnome-control-center -y
apt-get install gnome-schedule -y
apt-get install gshare -y
apt-get install hardware-monitor -y
apt-get install music-applet -y
apt-get install netspeed -y
apt-get install sensors-applet -y
apt-get install service-discovery-applet -y
apt-get install wallpaper-tray -y
apt-get install gnome-osd -y
apt-get install beagle -y
apt-get install sbackup -y
apt-get install sysinfo -y
apt-get install ndisgtk -y
apt-get install camorama -y
apt-get install gnomebaker -y
apt-get install gisomount -y
apt-get install gchangepass -y

#Plus Stuff
apt-get install glabels -y
apt-get install ubuntu-docs -y
apt-get install gisomount -y
apt-get install beagle -y
apt-get install gchangepass -y
apt-get install glabels -y
apt-get install gok -y
apt-get install gok-doc -y
apt-get install gnome-pilot -y
apt-get install gnome-pilot-conduits -y
apt-get install gok -y
apt-get install gok-doc -y
apt-get install openoffice.org-impress -y
apt-get install openclipart-openoffice.org -y
apt-get install openoffice.org-starter-guide -y
apt-get install openoffice.org-style-tango -y
apt-get install gnucash -y
apt-get install gnome-icon-theme -y
apt-get install gnome-themes-extras -y
apt-get install gtweakui -y
apt-get install bluez-gnome -y
apt-get install gdm-themes -y
apt-get install gnome-backgrounds -y
apt-get install gnome-games-extra-data -y
apt-get install gparted -y
apt-get install compiz-extra -y
apt-get install gnome-compiz-manager -y
apt-get install inkscape -y
apt-get install comix -y
apt-get install grsync -y
apt-get install readpst -y
apt-get install qemu -y
apt-get install samba -y
apt-get install amule -y
apt-get install gftp -y
apt-get install pan -y
apt-get install scribus -y
apt-get install blender -y
apt-get install blam -y
apt-get install xaralx -y
apt-get install imagemagick -y
apt-get install gaim -y
apt-get install gaim-extendedprefs -y
apt-get install gaim-guifications -y
apt-get install gaim-hotkeys -y
apt-get install gaim-libnotify -y
apt-get install gaim-irchelper -y
apt-get install gaim-themes -y
apt-get install checkgmail -y
apt-get install liferea -y
apt-get install liferea-mozilla -y
apt-get install gtk-recordmydesktop -y
apt-get install kino kinoplus -y
apt-get install soundconverter -y
apt-get install avidemux -y
apt-get install acidrip -y
apt-get install gtkpod -y
apt-get install gpixpod -y
apt-get install gaupol -y
apt-get install brasero -y
apt-get install devede -y
apt-get install drip -y
apt-get install transcode -y
apt-get install xmms -y
apt-get install xmms-alarm -y
apt-get install xmms-blursk -y
apt-get install xmms-bumpscape -y
apt-get install xmms-cdread -y
apt-get install xmms-coverviewer -y
apt-get install xmms-gloom -y
apt-get install xmms-infinity -y
apt-get install xmms-midi -y
apt-get install xmms-modplug -y
apt-get install xmms-msa -y
apt-get install xmms-ogre -y
apt-get install xmms-osd-plugin -y
apt-get install xmms-scrobbler -y
apt-get install xmms-singit -y
apt-get install xmms-skins -y
apt-get install xmms-wmdiscotux -y
apt-get install xmms-xf86audio -y
apt-get install xmms-xmmplay -y
apt-get install mplayer -y
apt-get install mplayer-skins -y
apt-get install mencoder -y
apt-get install streamtuner -y
apt-get install streamripper -y
apt-get install thoggen -y
apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse

#All the games
apt-get install dgen -y
apt-get install dosbox -y
apt-get install fceu -y
apt-get install gfceu -y
apt-get install frozen-bubble -y
apt-get install gnuboy_sdl -y
apt-get install gsnes9x -y
apt-get install snes9express -y
apt-get install nestra -y
apt-get install pcsx -y
apt-get install snes9x-opengl -y
apt-get install vbaexpress -y
apt-get install stella -y
apt-get install visualboyadvance -y
apt-get install vice -y
apt-get install xmame-sdl -y
apt-get install zsnes -y
apt-get install torcs -y
apt-get install lbreakout2 -y
apt-get install wesnoth -y
apt-get install wesnoth-ei -y
apt-get install wesnoth-httt -y
apt-get install wesnoth-music -y
apt-get install wesnoth-trow -y
apt-get install wesnoth-tsg -y
apt-get install wesnoth-ttb -y
apt-get install wesnoth-utbs -y
apt-get install wesnoth-server -y
apt-get install abuse -y
apt-get install abuse-frabs -y
apt-get install abuse-sfx -y
apt-get install armagetron -y
apt-get install billard-gl -y
apt-get install burgerspace -y
apt-get install egoboo -y
apt-get install enigma -y
apt-get install epiphany -y
apt-get install freeciv -y
apt-get install gearhead -y
apt-get install geki2 -y
apt-get install geki3 -y
apt-get install gltron -y
apt-get install madbomber -y
apt-get install maelstrom -y
apt-get install mazeofgalious -y
apt-get install moon-buggy -y
apt-get install moon-lander -y
apt-get install oolite -y
apt-get install openarena -y
apt-get install opencity -y
apt-get install neverball -y
apt-get install nexuiz -y
apt-get install pong2 -y
apt-get install pouetchess -y
apt-get install pingus -y
apt-get install scorched3d -y
apt-get install scrabble -y
apt-get install scummvm -y
apt-get install sear -y
apt-get install sear-media -y
apt-get install spacearyarya -y
apt-get install starvoyager -y
apt-get install supertux -y
apt-get install tecnoballz -y
apt-get install tremulous -y
apt-get install trigger -y
apt-get install xscorch -y
apt-get install vectoroids -y
apt-get install vegastrike -y
apt-get install vegastrike-music -y
apt-get install widelands -y

#Last minute apps
apt-get install wing -y
apt-get install gnome-translate -y
apt-get install pypar2 -y
apt-get install uqm -y
apt-get install mplayer-fonts -y
apt-get install unrar -y
apt-get install gnome-art -y
apt-get install gnome-bluetooth -y
apt-get install netpbm -y
apt-get install gimp-gap -y
apt-get install gimp-svg -y
apt-get install synfig -y
apt-get install synfigstudio -y
apt-get install beagle-backend-evolution -y
apt-get install audacity -y

#Applications not in synaptic
#Use wget to download them, then dpkg to install then rm to remove the deb file off the filesystem.

#GET ISOMASTER
wget http://littlesvr.ca/isomaster/releases/isomaster_0.8-1_i386.deb
#installit
dpkg -i isomaster_0.8-1_i386.deb
# clean cache
rm isomaster_0.8-1_i386.deb

wget http://www.getdeb.net/debs/y/yamipod_1.0.2-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
#installit
dpkg -i yamipod_1.0.2-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
# clean cache
rm yamipod_1.0.2-0~getdeb1_i386.deb

wget http://www.getdeb.net/debs/p/pokerth_0.4-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
#installit
dpkg -i pokerth_0.4-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
# clean cache
rm pokerth_0.4-0~getdeb1_i386.deb

wget http://www.getdeb.net/debs/b/boswars-data_2.3-0~getdeb1_all.deb
wget http://www.getdeb.net/debs/b/boswars_2.3-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
#installit
dpkg -i boswars-data_2.3-0~getdeb1_all.deb
#installit
dpkg -i boswars_2.3-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
# clean cache
rm boswars-data_2.3-0~getdeb1_all.deb
rm boswars_2.3-0~getdeb1_i386.deb

wget http://www.getdeb.net/debs/m/maniadrive-data_1.2-0~getdeb1_all.deb
wget http://www.getdeb.net/debs/m/maniadrive_1.2-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
#installit
dpkg -i maniadrive-data_1.2-0~getdeb1_all.deb
#installit
dpkg -i maniadrive_1.2-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
# clean cache
rm maniadrive-data_1.2-0~getdeb1_all.deb
rm maniadrive_1.2-0~getdeb1_i386.deb

wget http://www.getdeb.net/debs/w/warsow-data_0.21-0getdeb1_all.deb
wget http://www.getdeb.net/debs/w/warsow_0.21-0getdeb1_i386.deb
#installit
dpkg -i warsow-data_0.21-0getdeb1_all.deb
#installit
dpkg -i warsow_0.21-0getdeb1_i386.deb
# clean cache
rm warsow-data_0.21-0getdeb1_all.deb
rm warsow_0.21-0getdeb1_i386.deb

wget http://www.getdeb.net/archive/ac/actioncube-data_0.92-0~getdeb1_all.deb
wget http://www.getdeb.net/archive/ac/actioncube_0.92-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
#installit
dpkg -i actioncube-data_0.92-0~getdeb1_all.deb
#installit
dpkg -i actioncube_0.92-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
# clean cache
rm actioncube-data_0.92-0~getdeb1_all.deb
rm actioncube_0.92-0~getdeb1_i386.deb

wget http://www.getdeb.net/archive/wa/warzone2100-data_2.0.6-0~getdeb1_all.deb
wget http://www.getdeb.net/archive/wa/warzone2100_2.0.6-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
#installit
dpkg -i warzone2100-data_2.0.6-0~getdeb1_all.deb
#installit
dpkg -i warzone2100_2.0.6-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
# clean cache
rm warzone2100-data_2.0.6-0~getdeb1_all.debb
rm warzone2100_2.0.6-0~getdeb1_i386.deb

# clean cache
apt-get -f install
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get clean -y
apt-get autoclean -y

Do you have a favorite Ubuntu App?

2007-04-22T14:42:00.000-05:00

Vote for your favorite applications.

Trying to build an ultimate DVD for LAVA Plus is not easy. There are so many applications available from Synaptic that at times you just do not know which DVD, File manager, or Audio player you want to include. I have tested a bunch of applications from Synaptic and have narrowed my application list.

Is there an app you cannot find in Synaptic that you use? Find yourself downloading it and compiling it all the time? Or you want an application but have not been able to build it on your system?

Throw your comments onto my blog on which apps you use the most, which apps you'd like to see added to LAVA Plus and which apps you cannot find in Synaptic and I'll do my best to make debs outta them and include them in my next build.

Once I have decided on the included applications, I am going to document taking the Ubuntu iso and making the LAVA Plus iso in a video and upload it so others can learn how to customize the iso and make a deb out of a source tar.

Powered by Ubuntu

2007-04-22T13:30:00.000-05:00

"Powered by Ubuntu"

So I have been building Ubuntu pcs for friends and family as well as customers over the last couple months. Recently I found some images of "Powered by Ubuntu" available on the internet. One of my clients owns a printing company so I started to make the stickers to place on pcs. I think it gives the pc more creditability and meets with some clients expectations that the pc has been "certified" to some extent and all the peripherals, sound, etc were tested with the operating system. Here is a imprint of the "Powered by Ubuntu" sticker I selected. It's clean and friendly.

Version 2.1 LAVA

2007-04-21T23:02:00.000-05:00

So I finally built a new version of the LAVA base install. Taking Fiesty and reconfiguring the applications was not as hard as I thought.

I created my new artwork in Gimp - bootup screens etc. This was probably the hardest step.

There is a screenshot of my new boot screen.

I also made some cosmetic changes to the desktop as well as eliminated some apps and added some I think should be in the CD version.

Here is a list of the changes I made once I extracted the fiesty iso to my chroot environment.

#Changed the default homepage to google instead of UBUNTU local welcome page.

echo "user_pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://www.google.com");" | tee -a /etc/firefox/profile/prefs.js

#Added automatix to apt-get and keys
echo "deb http://www.getautomatix.com/apt feisty main" | tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
wget http://www.getautomatix.com/keys/automatix2.key
gpg --import automatix2.key
gpg --export --armor E23C5FC3 | apt-key add -

#Grabbed Wine Keys and added wine repositories to apt-get
wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | apt-key add -
wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/feisty.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

#Clean up any local installation queued and items that may not have installed right
apt-get autoremove
apt-get clean
apt-get autoclean

# Software Installations and removal
#First update apt-get caches
apt-get update

#And away we go with the installations
apt-get install automatix2 --force-yes -y
apt-get install alien -y
apt-get install gnome-ku -y
apt-get install gnochm -y
apt-get install rar -y
apt-get install cups-pdf -y
apt-get install wine -y
apt-get install libmotif3 -y
apt-get install bum -y
apt-get install davfs -y
apt-get install smbfs -y
apt-get install x11vnc -y
apt-get install sabayon -y
apt-get remove ekiga -y
apt-get install ntfs-3g -y
apt-get install hardinfo -y
apt-get install graveman -y
apt-get install camstream -y
apt-get install nautilus-actions -y
apt-get install nautilus-gksu -y
apt-get install nautilus-image-converter -y
apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal -y
apt-get install nautilus-script-audio-convert -y
apt-get install nautilus-script-collection-svn -y
apt-get install nautilus-script-manager -y
apt-get install nautilus-sendto -y
apt-get install nautilus-share -y
apt-get install gnome-main-menu -y
apt-get install gnome-applets -y
apt-get install gnome-control-center -y
apt-get install gnome-schedule -y
apt-get install gshare -y
apt-get install hardware-monitor -y
apt-get install music-applet -y
apt-get install netspeed -y
apt-get install sensors-applet -y
apt-get install service-discovery-applet -y
apt-get install wallpaper-tray -y
apt-get install gnome-osd -y
apt-get install sbackup -y
apt-get install sysinfo -y
apt-get install ndisgtk -y
apt-get install camorama -y
apt-get install gnomebaker -y
apt-get install glabels -y
apt-get install gisomount -y
apt-get install gchangepass -y
apt-get install gnomebaker -y
apt-get autoremove ubuntu-docs -y
apt-get remove totem-mozilla -y

#See if there was any new updates with Ubuntu itself
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y

#Clean up and remove any cached installations and tmp files - makes the final ISO smaller
apt-get clean -y
apt-get autoclean -y

I will upload the final ISO tonight onto www.lavalinux.com - :) Need to update the site as I took a majority of it offline due to the fiesty release.

Customizing and Staging Ubuntu Fiesty

2007-04-20T00:31:00.000-05:00

Fiesty is out!
So the new Fiesty is out and I personally have been waiting for it to be released so I can finally build my own version of it for my clients. Over the last eight months or so I have customized Dapper and Edgy. Although I loved the versions I have been able to conjure up, I never could build a version which worked flawlessly on laptops due to wireless issues as well as those pesty ATI drivers. With the new version of Fiesty, I am hoping I can leverage the great work that Ubuntu and the community as a whole have made in this release.

Over the next few days I am going to build several versions of my LAVA platform using the new Ubuntu as a base.

Here is a breakdown of the versions I plan to build

LAVA - CD version. For computers which do not have a DVD. This is going to have UBUNTU with several applications changes which I prefer as well as different art and a special application which will allow users to connect directly to technical support. It will be a remote tool where a user can initiate a connection to a tech and the tech can remote into the users system. All Lava editions will have this support tool built in.
LAVA Plus - DVD Version. This is essential a Home Premium build. It will have DVD burning apps, Music apps, Converters, games, emulators, a full suite of internet apps such as streamripper, pan, gaim, etc. I am also customizing Nautilus with several scripts to make is easier to get work done.
LAVA DEV - DVD Version. This is LAVA Plus and more. It has all the development libraries necessary to build gnome apps, Glade, Mono. It also has built in support for Panda3D, Ogre, Crystal Space, ClanSDK, Openscene development. I am also adding Blender, Blender Plug ins. Full suite of Web Developer toolkits and Editors.
LAVA Secure - CD Version. A tech toolkit. Everything you need to image a computer, run virus scans, network scans, etc.
LAVA USB - smaller LAVA distro placed on a USB stick which can be run inside windows without installing anything on the client pc and running inside QEMU so you don't even need to reboot - just plugin into a Windows machine and click on the LAVA exe. Lava will run inside a Window.

I also have plans for a LAVA version which can be used to build a dumb file server which can be administrated from swat and a terminal server based on FreeNX.

Obviously this is going to take some time and this will be the first blog outlining my progress.