Edubuntu : Own Customized Repository

I had a problem when I installed Edubuntu in a new unit, I have to download some additional packages which could not be found in bin-1 and bin-2 CDs ( like NTFS, Gstreamer, XMMS, K3b ). I kept doing this time to time. Can I make it simpler ? Should I spend my time on this repeating activity ?Can I just download the packages once ? These questions were kept asking by myself to myself.

Meanwhile, I have to start to socialize Linux, Edubuntu especially to my students. I do not want my students keep thinking that installing Linux is miserable. I want them able to install Edubuntu in the easiest way.

After sometime passed by, I found a link to make local repository here
I tried to do like what the link instructed and I succeeded in re-installing a unit. From this point, I tried to expand it by questioning myself : Can I make a repo CD consist of (almost) latest update and my own desired packages ?
Now I can answer it : yes I can..........Now I can make a CD consisted of some programs which I always(will) use and also (almost) latest updates.

Repo Making :

First; I have to install a package called dpkg-dev in my laptop, so go to Application – Accessories – Terminal and type sudo apt-get install dpkg-dev. System will download 2 files which are dpkg-dev and patch in order to install dpkg-dev.

Second; collect the packages from bin-2 CD ( add-on CD ) which I wanted to be installed in other computers. Or in my case...packages that I wanted to be distributed. I took qcad, inkscape, tuxpaint, tuxtyping, screem, dia and put those packages in /home/oedha/Desktop/repo

Third; take the updates packages from the most up to date unit. To do this, go to /var/cache/apt/archives of this up to date unit. Copy all *.deb files to another place. Then, put all these deb to /home/oedha/Desktop/repo

Fourth; download and get the packages of some additional programs and also put these to /home/oedha/Desktop/repo. Now this repo folder consists of 248 deb files ( NTFS, Gstreamer, XMMS, K3b, dpkg-dev, patch, ndiswrapper, compiz, kiba-dock, qcad, inkscape, tuxpaint, tuxtyping, screem, dia, Amaya, ktoon, synfig, ssh, the last update was Dec 20, 2007, )

Fifth ( make the Packages.gz ) :

1. go to Application – Accessories – Terminal
2. type : cd /home/oedha/Desktop
3. type : sudo dpkg-scanpackages repo /dev/null | gzip -9c > repo/Packages.gz
4. wait until it's finished and it will report me : Wrote 248 entries to output Packages file.
5. Now, I can find a file named Packages.gz in repo folder ( total = 249 now )

Sixth; now we can burn this folder into a CD. I named this CD as “Add-Ons”. I also put some additional folders on this CD which were AVG for Linux + updates, Windows installer ( gimp, amaya, openoffice, inkscape, tuxpaint ), flashplayer, and direction files.

( This repo folder also can be shared wihout using CD ; shared folder, flashdisk )

Repo Using ( in other units ) :

1. Install a fresh Edubuntu or can be a unit which not up to date or can be a unit which will install a program which can be found in the Add-Ons CD
2. Insert Add-Ons CD into the CD tray
3. go to System – Administration – Software Sources
4. Click on Third Party Software tab then click add CD-ROM button
5. Click OK button then type the CD name : Add-Ons
6. Click OK then click Close ( see picture below )


7. Go to Ubuntu software tab, Make sure that there's no box been checked and then close it. You will ask to reload the package, click reload button
8. go to System – Administration – Update manager
9. click on install update button
10. wait until it's finished and then close it ( now it's updated )
11. go to Applications – Add/Remove
12. search : ntfs show : all available applications
13. click apply changes ; wait until it's finished, then click close button
14. you have installed NTFS configuration Tool
15. do step 12 and 13 for the next program

For you who did not use CD, you can do below steps

1. copy repo folder from network share or flashdisk to Desktop
   
2. go to System – Administration – Software Sources
3. Click on Third Party Software tab then click add button
4. type : deb file:///home/oedha/Desktop repo/
   
5. Click OK then click Close
6. Continue with updating the system and install programs
   

Hooray.....now my plan is ready to be implemented. I asked my students to prepare 3 blank CDs if they want to install Edubuntu; one for Edubuntu-live, one for Gparted and the third is “Add-Ons”. Previously I asked them to prepare 4 to 5 CDs. Now they just prepare less CDs, easy installation, additional programs and do not have to be online at home.

Finally, I can save bandwidth ( I also set proxy cache in the Router server up to 20GB to prevent repeated download from clients ), fastest process and I can enjoy in installing Edubuntu !!

I hope this article can help you................


Regards;
~E~

Why don't we remote it ?

Sometimes we can not physically touch a server or a workstation. But, it does not mean that we have to wait until we have a chance/time to touch it. Why don't we remote it ?
To remote a unit, we have to install ssh first. Before using Gutsy Gibbon, i found out that i don't need to install ssh since it was installed by default. But, when i used Gutsy, i met problem i can not remote a unit, so, i have to install ssh after GG installation

How to install ssh ?

• Go to System - Administration - Synaptic
• search for ssh
• check on ssh then click apply button

or

• go to Applications - Accessories - Terminal
• type : sudo apt-get install ssh

I like to remote a unit using PuTTY or Remote Desktop (vncviewer)

PuTTY is a free implementation of Telnet and SSH for Win32 and Unix platforms, along with an xterm terminal emulator. It is written and maintained primarily by Simon Tatham.

For more info --> go to PuTTY site and wikipedia
To download it --> http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
For Edubuntu --> sudo apt-get install putty

To use PuTTY : go to Applications - Internet - PuTTY SSH Client, enter the IP address of the machine that we want to remote. You will be asked for the username and password for that machine.


Remote Desktop; this way can be done from Terminal, before doing this, we have to set the remote desktop setting on the target unit(s).

For example: i want to remote 192.168.100.100 from my laptop, so first i will go to 192.168.100.100 unit to do these;

• go to System - Preferences - Remote Desktop
• check on the sharing and security options base on my need
• click close button

Back to my laptop;

• go to Applications - Accessories - Terminal
• type : vncviewer 192.168.100.100:0 or vncviewer tester:0 (unit name)

From the above picture, i can view and control the target desktop. ( password required )

Happy Remote !!
~E~

Edubuntu Package installation

*.deb package installation
These files are Debian packages. The package files associated with Edubuntu. You will need administrative privileges to install a .deb file.

To install a *.deb :
- open the package location; double-click on it. or
- from Terminal; type : sudo dpkg -i package_name.deb

To uninstall a *.deb :
- open synaptic; deselect it then click apply button. or
- from Terminal; type : sudo dpkg -r package_name

*.rpm package installation
Another type of package files is Red Hat Package Manager files which have the .rpm suffix. It is not recommended to install these on an Ubuntu system. However, if absolutely necessary, an .rpm file can be converted to a .deb package using alien

To convert *.rpm to *.deb

1. Install the alien package; open synaptic, search for alien and select it, click apply button. or from Terminal; type sudo apt-get install alien
2. In a Terminal, type : sudo alien package_file.rpm
3. The converted package can be used like normal .deb

Tarballs installation ( .tar, .tgz, .tar.gz or tar.bz2 )
If there is no native Ubuntu package available in any of the Ubuntu repositories, you can use the command line to install or uninstall the tarball file. Tarballs often contain the source code of the program, and need to be compiled in order to be used. Compiling programs requires some packages that are not installed by default. You can install these all at once by installing the build-essential package.

1. Extract the tarball; double click on it then click extract. or from Terminal; type : tar xfvz tarball_name
2. Then open the extracted, find the the instructions that come with the package. The instruction can be found in README or INSTALL file. Follow that instruction to compile and install a tarball file.

*.run installation
Sometimes you may need to install software which has been packaged as a .run file. These files contain the software and a small program to install the software.

1. Find the *.run file from file browser
2. Right-click the file and select Properties
3. Cclick on permission tab, check on Allow executing file as program then click Close button
4. Double-click the .run file. A dialog box will appear
5. Click Run in Terminal button to run it.
6. A Terminal window will open. Follow any instructions on-screen to install the program

To install a program :
We can do it package per package, from Add/Remove, from Synaptic or from Terminal

For package to package; make sure that all packages were met the dependencies of that program, then install the package one by one based on the dependencies sequence.

For Add/Remove;

1. go to Applications - Add/Remove, type the program name and show : all available applications
2. check the desired program
3. click apply button

For Synaptic;

1. go to System - Administration - Synaptic packages manager
2. click on search and type down the program_name
3. check the desired program
4. click apply button

For Terminal; just type : sudo apt-get install program_name

~E~

LINUX: Membangun Kreativitas Global !

Makhluk apakah itu ”Linux”? Mengapa kata itu tiba-tiba menyeruak tiba-tiba dan mencoba menjadi ”idol” baru di dunia sistim operasi. Yah, sudah saatnya kita mengenalnya lebih dalam. “Linux adalah sebuah sistem operasi menyerupai UNIX yang dibangun oleh Linus Torvalds beserta para programmers seantero dunia. Linux didistribusikan secara bebas, kode pembentuknya pun terbuka untuk dimodifikasi oleh siapa pun yang berkeinginan untuk bereksperimen dengannya. Linux biasa dipergunakan sebagai server-server jaringan. (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/Visio/visio2002/plan/glossary.mspx)

Dari pernyataan diatas dapat diambil beberapa kelompok kata kunci yaitu; Linus Torvalds, UNIX, programmers seantero dunia, distribusi bebas, bebas dimodifikasi, server jaringan. Apa yang dapat kita gali dengan kata-kata kunci tersebut ? Untuk Linus Torvalds and UNIX mungkin tidak perlu dibahas karena itu adalah sesuatu yang sudah baku dan bisa dicari di perpustakaan baik cetak maupun digital. Sehingga, kita akan coba bergerak dengan kata-kata setelahnya.

Kita mulai dengan “programmer seantero dunia”; Jika kita akan memproduksi sesuatu secara massal, tentu kita akan memperhitungkan dimana pabriknya, berapa karyawan yang akan direkrut lengkap dengan kisaran gaji, tunjangan dan lain lain. Bagaimana dengan Linux ? Berawal dari keisengan Linus mengotak-atik UNIX menjadi format baru, yang kemudian dilempar ke pasaran dengan gratis bagi siapa saja untuk menjajal hasil karyanya. Luar biasa responnya! Setelah keisengan ini, semua seolah mengalir dengan sendirinya. Kreativitas berkembang dengan dashyat. Linux kemudian dapat dibangun oleh siapa saja, baik perorangan maupun bukan. Dan seperti bola salju, lalu dilempar ke publik kembali, juga secara gratis. Lemparan tersebut disambut banyak orang untuk semakin membesar dan membesar.

Apakah Linux tanpa cacat? Tentu. Sebagaimana layaknya sebuah barang baru, tentu memiliki cacat. Akan tetapi karena gratis, publik pemakai Linux juga merasa sungkan untuk melakukan class-action terhadap Linux. Lagi pula perasaan memiliki terhadap software ini pun semakin menguat. Lalu apa yang publik biasa dilakukan ? Alih-alih menggerutu tanpa tahu harus menggerutui siapa, maka si pemakai biasanya melakukan perbaikan terhadap cacat yang dimiliki Linux. Hingga saat ini, fenomena tersebut terjadi terus menerus dan berkesinambungan. Alhasil, cacat Linux malah mengakibatkan munculnya komunitas-komunitas global pencinta Linux yang akrab melalui karya tanpa perlu tahu rupa.

Distribusi Bebas

Alasan apa lagi yang perlu anda ketahui tentang Linux? Sebagai operating system gratis, Linux dapat kita dapatkan hanya dengan sedikit usaha. Kita pun tidak perlu was-was akan ancaman razia oleh Business Software Alliance (BSA) dan pihak yang berwajib yang tengah marak dilakukan belakangan ini. Jika kita memiliki sambungan internet yang memadai, dengan beberapa kali klik, Linux apapun bisa didapat dengan mudah. Tetapi bila internet tidak tersedia, anda tinggal membeli kepingan distribusi Linux hanya seharga sepuluh ribu rupiah. Jadi istilah bebas disini adalah siapapun boleh mendistribusikannya kepada siapapun. Jika kita akan mendesain sistem berbasis komputer atau investasi komputerisasi, kita bisa menghemat pengeluaran sekaligus terhindar dari kejaran razia software bajakan. Pertanyaannya, mengapa tidak dimanfaatkan oleh dunia pendidikan kita ?

Linux bebas untuk dimodifikasi oleh siapa saja. Sebagai contoh, ada dua orang dengan spesifikasi komputer sama dan memakai distribusi Linux yang sama, tetapi mereka memiliki tingkat kreatifitas dan daya jelajah yang berbeda pula, maka apa yang akan terjadi? Satu bulan selepas kita tinggalkan mereka, apa yang terjadi ? Mereka seolah-olah memiliki dua Linux yang dilihat dari segala sisi manapun: berbeda. Menantang bukan ?

Server Jaringan

Tanpa kita sadari Linux telah cukup lama hadir, yakni sejak tahun 1990 hingga sekarang. Telah banyak pihak yang memanfaatkan Linux sebagai server mereka. Apache server yang kita kenal sebagai server pangatur web, Postfix, Qmail server sebagai Mail server, iptables, squid, Dansguardian serta banyak lagi yang lainnya. Itu adalah sebagian kecil contoh layanan yang terdapat di Linux yang merupakan aplikasi server yang mumpuni. Sebagai contoh, penulis menggunakan distribusi Clarkconnect yang dirancang khusus untuk keperluan server gateway. Clarkconnect mempunyai multifungsi seperti; web server, mail server, content filtering, firewall, intrusion detection and prevention, bandwidth management, file server, ftp server, vpn server dan port management. Semua distribusi Linux bisa dikonfigurasikan seperti ini dengan menambah paket-paket installasi untuk masing-masing aplikasi. Sebagai server, Linux juga terkenal dengan sebutan; robust (tahan banting).

Berdasarkan pengalaman penulis pribadi, Linux menstimulasi kreatifitas dan menggedor pola pikir yang selama ini konvensional. Dengan Linux, kita bisa menjalin pertemanan melalui komunikasi global yang tercipta seiring dengan geliat Linux itu sendiri. Pemakai tidak terlalu dipusingkan dengan virus bahkan tak terlalu memerdulikannya. Linux menstimulasi pemakai dengan sendirinya mencoba belajar menghargai hak atas kekayaan intelektual (HAKI). Linux membuat pemakai tidak lagi berurusan dengan lisensi penggunaan software. Linux mengajari kita untuk tidak pelit. Di dunia pendidikan, Linux dapat menjadi bahan pengajaran yang sangat menarik untuk dikupas di subjek teknologi informasi dan komunikasi.

Berbicara sedikit mengenai virus komputer Linux tidaklah imun terhadap terhadap virus. Berdasarkan pengalaman penulis, Linux yang dilepas di pasaran secara bebas, memberi ruang untuk pemakai berkreasi, namun juga dalam konteks mengisenginya. Ketika keisengan tersebut membuahkan hasil (virus), biasanya orang-orang tersebut melaporkan kepada si pembuat untuk diperbaiki. Anehnya, seringkali si pencipta virus yang iseng ini justru membantu memperbaikinya. Dan jika tidak, ada pihak ketiga lain yang akan memperbaiki cela (cacat) itu secara sukarela dan hasilnya dipublikasikan kembali secara luas dan cuma-cuma. Walhasil, kita hampir tidak pernah (mudah-mudahan jangan pernah) terkena virus. Karena banyaknya orang yang berkecimpung didalam dunia Linux secara sukarela untuk memodifikasi dan membangunnya. Banyak ditemukan “proof of concept” akan tetapi sesegera itu pula seseorang akan melakukan perbaikan atau penambalan.

Linux memberikan pelajaran yang berarti bagi kita semua. Linux memberikan ruang seluas-luasnya untuk membangun dan mengembangkan kreativitas dan pertemanan skala global. Dapatkah kita meniru pergerakan Linux untuk diaplikasikan dalam kehidupan kita sehari-hari ? Terlebih-lebih dalam dunia pendidikan, yang memupuk bakat-bakat kreator muda. Semoga.


~E~
oedhapos@gmail.com

Set the compiz and kiba-dock up...

We can not say no when Microsoft Windows Vista released, it was something. Vista offers animated desktop which were able to run smoothly and well since Vista required higher resources such as processor, RAM, Harddisk and display card.
It seemed that Linuxers do not want to be left behind in animating the desktop. Even more that that, Linux can also looked like Mac OS X Leopard (read on mac4lin_make_linux_look_like_a_mac).

To make my desktop looks like Vista, I used compiz and kiba-dock, and i would like to share how did i do that.

1. go to Applications - Add/Remove
2. search : compiz show : all available applications
3. check on Advanced Desktop Effects Settings
4. click apply and wait until it's finished and then close it
5. go to System - Preferences - Advanced Desktop Effects Settings -- to set the compiz
   
6. go to Application - Accesories - Terminal
7. type : sudo gedit /etc/apt/source.list
8. go to the end of file and add these two lines
9. deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb feisty eyecandy
10. deb-src http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb feisty eyecandy
11. save it and close it ( file - save and file - quit )
12. type : wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb/DD800CD9.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
13. sudo apt-get update
14. sudo apt-get install kiba-dock
15. sudo apt-get install kiba-plugins
16. sudo apt-get install kiba-dock-dev
17. go to Applications - Accessories - kiba-setting to set kiba-dock
18. go to Applications - Accessories - kiba-dock to activate it

If you want to load compiz and kiba-dock during start-up, then you have to put them in the session

• go to System - Preferences - Sessions
• click Add button
• name : compiz (adjustable)
  
• command : compiz
• comment : (up to you)
• click OK button
• click Add button again
• name : kiba-dock (adjustable)
• command : kiba-dock
• comment : (up to you)
• Click OK button
• you will see both of them in the session and checked
  

Addition :

If you do not want to use kiba-dock, you can use Avant Window Navigator, for getting AWN, you should go to http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/pool/gutsy/avant-window-navigator/ then, you have to download and execute below files sequentially;

• libawn-bzr
• phyton-libawn-bzr
• awn-core-applets-bzr
• avant-window-navigator-bzr

After that go to System - Preferences - Awn Manager to set it up.

Happy docking !!

~E~

AVG for Linux

AVG is an Antivirus application which can we use for free. It was developed by Grisoft company

For more Information --> http://free.grisoft.com/
to download it (win) --> avg75free_503a1205.exe
to download it (lin) --> http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/us/frt/0?prd=afl
to update manually --> http://free.grisoft.com/doc/update/us/frt/0

I used the windows version on some machines and Linux (deb) version on mine. And this article was for the Linux one. I downloaded the avg75fld-r49-a1130.i386.deb first, the size was up to 42MB. Then i just installed it by double click on that file.
After the installation finished, go to Applications - Accesories - AVG for Linux Workstation to open the AVG panel. We can scan our files from this panel but i do not know how to clean and update the AVG using this panel.

In order to update and cleaning process, it can be done from Applications - Accesories - Terminal

• Online update : sudo avgupdate -o
• Download update : sudo avgupdate -d
• Offline update : sudo avgupdate -f /home/username/Desktop
• Virus Scanning : sudo avgscan -scan /media/win_c
• Smart Scan : sudo avgscan -smart /media/win_c
• Heuristic Scan : sudo avgscan -heur /media/win_d
  
• Virus Cleaning : sudo avgscan -clean /media/win_d
• type sudo avgscan -h or sudo avgupdate -h for more

To save the bandwidth, instead of downloading the update per units. We can download the update files onto one computer and then share it, so others can update AVG offline.

The way to do this :

1. go to Applications - Accesories - Terminal
   
2. type : sudo avgupdate -d ( wait until it's finished )
3. type : cd /opt/grisoft/avg7/var/update/download and press Enter
4. type : mv *.* /home/username/Desktop ( update files will be in the desktop )
   
5. update this unit first; sudo avgupdate -f /home/username/Desktop
6. close the terminal by typing exit
7. go to desktop and copy *.ctl and *.bin onto a folder
8. share that folder to others or put that folder to a sharing folder
9. other units can copy this folder and do offline update from that folder
   

To update(online) automatically :

1. go to Applications - Accesories - Terminal
2. type : sudo vi /etc/crontab
3. go to the last line and hit "i" button
4. add a line --> 30 7 * * * root avgupdate -o (daily update at 7:30am)
5. save crontab; press Esc and then ZZ <-- upcase z
   

I wrote this article for you who had Microsoft OS and Linux OS active dually in your computer. Just in case; if your Microsoft OS antivirus can not detect or clean a virus, you can scan and clean it from Linux by using AVG for Linux

~E~

Bring back the (missing) GRUB

This was happened when a friend of mine wanted to install PCLinuxOS into his machine. The installation was successful, but he came back a day after it and complained that his Microsoft Windows could not be booted. We decided to re-install the Windows even I minded with the fact that we have to re-install PCLOS also.

We installed Microsoft Windows into his machine, but I insisted not to re-installed his PCLOS. I went to Google and found a way to bring the Grub back, but in Ubuntu version. Since we just re-installed the windows, we decided to try this way out....no matter what it's cost !!

Thanks to our guts.......we succeeded in bringing the Grub back

Here's the steps;

• boot by using Linux live CD, go to terminal and run -->> sudo grub
• you're in grub menu now, then type -->> find /boot/grub/stage1
• It will display your grub position, example (hd0,4) or (hd0,5)
• Then type -->> root (hd*,*) -- ( replace the * with your grub position – (hd0,4))
• Then type -->> setup (hd0)
• The above statement will replace your windows MBR configuration
• Then close the grub menu by typing -->> quit
• Reboot your machine -->> sudo reboot
• Above steps are only for Ubuntu clans, for others : without sudo

Thanks to ZIK for donating me this problem !
~E~

Windows Wireless Driver (ndiswrapper)

I have a friend who has a computer which can not connect to the wireless network but the wireless hardware is working well in windows ( his name is Martin )
Strange.......in windows it works but in Linux not. The hardware is ACER IPN2220 Card

How to solve this ? ( you may use online or offline solution )


Offline solution :

1. we have install a program called ndiswrapper manually
2. get 3 packages from http://packages.ubuntu.com and install them in order
3. ndiswrapper-common
4. ndiswrapper-utils
5. ndisgtk
6. In order to set up ndiswrapper, it is necessary to obtain the Windows driver for your wireless card. Generally, the best way to do this is from the CD supplied with your wireless card. You should copy two files to the same place on your computer, one ending in .SYS and one ending in .INF. If you find any files which end in .BIN, also copy those, let say copy them to home folder.

7. go to System → Administration → Windows Wireless Drivers
   
8. Click on install driver button and point to home folder, choose neti2220.inf and click ok to install it
9. Click on Configure button to do the wireless setting.
10. Reboot the machine or open terminal and do sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
11. Test the internet/network.
12. later, you can type any to network name (ESSID) for automatically switch the access point

Online solution :

1. connect to the internet by using wired connection.
2. from the Linux desktop menu, go to applications – add/remove
3. on the search bar, type ndiswrapper. Show : all available applications
4. Check on the Windows wireless driver
5. Click apply button and wait until it's finished
6. In order to set up ndiswrapper, it is necessary to obtain the Windows driver for your wireless card. Generally, the best way to do this is from the CD supplied with your wireless card. You should copy two files to the same place on your computer, one ending in .SYS and one ending in .INF. If you find any files which end in .BIN, also copy those, let say copy them to home folder.

7. After ndiswrapper installed and copied the .BIN, .INF, .SYS files to home folder, simply select
8. go to System → Administration → Windows Wireless Drivers
   
9. Click on install driver button and point to home folder, choose neti2220.inf and click ok to install it
10. Click on Configure button to do the wireless setting.
11. Reboot the machine or open terminal and do sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
12. Test the internet/network.
13. later, you can type any to network name (ESSID) for automatically switch the access point

Done........now martin can connect to the internet wireless. ( I have the same experience with Atheros AR5007EG, pointing file was net5211.inf, for more about Atheros AR5007EG, find out here!

Thanks to Martin for donating me this case !
~E~

How to upgrade Edubuntu

I made this document after i did some Edubuntu upgrades from Feisty(7.04) to Gutsy(7.10)

In doing the system upgrade, there are 3 ways;

1. Online upgrade from the Internet
2. Offline upgrade from the latest version of Edubuntu CD(s)
3. Re-install your Edubuntu.

1. Online Upgrade :

This method is not really a recommended one ( if you have problem with the bandwidth of your internet connection), because it will download a huge capacity of files from the internet, but if you have a good internet connection, maybe you can try this out.
Just go to Applications – Add/Remove and click on upgrade button and after that wait until all the processes finished

2. Offline Upgrade :

1. Insert the latest Edubuntu bin-1 CD
2. Autorun dialog box will appear and choose start package manager
3. Click on Mark all upgrades
4. Click Apply button
5. When you asked about including online installation, choose NO for now, you can do this later
6. Read the notification boxes, click next buttons to proceed
7. Restart the computer
8. Do edubuntu (offline) installation ( from main packages installation step).

3. Re-install your Edubuntu :

1. Make sure that you do not have any document in your Linux partition.
2. If you have, move all your Linux data to windows partition
3. Do How to install Edubuntu ( can be combined with edubuntu (offline) installation.
4. Finished ( you may restart the computer )

Happy Upgrade !!
~E~

Thanks to AZH, HEN, ERY

Edubuntu (offline) installation

I wrote this article based on my experience to introduce Linux(Edubuntu) here. When the demand of fresh installation was high and our internet connection has limited bandwidth which shared to whole campus, of course we met problem when we want to install some basic programs. Making a repository still far beyond my capability. But, I have to solve this problem.

What did I do ?
I searched ..... asked questions ..... finally I found http://packages.ubuntu.com which contains all Ubuntu clan's installation packages. I started to search NTFS packages, I typed down ntfs in the search box, and there was many ntfs packages. I picked one, executed it.........i found out that I have to consider about “dependencies”. So, base on this, I downloaded all packages including the dependent packages and I came out with the list below. My target is NTFS, XMMS, K3b, Gstreamers and flash-player ( get flash-player from here )

Purpose of this article is : you still can enjoy a fresh Edubuntu installation without having online and your unit will be ready for action.

You have to follow the steps of installation which you can find in how to install Edubuntu. But the last step that you have to do is : Restart time !! ( remove the CD from the tray )
Then continue with these; ( find and download the package from http://packages.ubuntu.com and execute it sequentially by looking at the list below );

Main Packages

1. kdelibs-data
2. kdelibs4c2a
3. opera ( if you want to use the opera browser / optional )

NTFS

1. dmsetup
2. ntfs-3g
3. ntfs-config
4. after they're finished, go to System – Administration – NTFS Configuration Tool
5. activate your NTFS by click on both check boxes

XMMS

1. libgtk1.2-common
2. libglib
3. libgtk
4. libmikmod
5. xmms

K3b

1. libdbus
2. libflac++6
3. libmpcdec3
4. libk3b2
5. libmad0
6. libk3b2-mp3
7. kdebase-bin
8. libk3b-dev
9. k3b
10. k3b-i18n

Gstreamers ( 37 steps )

1. gstreamer0.10-alsa
2. gstreamer0.10-esd
3. gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg
4. gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3
5. gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mpegdemux
6. gstreamer0.10-gnomevfs
7. gstreamer0.10-plugins-base
8. gstreamer0.10-plugins-base-apps
9. gstreamer0.10-plugins-good
10. gstreamer0.10-tools
11. gstreamer0.10-x
12. liba52
13. libcdaudio
14. libdvdread
15. libfreebob
16. libgsm1
17. libid3tag
18. libjack
19. libmms
20. libmp4v2
21. libmpeg2-4
22. libschroedinger
23. libopenspc
24. libsidplay
25. libsoundtouch
26. libx264
27. libxvidcore
28. gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad
29. gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly
30. gstreamer0.10-schroedinger_0.6.1
31. libfaac
32. libfaad
33. libavutil1d
34. libavcodec1d
35. libquicktime1
36. libmjpegtools0c2a
37. gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse

Flash-player : go to the extracted Flash_Player folder, then double click the flashplayer-installer file. Just follow the simple direction ( before you install flash player, make sure that you have open firefox once )

The last (can be done if you have internet connection) is to reload your installation packages

1.Go to System – Administration – Software Sources and mark on all boxes (see the picture)


2.After that, click close button and click on Reload button
3.Wait until the registration finished
4.Go to Applications – Add/Remove
5.When you asked to reload just click on Reload button
6.if not, you can search and download programs which you desired or install some program from the Add-ons CD (bin-2)

I hope this article can help people who has the same problem like mine.


~E~
Thanks to :
AZH for testing and listing Gstreamer and HEN for revising XMMS steps

I learned about "Cron"

Cron is a time based scheduling daemon in Linux ( not only in Linux anyway :D ) when I installed Linux, cron was already installed and ready to be used. The schedule run by cron not only single command but also can be expanded to many commands in a single script. So, at a time you just set cron to execute the script which consisted many commands.

For Example : I want to shutdown the internet connection every sunday and turn it on again on monday morning.....so in crontab ( cron configuration file, can be found in /etc ), I will put two cron syntaxes which turn off and turn on the network at that desired time.

For more info about cron :-->

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cron
http://www.unixgeeks.org/security/newbie/unix/cron-1.html
http://www.ussg.iu.edu/usail/automation/cron.html

Basic Syntax of cron :--> ( from wikipedia )

+---------------- minute (0 - 59)
| +------------- hour (0 - 23)
| | +---------- day of month (1 - 31)
| | | +------- month (1 - 12)
| | | | +--- day of week (0-6) (Sunday=0 or 7)
| | | | |
* * * * * command to be executed

each * can be replaced with my desired values, and not only with a single value
for example, if I want to do something every ten minutes ( ignoring the hour, DOM, month, DOW; means it will execute every ten minutes as long as the machine running ) so the syntax will be like this

10,20,30,40,50,0 * * * * command to be execute

If i want to do something every day at 23:59PM, the syntax will be like

59 23 * * 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 command to be executed or
59 23 * * 0-6 command to be executed

This syntax must be put in /etc/crontab

More examples :
I want to shutdown the internet every whole Sunday and The internet will back on Monday; so, I will add these lines to the server crontab

0 0 * * sun root services network stop
0 0 * * mon root service network restart

0 and 0 is for 00:00, two * mean any DOM and any month, sun and mon were the day that the commands will be executed

I want to shutdown the server on 24 Dec at 23:59 PM and the server will manually turn on after holiday

59 23 24 12 * root shutdown -h now

I want to run something at 3:10 am every day :-->

10 3 * * * root command

I want to run something at 12:10 on day 5 of each month :-->

10 0 5 * * root command

I want to do backup every new year :-->

1 0 * 1 * root backup.sh

~E~

How to install edubuntu

Edubuntu is a Linux distribution which came from Debian - Ubuntu. This distribution was dedicated to educational environment. To install Edubuntu into our computer, at least we have the LiveCD. I always download 3 CDs every time it released the new one ( 1 LiveCD, 1 Server CD, 1 Add-on CD ). I used Edubuntu-7.10 ( Gutsy Gibbons ) now.

For further info about Edubuntu : --> www.edubuntu.org
For getting the ISOs : --> www.edubuntu.org/download
For Indonesian, it's better to get the ISOs from : --> http://tuma.ui.edu
Ship it can be ordered from : --> http://shipit.edubuntu.org


Now, let's start the installation process.

By holding the Edubuntu LiveCD, boot the computer and jump into the BIOS setting to set the boot sequence. It has to boot from CD ( make CD-ROM as the first boot ). After BIOS setting finished, save the latest change, put the CD into the tray and reboot the computer. Don't forget.....you have to prepare the partitions first. To prepare the partition, you can read here.

Choose "Start or install Edubuntu" at the menu, then wait until the booting process finish and the Edubuntu desktop appeared.
In this state, there are two things that i can do. First, exploring this desktop, second....jump to the installation process.

To start the installation, Double-click on the install icon

Now.........Here's the installation menu ( 7 steps )

1 of 7 : Welcome screen ( Just by default; use English for installation language ) then click forward button

2 of 7 : Where are you ? ( select your city and time zone ) then click forward button

3 of 7 : Keyboard Layout ( Choose U.S. English for both panels ) then click forward

4 of 7 : Prepare disk space, Choose manual since we already prepare the partition and click forward button. Installation will display the partition structure and then click on an ext3 partition which we had made, Click edit partition, change the mount point to “/” then press ok button. Still on that partition, checked on the format box. Choose the next partition which we had made as swap, Click on Edit partition, change the type to swap and press ok, Click on forward button for the next steps

5 of 7 : Migrate documents and setting, just pass it on by clicking forward button

6 of 7 : Who are you ? ( type down your user name, password and computer name ) then click forward button

7 of 7 : Ready to install ( click install button ) Now i just have to wait until the installation finished and asked me to restart. press the restart now button


Restart time !! ( remove the CD from the tray )


After the computer restart. There are some action that we have to take to finish this installation.

1. set the network connection; Go to System - Administration - Network

2. Reload the repository server; Go to System - Administration - Software Source ( checked on every box then click close to reload the repository )

3. install the basic supporting packages; i will install NTFS Configuration Tool, GStreamers, K3b and XMMS. Go to Applications - Add/Remove; type down the package title and show at all available applications ( check on the related applications and then press apply button to download and install it ) - for this item, i have an alternative way here.

4. install the add-ons applications which can be done from Add-Ons CD or if you need more programs you can to go Applications - Add/Remove (show : all available applications).

I am finished with my Edubuntu installation !!


~E~

Partition Manager

Everybody who wanted to split the drive into some partition will use this kind of program. Last time, i just only knew that we can divide the disk using fdisk at the beginning of windows installation. But know…….there are so many partition managers we could find on the Internet. Licensed or free one.

I used Gparted now, i like this because it is LiveCD and free, i just have to boot from the CD ( or even Flashdisk ) then i can manage the disk partition.
For detail info about GParted : –> http://gparted.sourceforge.net/
For getting the LiveCD / Flashdisk : –>http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/

How to use GParted ? ( i wrote this based on my own experiences )

I had a computer with a 60GB disk and i already had Windows XP on it, i wanted to add a data partition, a linux partition and of course a swap partition.

Firstly, i downloaded the LiveCD ISO and burned it to a CD, then set the computer to boot from the CD ( BIOS Setting ). Insert the CD into the tray and start to boot. A “grub like” screen will appear and just press enter to run the default option ( the first menu ). From here, i just have to wait until the Gparted window appears. If there is a question appears, just press the enter to choose default option.

Next, i faced the GParted panel and i have to make sure that the partition has a boot flag. If there was no boot flag….don’t continue at least this is an empty drive. I had a bad experience about this…..loose everything since i pushed an un-flag partition.

- right click on the partition and choose resize/move, resize it to 15GB ( this will shrink my windows partition )

- the partition was shrink now and had another new partition appeared, right click on the new empty partition, choose new, make it as logical, resize to 35GB and the type is NTFS ( for all data )

- right click on the next new partition, choose new, make it logical, resize to 8.9GB and the type is ext3 ( for Linux partition )

- right click on the last new partition, choose new and make it as swap

- Let GParted finish the job by click on apply button at the menu panel

- Wait until GParted finished and then restart the computer.

- My disk had divided to 4 partitions

Next, i want to install Edubuntu into my unit. This article continued by this link.

~E~

ACER Aspire 4520 tried to kill me......(2)

I started to work on this unit since September 2007, tried to pump the Linux in. I have tried to install many distros; the result was failed and failed again. I considered this as a trigger for m to keep pushing myself harder in knowing about Linux. I didn't want myself just as a Linux installer, i wanted more.

I have tried to install PCLOS2007, Vector, DreamLinux, OpenSuse, Skole, Slackware, Mandriva, IGOS to this laptop. But...like usual, it kept rejecting them. The last; i returned to edubuntu-7.04 again. I asked questions to edubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com about my problem. Any Linux that i installed on can not display a good graphic (graphic card problem), can not connect to the wireless and it's mute (sound problem).

One of edubuntu users told me that i have to force this unit to run in save graphical mode by edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, go to the Device stanza for your video card and change the driver to vesa, eg:

Section "Device"

Identifier "ATI Technologies, Inc. ATI Default Card"
Driver "vesa"
BusID "PCI:3:0:0"

EndSection

Then do sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

Actually, an alternative and possibly better way to do this is to run:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

You will be led through a series of menus. Take the default answer to all questions (there are quite a few), except where you are asked for the "X server driver", when you should choose "vesa". Once that's done, try restarting the display manager

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

yes, it worked....in safe graphic mode, but it didn't satisfied me.

~*===E===*~

Two months passed by, slowly i found out the way to solve this problem. I used Ubuntu-7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) and after searched for the answer at https://ubuntuforums.org and waiting from edubuntu-users answers. I can settle it down.

Here is the way out;

How to set the display ( nVIDIA 7000M )

go to Applications - Add/Remove
type nvidia and choose : nvidia binary X.org driver ('new' driver )
click on apply button and wait until the installation finished
go to system – Restricted Drivers Manager – enable the NVIDIA
open terminal
type sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
replace the resolution manually from “1024x768” to “1280x800”
reboot the computer

How to set the wireless ( Atheros – AR5007EG )

download the AR5007EG windriver
install ndiswrapper manually
open terminal; type sudo rmmod ath_pci (remove the pci module)
type sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-common
insert : blacklist ath_pci (to put ath_pci in blaklist mode)
save it and restart the computer
extract the windriver into one folder (ex : documents)
go to System – Administration – Windows Wireless Drivers
install net521.inf
click configure button and set it up
open terminal; type sudo ndiswrapper -m (to load ndis on restart)
reboot the computer
later, you can type any to network name (ESSID) for automatically switch the access point

How to set the sound (Realtek High Definition Audio a.k.a Realtek ALC268)

install linux-backports-modules-2.6.22.14-generic
install linux-backports-modules-generic_2.6.22.14
open terminal; type sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base
insert : options snd-hda-intel model=acer
reboot the computer

By November 05, 2007, i finished my long journey to make ACER Aspire 4520 runs in Windows XP and Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbons, as an addition; this laptop was Vista design.. :D

~E~

ACER Aspire 4520 tried to kill me......(1)

My supervisor wanted to buy a new laptop since her old one cracked at the screen flip. She asked my suggestion about which laptop that suit her need and her budget. So, based on those, I tried to make a list consisted of some laptops. Without telling me anything, she tried to find by herself too.

After one day passed by, we met again and after struggling in deciding her chosen one, we met an agreement that she should buy Acer Aspire 4520 without an Operating System on it since she will use Linux onto it. By this time….we just started to socialize Edubuntu here.

This laptop important specifications were

Processor : AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-58 ( 1.9GHz, 1MB L2 cache )
Chipset : NVIDIA nForce 610M ( MCP67-MV )
RAM : 1GB DDR2 667MHz
Graphic : NVIDIA GeForce 7000M
Wireless : Atheros 5007EG
LAN : GigaByte
Sound : Realtek High Definition Audio
Hard Drive : 80GB
Additional : Card Reader, WebCam, DVD-Super Multi, Bluetooth

She called the store and agreed about the price and everything, including ship it to our place ( nowhere of sugarcane fields ). We just have to wait for about three working days and the package came. Later, this package became a great nightmare of mine…..!!!!

I started to work on this 4520, I formatted first and make new partition tables on the disk. After that, I tried to install a Linux distro which was Edubuntu-7.04 on it. Amazingly…….stucked at the beginning. I assumed that maybe this variant was too old to be installed in this new laptop. Then I switch to install thi laptop with Microsoft Operating System. I tried XP first, It worked okay until I found out that there was no driver at all. The provider included an installation DVD in the package, but…it’s for Vista ( huaaaa…..i am in misery now )

I tried to find a vista cd ( trial version ) everything was fine and all drivers worked. But the owner of this laptop complained that she would not buy a Vista….she will use Linux on it or at least XP on it. Damned……..I installed XP once again to this laptop. Then jump to the Internet to find a solution about my problem.

Finally, I found a way out………after couple of days; XP graphic driver was taken from http://komku.blogspot.com/......
and the rest of drivers taken from http://www.acer.com.cn/......

My ass is temporarily safe now, at least she can work with her new laptop even in XP environment. Since this day, she kept asking about installing Linux onto her laptop. And since this day…i started my long journey to solve this.

Next Mission : Pump a Linux into Acer Aspire 4520

~E~

My First Writing

After so long time, finally i can create a blog.Before i started to make this blog, i didn’t even care about a thing called “blog”. I don’t know why……? But after time passed by, i found out that a blog can help some people in searching for something that could be useful to them. I stated that because it’s based on my own experiences.

Since i moved here, in middle of nowhere, i have difficulties in updating my knowledge. I am so lucky since my institution provided us with 24-hours Internet connection. For me, this is like jump directly to heaven even until now, people around me still confuse about “is the Internet useful or not ?”. For me, it depends on that person itself. If they want a bad thing; Internet provides it, if you want a good useful thing; Internet also provides it.

I started to look at a blog ( accidentally ) when i had difficulties in working with Edubuntu and setting up the wireless connection here. I found the sollution of my problems on a blog. From that point, i started to think about “should i make a blog, too ?”

Next thing was, I like to record every problems that i solved into a journal. This journal is personally mine. I also think about “what if i share my journal ?”

Now, you can see that i am blogging!. I made this blog to help people like what other people helped me from their blog, also to publish my journal contains about some little things that i solved through bloody-sweat try an errors and also maybe i will put personal stories of mine, my family, friends and foes.

I think this is enough as my first writing….i am thinking about adding my blog items now

~E~