I’ve just send out the news to the mailing list of Ubuntu-be and the Whitespace to confirm that i’ll organise the release party for the upcoming LTS version of Ubuntu.
The event will take place Thursday the 13th of May in the Whitespace.
I’m still looking for people whom have some knowledge of something Ubuntu-related and have the guts to give a lightningtalk or a demo.
At the moment of writing, I’ve had 1 confirmation from a guy with Balls! Mandel.
He did a talk about desktopcouch at fosdem this year, and will bring an improved version of that to the Release party.
If you have questions, let me know.
I’m available at the #Ubuntu-be channel on freenode, or just PM me (mimor) or use the comment section below.

The sent mail in English:

Hello to all.
>
> I organize a RP on the 13th of May in honor of the Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid)
> release.
> This is indeed a Thursday but that’s an official holiday and lot’s of
> the people don’t have to work on Friday.
> What time it’ll take place is yet to be decided.
>
> The RP will take place in the Whitespace (Blekerijstraat 75, Gent,
> Belgium)
> For people wondering what the Whitespace is: http://0×20.be
>
> The space has: power, network, internet, drinks, snacks, beamer, couches
> and I hope we can repair the coffee-machine by then.
> People whom want something else, mention it.
>
> The program is still under construction.
> This moment, my receipt looks like this:
>
> Around 13h we’ll serve a light meet & greet to loosen up the nerves.
> Next, we’ll stimulate the senses wit a series of lightning talks
> accompanied by a spicy serving of freshly cut tips.
> As the Spécial-du-chéf, you can enjoy some trial-and-error-sauce topped
> hands-on sessions.
>
> This part is for sure, but the rest is still work in progress!
>
> This is the rest:
>
> – design of Posters, flyers and web-banners
> – do you know someone, or want to present something yourself? Go for it
> & let me know.
> – spread the word! To your friends, colleagues, your student-club, etc..
> – the pleasure to have YOU with us!
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Morraye

Or in Dutch:

>
> Hallo iedereen.
>
> Ik organiseer Donderdag, 13 Mei 2010 een RP voor Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid).
> Dit is inderdaad een donderdag Maar het is een feestdag en vrijdag is
> voor velen dus een brug-dag.
> Van hoe laat tot hoe laat is nog te beslissen.
>
> De RP gaat door in de Whitespace (Blekerijstraat 75, Gent, Belgium)
> Voor wie wil weten wat dit is: http://0×20.be
>
> Locatie heeft: stroomvoorziening, netwerk, internet, (fris-) drank,
> versnaperingen, beamer, zetels en hopelijk kunnen we tegen dan ook de
> koffiezet herstellen.
> Wie nog iets anders wil, laat het gerust weten
>
> Het programma in nog in ontwikkeling.
> Op dit moment zit m’n recept er zo uit:
>
> Rond 13h serveren we een luchtige meet & greet om de zenuwen wat los te
> weken. Hierna prikkelen we de zintuigen met een reeks van pittige
> lightningtalks vergezeld van een portie vers gesneden tips.
> Als spécial du chéf, kunnen de fijnproevers genieten van enkele hands-on
> sessies overgoten met een sausje trial & error.
>
> Dit stuk is zeker, de rest is work in progress!
>
> Hier dus de rest:
>
> – ontwerp Poster & flyer en/of web-banners?
> – ken je iemand, of wil je zelf iets presenteren. Go for it & let me
> know.
> – Spread the word! In je vriendenkring, op het werk, in je
> studentenclub, etc…
> – het genoegen dat JIJ er ook bent!
>
> Mvg,
>
> Mike Morraye

Saturday

• 11:45 to 12:30 Evil On the Internet
  

  This talk will show you live examples of these sites, explain how they work, and tell you what we currently know about the criminals who operate them.
  There’s a lot of evil things on the Internet if you know where to look for them. Phishing websites collect banking credentials; mule recruitment websites entice people into money laundering; fake escrow sites defraud the winners of online auctions; fake banks hold the cash for fake African dictators; and there are even Ponzi scheme websites where (almost) everyone knows that they’re a scam. This talk will show you live examples of these sites, explain how they work, and tell you what we currently know about the criminals who operate them.

• 13:15 to 13:45 Mozilla Europe
  

  General Introduction followed by an update on the work of Mozilla in Europe.

• 13:45 to 14:00 Mozilla Foundation
  

  Latest MoFo news and projects.

• 15:30 to 16:30 HTML5
• 17:00 to 17:15 csync: Roaming Home Directories
  

  his talk will be about a file synchronizer designed for the normal user. I will tell you how it and works and how you can use it to synchronize your music collection or set it up for Roaming Home Directories.
  csync is a lightweight utility to synchronize files between two directories on a system or between multiple systems.
  It synchronizes bidirectionally and allows the user to keep two copies of files and directories in sync. csync uses widely adopted protocols, such as smb or sftp, so that there is no need for a server component. It is a user-level program which means you don’t need to be a superuser or administrator.
  Together with a Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM), the intent is to provide Roaming Home Directories for Linux.

• 16:45 to 17:45 Mozilla Sync/Weave
  

  How Weave and in particular sync is going to integrate with Firefox through 2010 and Firefox 4.
  There will be some discussion on how add-on authors can integrate with Weave starting now, and directions being made to surface this data in the browser.

• 18:00 to 18:15 SyncEvolution: From the SyncML Protocol to Free and Open Implementations
  

  Data synchronization is still mostly a missing piece in the free desktop puzzle: solutions that are reliable and ready for the mythical Average User just aren’t available. This talk presents the SyncML protocol, introduces the Synthesis SyncML engine (developed since 2000, open sourced 2009) and outlines how SyncEvolution is used as the synchronization solution in Moblin, GNOME and other Linux desktop systems – stay tuned for more news about this.
  SyncEvolution is meant to be a cross-platform solution, therefore this talk would be suitable for the cross-desktop developer room.
  Direct synchronization with other mobile devices is the main new feature in the upcoming Moblin 1.0 release. It will be covered in this talk for the first time.
  SyncEvolution is a tool that synchronizes personal information management (PIM) data like contacts, calenders, tasks, and memos using the SyncML information synchronization standard. SyncEvolution compiled for GNOME’s Evolution supports all of these data items. Compiled for Nokia 770/800/810 Internet Tablets, Mac OS X and the iPhone (only 0.7), it supports synchronizing the system address book. The command-line tool ‘syncevolution’ (compiled separately for each of these platforms) executes the synchronization. In addition, there is the GTK “sync-UI”. The external Genesis is a graphical frontend for SyncEvolution written in PyGTK. The GUIs make SyncEvolution accessible without having to use a command line and provides graphical feedback of transaction results.
  SyncEvolution was written to have a small, reliable solution for Evolution PIM data synchronization without reinventing the wheel. SyncML is the established industry standard and Funambol has kindly provided their source code under the GPL, so there was already an existing code base for client and server development. During SyncEvolution’s development special attention was paid to automated testing and coverage of corner cases of the SyncML, vCard and iCalendar standards to ensure that no data gets lost or mangled.
  The focus right now is to deliver the best possible SyncML client for Moblin and Linux. With the switch to the Synthesis SyncML Engine it will be easier to also implement a server mode and direct device-to-device synchronization – this is already working in the 1.0 alpha release.

• 18:20 to 18:35 GeeXboX: An Introduction to Enna Media Center
  

  Enna is GeeXboX’s next generation Media Center interface, built upon Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL). It allows you to listen to your music files, watch your favorite movies, TV shows and photos across your network. It relies on libplayer multimedia A/V abstraction framework to control your preferred player and libvalhalla, a fast media scanner API that will grab metadata (covers, fan arts, song lyrics and so many more) from your multimedia contents.
  GeeXboX is a free embedded Linux distribution which aims at turning your computer into a so called HTPC (Home Theater PC) or Media Center. The GeeXboX project features both a LiveCD distribution and a standalone media center application (Enna); the project developed also several libraries (libplayer, libvalhalla) to enhance the multimedia experience under GNU/Linux.

Sunday

• 11:00 to 11:45 Tor: Building, Growing, and Extending Online Anonymity
  

  A review and update on Tor, how open source solutions work well worldwide, where we’re headed, and where we need help from developers like you.
  Tor is a tool to protect your online privacy and anonymity. We rely on thousands of volunteers to run our network, review our code, and help enhance the experience for all.

I’m still not sure if I’ll make it for the Friday evening beer event.
It all depends on whether I find a place to stay for the night.
But I’ll be at the Ubuntu Dinner on Saturday evening!

Hope to see you there.

Interesting links:
Fosdem Homepage
Ubuntu @ Fosdem Wiki Page
Fosdem Mailinglist
Flickr Fosdem 2010 Pictures and foto’s
Press & Promotional material

sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf

and change or add the lines:

nameserver your_DNS1
nameserver your_DNS2

You can add as many lines like these, but two should be enough.
Test the used domain name servers careful!

#dns-nameserver 192.168.0.1
#dns-nameservers 192.168.0.1 192.168.0.2
#dns-search somedomain.org
#dns-domain 192.168.0.1

Edit: Serge’s comment (the first one) made me search a little bit.
After searching google it wasn’t totally clear if the DNS should be configured in resolv.cof or /etc/network/interfaces, so I took the GUI for a spin.
I’ve set up the DNS trough the GUI and checked the changes inside both locations.
The DNS servers I addes, became listed inside the /etc/resolv.conf file.
So after all, I was right.
But as the configuration file starts with the line #Generated by NetworkManager, I was wondering if these settings would get overwritten by the NetworkManager.
So I wiped all configured interfaces from my computer and let the NetworkManager try its evil.
It worked like a charm and just added the line ‘domain morraye.local’ to the file, without erasing my dns settings.
This was tested on Ubuntu 9.04 and Ubuntu 9.10.

You might also want to play with these settings in your resolv.conf file

# dns-domain 208.67.222.222
# dns-nameserver 208.67.222.222
# dns-nameservers 208.67.222.222 208.67.220.220
# dns-search wikipedia.org

Note: When you’re behind a router, you should change the dns server at your router (unless it uses pass-trough DNS lookups)

Here is how you can easily start sharing your keyboard and mouse between different computers and screens using synergy on Ubuntu:

First off, install the synergy package and the QuickSynergy packages on each machine you want to use your pointer on with the command:

sudo apt-get install quicksynergy

Note that apt will install the synergy package as it’s required to run QuickSynergy. (QuickSynergy is in fact just a gui for Synergy)
When it’s installed, you’ll find QuickSynergy under the category ‘accessories’ in the application menu.

On the server:

The server is the computer where the used keyboard and mouse are attached to.
In the Share tab fill in the names of the computers where you want your keyboard and mouse to be operational.
Do not fill in the IP address, it won’t work.

To find out the name of your computer(s), open a terminal and type:

hostname

If all the hostnames are put in the right place, start the service by clicking ‘Execute’
Note that the window becomes gray.
You can now just minimize it and let it do it’s work.

On the client:

On the Client, fire up the QuickSynergy app and go to the Use tab.
Fill in the hostname of the server.
Note that you can also enter its IP, but know that when you’re using dynamic IP adresses, you’ll have to reconfigure this each time you fire up Synergy.

Then just hit execute and minimize the window.
Now you can remove your keyboard and mouse from this computer.

When moving the mouse outside the window to the side you’ve configured the other computers position on the server, you’ll see your pointer go ‘troug’ the space between the two computers and appear on the other screen.
Als handy to know is that the clipboard is shared.
So you can actually copy something on machine 1 and paste it on machine 2. (text that is, don’t try this with data)

Note:
Synergy uses an unencrypted TCP/IP stream on port 24800. So if you’re on a network you can’t entirely trust, don’t use it unless you encrypt it.
I would even recommend ALL users using a wifi-network to encrypt the connection.
To Encrypt the Synergy data, you can simply follow the guide on their website.

But you could also just come by to say hi too of course.

If you feel like helping us out a bit, visit our wiki page here to find out what we still need or how you could help.

This kernel requires the following features not present on the cpu: 0:6
Unable to boot – please use a kernel appropriate for your CPU

Screenshot or it didn’t happen?

How to solve:

This can be easily resolved by enabling the PAE/NX option in the virtual machine’s settings.
This will expose the PAE of your CPU to the virtual machine.

Just:

1. go to the homescreen of Virtualbox
2. select your virtual machine
3. click the ‘settings’ button on top of the screen
4. click the tab ‘Advanced’
5. check the box next to ‘PAE/NX’

Like in this screenshot:

Now, you can fire up your virtual machine again, and it will start up without this error.

Hi,

for those requesting a Forum for Ubuntu-be, there is an alternative
solution (which has already been discussed in the past). Gmane
provides two web interfaces for our mailing list. A blog-like one at
http://blog.gmane.org/gmane.linux.ubuntu.region.belgium and a threaded
one at http://news.gmane.org/gmane.linux.ubuntu.region.belgium.

In addition, I registered the mailing list for archiving on Nabble
which also provides an forum like web interface at
http://n2.nabble.com/Ubuntu-be-f3354669.html

These three interface allow one to follow activities on the mailing
list without dealing with it as a bunch of mail. Both Gmane and Nabble
allow posting to the list through the Web interface (only for
subscribed user registered there).

So, if you’re interested in following the Ubuntu-be mailing list, you can easily do so without the ‘hassle’ of subscribing to it.
It’s also a perfect way to check it out for a while, as you don’t receive all these mails in your mailbox.

I have to say, it’s the first time I’ve seen the integrated nabble forum in action, and have to agree that it’s awesome.
Also the blog-styled layout of gmane is making the mailing list (more) enjoyable to read.

Of course, you can also just send a mail to the ubuntu-be mailing list.
Warning: This is a public medium! If you want to send messages to this list you’ll have to register first through https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-be. Keep into consideration that every message posted will be visible in the public archives!

When you turn on your computer, the bios will start the bootstrap procedure from the primary boot-device.
(If you’re planning to run a LiveCD, you might make that your CD/DVD-rom drive)
A bootstrap is in fact nothing else than having a small program, so that this can load a bigger one.
That’s the thing GRUB does, in short!
What you should remember, is that it’s important, and you would not like to break it.
If you do, you’ll render your hardisk unbootable.

So the first thing you want to do, is back up your MBR!
Why not just GRUB?
The MBR is a 512-byte segment, the first sector, on your harddisk.
GRUB takes 446 bytes, the partition table takes 66 bytes
and the 2 remaining bytes are for a signature.
You might want to keep these 3 intact.

So before you want to start doing something with it, you might want to make a backup of those first 512 bytes.

foo@bar:~# dd if=/dev/hda of=/root/hda.mbr bs=512 count=1

explanation:
The dd command has a primary purpose to low-level copying and conversion of raw data.
The if= option can be read as input from and the source.
You might want to change /dev/hda to /dev/hdb or something relevant to your situation.
The of= option can be read as output file and is the file where you want to write the output to.
bs= sets both input and output block sizes to size bytes.
count= copies only n input blocks to the output.

Check it out

Just like any other program in linux, you can look at it’s configuration by opening a text file.
Open the /etc/grub/grub.conf file with your favorite text editor.
If you don’t have one, use nano.

foo@bar:~# sudo nano /etc/grub/grub.conf

This is what mine looks like at this moment:

default		0
timeout		3

## password ['--md5'] passwd

# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=/dev/mapper/Grubfellow-root ro

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=e52270f2-fe58-41c3-b20a-01bd057de3ea

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
##      lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
##      lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
##      altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
##      howmany=7
# howmany=all

## specify if running in Xen domU or have grub detect automatically
## update-grub will ignore non-xen kernels when running in domU and vice versa
## e.g. indomU=detect
##      indomU=true
##      indomU=false
# indomU=detect

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-14-generic
uuid		e52270f2-fe58-41c3-b20a-01bd057de3ea
kernel		/vmlinuz-2.6.28-14-generic root=/dev/mapper/Grubfellow-root ro quiet splash
initrd		/initrd.img-2.6.28-14-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 9.04, kernel 2.6.28-14-generic (recovery mode)
uuid		e52270f2-fe58-41c3-b20a-01bd057de3ea
kernel		/vmlinuz-2.6.28-14-generic root=/dev/mapper/Grubfellow-root ro  single
initrd		/initrd.img-2.6.28-14-generic

title		Ubuntu 9.04, memtest86+
uuid		e52270f2-fe58-41c3-b20a-01bd057de3ea
kernel		/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

This will differ from your, as you might run another linux distribution or kernel.

In most modern distro’s the grub.config file will be updated every time there is a kernel-update.
So remember, if you would ever use an exotic distro or did a kernel-update by hand, you might go check whether the grub.config is changed too.

Most of the modern config files are well documented, if not in the file itself, on the internet.
You can also alter the background color/image and the lay-out of the menu/text.
But i’ll explain that to you in a next post.

Let’s go on a journey with someone eager to start using Linux (without a live cd).

Let’s say this is one of the wonderfull people informing themselves before they actually start doing something.
Then this user would trigger a search query on his favorite search engine for the value Linux.
Linux.org is probably the first link that will be hit, as the first result has a 42% chance of getting selected.

On Linux.org he/she’ll be learning a little on the principles of linux and the GNU licence.
After a bit of reading, she’ll know how wonderful linux is and appreciate the idea of openness.

As our imaginary person has a simple old spare computer that can be used to testdrive linux, he/she is convinced and ready to download her own copy.
But there is the first problem: Which linux distribution?

On the linux.org page, there are currently 220 listed distro’s to choose from.
So now he/she can start reading all 220 items, but that’s just not done.
The most probable way to get around the pile of different distro’s, will be asking around witch one is the “best one” to use.

After some garbage talk that start with “You should use…” and ends with a discussion bestween some people fighting around to convince eachother that their distro is better, someone will probably point out to the ditsrowatch pages.
In the best case, our user will pick one of the 10 distro’s listed there as the major distributions.

Ok now, this was one of the most idealistic ways for a user to find his/her first linux distribution.

But this is not the end of our journey…

The user will most likely switch distro after time, as the grass is always greener on the other side
In the end, after already having used different distro’s the user will most probably start filtering his choises on package management system.
Then there are the most common choices I didn’t even mention such as: Window Manager, Proprietary codecs, standard apps, …

This is quite a more complex way of choosing your distribution compared to the situation where you’re standing in a shop and having 3 options.

A problem you say?

Whether this is a linux problem or not, depends on the individual user.
This long process of learning and filtering was one of the things that got me interested in linux in the first place.

But if I think about the masses, I guess this is one big draw-back for linux if you compare it against Microsoft Windows or in particular Apple’s.

There is this Paradox of choices – Why more is less speach by Barry Schwartz that will convince you of this.

The Live CD’s from Ubuntu can solve this problem a little bit.
Just by giving people a live cd, with only one version/OS, they will be limited by the direct choices they have.
Thus rendering their mood to become more statisfied.
If someone asks you to give them a Linux distribution, it’s most likely for them to use one if you give them only 1 instead of 220 listed on a page, ready to be downloaded (even for free).

Conclusion

Yes the wide range of different linux versions are a drawback for Linux. And in my opinion, keeping the masses of adopting it.