XP Net Slow Down

My XP machine has decided to slow down on all SMB related activities - bummer.

At first I laid the problem squarely at the feet of my humble Atom based Linux server and spent endless hours tinkering to try and get transfers going at any speed above a crawl - but to no avail. Then I stupidly tried connecting to said machine via another PC and it fair hammered along - all the time I wasted and there was nothing wrong with the server and Linux - double bummer.

I then tried cleaning, uninstalling, re-installing various software on my XP machine - again all for no gain. I even tried setting up NFS on the server and using MS's Unix tools - again I drew a blank and the speed of transfers was dismal. I was beginning to fear a total rebuild of poor old XP was in order but I really can't face that but then again I really need to keep my XP backed to my server for remote access to my files. I guess the old leave it on all night for a few megabytes of transfer was just going to have to do - do, that is, until I decided to set up WebDav on Apache2.2.

After a few hours tinkering - and a bit of bodging - I've managed to get WebDav to my home directory and low and behold the speed of the backup - using AllwaySync in WebDav mode - is twenty times as quick as poor old SMB on my XP machine. I haven't fixed XP but for now I will get by on a bodge and a prayer...

Print-tastic from Linux with VirtualBox

I bought myself a Lexmark X3580 on a whim because I saw it on offer - BIG MISTAKE. It's compatibility with various operating systems is brilliant - brilliant if you use Windows but f#@king rubbish if you dare to use anything else (in truth I don't have a Mac so I don't know if it works on that front). By all reports Lexmark don't even acknowledge the existence of Linux let alone write a driver for it. I only hope that one day this omission comes back to bite their ass. Linux is growing and I don't think it's going to stop growing so they're alienating an ever growing market but that's their choice. Suffice to say I'm not ever going to buy one of their crappy printers.

Anyway, the reason for the post is to highlight my way round the incompatibility - which although far from ideal - allows me to run Linux without needing to switch back to Windows to print. I'm not going to list all the steps but just give a brief outline of the method I used.

Simply put, I run Sun's VirtualBox on a Linux host with a Windows guest. Credit where credit is due, I have nothing but praise for VirtualBox. It keeps on improving month by month and without it I would be consigned to Windows only printing. I just pray they don't start charging for it.

Anyway, I set up VB with USB without USB2 and EHCI - so you'll have to use the non-open version - and installed a Windows XP guest. Regarding the USB2/EHCI thing, I think it's important, someone on 'tinternet said so and since I can print I can't be bothered to investigate whether it's required on not. Then with the Lexy plugged in I set up a USB filter to auto capture it.

Next up was to fire up the virtual XP guest and when the USB Lexmark X3580 scanner/printer was detected I went through to the driver folder on the Lexmark CD and installed the drivers directly - as opposed to running the Lexmark installer program which installs a load of crap software which isn't required for printing. Once the two drivers for scanner and printer were installed (a couple of other drivers will also be installed but they're built in with Windows so no extra drivers are required) you are good to go since you've now got yourself a defined printer.

Finally I shared the printer on the network and Bob's your uncle, you have yourself a network Lexmark that you can print to from other Windows 'puters (once you've installed the drivers and added yourself a network printer of course - my system found the printer network share I'd just set up on the VB guest using the search network option when installing the printer).

The downside - and it is quite a big downside - is that to print from Linux you have to print to PDF and then use the guest to print the PDF file so you'll need to set up a shared directory of some sort - that's either network share or the VirtualBox shared folder - I use the network share way.

The upside is that at least I don't have to reboot back into Windows every time I want to print something. I just wish Lexmark would pull their finger out of their ass as write a Linux driver - I mean, how hard can it be?

Is it me or is this not rocket science?

So I hear that Windows 7 will be available in only three versions. Yes, just three as opposed to Vista's nineteen, nu nu nu nu nineteen. Well, then of course there is the Basic and Starter editions - but they're only available in the third world so they, like the entire third world in the eyes of the developed world, don't count.

Well, here's the rocket science bit - why not just sell a product called Windows 7 that exists as, well, just Windows 7 the operating system. Now, I'm not a proponent of Apple, in fact I distinctly dislike their protectionist stance on only providing an operating system for their 'special', twice the price hardware, but when it comes to the operating system they get it right. It's OS-X and that's what you buy. There are no basic, advanced, super-dooper, ultimate-fantastic editions. No, with Apple you just get the operating system and that's that.

So come on Billy boy. Why not just produce Windows 7? Pure and simple, Windows 7, with all the bits thrown in. No special. No Ultimate. No Super-Dooper. Just Windows 7. Set a fair price and then you'll sell billions. As it is, I'll be sticking with XP and Linux. XP works acceptably and so does Linux for that matter. And while we're at it, come on Apple, free up your OS for use on standard PC hardware and I'd be handing over my cash in a snap.

A new Ubuntu restricted driver for the Atheros Wifi doth arrive

Well I clicked on the 'update' icon when it popped its friendly face round the corner - as you do, seems rude not to. Anyway, after a reboot my Wifi was bust [pulls sad face]. So after a few minutes fidling with no success I viewed the restricted driver page only to find a second restricted driver claiming to be for the Atheros Wifi card - and subsequent to my wishes it was active and thus meddling with my 'linux-backports-modules-intrepid' version of the atheros drivers. What's a nerd supposed to do these days, so many drivers and so little time.

Anyway, the rub is that I uninstalled the backports-modules and left the new restricted driver, 'Support for 5xxx Series of Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards', active. Did a reboot and hey-presto Wifi was working again with what I assume is the latest and greatest wifi drivers for the Atheros cards and my lovely AcerOne.

So if you're having problems with your Wifi after an upgrade try getting rid of any old drivers and use the restricted ones supplied built in with the latest kernel build - they seem to have been fixed.

Humyo - just another online file store?

Bottom line, yep, I think it probably is. Right, I took a look at Humyo (http://www.humyo.com) the other day. It's another of the online file storage services that seem to be cropping up with almost metronomic regularity these days. First off there is a free option that gives you some online space. At the time of writing this is 5GB and using the web upload facility (requires Java) you can upload files and directories without issue via drag and drop. The major downside - and this is my personal breaker - to download files via the web is a strictly file by file affair. So if you've uploaded a directory containing a few files in one nice drag and drop upload prepare yourself for a long night to download them back.

Now if you stump up some cash for the premium service AND you use Windows OS then you can use their PC client software to keep files on your PC and online in perfect sync. Along with the client software you do get more storage with the premium options. You can sample the client software when you first sign-up with the 14 day free trial but I didn't get that far. You see, for me I want to be able to upload AND download via the web as simply as I could by using any software that's available. I use Linux as well as Windows and need a service where I can download files on mass via a web browser.

So, to sum up. You get 5GB free and uploading is fine. If you only need to download a file at a time then you can get away with this but for multiple files via a browser? Forget it. If you are prepared to part with some cash then the PC software looks like it should work fine - and I believe you can use it across multiple PCs to keep them all in sync and with the online backup. And to be fair, it doesn't look too pricey compared to other services but if all you want is a bit of free online storage with the ability to download multiple files then you should probably look elsewhere.

For now I shall be sticking with Dropbox (http://www.getdropbox.com) which gives away 2GB free with various paid upgrade options. The advantage of Dropbox is that it provides client software for the three major OSes, that's Windows, MAC and Linux and you can download multiple files and directories easily, directly from the web - it creates a zip file seamlessly on the fly for you to download.

Sorry Humyo, it's a Mad Tech Report thumbs down from me.

Ubuntu UMPC - the os your netbook's been waiting for

Right, first off this is going to be a quicky - ooh, er mrs.

I bought myself an Acer Aspire One a month or two back but found the installed os - Linpus Lite - to be a bit basic. Now in truth that wouldn't really have been a problem if it wasn't for the fact that the browsing experience was a bit jerky, with long pauses during scrolling. I mainly bought it for a bit of web browsing away from the desk with some mail and rss reading thrown into the mix. All of which takes place within the confines of the Firefox browser. Sorry folks, yep, I'm into google in a big way so you'll have to pray for my soul.

Blimey, time is getting on and I've not even started the review. Anyway, I've got the 8GB SSD with 512GB Ram version of the One. Now in my humble opinion this spec must be capable of running a browser smoothly but with the Linpus os it didn't seem to be working. So my quest for a lightweight operating system began. With the Acer One's modern hardware it was going to take a modern os. I scoured the Internet looking for a system that was fully compatible. Nothing out there seemed to hit the nail on the head but a few appeared close - even if they did require a bit of tinkering.

So I first tried my desktop os of choice - Ubuntu 8.04 - but after following the guides burnt myself a cd of the Ubuntu 8.10 beta. This installed and the wifi worked but somehow it seemed just a rough a browser ride as the Linpus. I tried all the 'fixes' and tweaks I could find but the feel just didn't hit the spot.

Next up was Mandriva 2009 release candidate 1 or 2 - I can't remember the version - but anyway after installation it didn't feel right either. The wifi worked but the system was a bit too unresponsive.

I began to wonder if I was being a bit too ambitious with my hopes for a smooth running Acer One. Having used an Atom based desktop top that ran smooth as custard I still had to believe it was possibl - even on a system with only 512GB of ram.

Then came Fedora 10. After running through all the tweaks this one was close. The browser ran well. I thought I was there only to discover that Fedora was one of the 'restrictive' versions of Linux. One that doesn't include all the 'necessary' software that a Windows PC can provide, if you get my drift.

So I had to give Fedora the boot - but I kept it as a backup option just in case my search for the holy grail ended in failure.

With the transition into November complete, the newly released Ubuntu 8.10 - the Intrepid Ibex - was officially released out of beta. I was preparing to give it another go when I discovered mention of the Ubuntu UMPC version. Now this gave tingles to my spider senses and I had to give it a go. So I found the image download - http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-umpc/intrepid/current/?C=M;O=A - and made myself a USB boot disk by following the instructions.

I booted the One from the USB and was surprised how responsive it felt. All my previous experience of USB live boots have been sloooooow but this was not too bad. And what's more it looked pretty good. With fingers crossed I ran the install option, answered the questions and sat back as it installed to the ssd. After close to an hour the install was complete and I rebooted.

My initial reaction was that of dismay. The wifi wasn't working and the left hand SD slot was dodgy. Now this all worked in Intrepid beta but in the UMPC version - and I suspect the finished desktop - these important things weren't functional. I didn't want to admit defeat and luckily stumbled across a very comprehensive guide for fixes and tweaks to Intrepid - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AspireOne110L - and after following the instructions I ended up with a responsive system with a neat looking desktop. The wifi and SD slots were working. As I pen this review I think my search for the best operating system for the Acer Aspire One is over.

I hereby declare that Ubuntu UMPC 8.10 is the os of choice for the One. It's not without fault and the installation could be tuned to include all the fixes in the guide but if you can put with manually fixing the problems you'll be rewarded with an os for your Acer (or netbook) that runs smoothly on minimal spec gear. I will admit that from time to time the system does 'pause' for periods of time but the overall browser feel is one of smooth scrolling and after installing the Medibuntu bits and pieces for w32 codecs and dvdcss, I can view video in the browser without any jerkiness. Result.

Well that's it. Not exactly your typical review but then I'm not typical oh, and I apologise it's dragged on a bit longer than I intended.

I hope you found it useful.

Citrix ICA Client for Ubuntu 8.10

Installing the Citrix ICA Client in Ubuntu Intrepid Ibix (8.10) is less than plug and play. That's not to say it's overly hard to install, it's just that you have to download a few extras and can't just select a package from the repository.

Before we start this guide is intended for use with Ubuntu 8.10 and Firefox browser. It may well work with other versions such a kubuntu or xubuntu, other versions and other browsers but primarily it is a guide on how I installed the client software for Ubuntu 8.10.

Right, without further ado about nothing, here's how to install Citrix ICA Client.

First off you need to download the Citrix installer linuxx86.7.17.tgz from
http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/computing/windows/services/citrix/linux_client.htm

Now make a temporary directory in your home directory, mkdir citrix, and change directory into it, cd citrix.

Untar the downloaded file, tar -zxvf linuxx86.7.17.tgz

Then run the installer as root, sudo ./setupwfc and accept all the defaults to install in /usr/lib/ICAClient

Now download the two 'Thawte' certificates from the website listed above. Copy or move the certificates into the ICAClient keystore, cp *.cert /usr/lib/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts

Next you will need the old version of the libXaw library files, version 6 (the ICA Client software will not work with version 7 of libXaw that is installed in Ubuntu 8.10).

Download the deb package from http://packages.debian.org/stable/libs/libxaw6 and install, sudo dpkg install libXaw6...deb

When you attempt to login in to your Citrix client website from within the Firefox browser, it should now be possible to run the ICA client software by selecting to open the file with /usr/lib/ICAClient/wfica.sh (tick the box to remember your choice and always launch with the ICAClient).

And that's it. You should now have a working ICA Client that will run through Firefox.

I guess this is a fairly specific guide using a specific enviroment and assumes some knowledge of the command line. You may be able to modify the steps to work with your particular set up.

Good luck...

Just Sync and Go

I've recently had the need for a quick and easy way to synchronise files between my main PC and a usb stick for work remotely. Now for the archiving and backup of my main home server I use rsync. Rsync is very powerful if a little fiddly to get set up but once you have it working it works great.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. As I said, I really just needed a way to sync up some files on a usb stick so I could work on the files on my main PC and then sync with the USB stick to work remotely while all the time making sure I was working with the latest versions. I've used various backup/sync programs in the past and never really got on too well. Then I came across a great little program called Allway Sync 'n' Go (version 6.3.3) - it's free for personal use [homepage: http://www.allwaysync.com]

Have to say it's great little program and very easy to use. Select a source directory, select a destination, choose whether to sync one way or both, click analyse, have a quick scan of the list of changed files and make any adjustments - usually none are needed, hit sync and you're done. It's that easy. The analysis screen may look a little scary at first when a great long list of files appear but after looking at it for a few minutes you get to understand what it is showing you and there's really no problem.

If you're in the market for easy to use backup and sync software then give Allway Sync 'n' Go a look - you know it makes sense. I give it the MadTechReport Thumbs Up.

Cheeky Monkey 7.10

or should that be Gutsy Gibbon? You know it should. That's right I made the switch to Gutsy yesterday. I started off with a bit a reading on the web regarding the upgrade - got bored with that so just hit the button and off it went...

Have to say, the upgrade went pretty smooth. Didn't really need to do much. I was a bit worried that it would lose some of my config changes such as my alterations to the USB permissions thing. Even that didn't worry me unduly because I could have just looked the information up on the web again. As a pleasant surprise the upgrade routine asks whether to install the new version of various config files when it comes across differences. This meant I could just keep the various files where I'd made changes - sorted.

The whole upgrade process took about 2 hours, including downloading the thousand plus files. Once upgraded all that was required was a simple reboot and job done.

So where there any problems? Only one, my window borders were missing - a fairly major problem you'll agree. I could run programs but had no way to move windows around - doh. Anyway, a bit of searching around the web found a setting in the X Config that needed to be set, running the following from xterm fixed the problem, sudo nvidia-xconfig --add-argb-glx-visuals -d 24, then a restart of X and voila.

The only other problem - which was not really a problem - was I had to reset my compiz effects which had all been lost and this meant installing the compiz-config-manager. Now seeing as this is used to set up compiz - which is included by default in Gutsy - I would have assumed it would be part of the upgrade - now that's strange. Anyway, once installed I was able to set up my 3D effects just the way I like it.

So there it is, the upgrade was pretty painless but the other big question is it better than Feisty? To be honest I haven't really noticed much difference. I'm sure there are tons of differences under the hood but in use I don't notice anything. Still, since it was so easy to do I guess it's worth staying up to date.

BloggerBackup v1.0.7.16

I've been looking for a utility to painlessly backup my Blogger blogs for a goodly while. All of the previous backup methods I've found to do it have worked - but not in a completely hassle free, so easy even an untrained monkey could do it, way. BloggerBackup takes away the pain - ah, bliss.

When you first run the program you need to tell it about your blog(s). From the 'Available Blogs' drop-down select 'Add/Update/Remove Blogs'. This opens the blog selector screen. Now this gives you two ways to select your blog. The easiest - and the method I chose - is to simply type in you Blogger username and password and it goes away and gets a list of your blogs. The alternative - didn't try this because I didn't need to - is to manually enter the details of your blog. I guess you might use this if don't want to give over your user/password combo. Either way, once that's done you can return to the main screen.

Add/Update/Remove Screen

Now for the actual backup. You need to select how and what you would like backed up. Select the Blog. Select a directory to save to. Select single file or one file per post - I chose one per post. Decide if you want comments backed up as well - didn't expect that - but I'll take it. Finally decide how much to backup. Click 'Backup Posts' and you're done. You'll see a list of the entries on the right and end up with one big file or many small ones depending your selections. I had over 300 posts and selected to get all posts. It backed them up in next to no time - brilliant.

Main Screen

Then next time I ran it I selected the 'Only new posts since' option. What a star. When you select the check box it automatically pulls in the time and date of your last backed up post. Start the backup and it adds only newer posts - simplicity on a plate.

I need never look else where to backup my Blogger Blogs - nice.

I guess the only downside is that it only works with Blogger - but heck, I don't care - I only use Blogger so I'm sorted. If you use Blogger and want to safeguard your blog I highly recommend this one. You can get a copy from http://www.codeplex.com/bloggerbackup

I give this one the Mad Tech Report thumbs up approval rating.

LinuxMCE - What The Hell Is That All About?

I've been a long time user of SageTV and on the whole it works fine. Yes it crashes every so often - and usually in the middele of a recording but it normally reboots itself and picks up where it left off - with the loss of a few minutes of viewing but I can live with that. Basically SageTV is limited to TV, Music and Pictures - not that I ever view pictures - whatever floats your boat. You can use the client software from remote stations and even view over the internet - again, whatever floats your boat. Bottom line SageTV does media and, it has to be said does it reasonably well - or as well as any machine running Windows can. I run various other software on the same pc for remote control - namely HomeSeer and the X-10 controller units. What I really really want - yes, I tell you want I really really want - something that unifies the whole lot, Media, Automation, Email, Web Browsing ....

Now I recently found out about the LinuxMCE project and it sounds brilliant. Integrating all of the above but does it work? In my case no. I'm pretty good on the old computer and run a host of Linux and Windows machines. I run my own Asterix PBX with voip service, remote login facilities, secure vpn ... Could I set up LinuxMCE? Could I F#@k. It's got millions of configuration options but there is almost no documentation. With so many options and settings I had no chance of getting anything to work as I wanted it to - or in fact - at all. I told it about my TV card, the Hauppauge 500 Dual Tuner and it took those settings. How do you set the channels? I could see where. From the Orbiter - no not the space shuttle - the orbiter is the fancy name for the interface - selecting TV just brings up a 'not available' followed by blank screen which then required an X-Windows restart.

Setting up the CM11/12A for X-10 control proved no more fruitfull. Yes I set up the interface. Yes I set up a light - don't know if I did that part correctly but I managed to tell the setup that the light was controlled by the CM11/12A but where do you put the house code? I tried filling 'A3' in every concieable text field to no avail. I've read on the web that people have X-10 working but I couldn't work it out - maybe I'm just crap - or maybe, just maybe, we need some documentation.

Anyway, I really can't be arsed to waste anymore time faffing around with LinuxMCE. On the face of it it sounds quality but - like many things linux - it's way way way too complicated to get even the basic things working - ie TV. If I could get that going I could afford to spend the time fiddling to the rest working but I can't live without 'Neighbours' so it's back to SageTV - for the moment anyway.

I shall never the less be monitoring LinuxMCE closely because I really hope it comes good. As I said before it looks amazing - but sadly I'm just not clever enough to get it working. Maybe in a year or two they'll have got it sorted and the install will be as plug and play as Ubuntu - my Linux distro of choice - now that's a nice piece of software - and gives you Linux the way it should be - plug and play.

So here's to a plug and play LinuxMCE in a year or two. Tootle pip.

Scrybe - the new online calendar on the block

So Scrybe - the online calendar and notes application. Bottom line, is it any good? Will it be here in a years time? Simply put, yes it is and I'm sure it will.

What is its killer feature. The thing that distinguishes it from the myriad of other online calendars I've tried? That would be the offline facility. It works great with my laptop when I'm on the road - well not quite on the road that would be too dangerous - but when I'm out of range of the internet. You see, you don't have to do a thing to activate the offline function. When you're internetless - is that a word? Probably not. Anyway, just switch your browser offline - for my browser of choice - Firefox - that's accessed from the file menu. Then type in the scrybe url - http://iscrybe.com - and away you go. It knows you're offline and loads the cached version and you can do all the things you can do online - offline. How do you sync it back again? Easy, the next time you're online when you surf to the scrybe url it automatically syncs you're offline changes and bam - there you are - all your appointments and task synced. It really is a great feature.

As to the calendar functions. It has all the normal things you'd expect a calendar to have - Appointment and Tasks. You can set up labels to group appointments into different categories, for example business and personal. As it's still in beta some of the features aren't available such as sharing but I'm sure that won't be too long. For me that's not really something I'm too worried about anyway.

The fluidity of the way the calendar moves from month to day is really intuitive and apart from looking nice it really does allow you to navigate around your calendar easily. Copy and moving appointments from day to day or time slot to time slot is just so easy. Top tip, to make a copy of an appointment hold the ctrl key as you drag it from one day to the next, al-la the standard windows way.

It also has a nice print option. Allowing you to print you weeks appointments onto a single foldable piece of paper - if that's what floats your boat. Personally I won't be using this feature but never the less it's carried out in a nice way.

Scrybe also has the now obligatory 'notes' apps. I haven't looked at it in detail but it the same labelling scheme as the calendar albeit that you have to set up new categories. You can copy and paste from web pages pretty easily with the standard ctrl-c/ctrl-v although you do have to copy into a 'special' box on the notes page but never the less it works OK and copies in the the text and the pictures. It does kind of reformat it but you get all the data through to your note which is the main thing. It stores the notes in chronological order and doesn't look like you can re-order them but I guess their system might work.

Anyway, I haven't been using it too long but from what I've seen so far I rate it above Google's Calendar which is currently my main one. I have to say Google's shared calendar feature is very nice and it's great for sharing events such as your clubs fixture list. And I like having all my online apps from the same supplier, ie Google Mail, Notebook, Calendar and Docs - not that there is really much integration between the apps it just somehow feels nice. Anyway, if the Scrybe team can get their sharing spot on then I may well be swapping.