LyraTechnicalSystems.com Technology exploration and annotation 2010-03-31T11:38:54-06:00 KevinFarnham http://lyratechnicalsystems.com/index.php kfarnham@lyratechnicalsystems.com tag:pivotpowered,2010:LyraTechnicalSystemscom Pivot Copyright (c) 2010, Authors of LyraTechnicalSystems.com Installing Java for BlogBridge 6.7 on Ubuntu Studio 9.10 2010-03-31T11:38:00-06:00 2010-03-31T11:37:00-06:00 tag:pivotpowered,2010:LyraTechnicalSystemscom.43 In my earlier post, BlogBridge on Debian or Ubuntu Needs Sun Java, I showed how I got a version of Java installed on Debian that enabled me to run BlogBridge. On my new Ubuntu Studio 9.04 system, I ran into all sorts of problems as soon as I installed Open Office, BlogBridge, and OpenJDK 6. Both Open Office and BlogBridge ran, but the system kept freezing (a crashing real-time kernel, from what I've read). My new Ubuntu Studio 9.10 install, with Open Office now also installed, is very stable. However, using Thunderbird as my RSS feed reader is annoying -- it's much more cumbersome process to see what's new and how old the entries are than is the case with BlogBridge, which has a nice little diagram showing the number of entries for each feed in each day of the past week. That's really convenient! So, even though I think there has to be a Java Run-time Environment on this system somewhere (doesn't Open Office require that? or does it have its own built-in JRE or something?) -- I decided to install a JRE. After a bit of research, I went with the sun-java6-jre package. BlogBridge now works. And, thus far, my system is still stable. Here's hoping that continues! In my earlier post, BlogBridge on Debian or Ubuntu Needs Sun Java, I showed how I got a version of Java installed on Debian that enabled me to run BlogBridge. On my new Ubuntu Studio 9.04 system, I ran into all sorts of problems as soon as I installed Open Office, BlogBridge, and OpenJDK 6. Both Open Office and BlogBridge ran, but the system kept freezing (a crashing real-time kernel, from what I've read).

My new Ubuntu Studio 9.10 install, with Open Office now also installed, is very stable. However, using Thunderbird as my RSS feed reader is annoying -- it's much more cumbersome process to see what's new and how old the entries are than is the case with BlogBridge, which has a nice little diagram showing the number of entries for each feed in each day of the past week. That's really convenient!

So, even though I think there has to be a Java Run-time Environment on this system somewhere (doesn't Open Office require that? or does it have its own built-in JRE or something?) -- I decided to install a JRE. After a bit of research, I went with the sun-java6-jre package.

BlogBridge now works. And, thus far, my system is still stable. Here's hoping that continues!

]]> kf_admin Open Office, Java, BlogBridge, Ubuntu Studio with Real-Time Kernel 2010-03-29T20:07:00-06:00 2010-03-29T14:33:00-06:00 tag:pivotpowered,2010:LyraTechnicalSystemscom.42 On a new Ubuntu Studio 9.04 installation on a quad-core machine, I ran into problems where the system would hang. After doing some research and experimentation, I came to think the problems had something to do with interactions between the Ubuntu Studio 9.04 real time kernel, Open Office, and perhaps the OpenJDK 5 that I installed to get BlogBridge running. Among the things that my research turned up was that other people have had problems running Open Office on Ubuntu Studio with the real-time kernel. People spoke of a problem in the low-level threading in the kernel that could cause the kernel to crash when Open Office was running. Sure enough, the problems occurred when I was running oowriter, a tool I use every day. In addition, I was seeing problems running BlogBridge, my favorite RSS aggregator tool. Attempts to uninstall OpenOffice led to the system repeatedly locking up when it attempted to remove openoffice.org-emailmerge. Further research indicated that the Ubuntu Studio 9.10 release has a much more stable real-time kernel. So, since I had already wiped away my very stable gentoo system, I decided to wipe away the non-functioning Ubuntu Studio 9.04 release and try out 9.10. First, I installed Ubuntu Studio 9.10 and did not install OpenOffice or BlogBridge or any Java runtime. After a few days of working with the system, all seemed fine: no lock-ups, no crashes. I used gnumeric instead of oocalc. The problem, though, was that AbiWord could not handle all the complexity of the documents I work with. So, I went back to a page I had found earlier: [Tutorial] Installing OOo on Ubuntu, Debian and Co. This tutorial includes the warning: But Ubuntu releases of OOo are known to be rather bugged... And it provides instructions on installing OpenOffice without using the Ubuntu Studio "Add/Remove Programs" feature -- which might be one of those buggy OO installations. Basically, you download the OO debs and install them from the command line using dpkg. I'm really hoping this works. If it does -- if my system remains stable after the OpenOffice install -- I'll return to the BlogBridge problem. Right now I'm using Thunderbird's RSS feed reader, but that is cumbersome, because you can't at a glance see which feeds have new content within the last few days (something I need for my work as java.net editor). Anyway... OpenOffice is now in place on my Ubuntu Studio 9.10 real-time kernel quad-core machine. I am in the middle of writing a report, so I really hope the manual deb-based install works! Update: OpenOffice JRE error My first attempt to use my newly installed OpenOffice.org 3.2.0 required me to configure OO by entering my name and initials. Then, OOwriter displayed an error message: OpenOffice.org requires a Java runtime environment... and asked me to install a JRE. Having experienced first hand and read about problems with JREs on Debian/Ubuntu, I did not want to get into installing a JRE. I was pretty certain that my Ubuntu already had a JRE installed, but somehow OpenOffice wasn't finding it. A web search led me to this page: [Solved] Some wizards receive defective JRE error The advice that solved the person's problem was to delete the javasettings_Linux_x86.xml in the user's ~/.openoffice.org2/user/config directory. Since I have OpenOffice.org 3.2, I didn't have exactly that directory name; instead, I found that file in ~/.openoffice.org/3/user/config. So, I changed its name to javasettings_Linux_x86.xml_sav (I generally don't like deleting files whose purpose I don't understand). OOwriter popped up and let me open the report I've been working on. All seems fine! So, what's in this javasettings_Linux_x86.xml that caused the error message? That looks rather suspicious, I'd say. Is it saying that no JRE location exists -- i.e., that no JRE is installed? Anyway, OOwriter is running now. So, back to work on my report! On a new Ubuntu Studio 9.04 installation on a quad-core machine, I ran into problems where the system would hang. After doing some research and experimentation, I came to think the problems had something to do with interactions between the Ubuntu Studio 9.04 real time kernel, Open Office, and perhaps the OpenJDK 5 that I installed to get BlogBridge running.

Among the things that my research turned up was that other people have had problems running Open Office on Ubuntu Studio with the real-time kernel. People spoke of a problem in the low-level threading in the kernel that could cause the kernel to crash when Open Office was running. Sure enough, the problems occurred when I was running oowriter, a tool I use every day. In addition, I was seeing problems running BlogBridge, my favorite RSS aggregator tool.

Attempts to uninstall OpenOffice led to the system repeatedly locking up when it attempted to remove openoffice.org-emailmerge.

Further research indicated that the Ubuntu Studio 9.10 release has a much more stable real-time kernel. So, since I had already wiped away my very stable gentoo system, I decided to wipe away the non-functioning Ubuntu Studio 9.04 release and try out 9.10.

First, I installed Ubuntu Studio 9.10 and did not install OpenOffice or BlogBridge or any Java runtime. After a few days of working with the system, all seemed fine: no lock-ups, no crashes. I used gnumeric instead of oocalc.

The problem, though, was that AbiWord could not handle all the complexity of the documents I work with. So, I went back to a page I had found earlier:

[Tutorial] Installing OOo on Ubuntu, Debian and Co.

This tutorial includes the warning:

But Ubuntu releases of OOo are known to be rather bugged...

And it provides instructions on installing OpenOffice without using the Ubuntu Studio "Add/Remove Programs" feature -- which might be one of those buggy OO installations.

Basically, you download the OO debs and install them from the command line using dpkg.

I'm really hoping this works. If it does -- if my system remains stable after the OpenOffice install -- I'll return to the BlogBridge problem. Right now I'm using Thunderbird's RSS feed reader, but that is cumbersome, because you can't at a glance see which feeds have new content within the last few days (something I need for my work as java.net editor).

Anyway... OpenOffice is now in place on my Ubuntu Studio 9.10 real-time kernel quad-core machine. I am in the middle of writing a report, so I really hope the manual deb-based install works!

Update: OpenOffice JRE error

My first attempt to use my newly installed OpenOffice.org 3.2.0 required me to configure OO by entering my name and initials. Then, OOwriter displayed an error message:

OpenOffice.org requires a Java runtime environment...

and asked me to install a JRE. Having experienced first hand and read about problems with JREs on Debian/Ubuntu, I did not want to get into installing a JRE. I was pretty certain that my Ubuntu already had a JRE installed, but somehow OpenOffice wasn't finding it. A web search led me to this page:

[Solved] Some wizards receive defective JRE error

The advice that solved the person's problem was to delete the javasettings_Linux_x86.xml in the user's ~/.openoffice.org2/user/config directory. Since I have OpenOffice.org 3.2, I didn't have exactly that directory name; instead, I found that file in ~/.openoffice.org/3/user/config. So, I changed its name to javasettings_Linux_x86.xml_sav (I generally don't like deleting files whose purpose I don't understand). OOwriter popped up and let me open the report I've been working on. All seems fine!

So, what's in this javasettings_Linux_x86.xml that caused the error message? 


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--This is a generated file. Do not alter this file!-->
<java xmlns="http://openoffice.org/2004/java/framework/1.0" 
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<enabled xsi:nil="true"></enabled>
<userClassPath xsi:nil="true"></userClassPath>
<vmParameters xsi:nil="true"></vmParameters>
<jreLocations xsi:nil="true"></jreLocations>
<javaInfo xsi:nil="true"></javaInfo>
</java>

That <jreLocations xsi:nil="true"></jreLocations> looks rather suspicious, I'd say. Is it saying that no JRE location exists -- i.e., that no JRE is installed?

Anyway, OOwriter is running now. So, back to work on my report!

]]> kf_admin Gentoo: Installing Flash for Firefox 2009-05-16T10:58:00-06:00 2009-05-16T10:54:00-06:00 tag:pivotpowered,2010:LyraTechnicalSystemscom.40 A new installation of Gentoo will typically not include a Flash plugin for your browser. I'm using Firefox. If you go to a site that has Flash content, Firefox asks you if you want to install the needed plugin. Clicking through, you get to the Adobe site, where you can download a *.gz file. Unfortunately, unpacking this file and following the instructions may not provide you with a working Flash player within Firefox. This led me to search for a flash player using Gentoo's emerge --search option. Executing: emerge -s flash returned a list of applications that included net-www/netscape-flash: * net-www/netscape-flash Latest version available: 10.0.22.87 Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ] Size of files: 8,747 kB Homepage: http://www.adobe.com/ Description: Adobe Flash Player License: AdobeFlash-10 That indeed sounded like what I was looking for. So, I "emerged" the application: emerge net-www/netscape-flash restarted Firefox, and: Voila! I now have a working Flash player in Firefox on Gentoo Linux. A new installation of Gentoo will typically not include a Flash plugin for your browser. I'm using Firefox. If you go to a site that has Flash content, Firefox asks you if you want to install the needed plugin. Clicking through, you get to the Adobe site, where you can download a *.gz file. Unfortunately, unpacking this file and following the instructions may not provide you with a working Flash player within Firefox.

This led me to search for a flash player using Gentoo's emerge --search option. Executing: 

emerge -s flash

returned a list of applications that included net-www/netscape-flash: 

*  net-www/netscape-flash
      Latest version available: 10.0.22.87
      Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
      Size of files: 8,747 kB
      Homepage:      http://www.adobe.com/
      Description:   Adobe Flash Player
      License:       AdobeFlash-10

That indeed sounded like what I was looking for.

So, I "emerged" the application: 

emerge net-www/netscape-flash

restarted Firefox, and: Voila! I now have a working Flash player in Firefox on Gentoo Linux.

]]> kf_admin Getting a Terminal on a Linux HP Mini 2009-04-29T11:27:00-06:00 2009-04-29T10:08:00-06:00 tag:pivotpowered,2010:LyraTechnicalSystemscom.39 Just received my new HP Mini 1120NR. This computer comes with the "Command Prompt" or Linux terminal feature disabled. A lot of people have asked how this can be re-enabled. I found Chud67's Ubuntu on the HP Mini 1000 posts to be a great starting point for my own 1120NR system. To get a terminal as your own login, do the following: 1. click Alt-F2 2. enter gnome-terminal into the text field 3. Click the "Run" button A gnome terminal will open up for you. If you really know what you're doing with Linux, you may want to open a terminal as the root user. Here, Chud67's Mini 1000 instructions didn't exactly work for my Mini 1120NR. But they set me off on the right track. Here's what to do on the HP Mini 1120NR: 1. On the Mini's Home screen, click "Settings" in the upper right of the screen 2. In the "System Settings" window that pops up, click the "Advanced" tab 3. Click the "Customize Settings" icon 4. Under "Preferences," click "Advanced" 5. Scroll down until you see "Root Terminal," and then click its checkbox 6. Click the "Close" button at the lower right of the window to exit the Preferences window And you're done. Now, whenever you click on "Settings" in the upper right of your home screen, you'll see "Root Terminal" in the "Advanced" tab of the "System Settings" window that pops up. Click the "Root Terminal" icon and enter your password (your own personal password, not the root password), and a terminal will appear, with you logged in as root. Note to anyone reading this who has no idea what all this talk about "root" is: you REALLY SHOULDN'T DO what I've just described. Doing so, then typing a few seemingly harmless characters into that "Root Terminal" window that pops up, could seriously damage or destroy your system!
I found Chud67's Ubuntu on the HP Mini 1000 posts to be a great starting point for my own 1120NR system. To get a terminal as your own login, do the following:

1. click Alt-F2
2. enter gnome-terminal into the text field
3. Click the "Run" button

A gnome terminal will open up for you.

If you really know what you're doing with Linux, you may want to open a terminal as the root user. Here, Chud67's Mini 1000 instructions didn't exactly work for my Mini 1120NR. But they set me off on the right track. Here's what to do on the HP Mini 1120NR:

1. On the Mini's Home screen, click "Settings" in the upper right of the screen
2. In the "System Settings" window that pops up, click the "Advanced" tab
3. Click the "Customize Settings" icon
4. Under "Preferences," click "Advanced"
5. Scroll down until you see "Root Terminal," and then click its checkbox
6. Click the "Close" button at the lower right of the window to exit the Preferences window

And you're done. Now, whenever you click on "Settings" in the upper right of your home screen, you'll see "Root Terminal" in the "Advanced" tab of the "System Settings" window that pops up. Click the "Root Terminal" icon and enter your password (your own personal password, not the root password), and a terminal will appear, with you logged in as root.

Note to anyone reading this who has no idea what all this talk about "root" is: you REALLY SHOULDN'T DO what I've just described. Doing so, then typing a few seemingly harmless characters into that "Root Terminal" window that pops up, could seriously damage or destroy your system! ]]> kf_admin Gentoo says "config files in /etc need updating" 2009-04-17T21:18:00-06:00 2009-04-17T21:18:00-06:00 tag:pivotpowered,2010:LyraTechnicalSystemscom.38 If you use Gentoo Linux, you may become familiar with seeing messages such as: * IMPORTANT: 26 config files in '/etc' need updating. * See the CONFIGURATION FILES section of the emerge * man page to learn how to update config files. I finally visited that man page, and indeed it tells you what you need to know. Basically, Gentoo does not want to automatically overwrite configuration files that you may have tweaked manually when portage installs a new software package. So, instead, portage writes a modified configuration file. You can find all the config files that need to be updated by going to /etc and entering (as root is best): # find . -name "._cfg*" For me, today, this returns: ./ssh/._cfg0000_sshd_config ./ssh/._cfg0000_moduli ./ssh/._cfg0000_ssh_config ./logrotate.d/._cfg0000_elog-save-summary ./._cfg0000_ca-certificates.conf ./._cfg0000_locale.gen ./._cfg0000_wgetrc ./._cfg0000_login.defs ./security/._cfg0000_namespace.init ./security/._cfg0000_limits.conf ./._cfg0000_nanorc ./pam.d/._cfg0000_sshd ./pam.d/._cfg0000_login ./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_40-nonlatin.conf ./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_45-latin.conf ./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_65-nonlatin.conf ./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_69-unifont.conf ./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_60-latin.conf ./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_65-fonts-persian.conf ./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_25-unhint-nonlatin.conf ./._cfg0000_mke2fs.conf ./._cfg0000_man.conf ./init.d/._cfg0000_crypto-loop ./bash/._cfg0000_bashrc ./._cfg0000_gai.conf ./udev/._cfg0000_udev.conf For each .cfg0000_FILEXXX file name in the list, Gentoo is telling you that you have a FILEXXX configuration file that needs to be updated, due to your recent installs. Rather than overwriting your previous file, Gentoo provides you with the opportunity to examine the new config file, compare it with your current file, and update your current file as you deem fit. For me, in most cases, the correct solution is to just copy the new ._cfg0000_FILEXXX file to FILEXXX. But, it's kind of nice that Gentoo respects your system and your desire to create and maintain a certain configuration that is best suited to your needs. I like that about Gentoo! Gentoo Linux, you may become familiar with seeing messages such as:



 * IMPORTANT: 26 config files in '/etc' need updating.

 * See the CONFIGURATION FILES section of the emerge

 * man page to learn how to update config files.


I finally visited that man page, and indeed it tells you what you need to know. Basically, Gentoo does not want to automatically overwrite configuration files that you may have tweaked manually when portage installs a new software package. So, instead, portage writes a modified configuration file.

You can find all the config files that need to be updated by going to /etc and entering (as root is best):

# find . -name "._cfg*"


For me, today, this returns:



./ssh/._cfg0000_sshd_config

./ssh/._cfg0000_moduli

./ssh/._cfg0000_ssh_config

./logrotate.d/._cfg0000_elog-save-summary

./._cfg0000_ca-certificates.conf

./._cfg0000_locale.gen

./._cfg0000_wgetrc

./._cfg0000_login.defs

./security/._cfg0000_namespace.init

./security/._cfg0000_limits.conf

./._cfg0000_nanorc

./pam.d/._cfg0000_sshd

./pam.d/._cfg0000_login

./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_40-nonlatin.conf

./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_45-latin.conf

./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_65-nonlatin.conf

./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_69-unifont.conf

./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_60-latin.conf

./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_65-fonts-persian.conf

./fonts/conf.avail/._cfg0000_25-unhint-nonlatin.conf

./._cfg0000_mke2fs.conf

./._cfg0000_man.conf

./init.d/._cfg0000_crypto-loop

./bash/._cfg0000_bashrc

./._cfg0000_gai.conf

./udev/._cfg0000_udev.conf


For each .cfg0000_FILEXXX file name in the list, Gentoo is telling you that you have a FILEXXX configuration file that needs to be updated, due to your recent installs. Rather than overwriting your previous file, Gentoo provides you with the opportunity to examine the new config file, compare it with your current file, and update your current file as you deem fit.

For me, in most cases, the correct solution is to just copy the new ._cfg0000_FILEXXX file to FILEXXX. But, it's kind of nice that Gentoo respects your system and your desire to create and maintain a certain configuration that is best suited to your needs.

I like that about Gentoo! ]]> kf_admin