3Jun/080
Restoring Dual Boot funtionality
Okay i had to format my windows partition on the laptop. No big deal.. just pop in the old windows disc, and do a fresh install (after proper backup of course :p) to the correct partition.
However i like to use my laptop for Ubuntu also, and thus have dual boot. But windows insists on having control over the whole MBR. Hmm so this install lost me my dual boot functionality. Technically all i lost was the GRUB install that allowed me to boot from Ubuntu's partitions.
Normally i would do a complete reinstall of the whole machine, taking me about a whole day considering all the programs i use, and backups to restore. However i didnt feel like this grand gesture, and was pressed for time.
A quick search gave me the quick fix for restoring dual boot functionality thus saving me some time. So here is the solution to re-install GRUB after installing Windows or in some other messing up your MBR
- Boot into Ubuntu using the Live CD. I used Ubuntu 8.04 currently.
- Open a terminal. Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
- In the terminal type the follwing steps:
- sudo grub
- This should result in a GRUB Prompt with grub>
- find /boot/grub/stage1
- Remember this information
- root (hd0,4)
- setup (hd0)
- And you are done!
The above is a simple rewrite of the instructions found on the official Ubuntu help.
After following the steps you restart and everything should be working normally again 
6May/080
Prevent Gnome-Do from popping up at logon (Ubuntu)
I found this usefull little tip over at LifeHacker. I was minorly, but nevertheless constantly, annoyed when i booted into Ubuntu. Gnome-Do would pop up, and i would have to click to mouse to make it dissapear.
I as pr. usual just accepted it as one of the little quirks of any system. I have a ton of them in all my operating systems, that i hardly ever notice anymore. I am simply used to routinely doing whatever workaround is available without thinking much about it.
But let us all rejoice and click the link to LifeHacker below and only see Gnome-Do when we actually activate it :p
Instructions:
If you want to run Gnome Do at start up but don't like it popping up every time u log on ,this tip is for you
In System->Preferences->Session
Click Edit and append --quiet to the command
Done.
Gnome Do will now start hidden
Source:
http://lifehacker.com/387494/prevent-gnome-do-from-popping-up-at-logon
5May/080
Linux Video Tutorials from MartinCo
My friend MartinCo over at 3dbuzz made a continuation of some Linux Video Tutorials I started a while back.
I thought it was an really awesome idea and I am glad he was able to continue and make a few more than I had time to when I started myself. Problem with making video tutorials is that it takes more time than the video itself, and any screw ups means you will have to do a retake 
Anyhow head on over and check out the videos, and the thread:
25Apr/080
Ubuntu 8.04 First Look
Okay I immediately downloaded and backed my Ubuntu partition up on Dustpuppy (my loving laptop). Takes a while to make the backup, but i was exited through the whole process to get a clean, new, fresh and hopefully faster Ubuntu install.
Gparted
First off I resized my NTFS partition to be a bit bigger. Been using my windows partition heavily for Photoshop and development (side effect of being away from home alot due to heavy university load). The whole process of deleting the old Ubuntu partitions, resizing the NTFS leaving me with about 70 GB free unpartitioned space went like a breeze with Gparted from the live cd.
Install
The installation went easy as ever. No problems, easy to install and extremely fast. My backup took way longer than the install did. After install i was greeted by the Grub bootloader and without a hitch could choose both Windows XP and my Ubuntu 8.04 install. A short bootload later and the brown welcome screen greets me.
First impressions
I love it! Its running smoothly, 3d was easy to install... basically everything just works! I immediately fired up Synaptic and started typing in my commonly used applications. Here i hit my first snag.. overload on the repositories. A download speed of about 20kb/sec wasn't that fine when i had a ton of stuff to download. But a pleasant surprise was in store as i under the "repositories" dialog for Synaptic could select "other" for the server i wanted to use. I expected to be greeted with a dialog asking for a specific server URL, but was extremely pleasantly surprised when i see a precompiled list of servers. Further more a button allows me to quickly test all servers to find the fastest one. I select that fastest and a minute later im flying the downloads at 1 Mb/sec !
No Automatix
I was sad to find that Automatix (homepage) was no longer in development. apparently some of the key developers were busy with normal life and at the same time got hired by the company behind a new distro. So no more automatix for now.
However this was easily fixed as most of the packages i used from Automatix were available through Medibuntu.
Conclusion
I like it 
Fast, more stable and so far a lot of small improvements that i really like. Especially love the whole world clock applet, with weather forecast included.
Links
22Apr/080
Ubuntu 8.04 countdown
14Apr/081
Pidgin replacement for my aMSN ?
I wish i could say i have been running aMSN for years. It feels like it, and it is almost true. However it has only been about 1 year since i discovered this delightfull alternative to MSN Messenger. Why ? Well i liked the MSN features but disliked the advertisements, extras, games and bloat i didnt need. Also i needed an alternative to use on my Ubuntu Box.
My first experience with messenger on Linux was using Gaim. It worked but lacked some fundamental MSN features since it was multiple protocol based. So i never really liked it as much as using something messenger like.
Finally i stumpled upon aMSN and i liked it. Was a bit buggy but worked for most cases. Back then nothing like offline messages and live spaces was in use mind you. Since then i have steadily been using aMSN for a long time since. Using it exclusively in fact. However i have had my frustrated moments. Mostly with file transfers failing and webcam crashing the application But it worked and i was (for more features) using the svn edition which tends to break once in a while.
Gaim become Pidgin
Gaim later changes (Due to several legal issues with AOL and their AOL instant messenger AIM)) its name to Pidgin. I rediscover the application and test it out again. I like the simplistic feel and look of Pidgin and it performs without crashing and seems extremely stable and great. However i quickly find several small but usefull features missing; Personal Message, Offline Messages.
Wanting to use this for my windows box i start searching for ways, or plans, to implement this into pidgin. Much to my despair i find that there either (conflicting statements) isn't a practical way, nor any way, to implement a feature like the personal (highly used) messages into Pidgin. After long searches i find that apparently this feature is in an upcoming version of Pidgin but that doest do me any good now. I finally find a solution.
MSN Pecan
I discover MSN pecan which is basically an alternative MSN protocal for use with Pidgin that enables the personal messages, offline messages and much more. Im happy!. MSN-Pecan.
I decide to test it out, and low and behold it works great!
Featurelist:
- Support for personal messages
- Server-side storage for display names (private alias)
- Partial direct connection support
- Improved network IO
- Improved error handling
- Network issues tested with netem
- GObject usage
- ...
Conclusion:
MSN-Pecan is a nice alternative (easy install) to recompiling pidgin from source just to get some of the most used MSN features in what is an amawing IM Client. So if you feel (little) adventurous give Pidgin + MSN-pecan a whirl!
Links:
Gallery