Ubuntu Karmic : Vodafone Dongles

Symptoms:
Vodafone Mobile Internet Dongles used to work on previous versions of Ubuntu. Unfortunately Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 has issues and cannot connect to the Internet.

Resolution:

Fix Vodafone Dongle(only need to do this once)

1) Safely Unmount the Virtual CDrom and SSD card

• Click Places->Computer
  If you see a virtual CD rom & a SSD card slot
  right mouse click on the Virtual CD rom (you don't need it, there windows drivers) & select safety remove device)
  Then when the SSD card reader & virtual CD rom has dissapered , close the computer browser box

2) Open a terminal up

• Click Applications->Accessory->Terminal
  Then copy & paste these

sudo rmmod usb-storage
sudo modprobe -r option
sudo modprobe -r usbserial
sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0x12d1 product=0x1001
sudo pppd ttyUSB0

Then every time you plug the Dongle into Machine
Double check that your virtual CD ROM AND SDD card is not mounted.
See step 1 of this resolution

Connected to Internet and No Internet still!?
Vodafone's Connection Service sometimes plays up giving information to your computer that enables you surf the Internet.

So keep just keep trying to connect and check your nameservers assigned by typing

cat /etc/resolv.conf

[pending]

Further Reading
Ubuntu Forum - Reference to Fix
Ubuntu Forum - Reminder about Resolving Names
Launchpad - Bug Report

Ubuntu: Stuttering Sound

Symptoms
Stuttering sound
Sometimes the sound just doesn't and some times it does

Possible Reasons
I have seen odd sound effects sometimes on older hardware. I Believe as of 8.04, the Ubuntu team moved to "PulseAudio" instead of ALSA.

PulseAudio is still in development to support older sound hardware. Yet ALSA still supports the old.

Resolution
Switching Safely from PulseAudio Back to ALSA (Ubuntu Karmic)

Run the following commands in this order:

$ sudo apt-get purge pulseaudio gstreamer0.10-pulseaudio

Code:

$ sudo apt-get autoremove

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install alsa-base alsa-tools alsa-tools-gui alsa-utils alsa-oss linux-sound-base alsamixergui

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install esound esound-clients esound-common libesd-alsa0 gnome-alsamixer

restart your computer!
Final Thoughts
It does kinda improve the sound quality, yet u may need to tinker with the PCM and Master volume to get the stuttered lowered to almost nothing.

Further Reading
Ubuntu Forums (Thanks to 'nullrend')

ThinkPad and Linux

I've an old 'IBM ThinkPad T20 2647' and still wondering about how to improve my sound issues. I stumbled upon this place.

Anything related to ThinkPad issues and Linux is here.

Yet I still have yet to find an issue with my sound volume. I am starting to find clues...

My Sound Issues

• Everytime I raise or lower the volume, the sound output corrupts
• If I start another application with sound, it corrupts the output (Obviously it cannot handle more than one application playing sounds, probably driver)

FIXED!!!! see my new posting coming
....[its coming]

Xubuntu 9.10 : Fix Muted Sound on Startup

Thanks to Ubuntu community they did it again for me ^^.

sudo mousepad /etc/init.d/alsa-utils

near the end of the file, comment out the line (Place a # character at the beginning of the line)

mute_and_zero_levels "$TARGET_CARD" || EXITSTATUS=1

Moments Later...
Due to my budget IBM ThinkPad with dodgy sound issues, think I'll keep it muted heh. [/me uncomments line again]

References
Ubuntu Forums

Amusing Linux Commands

Wo, soo many fun tricks with the Linux command line...

Commandlinefu.com

I think I will be sure to keep checking this place. Stay update by following them on Twitter

Follow 10 star commands via Twitter

Kindle 2 : Revisited

Nice to hear that Amazon reduced their price of their Kindle from $499 to around $259.

Also I like how they the provided a "Global Self Publishing Platform".

Think everyone around the world may be pleased about this. Yet still the price should still be lower :/

Ca Mon Amazon you can Do it!
I can't believe I am actually "Wooing" Amazon here...

If Amazon plays their cards right, we will see all our books digitized and become a successful "Online Digital E Storage Service" similar to Steampowered.com for our games.

Further Reading
Why Kindle is Pricy

Ubuntu : Genius Pen F610

I know getting the Genius Pen is a technical hardware issue, yet I knew my new mouse tablet pen "F610 Genius"would be part of my development environment.

So I published my steps on how to get it working in my Developer's blog.

Review : Asus Eee PC - Windows 7 Starter

A friend of mine, has started to suffer from bad back problems due to the mass required books for university. One of her solutions was to invest in a netbook. She bought the Asus Eee PC preinstalled with 'Windows7 Starter'. I was asked to prepare the system for University, which gave me an opportunity to experience Windows7, so here is my first thoughts.


Issues

Updates
Took an age to install updates and it felt like it took half a day.

Preinstalled Trial Software
Be prepared to uninstall individually. I have to still to look at the recovery CD, yet initially there does not seems to be a mass uninstall for trial software.

Uninstalling the MS Office 2007 (roughly 7 packages, including language packs) and replacing it with 2003 wasn't nice :/ Crashed on one of the uninstalls.

You are automatically suggested to start using this trial security software Micro Trends. Also Microsoft doesn't seem to let you know that you can install "Microsoft Security Esstentials". Can't be that important huh :-p

Final Thoughts
Love the hardware, welldone Intel and Asus and an extend applause to the creators of "One Laptop per Child" for initiating the idea of cheaper more energy efficient laptops. As for Windows7 solution for pre-installed software.... It took an age to clean up the pre-installed os. "Purple Place" game was probably the only happy experience whilst updating Windows7. Oh it was a pleasure of using the Eee PC too ^^, the keyboard felt just right and nice, the hardware is nice and compact with little noise. The networking was a breeze too with sharing devices to install software, I can't say the same for wireless networking between machines.

Seriously....It is by far quicker to install XP or Ubuntu and I am sure Mac is also quicker. Yet once set up it does appear kinda smoother than Vista. Also have noticed of less message anoying periodic warnings. I must admit I did like the "Pin and Unpin" wording for the task bar/dock system and the window desk spliting (By dragging the windows to the left and right of the screen).

I have a feeling setting up Windows7 would be quicker if you just completely re-install it. I could be wrong as I wasn't impressed with the speed of the updates. Spent half a day just installing updates.

Try and avoid the "Pre-installed" Windows7 and buy it seperately if you can. It may be expensive yet in the long run you may save time, money on electricity. Hopefully you be able to bypass alot of uninstalling of unnessary trial software. Oh and by the way, it takes an age to uninstall also :/ Took from 12pm till 8:30pm to clean up this Win7 pre-install :/ ....You know what I am going to say now...."avoid Windows7 if you can". Yet overall once fully cleaned/patched it does run smooth.

While I'm at it, I wish Adobe stop with this "Install McAffee Free Scan Trial Request" warning crap!!!!! What Adobe are entering the security market now?! My brain has turned to mush after this epic "Netbook Win7 clean up and install of required software"....[kookoo Baaahhahaaa /me blows raspberry QWERTYT$"%£$%^& So err you think Windows8 will be rock our world?! I think NOT haha.

End of line.

Ubuntu : Genius Pen F610

[pending article]

I am trying to get the pen buttons to work and I am very new in using Tablet Pens with Linux, so here are my current findings.

Finding the Driver
With this guide I found out the the correct hardware name is "WALTOP International.

I visited their site and found their Linux Driver.

PS: I haven't tried the drivers as my current kernel does recognize the tablet

Using this command, "cat /sys/bus/usb/devices/*/product" I found it using a "Slim Tablet" driver.

Buttons Don't work
As Karmic 9.10 my pen works kind of. The buttons on the pen doesn't work. Curious why.
There is talk of configuring the xorg in someway...

Wizard Pen
There is talk of this "WizardPen", something tells me it is mean to solve all tablet issues.
Think I'll follow this guide via Ubuntu Community Docs.

References
Waltop Slim Tablet - Buttons don't work
Wizard Pen Setup

Getting Started with Ubuntu Guide

Made this for one of my close friends, so they can get started with Linux gently.

Hopefully he'll pull through :)

Preparing and Install Ubuntu

Ubuntu : Fix : “subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 2″ Error

Symptoms
I after installing a bunch of software and then crashed half way, they didn't get to be configured.

You recieve an error saying something along the lines

subprocess pre-removal script returned error exit status 2

Re installing the packages do not help.
You cannot uninstall the packages.

Tried using the following commands and it didn't resolve the errors of partial installs.

• dpkg --configure -a
• sudo aptitude –configure -a
• sudo apt-get install -f

Resolution
You have to remove the offending packages from the "dpkg" status file.

1) Back up the status file
sudo cp /var/lib/dpkg/status /home/yourplace/status.old

2) Edit the file
gksudo gedit /var/lib/dpkg/status

3) Search for the offending packages and remove the whole paragraph to do with that package.
NOTE: Make sure there is a just ONE space between paragraphs

4) Save the file

5) Run "Synaptic Package Manager".
You will find the packages removed, you can now install them again with no errors.

Final Thoughts
The packages that I was installing that failed on me due to a pre mature crash was, "Empathy, Pingus and Konversation".

There was around 4 packages that related to Empathy and 2 from Pingus that failed. Thanks to help of a blog (See references), I managed to fix those :)

Seeing this resolution working, made me a feel that the community will some day improve the package manager to automate the cleaning of damaged packages in the "status" file.

Oh and this issue happend to be me in Xubuntu yet I am sure it be similar with other distros.

References
Odzangba Kafui Dake’s Blog