LeeNukes

Just ran a yum update on my server and found that CentOS 5.5 is out, the giveaway was the 110 packages I all of a sudden needed to update.

It seems to have gone well, I’ve not tested everything but I assume its all working.

Something I’m hoping is now fixed is VMWare Server 2.0.2 as the web interface (vmware-mgmt) crashes frequently with the old glibc file.

This is all documented here: http://bugs.centos.org/view.php?id=3884

The work around just didn’t work for me. So here’s hoping the upgrade is the fix. I’ve got two servers to test it on, and this came just in time if it does work.

Release announcement here: http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2010-May/016638.html

Ubuntu have decided that after 6 years, its time to freshen up their image and try to shake off that Brown slur that has followed them for the past several years.

Here is a link to the page going through it: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Brand

Overall, it appears to be a good move, however, why move the buttons!? They were perfectly fine in the location they were. Just one step too far Ubuntu. Doh!

I’ve just discovered Sweet Home 3D. So far, I have to say its one of the best applications I’ve used on Linux.

It’s Java powered and you just download the tar.gz file and unpack it. Once unpacked, run the SweetHome3D file and that’s it. You’re presented with a pretty straight forward interface if you’re used to 3D modelling.

Its logical though as opposed to some 3D modelling apps, right click, choose your tool then left click.

To add one of the many models available, simply drag and drop.

To change the properties of an item, double click on it and modify its properties.

Once you’ve happy you’ve put things where you want them, you can render a photo of the image:

You can download it from here: http://www.sweethome3d.eu/index.jsp

It’s cross platform too as it’s Java. Try it out.

Well, as of early this morning GMT QuakeLive is now compatible with Linux and Mac.

I’m just installing the browser plugin now but so far so good. Very easy too. Will let you know how it goes.

Catch me on there, I’m landstalker_uk

This is something that I thought about a while ago, and tonight I took time out to mock it up.

The Stars of GNU/Linux Sticker Album:

With all your favourite stars:

Linus Torvalds

Richard Stallman

SUSE Linux

Fedora Linux

You saw it here first folks.

The Ubuntu forum now has an announcement on its front page:

The Ubuntu Forums have grown tremendously over the years. While we regret that we are discontinuing our Other OS Talk category, this gives us an opportunity to help other Linux distributions grow by directing traffic to the websites of these distributions.

Here is a list of the official websites for the operating systems that used to have individual forums here. We hope you are able to find further assistance from there.

* Arch
* Debian
* Fedora/Red Hat
* Mandriva
* Slackware
* OpenSuse
* Gentoo
* BSD
* Windows
* MacOSX

And finally, if you haven’t yet found what you are looking for, we suggest you look for information on the DistroWatch website or you might try the multi-distribution LinuxQuestions forum.

This makes sense, but some people may feel a little lost now as the Ubuntu Forums have often been heralded as a great source for support. Will this move more people over to Ubuntu?

Pretty cool, I first heard about this robot on Radio 1 of all places, not knowing then that it runs a tinkered with version of the real time Linux Kernel.

The one problem I have with the robots, is why do they always walk like they’re busting for the toilet?

With the release of Gnome 2.16 I have to wonder if its time that Gnome started making serious effort on Gnome 3.

KDE has already shown their hand with KDE 4 but Gnome has yet to produce anything that is a bold step away from its Gnome 2.16 release.

Come on Gnome, make your moves towards Gnome 3, or 2.30 as you may be calling it.

Jono Bacon, a stalwart figure in the Linux Community is a long time user of Linux and is probably most famous for his contributions to the since gone, but not forgotten LUGRadio is writing a book. But first, some more about Jono…

He can often be found attending and presenting at events around the world such as Linux Expo, FossCamp and GUADEC.

He likes to play Hungry Hippos and can often be found lurking around Church graveyards with a copy of The Design of Everyday Things and a spade.

Jono is currently the Ubuntu Community Manager (according to wikipedia), which gives him an unparalleled sense of community. If you haven’t heard of Ubuntu before then he isn’t doing his job right. Its likely that you have heard of Ubuntu, so, he must be doing something good.

The art of community is going to be published by O’Reilly sometime in 2009, the book is going to focus on the community aspects of large groups and the uniqueness of Linux, GNU and the OpenSource movement.

This isn’t Jonos first attempt at writing, he also co-wrote Linux Desktop Hacks which was also released by O’Reilly.

I wish Jono all the best on the book and I’ll certainly be purchasing it, despite it also being released as a Creative Commons publication which will be free for download.

Good luck Jono, all the best with the book.

I’ve recently upgraded my network, I moved my server downstairs using a Belkin F5D7330uk, installed a new ultra quiet hard drive from Seagate (ST3250820ACE) which is very quiet and is possibly my best buy of the year and I’d reinstalled moving from Debian Etch to CentOS 5.2.

So, all that was moved downstairs, along with my printer and I wanted to get printing networked.

The problem I had last time was I was trying to get it working through Samba, too hard that way, I was redirecting files all over the place, there is an easier way.

The printer I have is an old Kyocera FS-1750 laser printer connected via Parallel port to LPT1 on my server which is an old Compaq DeskPro PC.

Here’s how I did it:

Install cups on your server, in my case its called falcon:

yum install cups

Once installed start it:

service cups start

Using my desktop machine “tie” I redirected port 5555 to port 631 (cups admin port) on falcon:

ssh -L 5555:falcon:631 user@falcon

Using tie, my desktop PC, I opened up firefox and entered the url:

127.0.0.1:5555

This then redirects the input to the connection you’ve got to your server using ssh so keep that terminal open, this is an effective method and I often use it to redirect to routers home pages or internal network devices on remote sites which I don’t want forwarded for all and sundry through the router.

This will then prompt you with the CUPs admin page:

Once there click on administration and tick the box which says “Share published printers connected to this system” you might also want to tick the box which says “Allow remote administration” but I had some timeout issues with it so for the purposes of this guide I’ll continue to use the port forwarding method.

Once you have those boxes checked click the Change Settings button:

You should then be prompted for your root username and password for your server. Enter these and press OK to continue. Cups should then restart..

Now the environment is prepared you can start to add a printer to your server.

From the CUPS admin webpage click on Home then click the Add Printer button in the middle, CUPS will then ask you to name your printer, I chose kyocera considering I don’t have another one, then if you like you can add a location and description in the fields provided:

Click Continue, you will then be asked to choose the device for your printer, in my case its LPT #1:

Click continue.

On the next page choose your manufacturer, again in my case Kyocera, not Kyocera Mita then click continue and choose your model. I went for Kyocera FS-1750 (en) then click Add Printer.

Cups should then successfully add your printer for you, you should see this in the printers tab.

Whilst on the printers tab it would be worth checking that the printer is set to be published, if you followed this guide in the correct order it should only say “Unpublish Printer” which is the opposite of what you want to do so don’t click it.

Now comes the part of adding the printer to you various clients, in my case a Windows XP virtual machine and my Fedora 10 desktop aka tie.

To add the printer to Fedora 10 it was simple, so simple in fact that I just went to System -> Administration -> Printing and it had appeared. Now I’m not sure if this will be the case for everyone so incase you need to add it manually from the Printing window click New -> Printer and choose IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) then input the IP address or name of the print server in the Host: box and click Find Queue, it should find your printer in there, if not in Queue type /printers/{printername} so mine would be /printers/kyocera press verify for good measure.

This all worked for me, if you have problems then check things like your firewall on your server to ensure that you are allowing the correct port through, 631.

Adding the printer to Windows is just as simple:

Click on Start
Printers and Faxes
Add a Printer -> Next
A network printer or printer attached to another computer -> Next
Connect to a printer on the internet or on a home office network and enter the URL: http://{server}/printers/{printer name} so in my case http://falcon:631/printers/kyocera -> Next
It will then prompt you to install a driver, check to see if the correct one is listed, if not download the correct one for your printer -> click OK and that should be it.

It’s always worth printing a test page to ensure everything has gone as planned.

Hopefully you followed that and now have network printing no your devices.