I’m not saying Ubuntu is not suited for more complicated user profiles. ( With the recent foul play of Apple, I would be more than inclined to use Ubuntu on my MBP on my day to day work. ) I’m just saying Ubuntu is easy enough to start with for most people to enter a virus free world. When they see the Firefox logo they now where “the internet” is.

But enough mumbo jumbo: how did the installation on the netbook go? Well, very smooth. No complaints. The installation was very straight forward. But… the graphics performance was bad. Problem: Intel’s GMA500 gfx card. Intel is not known as a member of the “we support Linux” pool. So, the community is basicly left on it’s own. Luckily for us there is a solution. Created by the community. It’s a work in progress, but for now it supports enough to work on your GMA powered netbook. The biggest thing missing is 3D support. But if you need that, why would you buy a netbook?

1. First check this wonderful Google Project
2. Then have a look at my xorg.conf file:

   Section "DRI"
   	Mode	0666
   EndSection
   
   Section "Extensions"
   	Option "Composite" "Enable"
   endSection
   
   Section "Device"
   	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
   	Driver	"psb"
   	Option	"ShadowFB"	"True"
   EndSection

3. Check your grub file ( /etc/default/grub ) and DON’T forget to sudo run update-grub afterwards.

   # If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
   # /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
   
   GRUB_DEFAULT=0
   GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
   GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
   GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
   GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
   GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor mem=2000mb splash"
   GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
   
   # Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
   #GRUB_TERMINAL=console
   
   # The resolution used on graphical terminal
   # note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
   # you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
   #GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
   
   # Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
   #GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
   
   # Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
   #GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"
   
   # Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
   #GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"
   

4. Restart your system and your screen resolution should be ok. WIFI works as expected ( writing this blog post on the EEE PC now on WIFI ).

As I’m going to pass this system on shortly after this blog post I will not be able to check additional settings for you. All I can say is: I installed Ubuntu Lucid Netbook Edition from a USB I created on the existing Windows installation on this machine, before overwriting it with the Ubuntu installation. After that I saw that the screen reso wasn’t ok, so I installed the repo’s from the aforementioned Google Project page. After digging through some Googled pages I found the correct settings for my screen. It is my expectation that the people behind the Google Project will continue their good work and make a fully compatible driver available for us in the foreseeable future.

Our test sites were all running into problems, permissions and ownerships seemed to be ok.
But the /etc/log/apache2/error.log contained the following error upon opening such a test site:

pcfg_openfile unable to check htaccess file

Problem was a little typo in /etc/group. The apache user contained a “0″ ( zero ) where a “w” was due.
The 0 was inserted when we edited the file to add a new user to a group on the server.
After the typo was fixed, a quick reboot of the apache server was needed to get things to normal.

The error occured after I tried to debootstrap a new ubuntu installation on my Xen installation:
cannot run command 'mount' exec format error

The solution: you are trying to install the wrong version, try the i386 or the amd64 version.
As simple as that.

Create, Build & Deploy Real Desktop Applications for Linux Operating Systems from your Adobe® Flash/Flex Projects. Compile and Distribute Desktop Widgets, CD-Roms, DVDs, Flash Games and More.

Zinc™ 3.0 Plug-In – Linux

In the last few month I’ve managed to set up our own file / application / staging server with Ubuntu 7.10 and it works really great! Once you get the hang of what is where, then it becomes a real joy to work with Putty. ( Yes, Putty is a Windows program and it does run great. But as I said. It’s not that I hate windows, I’m just ready for something new and fresh after they screwed up the bloatware that is Vista ).

OS X is also a no go for me. I admit they make some great machinery ( love almost all off there products ), but I’m affraid that they will become as Evil Knievel as M$ or ( even worse! ) the $ony Pony. They locked us in with the iPod iTunes combo, they try to lock us in with the iPhone, they try to lock their OS to their systems. I know why they do it, but you’ve got to admit that it sucks that all those songs you bought on the iTunes Store can’t be used everywhere you want ( without installing extra plugins etc. ). Because they are so successfull in what they do ( and you will find yourself surrounded with their products in a few years from now ), they need a counterweight.

For me that weight is Linux.

http://www.ubuntu.com
( If you need some help setting up your first Ubuntu ( my favourite flavour at the moment ), please give me a yell at info@web..votion.be ).