Truly, i cannot believe i had missed this piece of software up until a few weeks ago.
Here’s the description from the official page:

Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems, each with its own display, without special hardware. It’s intended for users with multiple computers on their desk since each system uses its own monitor(s).

Says it all, and was exactly what i was looking for.

Synergy works with a client server architecture. The box that i mainly use, runs Ubuntu 8.04, and i will be using this one as a server. The other machine, that i want to share the input devices with , is my laptop, that i will be booting into Windows XP. This one will be the server.

Then we’ll try them also the other way around.
At the end, a couple of troubleshooting tricks.

Synergy can be picked up from it’s Sourceforge page here.

Ubuntu as Server

For Ubuntu, it can be found in the repositories.

sudo apt-get install synergy

This will install two binaries:
synergys – the server
synergyc – the client

The installation will also create a configuration file in the home folder, .synergy.conf
This is what my file looks like:

section: screens
dev:
bender:
end
section: links
dev:
left = bender
bender:
right = dev
end

In the screens section, we place the hostnames of the boxes involved. For me, dev being the server and bender the client.

Since this is a quick miniguide to get it running, further details of configuration are outside of the scope. For other parameters check the very rich documentation of the software itself.

To run the server , on the command line type:

synergys -f
if you want the server to run in foreground, or simply
synergys
if once configured, you want it to run in the background.

Windows Xp as Client

After downloading and installing the windows binary, run it and define the name of the Synergy server, under “Other Computer’s Hostname”.

Test it. If the server is running correctly, it should all already work.

Windows XP as Server

After the installation, run Synergy, and on the main screen, choose to share this computer’s keyboard and mouse. “Screen & Links : Configure”.

The interface from here is quite intuitive. On the Screens section click the + button to add another screen, and underneath it, the relationship with the other screen.

Start.

Ubuntu as Client

On the Ubuntu box, after installation, to use it as a client, there is no further configuration needed.
The only thing to done is launch the client:

synergyc -f server.ip
to keep it verbose, or

synergyc server.ip
to leave it in the background.

Notes and troubleshooting
One of the biggest issues i had to get this running was getting the windows box to recognize Ubuntu’s hostname. After some research this turned out to be quite the popular topic.

The solutions varied from adding
send host-name "thehostname";
at the end of /etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf,
to installing winbind and adding wins to the nsswitch.conf file.

The fact is that an entirely different article could be written about this, but none of them worked for me.

The only hack-ish solution was installing samba and editing /etc/samba/smb.conf.
At the end of the Global Settings section, adding :
netbios name = dev

After resolving that, another issue was that while running Ubuntu as the server, the mouse was not properly responsive on the client. The same thing happened when Ubuntu was the client on the Ubuntu box itself.
Turns out this is a known bug with the newer Ubuntu versions. The solution is not the safest, but the only one working so far. Whatever you’re running on Ubuntu ( client or server ), run it as root. Works.
Very important at this point is the location of the configuration file.
If synergys is launched as root with no extra parameters, will be looking for the .conf file in /root/.
Either move the file there, or launch it with the path parameter.

sudo synergys --config synergy.conf

Done and done.

When finding yourself maintaining Mysql servers within a cluster, network, or even further spread out, it becomes very handy, for monitoring purposes, to take a peak at the activities of Mysql.

A very useful little tool that helps doing this, is MyTop

mytop is a console-based (non-gui) tool for monitoring the threads and overall performance of a MySQL 3.22.x, 3.23.x, and 4.x server. It runs on most Unix systems (including Mac OS X) which have Perl, DBI, and Term::ReadKey installed. And with Term::ANSIColor installed you even get color. If you install Time::HiRes, you’ll get good real-time queries/second stats. As of version 0.7, it even runs on Windows (somewhat).

The source can be found on the official page. For ubuntu, the package is in the repositories, and this is the case we’ll be talking about.

sudo apt-get install mytop

After the installation, in your home folder you will be able to find the configuration file.
To set a few predefined parameters we can edit this file.

gedit ~/.mytop

For example, my configuration file looks like this:

user=sid
pass=********
host=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
delay=5
port=3306
socket=
batchmode=0
header=1
color=1
idle=1

where of course ***** is replaced with your password.
These parameters defined in the file will be the default ones if you start mytop from the command line with no options. Alternatively, all of the above can be overriden.

-u username
-p password
-h host
-d database

and so on. for more details take a look at the mytop man page.

Another thing to be kept in mind is that, if you’re going to check a machine other than localhost you need to have the correct permissions in my Mysql user table to do that.

In combination with this, there’s another nifty piece of software called Terminator.

Terminator, multiple terminals in one window. The goal of this project is to produce a useful tool for arranging terminals. It is inspired by programs such as gnome-multi-term, quadkonsole, etc. in that the main focus is arranging terminals in grids (tabs is the most common default method, which Terminator also supports).

So basically what Terminator does , is split your normal gnome-terminal window in as many sections as you wish, the way you wish, dropping you into the command line into each one of them.

The output :

I was looking for a new application to use for project management. Amongst people that i spoke to, and e few web resources OpenProj seemed to be quite a must.

OpenProj by Serena Software is a desktop replacement of Microsoft Project. OpenProj has equivalent functionality, a familiar user interface and even opens existing MSProject files. OpenProj is inter operable with Project, with a Gantt Chart and PERT chart

sourceForge page

Seems to be pretty handy. On it’s SourceForge page though there’s only a .rpm noarch package.
The RPM packet manager is available for Debian-based systems indeed, non the less there are a few complications.

When attempting to install openproj with rpm:

sid@dev:~/Desktop$ rpm -i openproj-1.4-2.noarch.rpm
rpm: To install rpm packages on Debian systems, use alien. See README.Debian.
error: cannot open Packages index using db3 - No such file or directory (2)
error: cannot open Packages database in /var/lib/rpm


What’s alien?

Alien allows you to convert LSB, Red Hat, Stampede and Slackware Packages into Debian packages, which can be installed with dpkg.
It can also generate packages of any of the other formats.
This is a tool only suitable for binary packages.

Here goes the installation from the Ubuntu repositories:

sudo apt-get install alien

Afterwards it’s time to convert Openproj from a .rpm package to a .deb one.

sudo alien openproj-1.4-2.noarch.rpm openproj-1.4-2.noarch.deb

Once the package is created, double click on it, to install with the gDebi installer.

Been using it for a few days now, and i must say, i regret not having picked it up earlier.

A few days ago i installed Konqueror on a Ubuntu 64bit machine, upon request.

The installation went smooth (why not?). The issue came up while attempting to get Flash and Java to work.
The workaround was fairly simple.

Java
After installing Java, the trick is done by giving Konqueror the absolute path of the executable:

Konqueror -> Settings ->Configure Konqueror -> Java & Javascript

and set (in my case) to /usr/bin/java

Flash

Open a shell window and type:
sudo apt-get install konqueror-nsplugins flashplugin-nonfree

Konqueror -> Settings ->Configure Konqueror -> Plugins.->Scan for new plugins

Restart Konqueror.

To make sure that this is the model of your graphics card, on a terminal window and type:

lspci | grep -i vga

The output should be similar to this :

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE)

Now we need to install the fglrx driver:

sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx

Enable the Ati driver from the System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers.

Reboot the system, open a terminal window and type:

fglrxinfo

The output should be the following:

display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon Xpress Series
OpenGL version string: 2.1.7412 Release

That’s it.

Hardware used:

Windows Media Center Remote (usb, 2nd model)
Hewlett Packard Easynote R0933 Laptop

Software used:

Ubuntu 8.04 Website
LIRC Website
Elisa Media Center Website

Before we begin, it would be a good idea to check your remote model.
Use this documentation over here.

First, we’re going to need to install lirc to get our remote to interact with the computer over infrared.

sudo apt-get install lirc

During the setup you will be prompted with a few configuration choices.
The first choice is the remote- On the list make sure you pick “Windows Media Center Remotes ( new version Philips et al. )”.
On the second prompt pick “None”.

After the installation finishes, plug in the infrared device and start the Lirc service:

sudo /etc/init.d/lirc restart

To test weather everything works correctly , on the terminal type:

irw

then after pressing any button on the remote you should see the output , altogether with the name of the key you pressed.

Elisa Media Center can be installed from the repos:

sudo apt-get install elisa

Now let’s create a proper configuration of the remote, with all the necessary keys and feed it to Elisa.

sudo irrecord -d /dev/lirc0 elisa.lirc

Afterward move the file to the directory where the IR Remote conf files are located for lirc:

sudo cp elisa.lirc /usr/share/pyshared/elisa/plugins/lirc_plugin/data/lirc/
sudo cp elisa.lirc /home/YOUR_USERNAME/.elisa/

create a symbolic link too :

cd /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/elisa/plugins/lirc_plugin/data/lirc
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/python2.5/site-packages/elisa/plugins/lirc_plugin/data/lirc/elisa.lirc ./

Now we need to instruct the elisa.conf file to take the info from the elisa.lirc
gedit /home/YOUR_USERNAME/.elisa/elisa.conf

Find the lirc_rc parameter and set it to:

lirc_rc = 'elisa.lirc'

Here’s the content of my elisa.lirc file:
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Play
config = toggle_play_pause_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Right
config = move_right_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = OK
config = activate_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Power
config = close_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Mute
config = toggle_mute_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = VolDown
config = decrement_volume_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Rewind
config = seek_backward_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Stop
config = stop_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Up
config = move_up_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = VolUp
config = increment_volume_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Down
config = move_down_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Pause
config = pause_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Enter
config = activate_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Forward
config = seek_forward_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Home
config = toggle_menu_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Red
config = toggle_fullscreen_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end
begin
remote = mceusb
prog = elisa
button = Left
config = move_left_key
repeat = 0
delay = 0
end


Restart Lirc, fire up Elisa and all is done.

Today did an installation of Ubuntu 8.04 on an Acer Aspire 3680, which up until this point was used as a Windows machine.

Turns out this model too has the Atheros AR5007EG (AR242x ) installed.
The same as the Aspire 5315.

In previous post i had described a fix for this card using ndiswrapper.
The same instructions are valid this time too.

Here’s the link : /hardy-on-acer-aspire-5315/

In this scenario we will be using:

Hardy Heron ( Ubuntu 8.04 )
Packard Bell Easynote R0933
ZoneMinder 1.22.3 website
Panasonic BL-C1 network cameras

It is assumed that the machine is a fully working Lamp server.
If you don’t have that yet, here’s a quick setup.

First we need to install a few libraries to support Zoneminder :

sudo apt-get install libarchive-tar-perl libmime-perl libstdc++6 libjpeg62 ffmpeg
libarchive-zip-perl zlib1g libdate-manip-perl libwww-perl libdevice-serialport-perl

Afterwards, we grab the latest .deb from the repositories
http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/net/zoneminder

Installation should go on with no complications. If needed, fix broken dependencies with
sudo apt-get -f install

Instruct apache what to do with Zoneminder a force a reload:

sudo ln -s /etc/zm/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/zoneminder.conf
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload

Finally point the browser at :http://your_server/zm

Technically this should be it.
I had a few problems though. After configuring a camera, i would get not video output whatsoever.
No images or events were being saved nowhere, and i kept getting the same errors on logs:

tail /tmp/zmwatch.log
08/04/2008 16:56:06.730254 zmwatch[10568].INF [Restarting capture daemon for New, shared memory not valid]
08/04/2008 16:56:07.058591 zmwatch[10568].INF ['zmc -m 3' starting at 08/08/04 16:56:07, pid = 10597]
08/04/2008 16:56:17.060594 zmwatch[10568].ERR [Can't get shared memory id '4b450003', 3: No such file or directory]
08/04/2008 16:56:17.061045 zmwatch[10568].INF [Restarting capture daemon for New, shared memory not valid]
08/04/2008 16:56:17.396844 zmwatch[10568].INF ['zmc -m 3' starting at 08/08/04 16:56:17, pid = 10610]
08/04/2008 16:56:27.398852 zmwatch[10568].ERR [Can't get shared memory id '4b450003', 3: No such file or directory]
08/04/2008 16:56:27.399334 zmwatch[10568].INF [Restarting capture daemon for New, shared memory not valid]
08/04/2008 16:56:27.731874 zmwatch[10568].INF ['zmc -m 3' starting at 08/08/04 16:56:27, pid = 10612]
08/04/2008 16:56:47.123690 zmwatch[10689].INF [Watchdog starting]
08/04/2008 16:56:47.124464 zmwatch[10689].INF [Watchdog pausing for 30 seconds]

Looking at the current allocated value of shared memory on my laptop:

cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmall
2097152

And the maximum i could get:

cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax
134217728

(Log in as root. sudo -i, otherwise you won’t be able to)

echo 134217728 >/proc/sys/kernel/shmall
echo 134217728 >/proc/sys/kernel/shmmax

This solved my shared memory problem. To make these value permanent, edit /etc/sysctl.conf :

kernel.shmall = 134217728
kernel.shmmax = 134217728

Done, done, and done.

On some of the workstations i happen to use, at times it’s neccessary to have Remote Desktop enabled.
Here’s a quick and dirty way to turn it on and off.

sudo gconftool-2 -s -t bool /desktop/gnome/remote_access/enabled true

To disable it set it to false.

In a similar way you can enable disable the confirmation request:

gconftool-2 -s -t bool /desktop/gnome/remote_access/prompt_enabled false

In a post, a few days ago, i described how i had to restore and reinstall my system.
Meaning daily, i’ve been finding some of the software i need and reinstalling it.

So here i found myself needing to make use of a Lamp server on my laptop.
There’s literally thousands of guides about how to achieve this. Fact is that, on Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron ), it can be reduced to a few easy steps, and all the trick is done.

Once more, for the sake of clarity, and to spare some time:

Install mysql
sudo apt-get install mysql-server-5.0

Install Apache2
sudo apt-get install apache2

Install php and the apache module for it
sudo apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5

Reboot apache (very important)
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

PhpMyAdmin, if you need it
sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin

That’s all folks!