DennyHalim.com ; feed moved

always up-to-date pidgin and yahoo messenger connection problem solved

2009-06-27T13:28:00.000+07:00

yahoo, msn, aim, icq, etc... always changing their protocol and always causing connection problem for third party messenger apps like pidgin.

while linux distro always stick to one apps version at their release and do not upgrade to latest release.

then, recently yahoo change their protocol again.
all these causing all ubuntu users cant connect to yahoo messenger.
you can use getdeb and install the current version. but then you need to manually update pidgin everytime new version released. or everytime you encounter another connection problem.

the only good solution is to keep your pidgin always update to the latest release version. the instruction on pidgin site also not very up-to-date and will not install gpg key for the repo.

this will keep your pidgin always up-to-date:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys A1F196A8
echo deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu \     `lsb_release --short --codename` main | \
    sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pidgin-ppa.list
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude upgrade

that's it.
everytime you do 'sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude upgrade' you will get the latest release version.

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

12+ linux docking launch bar

2009-06-24T14:48:00.002+07:00

it seem like a docking launch bar that really catchy for everyone started by apple osx.
since then, everybody want it...

there're lots of launch bar for linux. not only 5 or even 10.
1. Avant Window Navigator

2. ksmoothdock

3. cairo dock

4. kooldock

5. kiba dock

6. engage

7. menu bar

8. xqde

9. tuxbar

10. simdock; it's fast & simple. doesnt require xgl

11. wbar; another fast & simple dock.

12? kxdocker; discontinued. replaced by xqde.

13? gnome-dock; another dead one.

14. fbpanel; not purely launchbar, but can be configured to look like osx

too bad, none that i know of have menu launcher and easy gui configuration.

which one you use?

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

hardware virtualization cpu check

2009-06-23T17:32:00.000+07:00

tools to check if your cpu support hardware virtualization:

or, in linux use this oneliner:

egrep ‘(vmx|svm)’ /proc/cpuinfo

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

automount samba - windows network neighborhood

2009-06-23T06:55:00.000+07:00

how to automatically mount windows/linux samba shares? that is the question...

currently, there're two apps that i know can do this. use only one of them. or if you use both, make sure you use it on different folders.

1. fusesmb quick start:

sudo aptitude install fusesmb
sudo mkdir /mnt/Neighborhood
sudo chown yourusername:fuse /mnt/Neighborhood
fusesmb /mnt/Neighborhood -o allow_other

2. smbnetfs quick start:

sudo aptitude install smbnetfs
sudo mkdir /mnt/Neighborhood
sudo chown yourusername:fuse /mnt/Neighborhood
smbnetfs /mnt/Neighborhood

that is it.
to make it the apps run at startup, you can put it either in your .bashrc or your session manager autostart.

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

what you use for twitter image signature

2009-06-18T13:59:00.002+07:00

many ways you can show your twitter as image signature on email or forums:

which one you use?

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

non javascript frame buster

2009-06-16T10:04:00.000+07:00

there're so many javascript you can use to break out of frame.
but javascript will not work if your visitor have javascript turned off.

just add this in your html head section:

< base target="_top" / >

and all clicks on your site will gets your visitor out of any frame.
works on all browser i know and works without javascript.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

opensuse lxde minimal desktop livecd

2009-06-13T18:54:00.000+07:00

now that tested and runs correctly, i dare myself to announce this public beta release of my opensuse minimal desktop livecd.

features:

openSUSE 11.1
LXDE with all its components
Firefox 3.0.10 + Flash Player 10

huge thanks to all testers for the feedback.

download here.

all comments, complaints and critics are welcome.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

cpanel addon domains - better way?

2009-05-12T05:52:00.000+07:00

usualy, cpanel automatically add addon domains to /public_html folder. say i want to add dennyhalim.com as addon domain, cpanel will put it into /home/username/public_html/dennyhalim.com

this way might give few problems.

first, if search engine find it, it will hurt your SEO. because you have duplicated content and your domain could be marked as spam. so, if you do this, dont let search engine knows it.

second, management problem. if you add few dozens domain, now you public_html folder will be messed up with dozens of folders not related to your main domain. very inconvenient.

maybe you can point out more problem you encounter with this?

for me...
i simply remove the public_html and put the addon domains directly at my home folder. so if i add dennyhalim.com i will put it at /home/username/dennyhalim.com

this solved all my problems.
what do you think...
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

install grub4dos, make usb bootable from windows

2009-02-14T18:10:00.003+07:00

actually this already posted a lot and easily found if you google.
yet, it seem not so obvious that everyone keep asking about this...

so, i try to give extreme short guide to make usb bootable by installing grub4dos from windows (NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista). i just assume those who use linux already knows about grub and grub4dos or at least they can google...

make sure you login as administrator and you only have ONE single usb flashdrive plugged in to avoid any possible mistake. make sure you have backup of any valuable data on another computer
download latest grub4dos here: http://download.gna.org/grub4dos/ and extract to your usb flashdrive
copy the extracted grldr and menu.lst to your usb flashdrive
download grubutil for windows then extract all and run grubinst_gui.exe
Select from the menu 'Disk' and click 'Disk Refresh' then choose your usb device.
Select 'Part List Refresh' and choose 'Whole Disk (MBR)'
Click 'Install'
Done.

grub4dos is now installed on your usb and your flashdrive is now bootable. close all apps and reboot to test your now bootable usb flashdisk.

in case any problem, here's troubleshooting:

make sure your pc and bios support booting from usb
some bios let you choose where to boot from by pressing F12
or enter your bios option and make usb-hdd as first boot option
make sure you setup the menu.lst accordingly to boot any os you want.

refs:

update: fixed, c:\ should be your usb flashdrive
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

postfix + postgrey + clamsmtp + sanesecurity = easy, clean & light email server

2009-02-11T18:08:00.005+07:00

what's wrong with spamassassin? everybody else are using spamassassin for their mail server spam protection.
nothing wrong with it. it just use up too much resources. that's all.

what if we can built lighter system on lower resources system (think vps) with as good spam protection as spamassassin can provide..?

here's my attempt...

first thing first. install all at once.

sudo aptitude install postfix postgrey clamsmtp wget curl rsync gzip

then, configure postfix to use postgrey and clamsmtp.

add this to /etc/postfix/main.cf

smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_sasl_authenticated,
           permit_mynetworks,
           reject_unauth_destination,
           check_policy_service inet:127.0.0.1:60000

content_filter = scan:[127.0.0.1]:10026

add this to /etc/postfix/master.cf

# ClamSMTP anti virus scan filter (used by content_filter)
 scan      unix  -       -       n       -       16      smtp
   -o smtp_send_xforward_command=yes
   -o smtp_enforce_tls=no
 # For injecting mail back into postfix from the filter
 127.0.0.1:10025 inet  n -       n       -       16      smtpd
   -o content_filter=
   -o receive_override_options=no_unknown_recipient_checks,no_header_body_checks
   -o smtpd_helo_restrictions=
   -o smtpd_client_restrictions=
   -o smtpd_sender_restrictions=
   -o smtpd_recipient_restrictions=permit_mynetworks,reject
   -o mynetworks_style=host
   -o smtpd_authorized_xforward_hosts=127.0.0.0/8

restart postfix

sudo /etc/init.d/postfix restart

now, get scam and phishing signature for clamav from sanesecurity, msrbl, securiteinfo, and malwarepatrol.

$ wget ftp://seibercom.net/pub/scamp.tar.gz
$ tar zxvf scamp.tar.gz
$ vi scam.sh
# uncomment this:
# SIG_DB="/var/lib/clamav"
# IF your clamav version < 0.94 then uncomment this too:
# NO_LDB=1
# that's it. save. exit.
$ sudo cp scamp.sh /etc/cron.daily/
# run it once, the first time:
sudo /etc/cron.daily/scamp.sh

done.
you now got a lighter email server with great spam and virus protection.
enjoy less spam!

refs: http://wiki.dennyhalim.com/postfix

-- tips & tricks on computers and gadgets denny on IT ; let's doIT documenting the brain

make sure syslog rotating your system log files

2009-02-09T16:14:00.010+07:00

just check a computer i got and see huge system log files at /var/log.
it was last rotated september last year. it's running everyday between 8am to 8pm.

so why suddently (after sept 2008) it's stop rotating the log files?

first, see when syslog run. syslog should be executed by cron.daily
so, when this cron.daily runs?

$ cat /etc/crontab
# /etc/crontab: system-wide crontab
# Unlike any other crontab you don't have to run the `crontab'
# command to install the new version when you edit this file
# and files in /etc/cron.d. These files also have username fields,
# that none of the other crontabs do.

SHELL=/bin/sh
PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

# m h dom mon dow user  command
17 *    * * *   root    cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.hourly
25 6    * * *   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.daily )
47 6    * * 7   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.weekly )
52 6    1 * *   root    test -x /usr/sbin/anacron || ( cd / && run-parts --report /etc/cron.monthly )
#

see... by default, all daily, weekly and montly cron runs at about 6 something in the morning. my pc has not wake at that time. that's why all the cron never executed. that's why my log grows so huge.

now, replace all 6 with 9 to make sure my pc is already awake and all cron can be executed.

how about yours? have you ever turn on your linux at 6am? if not, better go check your log files Now!

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

boot .iso image file on usb / hdd with grub4dos

2009-01-29T19:56:00.037+07:00

nowadays, there're too much livecd you can choose from. everyone have their own favorite livecd. mine, was puppy, now grml.

the easiest way to use livecd is to burn it and reboot your computer with it.
or, you can also run it on emulator like qemu, virtualbox, vmware, etc...
then, you can also do 'frugal install' by copying the .iso file content to usb/hdd and boot it from there. this works best with linux livecd.

now... this is another way to boot your .iso livecd. especially works best with non-linux livecd. use grub4dos to boot directly from the .iso file without burn any cd. works with bartpe .iso too.

here's the steps:

install grub4dos to usb/hdd
copy the .iso image file to usb/hdd
add to menu.lst as follow:

# replace title, folder and filename with your own
title windowspe livecd
map (hd0,0)/windowspe/bartpe.iso (hd33)
map --hook
chainloader (hd33)

that's it. reboot your usb/hdd and you can now boot your livecd from it.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

localepurge to Automagically remove unnecessary locale data

2009-01-23T17:39:00.000+07:00

this very easy and simple trick can save you few hundreds megs of spaces.

if you like me, still make use of old legacy computers hardware, like the old 4gigs harddrives with debian or ubuntu minimal desktop, few hundreds megs spaces is very precious.

each and every apps/packages that you installed on your system do have lots of unused locales that is not the language you understand or use daily. these locales data is installed by default and can takes up to few hundreds megs of spaces, depends on what/which apps/packages you installed.

so why would we let these useless data in our system? we do not need them. let's just purge them:

sudo aptitude install localepurge

that's it. one single line to install localepurge. nothing you need to do. just let it be and it will 'Automagically remove unnecessary locale data' whenever you install new apps/packages without your intervention.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

antivirus for grml / debian / ubuntu linux / LiveCD

2009-01-19T20:24:00.012+07:00

yeah i never use antivirus for my linux desktop.

but i always carry grml in my usb flash to clean up friends/family's dusty, infected windows. i used to use puppy linux with antivirus for this. but i'm tired keep downloading and reinstalling stuffs. with grml, all i need is aptitude upgrade to get the latest updated version.

there are many good antivirus for linux. the ones i choose are f-prot and avast. the main reason i choose these are for their size. others antivirus usually at least twice as large.

for f-prot, i also use xfprot for the gui.

xfprot + fprot installation:

#get .deb packages from http://web.tiscali.it/sharp/xfprot/
sudo gdebi xfprot_2.0-1_lenny_hardy_i386.deb
wget http://files.f-prot.com/files/unix-trial/fp-Linux-i686-ws.tar.gz
sudo tar zxvf fp-Linux-i686-ws.tar.gz -C /opt
cd /opt/f-prot
sudo ./install-f-prot.pl
#accept all defaults and installed
#done.

avast installation even easier:

wget  http://files.avast.com/files/linux/avast4workstation_1.3.0-2_i386.deb
sudo gdebi  avast4workstation_1.3.0-2_i386.deb
#done.

that's all i need and enough for me.
in case it's not enough for you, there are many other options:

clamav + gui

sudo aptitude install clamtk

avg

# download latest from http://free.avg.com/download?prd=afl
wget http://www.avg.com/filedir/inst/avg75fld-r51-a1243.i386.deb
sudo gdebi avg75fld-r51-a1243.i386.deb

bitdefender

avira see http://www.free-av.com/en/download/download_servers.php

panda antivirus, see http://www.pandasoftware.com/download/linux/descarga.asp

i put them on grml usb installation.
but... if you want instant solution, you can download, burn and use antivirus livecd from these vendors:

Kaspersky Anti Virus Rescue Disk
bitdefender.com antivirus rescue livecd
f-secure antivirus live rescue cd
avira antivirus rescue cd
Dr.Web LiveCD
purchase AVG rescue cd ... yeah right...
more antivirus rescue livecd

oot. windows based:

so... it's all up to you.
download and burn another cd everytime you need them?
or install it to usb flash drive and update them when needed....

which path you take...???

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

install latest cherokee webserver without compiling

2008-12-30T16:15:00.001+07:00

one thing i hate when i need the latest version apps and it's not in official repo is compiling.
actually, it's ok doing compilation on your desktop pc. you can have all the build-essential installed and have all your cpu, ram and perhaps time to compile everything and all will run just fine.

but...
if you're on a budget vps with very limited ram and cpu, you need every single bit of them to serve what your vps was supposed to serve. though installing build-essential wont waste any ram/cpu when it's not compiling, but every security expert will tell you not to install these on production server.

off course...
we can install it, do the compilation and then remove it.

or...
compile on your desktop. (possibly packages them as .deb) then upload to your vps.

yet...
i'm lazy.

so...
here's how i do it on my debian lenny...

i get all the fastest free web server packages from debian sid. which is the latest released version of cherokee webserver. and that's including libpcre3 and all needed dependencies (libcherokee-*) that's not in lenny yet.

then, install each and every .deb dependencies packages that i download from pool.

and, finally...
to make thing easier, i do:

sudo gdebi cherokee_0.11.6-1_amd64.deb

so that all other dependencies can be easily satisfied from lenny.

that's it.
i got cherokee installed. no compiling required.

btw. did you know that cherokee got a pretty neat ajax gui for simple server management?

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

install ubuntu apps on debian

2008-11-12T09:31:00.002+07:00

there are some apps available on ubuntu repo but not in debian repo.
but ubuntu is based on debian. so i think.... i can just download the packages from ubuntu and install it on debian.
here's how i do it...

first, install gdebi for easier .deb packages installation:

sudo aptitude install gdebi

then, search the packages you want. example, i want to install pyneighborhood, so i open this link:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/pyneighborhood

make sure your debian have correct dependencies. example, pyneighborhood from intrepid depends on smbclient >= 3.0.22. let's check smbclient on debian:

http://packages.debian.org/lenny/smbclient

so, it's 3.2.4 which is >= 3.0.22. that's mean we have all required dependencies.
now, let's download the packages from the nearest mirror:

http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/all/pyneighborhood/download

or you can also swim in to the pool:

http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/p/pyneighborhood/

after it's download, just open a terminal to install it:

sudo gdebi pyneighborhood_0.4-0ubuntu5_all.deb

this will also download all its dependencies if it's not yet installed.

that's it. the ubuntu package is now installed in debian.

now, i like to know what ubuntu apps that you missed the most and not yet available on debian? post your voice!
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

linux automatic login, startx and shutdown

2008-10-23T07:43:00.004+07:00

making linux easier for noob and kids by automatic login into linux, then startx and then shutdown the computer when they quit.

first, setup mingetty for automatic login on debian minimal desktop:

# sudo aptitude install mingetty
# sudo nano -w /etc/inittab 
# then comment this line and add the next line:
# 1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty --autologin replacewithyourusername tty1

or, on ubuntu minimal desktop:

# sudo aptitude install mingetty
# sudo nano -w /etc/event.d/tty1
# look at the last line
# comment this line and add the next line:
# exec /sbin/getty 38400 tty1 
exec /sbin/mingetty --autologin replacewithyourusername tty1

then allow everyone to shutdown:

sudo chmod +s /sbin/halt

then, automatic startx and shutdown after exiting x:

# nano -w .bashrc
# put these lines at the most bottom
if [ $(tty) == "/dev/tty1" ]; then
  startx
  /sbin/halt
fi

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

replacing kdm/gdm/slim with qingy

2008-10-22T20:08:00.002+07:00

qingy is not getty. and surely it is not x display manager. but it's a getty replacement. just like getty, it ask you for login and let you access your linux according to your login. beyond login, qingy can give you X session in addition to text/console session. you can even start multiple X session at once.
so, it's (almost) a perfect replacement for any x display manager like kdm/gdm/slim/xdm/wdm. especially usefull for ubuntu / debian minimal desktop installation. save you a lot of system resources on legacy computers.

first, remove any display manager you have:

sudo aptitude purge kdm gdm slim xdm wdm

easily install it on debian/ubuntu:

sudo aptitude install qingy

now, to make qingy works on ubuntu minimal desktop, edit file as follow:

# sudo nano -w /etc/event.d/tty1
# look at the last line
# comment this line and add the next line:
#exec /sbin/getty 38400 tty1
exec /usr/sbin/qingy tty1

or, on debian minimal desktop:

# sudo nano -w /etc/inittab 
# then comment this line and add the next line:
# 1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1
1:2345:respawn:/usr/sbin/qingy tty1

that's it. now you can reboot and get into qingy instead of x display manager.
how do you like it?
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

Google Chrome on Ubuntu Hardy

2008-09-10T20:34:00.003+07:00

thanks for stumpleupon on this.
ref: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=13635

first, get latest wine:

# use wine repo by inserting this into /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt hardy main
# then do
# sudo aptitude update
# sudo aptitude install wine
# or, if you got wine already installed:
# sudo aptitude safe-upgrade

then, do some winetricks to prepare for chrome:

rm winetricks
wget http://www.kegel.com/wine/winetricks
sh winetricks msxml3 corefonts firefox flash winxp

now, install it:

wget http://gpdl.google.com/chrome/install/149.30/chrome_installer.exe
wine chrome_installer.exe

installed. now run it:

wine "$HOME/.wine/drive_c/windows/profiles/$USER/Local Settings/Application Data/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe" --no-sandbox --new-http

see more ubuntu server/desktop installation guide

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

boot & install debian / ubuntu from ntfs

2008-08-28T20:14:00.003+07:00

so, when other distros fail me, i always return to debian. it's a little bit harder to setup, but it (almost) always works on any hardware i have.

first i download this debian installer mini.iso
i dont burn it. coz, i cant use the cd drive anymore.
extract 2 files from the iso into (say) c:\debinst: linux and initrd.gz
edit c:\menu.lst and add this:

title install debian
kernel /debinst/linux acpi=off
initrd /debinst/initrd.gz

reboot
on boot, choose grub. then choose install debian
that's it. i install debian (again!)

btw. you can use this way to install ubuntu using Ubuntu Minimal CD

update:

first, you need to install grub on ntfs.
instead of getting the mini.iso, we can directly get the linux and initrd.gz images from debian installer or ubuntu installer
also check additional debian installer boot parameters
see also: debian minimal desktop installation guide

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

apt-get freevo on Ubuntu Hardy with packages from Intrepid

2008-08-23T22:55:00.001+07:00

this is how i install freevo on ubuntu hardy using apt-get to get packages from ubuntu intrepid.
First, from Freevo Apt Ubuntu Doc

# Add Medibuntu
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo aptitude install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

# Mandatory dependencies
sudo aptitude install libglib2.0-dev libimlib2 libimlib2-dev libdvdread-dev python-xml python-pygame python-twisted python-dev python-beautifulsoup xmltv lsdvd aumix mplayer libdvdcss2

# Optional packages
sudo aptitude install w32codecs python-pylirc lirc tvtime xine-ui

now, install Python XML

# install dependencies
sudo apt-get install python2.5-dev

# download and unzip pyxml
wget http://superb-west.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/pyxml/PyXML-0.8.4.tar.gz
tar -xzf ./PyXML-0.8.4.tar.gz
cd PyXML-0.8.4

# build and install pyxml
python setup.py build
sudo python setup.py install

# remove temporary files, be careful where you point that loaded rm -rf!
cd ..
rm -rf ./PyXML-0.8.4

then, some apt pinning

# sudo vi  /etc/apt/preferences
# then paste these into it:
Package: *
Pin: release a=hardy
Pin-Priority: 900

Package: *
Pin: release a=intrepid
Pin-Priority: 90

now, get the intrepid repo:

# sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list.d/intrepid.list
# then paste these into it:
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu intrepid main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu intrepid main restricted universe multiverse

finally, do the install:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -t intrepid install freevo

that's all it. i got freevo up and running on my hardy

btw. similar setup can be used to make it work on debian stable.

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

ways to configure Linux X display driver

2008-08-20T08:43:00.005+07:00

continuing my popular howto easily configure x display, here are other ways to configure X display driver in Linux.

first, we should backup the original xorg.conf, just in case...

cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf xorg.conf.backup1

and when we need to restore:

sudo cp xorg.conf.backup1 /etc/X11/xorg.conf

you might also want to backup xorg.conf from each step result and then choose the one that satisfy you most.

so here's many ways how to configure your X display driver:

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf # just remove the xorg.conf. usualy, X will try to configure itself.
if you have gdm installed, kill it with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace until it gives safe mode. or intentionally breaks xorg.conf with wrong entries.
sudo X -configure && sudo cp xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
sudo displayconfig-gtk
try paste xorg.conf from failsafe / default xorg.conf
Fix Video Resolution Howto on ubuntu

as always, most stuffs should also works with debian and derivatives.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

Atheros 5007 wifi (AR2425 chips) Linux Driver Installs

2008-08-14T17:12:00.002+07:00

i got a laptop with built-in Atheros 5007 wireless LAN (AR2425 chips). and the driver came with ubuntu is not working at all. i also tried ndiswrapper that works but causing a lot of crash. so, after google a lot i found many (somewhat outdated) solutions to make this wireless works but not working anymore...

until i found a ticket at madwifi, then follow this guide. but it's so very long conversation to digest...

so, here i try to summarize it in case i need to repeat the whole steps:

wget http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
tar zxvf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current/scripts 
sudo ./madwifi-unload
sudo ./find-madwifi-modules.sh $(uname -r)
cd ..
make
sudo make install

that's all it. now i can use the wifi from ubuntu 8.04 hardy.
(it should also works on all other linux distros).

update: reports said it also works on ubuntu 8.10 intrepid.
--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain

remove old ubuntu kernel

2008-06-28T16:30:00.005+07:00

after few times you do aptitude full-upgrade, you will end up with many kernel images. many people new to linux dont even know it's there. but it's there. and it can be many of them. wasting quite some spaces, especially if you're on old small 4gig harddrive, it matters a lot.

well... there're many ways you can remove old kernel on ubuntu. and here's my way..

first... find out which kernel installed:

aptitude search linux- | grep ^i

that will also show installed old linux-header (source). you might want to remove them too.
now let's remove them:

sudo aptitude purge linux linux-headers-2.6.24-16-server linux-image-2.6.24-16-server linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24-16
sudo aptitude purge linux linux-headers-2.6.24-17-server linux-image-2.6.24-17-server linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24-17

that's all it.
that should reclaim at least few hundreds megs space.

guess what... it also works on debian and all distros based on these two.

update. shorter, easier...

sudo apt-get purge '.*-2.6.24-16-*' 
sudo apt-get purge '.*-2.6.24-17-*'

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
Your Network & Internet Solutions

let's roll the blogs

2008-06-14T08:32:00.002+07:00

Blogger Buzz: Show off your favorite blogs with a Blog List

blogspot now have a new gadget that allow us to put our blog list to our sidebar. you might already have blogrolls using some other services. maybe the google reader's or others.
but all that mostly using javascript! you get what i mean? js means only browsers can see it and search engine bots cant see your blogroll.

and you can guess it already. this new blog roll is 100% SEO and it can even raise your other blogs pagerank.

let's see it in action...

update: wonder why ajaxsearch do not include bloglist in the search result?

--
tips & tricks on computers and gadgets
denny on IT ; let's doIT
documenting the brain