Big Trev

Using this guide here:  http://wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?title=Ubuntu_8.04_LTS_Server_(Hardy_Heron)_Install_Guide

Installed 8.04LTS, with DNS and OpenSSH installed during the installer.

I installed it with the default domain of my internal domain (xx.local), rather than the internet-facing ones.

Got it working, and now need to import the PST files (only a couple).  You can get to the import utility from the Downloads link (top right) in the admin console.

Pretty happy with it so far!

Migrating off Microsoft DNS, I’ve had a look at BIND and similar, but given my sketchy knowledge of that crazy networking stuff, it all looks a bit hard.

So, I’ve found dnsmasq, which is a bit of a cut-down simple DHCP and DNS solution - I’m not running an enterprise here!

Some useful resources I’ve found are:

http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netos/article.php/3377351

http://www.kindawannadothat.com/2009/04/easy-dns-and-dhcp-setup-on-linux/

I’m running up a basic 8.04LTS VM, with Webmin.

Step by step:

apt-get install dnsmasq

Then, edit /etc/dnsmasq.conf and add the following to the top of the file (don’t worry about the rest of it, it’s all commented out):

expand-hosts
domain=mylan.local
dhcp-range=192.168.0.50,192.168.0.100,168h   
dhcp-option=3,192.168.0.1

Line 2 is your domain suffix
Line 3 is the start and end DHCP IP addresses, and the lease time
Line 4 sets your gateway address

Then, edit /etc/resolv.conf and add your ISPs name server(s)

nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.222.221

and then for any boxes on your lan with static IPs, change their resolv.conf to point to your dnsmasq server, and add their hostnames to /etc/hosts on your dnsmasq server:

127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.0.5 mail
192.168.0.10 printserver
192.168.0.15 workstation1

After setting it all up, or making any changes, use:

/etc/init.d/dnsmasq start

/etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart

I’ve added the repo’s for webmin in the past, but this time I’m following the instructions on the website.

http://www.webmin.com/deb.html

Firstly, get onto the console (I use SSH).

cd /home/trevor

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.470_all.deb (or whatever the current download is)

dpkg –install webmin_1.470_all.deb (again, whatever the one is you downloaded).

The webmin website mentions that it may whinge about dependencies, but mine didn’t.

dpkg –install webmin_1.470_all.deb

Found this little gem:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ubuntu-63/saving-list-of-installed-programs-357683/

This is to output a listing of the installed packages on an Ubuntu install, if you want to set up another machine with the same apps.

Use dpkg –get-selections > selections.txt to get the list of packages then once newly installed dpkg –set-selections < selections.txt to set the selections back in the database now use dselect update to get both apts and the dpkg/dselect databases in sync to install use apt-get dselect-upgrade.

Haven’t tried it (yet), but putting it up here for when I need it!

Found this good little guide for converting FLACS, including what software to use in Ubuntu: http://maketecheasier.com/convert-flac-to-mp3-easily-with-soundconverter/2008/10/22

It’s an app called Soundconverter, to install run:

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse soundconverter

I haven’t run it up myself, but a mate did, and apparently it even converts all of the ID tags as well, which is pretty cool. 

Trying again.  This looks a bit more like it, a small apt-get to stick the essentials on.  From here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1155961

Looks a bit like this:

#!/bin/bash######################################################################## Ubuntu-Desktop-Minimal: Post-install script to install only the bare#			  essentials of an Ubuntu Desktop.#######################################################################echo "[*] Installing Gnome Essentials"sudo apt-get -y install gnome-core gdm network-manager-gnome fast-user-switch-applet \human-theme x11-xserver-utils tangerine-icon-theme gnome-themes-ubuntu ubuntu-artwork \jockey-gtk gnome-screensaver gnome-utilsecho "[*] Installing Application Essentials"sudo apt-get install -y gcalctool tsclient

 I’ll give this a go and see what I end up with!

(Update) - Looks pretty good so far.  This is a pretty minimal task I need this box for, so I’ll add stuff to it as I need it.

From what I can see, people have been asking for a "minimal" install of Ubuntu desktop, without all the standard stuff that gets installed (Open Office etc), but with the GUI (I likes my GUI!). 

This guy has got a script that you run after install of the server version: http://tomfichtner.de/linux/wiki/Installation

 I’m about to give it a whirl, and we’ll see how we go!

(Update) - upon reading the readme in the script (yes, I do RTFM sometimes!), it looks like it changes a bunch of other stuff as well.  I don’t think I’m going to bother with it.

Never really got VMWare Server 2 running on my 9.04 Jaunty main box as I would have liked.

However, I found this guy’s site:  http://readyroom.wordpress.com/2009/05/05/vmware-server-201-on-ubuntu-9-04-jaunty-jackalope/

This is apparently a scripted install with very basic instructions, which means I don’t have to think.  Have I mentioned that I like not having to think?  (maybe it’s a hangover from years of Windows…)

It’s running now, looks pretty good.  I’ll see how it goes once it’s up and running.

OK, Flash content (like Youtube) still runs like crap on my machine.

I’ve opened Package Manager, and searched for Flash and removed everything that looks like flash.  Then I’ll reboot and see what happens when I try to open Flash content; I’ve probably changed it to some non-stand thing along the way and forgotten what I’ve done!

(Update) - I’m trying an install of the latest from Adobe (for 8.04+ it says - hope it works on 9.04?)

Found this blog post which goes through a bunch of things to do a bit of cleaning up of Ubuntu.  I’m running through them now…  We’ll see how it goes (it seems a little bit better after running the script from my previous post anyway, but maybe that’s the placebo effect at work…)