I use Ubuntu like dancing bear; The magic in that is this: its not that the bear dances so beautifully, but that the bear dances at all.

So here's my Dancing Bear recipe for configuring Xampp to start up automatically for Ubuntu 9.10.

The first thing you need to know: There is something wrong with the directions the show for doing this in the Xampp FAQs. This isn't really anyone's fault. But the commands they offer for finding out crucial data aren't right. So don't freak out.

You really only need to know three basic things to set this up. Four if you count one of my excuses as a thing you need to know.

1. You need to know how to list and look at directories from the command line.
2. You need to know what runlevel the root user works at.
3. You need to know what a symbolic link is.
4. You need to not care about not having your machine log in automatically.

So lets get to it:

1. I'm not going to go over this. Even a dancing bear can type cd and ls to change directories and list them. That is, I think, the minimum required to call oneself a dancing bear.

2. The root user in Ubuntu works in Run Level 2.
How do I know this? Because if I change to Super User, by entering the terminal command "sudo su" I can type "runlevel" from the root-level command line. This tells me I'm running at "N 2." This is important, because it means that you have to put your symbolic links to the lammp launch script into /etc/rc2.d/

3.Go then. Make some symbolic links. But before you do, know this: You're making symbolic links to /opt/lampp/lampp in the /etc/rc2.d/ directory. You are going to give these symbolic links special names that will tell the system, when it's booting or shutting down, whether to call /opt/lampp/lampp in the context of starting xampp, or stopping xampp. If the symbolic links name starts with an S, that means, call it in the context of "start" when the symbolic link starts with a K, that means call the script int he context of "kill."
So what you need to do is create two symbolic links to /opt/lampp/lampp. I do this by changing to the /etc/rc2.d/ directory, and then using these commands:

• sudo ln -s /opt/lampp/lampp S99lampp
• sudo ln -s /opt/lampp/lampp k01lampp

What should happen then is that two little symbolic links will appear in the /etc/rc2.d/ directory. Those links are what tell the system to run the lampp start up script when the system is starting. You should also run "sudo update-rc.d lampp defaults" from the command line, but I don't know why or if it really matters. Remember, its not that the bear dances beautifully.

4. Finally, and here's something you'll just need to suck it up and get over: The way my system works, the machine does not enter Run Level 2 until you've logged into the system. That means, since my whole goal was to make the lampp server start without my intervention, I enabled the Ubuntu desktop system to automatically log me in. Problem solved. Unless you really don't care about security don't run your system that way, it's stupid. One day you will get burned.

Chrome for the Mac came out today. I'm not sure why I'd use Chrome on the Mac, since I already have an excellent Web-Kit based browser called WebKit. But, it did get me thinking I'd like to try running some Web-kit on my Ubuntu desktop machine

I'm running Hardy Heron. Since this is a machine I actually use for work, I try not to goof around on it too much. But, you know, sometimes curiosity gets the better of me.

And that's what happens when you enter: "Sudo Apt-Get Install Chromium" on Hardy Heron, kids. Oopsycakes.

Now, since I don't want to spend -any- time making Chromium work on Hardy, since, you know, I have two Windows machines and now two Macintoshes right here on my desk where Google Chrome "Just works," I'm not going to bother installing Chromium. But if you still want to: UbuntuGeek has a pretty good tutorial. So does Starry Hope.

I had a very unsatisfactory experience with Rhythmbox recently.
This is an example of why they say Open Source's biggest competitor is itself. I want to use my Ubuntu 8.04 machine as the main machine where the music in my office comes from, because my Ubuntu machine has power to spare and it's just kind of sitting there as a testing server for five people or so.
I see it as a great chance to get back into thinking and practicing FOSS-focused computing. Which is to say: I want to use Open Source tools when they're as functional as the closed/proprietary tools I have sitting on the other machines on my desktop, but not if it means I have to spend two weeks troubleshooting why something isn't working the way it was advertised-- or, in this case, why something isn't working now that was working 10 minutes ago.
I have very low tolerance for that kind of silliness. Which brings me to my point. I had a very unsatisfactory experience with Rhythmbox recently.

1. Rhythmbox could play the few MP3s that were in my library, but most of my files were not in the library.
2. I like whatever player I'm using to scrobble, so...
3. I enabled the Last.FM plugin in Rhythmbox.
4. Then, I added my main music directory to Rhythmbox.
5. Rhythmbox asked me if I wanted to find a codec to play the music I was adding. That's strange, I thought. It can already play Mp3s. What codec could it want? But I clicked the option to go ahead and enable MP3 playback. And the machine merrily rolled along and enabled some kind of codec, as there probably are some acc's or something in there causing some trouble.
6. Now I get a "Can't Open Stream" error when I try to play MP3s.
7. I can, however, play mp3s in VLC and the standalone Last.FM application works just fine.
8. The error message is neither helpful nor intuative.
9. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail.

I have neither the time nor the interest to troubleshoot what's wrong here. Mayhaps I'm the wrong type of user for Linux? Maybe. If the wrong type of user is the type that just wants to get some work done. But I also think that if Linux genuinely has the goal of addressing Bug #1, this kind of piddling failure has got to go away.

Welcome back.
That was a strange hiatus.
One of the new features here at Writelarge.com is going to be a concerted effort to get back to our roots, as it were. We're coming home to the Ubuntu (Users) Planet. We missed you.

This is a photo of my latest project at the Behavioral Health Hospital I work for. We are (in Healthcare terms) a small, not-for-profit organization. We need to make better use of open source software. I am going to lead by demonstrating.
With administration approval, I bought the organizations first Linux box. Mostly because I needed a rock solid LAMP server. And I wanted a desktop machine because-- Frankly, I don't grok command line as a primary interface. Folders need to be visualized, I think.

A lot of people come to Ubuntu (Users) Planet and tell and talk about their first Ubuntu experiences. I'm here to take you on our organization's. It’s not going to be pretty-- but lets accentuate the positive for a moment.

The Dell is sharp looking. The glossy case is sweet. It has an extra cd/dvd bay, but since I'm not using it, I like to open the panel and say "You can put your weed in there" and smirk.
But I digress. The Dell... It smells good. It starts up with nary a whisper. It comes with a shrink-wrapped Ubuntu 8.04 CD, and and the standard “how to unpack your PC and make it go” posters. Why do those instruction sheets need to be posters?

Anyway, since I didn’t have a lot of time when it first arrived, so I just unpacked it and set it up on my desk. My boss and some of my co-workers have come and poked at it, but none of them really understand what it’s for or why I needed _another_ computer at my desk.

I’ll show them. I’ll show all of them.

Are you getting 404 errors when you try to update Ubuntu 8.10 beta/release candidate? So am I.
Annoyed because most of the resources on the internet are dismissive, unhelpful, and kind of snide? Me too.

Now, in spite of my continued assertion that I am something of a linux expert, I actually am not very savvy when it comes to fixing parts of an OS that just don't work, but I'm not afraid to root around... especially when it's just a virtual machine I'm mucking with.

So, here's what fixed it for me. I picked "Main Server" instead of "Server for the United States" which was the default in the virtual machine I downloaded. This prompted a distribution upgrade for some reason, and after three hours and a reboot, update-manager was working for me again.

Try this for yourself. From your desktop, choose System --> Adminstration --> Software Sources to launch the Software Sources application. Pick something else from the "Download From:" option box. It'll look something like this, (especially if you're using the hotter-than-hot dark human look).

Anyway, It's Fixxored.
Linux is so easy.

(FWIW, I'd happily entertain discussion about what really was/is the problem on this here blog, if any one is in the mind to share.)d

Call me Crazy, but I miss Linux. I didn't really realize it till today.
Some months ago, My employer bought me a MacBook, and, I _love_ it. Don't get me wrong. About the same time, my at home Desktop (an emachines that had-- seriously-- outlived its life expectancy by about 2 years) died of a broken flux capacitor, or something. I have been without Linux since.

Today, I spent a few more hours in the basement with the latest copy of Geubuntu, swapping out RAM and Drives between the three junker machines I have down there, and between the three of them, there is not a single usable/functional computer.

A. I've fired up my ancient xBuntu/FluxBox hybrid laptop-- a Dell Inspiron 3500, just to get me some linux on. and, I realize, I miss it.

Apple's got lots of nice choices for the Open Software enthusiast-- I prefer NeoOffice to Word, for example, but there's just something about the full-on customization that you can make happen on a linux machihe.

So, the question is this, Ubuntu Planet: Where do _you_ suggest turning to purchase hardware in the sub-$300 range. I want to buy, not build, and I just need a box. I have monitors and input devices. Suggestions?

Here's a classic example of a misguided dialog box. It's too much information in a square box presented in a series of convoluted noun-phrases.

Granted, it's a "More details" dialog, so you have to cut it some slack for giving more details. However, instead of giving useful details, this dialog just spits out a bunch of stuff in a huge block of text that pretty much stupidly covers four probable scenarios without giving any meaningful insight.

I suggest, instead, the "details" option offer just that: more details. What this dialog offers isn't more details, it's more words.

I came across it using a Hardy Heron live cd checking on a what I believe is a hard-disk failure that took an otherwise serviceable WinXP laptop down. I wrote this post using the same liveCD. Nice work, Ubuntu guys. The Heron is a great little linux. Even on a borked Lappy.

1. In Windows Vista, I cannot print to my Ubuntu shared printer. No matter how hard I tried. Compare this with the fact that when I have a OSX in the house, it actually prints _better_ to the Ubuntu shared printer than Ubuntu does.

2. Using Windows Vista to move files between Ubuntu drives is slow and crash-prone. I'm not a computer-smart kind of guy, right? I know just enough to be dangerous. Why, using Windows to copy files, do files copy at about 1/4 the speed of the same files being transferred via SFTP?

3. Windows Skydrive, which could be Windows strongest selling point if they didn't screw it up so badly*, doesn't let you upload things in directories. What the good is it then? 

4. Ubuntu is not in the default Microsoft spellchecker. Boo!

*Think on this: How do Ubuntista's counter this argument? Q: Why do you use Windows? A: Well, because with Windows comes 5GB of Skydrive which is mine to do with what I want and I can keep my important documents synched up there in case of a system failure."

A quick follow up on my experience with andLinux

Because of the wacky way that my employer manages its network, andLinux cannot function on my work PC. Sadness. I'll keep plugging away at it, but there appears to be some complicated networking juju going on under the hood that is _far_ beyond my comprehension.

Ever the tinkerer, I plopped andLinux on my wife's Vista laptop this morning. 700MB , and a few WTFs later, KDE 3.5 applications are running seamlessly on Windows Vista. Apart from the massive gaggers that running a giant executable installer caused for Vista, the install was about the same as any other windows install.

But, because andLinux is an Ubuntu derivative, installing the Gnome Aps I miss the most when I'm in Windows was a simple apt-get install away.  Mmmm... Bluefish on Windows, finally.

I can't speak to the security (or lack there of), nor am I willing to give the project a full five stars until sound is running. I mean, the main reason for installing KDE on anything is to get at Amarok. If you can't understand why putting Amarok on as many of your computers as possible would be a life's mission, you're not running Amarok.
Installing andLinux also opens a massive security hole. The fact is, andLinux can read and write from anywhere on the windows partition, and the C:/ drive is set up as the default mount point.  Regardless of who's logged in. So yeah, andLinux can do things to Vista that even vista can't do. Wow!

Anyway, this is, far and away, the _easiest_ way to install linux functionality to your Windows PC. Try it out.