An Ubuntu & Firefox Kiosk for my Toddler
My daughter Anneliese is starting to learn to use a computer, and that means she needs things made simple and easy. Here are some steps I took to making a separate login for her under Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick. This guide assumes familiarity with general Ubuntu system administration tasks, as well as gconf-editor.
Koine (Biblical) Greek in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx
I’ve been using Ubuntu for several years with KMFL (Keyboard Mapping for Linux), a project to bring “Keyman-style” keyboard maps to Linux in order to type in Unicode. These are vastly superior to traditional keyboard maps because they allow you to type more naturally.
Fixing volume control on Inspiron 9400 / E1705 in Ubuntu Karmic
So there was one other problem aside from the nearly flawless install of Ubuntu Karmic I did a few days ago. Apparently the Dell Inspiron 9400 (also known as the E1705, if you bought it through the Dell Home store instead of Dell Small Business like I did) has the STAC9200 audio chipset, and ALSA [...]
Fixing Broken WiFi on Inspiron 9400 in Ubuntu Karmic
I just got done with a fresh install of Ubuntu Karmic on my big laptop – the 17″ Dell Inspiron 9400. Almost everything installed flawlessly – I continue to be amazed at how much faster and easier it is to install Ubuntu than other operating systems and even Linux distributions. The one problem was with [...]
Fixing segmentation fault in apt upgrade
I was having some problems getting aptitude to install new packages. It might have been caused by a crash on my netbook while installing packages, but in any case, nothing was working. The output looked like this, over and over again for about two dozen packages. ted@mini:/var/lib/dpkg/info$ sudo dpkg –configure –pending Setting up synaptic (0.62.5ubuntu3) [...]
Biblical Hebrew in Ubuntu Hardy Heron
Here’s the process for installing Biblical Hebrew input method support for Ubuntu Hardy Heron. IMPORTANT NOTE: This guide does not work as of Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. Please see my new guide for directions on getting KMFL to work with iBus. First, go install SCIM as described in my instructions on installing Koine Greek, steps [...]
Java printing broken in Ubuntu Gutsy
I use Asaph, a lead-sheet creation program for musicians, and I discovered that since upgrading to Gutsy, printing doesn’t work. Apparently this is a common problem, detailed in this bug on Launchpad. The (albeit ugly) workaround: in Software Sources, add deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ feisty main as a “Third Party Source.” Then downgrade to cupsys version 1.2.8-0ubuntu8.
Koine Greek in Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon
IMPORTANT NOTE: This guide does not work as of Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. Please see my new guide for directions on getting KMFL to work with iBus. Here’s the simple process for installing Koine Greek input method support for Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon: Make sure you have scim installed Add this repository to your apt sources: [...]
Crank up your Ubuntu
I just read this article on xsol.se and tried out a few of the changes on my Ubuntu Edgy system. The results were impressive! Just changing the boot process to run in parallel (idea #2) improved my time from power-on to a login screen from 40-ish seconds to about 15! I can probably do better [...]
NetworkManager problems in Ubuntu Dapper/Edgy
Both Jennifer and I have had a problem with our laptops for a long time where wireless does not always get reinitialized when our computers come back from standby. On Friday, we ran into this same problem with a work laptop. All three are Dells, but they are very different machines: a 3-year-old Inspiron 5150, [...]