Category: Linux

Ubuntu One closes down

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

With Ubuntu came a new feature … Ubuntu One. I chanced on it at pretty much the same time as Dropbox, and ended up opting to use Dropbox instead. However, there was Ubuntu One instantly integrated with all of my Ubuntu installations … there was some merit in this system.

Did I purchase it, no. I did not pay for this service since for the same price (free), there were far many other services providing more space (Dropbox can give you upto 20GB, so can Copy). Suffice to say that I am aware about Ubuntu One, but never really depended on it for my file sharing/saving needs.

Today, I saw this mail in my inbox –

Hi,

We are writing to you to notify you that we will be shutting down the
Ubuntu One file services, effective 1 June 2014. This email gives
information about the closure and what you should expect during the
shutdown process.

As of today, it will no longer be possible to purchase storage or music
from the Ubuntu One store. The Ubuntu One file services apps in the Ubuntu,
Google, and Apple stores will be updated appropriately.

As always, your content belongs to you.  You can simply download your files
onto your PC or an external hard drive.  While the service will stop as of
1 June, you will have an additional two months (until 31 July 2014) to
collect all of your content. After that date, all remaining content will
be deleted.

If you have an active annual subscription, the unused portion of your fees
will be refunded. The refund amount will be calculated from today’s
announcement.

We know you have come to rely on Ubuntu One, and we apologise for the
inconvenience this closure may cause.  We’ve always been inspired by the
support, feedback and enthusiasm of our users and want to thank you for
the support you’ve shown for Ubuntu One. We hope that you’ll continue to
support us as together we bring a revolutionary experience to new devices.

The Ubuntu One team

Lesson to be learn here –

Even if you are closing down, do so with grace and always inform your customers about when you are closing shop.

I will not say I am sad to see this, that would be lying … in fact this is the nature of things, either you consolidate into a bigger service or you go down.

Ubuntu completes 9 Years

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

OMG Ubuntu released this beautiful infographic, which talks about the history of Ubuntu … I have literally grown (yes, even my waist) as a person when working with Ubuntu. Here’s a look back at the history of Ubuntu.

I have been using Ubuntu since 2004, when I only used to flirt with Linux. What tickled me back then was the Ubuntu was afrikaans for freedom.

2006 was the first time when I stopped using Windows altogether and worked for 2 straight years on Dapper Drake. Those were the days, when I was single, was in Hyderabad and spent consecutive new years eves drinking a single malt and installing a new version of Ubuntu.

As I look back and see how working on Ubuntu has impacted me, and my preferred style of working, I only appreciate that this distro has made such a huge impact on personal computing, that its being used by non-techies to do day to day work. It is because of such distros the Linux has been touted as the future of gaming.

Ubuntu completes 9 Years

Outstanding Ocelot

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

I have completely switched to Ubuntu at my home. The operating system is so much superior in a number of ways. So when the upgrade from 11.04 (Narwhale) to 11.10 (Ocelot) came, I quickly upgraded. It took some 2 hours to download all the files and upgrade the system, but it was so worth it.

  • The Unity bar has improved a lot, with all the installed applications available at the press of a few keystrokes.
  • The additional keys on the keyboard such as WinKey, Properties, etc are also auto-detected and integrated into the system
  • Volume control comes with the built in music library – Banshee
  • Add the Ubuntu Restricted apps, Wine and the system becomes a better Windows!
  • The top bar now behaves in ways similar to that such as a Mac
Here’s to an outstanding upgrade.

Microsoft Livechat on Ubuntu

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

If you are just starting out on Ubuntu, then the forums are a good place to search for your doubts. You are not the first person stuck with some problem or glitch. Millions of people out there have faced them, and overcome them. The forums are the intrepid user’s best friend.

I have completely shifted bases to Ubuntu for my home system, one of the teething problems I had was using a Microsoft Livechat headset with Ubuntu. The headset is USB based, and Ubuntu does require some tweaking to start using the headset.

This is what you need to do –

  1. Open a terminal, and type

    sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

  2. At the bottom of the file, make an entry

    blacklist snd_hda_intel

That’s it! Now simply restart your machine so all the modules get reloaded, the headset will now work.

About the blacklist.conf file

The blacklist.conf file is used to indicate to the system of which modules to ignore. Sometimes, multiple modules are addressing the same device, and that ensures that the device will not work. So, the blacklist file is used to indicate which module to be ignored.

WoW on Wine

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

No, I don’t drink and raid :)

I recently have taken a lot to playing World of Warcraft during my free time (I think this also reflects pretty well on the blog :-)). I also have bought a good powerhouse of a desktop, and had dual booted it with WinXP and Win7. The problem with Win7 is that I have the 64-bit trial distribution and it hangs a lot, it has driver issues. The problem with WinXP is that its WinXP :-)

I am not that much of an operating system nazi, but the machine slows, down, the wireless network card that I am using is not fully utilized (WinXP sucks when it comes to driving the wireless interface!!). All in all, when it comes to playing an Online RPG, the environment does not deliver it’s 100%. Thus, I tried to give Ubuntu a try.

  • I already had the 11.04 distro with me, so the first thing I did was update all the repositories, include the third party repositories, and install Wine. Wine stands for WINdows Emulator. You can read more about Wine here.
  • After Wine, I went for installing Winetricks, which is a third party software. It’s used to easily streamline commands via a wizard which otherwise I would have been forced to use the console.
  • Somehow the Wine commands that get integrated into the shell (the right click menu of your explorer) are a bit different from the wine that got installed. So at first the program refused to run giving some obscure access management errors.
  • So, refusing to be let down, I went and searched for third party alternatives. You can skip this step, and definitely do not install the Crossover Games application because its just a trial, however, the PlayOnLinux (POL) application is recommended here, since after installing that, at least the icons of the .exe files will be visible
  • However, when I ran the Launcher.exe of World of Warcraft via the custom command console (by right clicking on it and selecting Open with Other Application, and then simply typing wine in the command box)
  • That’s it. Now the World of Warcraft launcher will run, and the game runs seamlessly

Since the game does not use the latest DirectX drivers, instead it replaces them with its own set, the textures and the games will be slightly different. I noticed a different texture for the water in WoW for example. But otherwise, the game is perfect for running. The network card works better, so I get a faster ping rate.