I ran into a problem using the insync service which synchronizes your files in Ubuntu and your Google Drive account. For some reason the Gnome Shell extension, which shows the insync’s status, was not showing up. When I looked at the Gnome Tweak Tool it showed an error had occured. It turns out that the [...]

Previously the only way to run Netflix on Linux was to install a Windows VM on VirtualBox. Now it is running seamlessly (although not natively) on Ubuntu 12.04 and 12.10 using Firefox and Microsoft Silverlight under WINE. A special ppa has been setup to make the entire process easy. Simply run the following commands: $ [...]

It can be tricky to change the target of a symlink in a production environment where that symlink is accessed often and unpredictably. The normal method is to remove the old symlink, then create the new one. If you have a symlink that is accessed often or unpredictably there is a chance that something will [...]

If you are setting up a new server or configuring a new account it can be a pain to setup ssh public key authentication so you don’t have to use passwords. The most difficult part is transferring your private key to the remote machines. Fortuneatly there is an easy way to accomplish this task. The [...]

In SketchUp 7 and 8 there is a problem that when run on Linux with WINE with the refresh of the screen. Whatever you are working with on the screen it will always one mouse event behind. For example if you are deleting an object, you will need to scroll the view in or out [...]

While trying to run SketchUp under WINE in Ubuntu I was greated with the following error message before it crashed. OpenGL: ChoosePixelFormat failed Sketchup was unable to initialize OpenGL! Please make sure you have installed the correct drivers for your graphics card. I am currently running Ubuntu 12.10, WINE version 1.4.1, and using Intel HD [...]

I installed Virtualbox on a new 12.10 Ubuntu from the repository when I ran across a problem $ sudo apt-get install virtualbox At the end of the installation I was greeted with the following error: Kernel driver not installed (rc=-1908) The VirtualBox Linux kernel driver (vboxdrv) is either not loaded or there is a permission [...]

Debugging programs is not fun or easy but knowing how to create and analyze a core file dump from a dying program makes your life a bit easier. First off check the system core dump size limit. $ ulimit -c 0 Set the maximum size of core files created to unlimited. This must be done [...]

If you are like me one of the only reasons to keep a windows partition is to be able to play the occasional PC game. Well starting today Valve has opened registration for their Steam for Linux beta, which will hopefully bring the end to our dependence on Microsoft gaming. Valve is primarily looking for [...]

It’s that time again when Canonical drops their second stable release of the year. The new 12.10 release named Quantal Quetzal, whatever that is, is now flooding the torrents and available on their website. This 12.10 release has many changes: New GRUB 2 boot loader Graphics makeover for Ubuntu Greeter Remote login/remote desktop access added to Greeter log-in [...]