Category: Linux

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Trying to reduce the hard disk noise – no luck yet

This is a current problem for Dapper, Breezy and Hoary whatever desktop you are using (KDE, GNOME or XFCE).

On some hardware – like my Dell Latitude D600 – you get constant disk access and noise. This does not allow your disk to spin down to save energy (especially annoying when running on battery). This problem is reported in this forum: Frequent HDD activity

So far I have manage to activate the laptop mode, but it does not seem to solve the problem for me. Anyway, if you want to activate laptop mode this is not straight forward, and this is why I am writing today.

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Administrator privilege phylosophy (sudo vs. root)

If you are a Windows 9x or Me user, I guess you are wondering what this article is all about. If you moved to Windows XP, you start guessing what it might be. But I guess when you had the opportunity during the Windows user creation to select “Limited Account” or “Administrative Account”, you have selected the latest. Not only the name “Limited Account” sounds pejorative, but you will not able to use a lot of your application then because of insufficient privilege (it is getting better, and if you have the luck to have the latest version of all your software, it might work), so you are using your Windows with administrative privilege.

This is not only a bad idea because if during your normal desktop use, you or one of your program fiddles with an important file, you might get your system to an unstable state. It can become tremendously bad when you get infected, as your whole system is then compromised (no need to find a privilege escalation security breach somewhere)

The Linux/UNIX users are surely all laughing at this. Because, they all know that you should have a root account for any administrative tasks, and a user account (see it is not a limited account in this philosophy) for all desktop use. However, there are two doctrines: the root or sudo doctrines.

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Sharing files and folders with the Windows world

Today, I wanted to retrieve an ISO image from my Windows desktop and burn it on my Linux laptop. I thought this would be pretty much straight forward. But computers like to make you sweat and work hard for simple tasks… :-( I wish I had a Mac!

Anyway, Windows was bugging me and not properly sharing my folder (not all the files and folders in a share were visible from the networks!). So I decided to share a directory under my Linux laptop. Then, from Windows, I was going to copy the file to Linux.

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Moved to Ubuntu Dapper Flight 5

I was stupidly playing with hdparm features, and after experimenting a few non recommended parameters, I nearly destroyed my / partition (the system one). So my Kubuntu was unusable on my laptop.

Seeing the few problems (bugs) I have encountered using Kubuntu, I decided to switch to Ubuntu and install the KDE desktop (not yet done, I am still under Gnome). I will have more or less the same as Kubuntu. However, the administration tools will be the one from Ubuntu, which, in my opinion, are a bit better and especially more stable.

Speaking of stability, I decided to move right away to Ubuntu Dapper Flight 5, so still a release which is under development. So, I do not expect it to be pretty stable. But I am planning to play around a bit with my laptop, so this release was suiting my idea then.

Nevertheless, as Kubuntu and Ubuntu are pretty similar, I will keep to the category Kubuntu for both distributions.

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Kubuntu network configuration annoyances

If you have a screen like 1024×768 or smaller, if your network interface, whereas properly configured, does not get enable (when you select enable interface, it goes to enable and go back to disable shortly after), then you might be interested by this article.

In addition, this article will explain how to update your Kubuntu/Ubuntu installation, even though it is not possible to have the network up and running when using the Network Settings window.
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