Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix - first impressions

I've been following the Ubuntu distribution for a couple of years.  I first installed 7.04 as a dual-boot on my Windows Vista desktop workstation.  It was pretty cool, but I had some issues, such as getting my wireless adapter to work, which didn't matter much since I used a wired connection on that machine.  It was also my first look at Linux so there were just too many things that I wasn't used to, such as the file structure, installation of programs and command line syntax.  I eventually discovered that I mostly used that big, beefy desktop for things that Ubuntu either didn't do or didn't do very well, such as first person shooters and video editing.  Needless to say, most of my time was spent in the Vista partition, so I eventually reclaimed the hard drive space and said adios to the Fiesty Fawn.  Time passes....
 

After the release of 8.04 I decided to give "The U" another try.  I installed a 64 bit version into a VM, again on my Vista box.  The VM was nice because I've always hated dual-booting.  Again, the OS itself was pretty good (the last version of Linux I'd seen prior to 7.04 was Red Hat with Xwindows circa 1999...yuck!), but nothing I'd leave the familiarity with Windows for.

More recently I installed 8.10 on an old HP desktop to see how well it would run on legacy hardware.  I was also starting to get interested in replacing Windows XP on my Acer Aspire One, as it was getting to be a tad sluggish.  However, I encountered several show-stopping issues that I couldn't seem to work my way through, even with the help of the discussion boards.  Connecting to my Windows Home Server file share proved difficult, and working on an openoffice file directly from the server was not even possible.  I also had problems connecting to a printer shared off my XP desktop.  I eventually got tired of troubleshooting and put the experiment away to take care of other matters.

So, it was with caution that I approached the latest Ubuntu release, 9.04 (code name Jaunty Jackalope).  However, in moseying over to the Ubuntu download page I saw something I least expected - a Canonical release of 9.04 specifically for netbooks, called Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR)!  The screenshots looked interesting, and I saw my netbook model on the "green" list (not the exact term, but essentially it means everything works out of the box with a couple minor bugs), so I downloaded the file to give it a whirl.

The Netbook image is packaged so as to run from a USB flash drive as opposed to being burned to CD from an .iso image, as netbooks do not have CD ROM drives.  I made a bootable flash stick with the image using unetbootn and ran it for about 2 days.  I had problems getting my wireless LAN to work consistently, which made me very nervous.  After all, what good is a netbook without the "net"?  However, one last Windows XP freeze pushed me over the edge.

Installing UNR directly onto my hard drive made all the difference in the world.  I was ecstatic to find out that my wireless showed up immediately, which was a great first step.  Another great surprise was that I was able to "browse" directly to my Windows Server share AND work with OpenOffice files directly on the server.  Check, Check.  Next, it was time to set up the network shared printer.  I chose the HP deskjet since I've heard bad things about Lexmark and Linux.  Surprise!  I was able to browse to the printer on my Windows SMB network, and Ubuntu found and installed a native driver.  Lastly, I downloaded KeepassX, a password vault utility that is able to read the password database created by the application I used under Windows, Blackbox.  So, no retyping!  All the major objectives completed, the rest has just been customizations and tweaks.

So here I am, writing my first blog from Linux.  I've been running off of "the remix" for about 3 days now, and I'm loving open-source world.  My skepticism is slowly turning to belief in Ubuntu's ability to go mainstream.  Granted, I'm not going to give up my Windows desktops, but for what I need on a netbook I've not yet found a downside to version 9.04.  UNR boasts the simplicity of a UI designed specifically for netbooks and the flexibility of Linux.  I really think this is my entry point into learning the Linux world, and I'm looking forward to the journey!

Screenshots:

Desktop: App Categories on left, folders on right, apps in the middle.  Also note, minimized running apps in the upper left, and vitals in the upper right.

Firefox (with Chromifox theme):

File Browser:

Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Peer to peer file sharing: a bad rap

Perhaps you've heard - peer to peer file sharing is inherently evil. Or so it would seem based upon recent coverage in the international media. What is this mysterious technology and why is everybody so up-in-arms about it?

File sharing on the internet is not new. It burst onto the scene in the late 90's through websites such as napster.com where users would share music files with one another over the internet. Needless to say, the music industry was not pleased that their copyrighted content could be distributed to such a massive audience without so much as a penny's worth of income into their ledger, so they brought lawsuits against the file sharing sites and eventually won. Napster (now owned by Best Buy) still exists, but solely as a way to purchase and download music files, not for file sharing. Napster worked by keeping track of which computers on the internet had what files. When you wanted a music file, napster would search the directory for the file and instruct your computer where to find/download it.

Today's peer-to-peer networks function largely the same way. Torrent sites, however, include a twist. The peer-to-peer network is not one-to-one. In other words. you don't download a file from a single "peer" computer on the internet. When you request a torrent download, your computer is made aware (by the torrent server) of many computers that have the file, or even just a part of the file that you want to download. Your computer (using a torrent client), then downloads several pieces of the file from many different locations and re-assembles them as a single file.

There are several problems with peer-to-peer file sharing. Most obvious is that it is used to distribute illegal content, such as movies or software. The illegal distribution of copyrighted content is what draws the most attention to P2P. Big companies with big money and big lawyers see the revenue slipping away as old business models struggle to keep up with new delivery mechanisms. If P2P file sharing is ever squashed, this will be the reason.

Secondly, it is very easy to unleash a malicious file, such as a virus, into "the wild". The one-to-many model of torrents allows malware to spread quickly, increasing it's reach exponentially as more users share an infected file. Apple's OSX was recently hit with a botnet thanks to P2P file sharing. Security professionals will tell you never to open an attachment or run a file from somebody you don't know. P2P file sharing violates that principle by it's very nature, since you don't know where any of your downloaded files originated.

Third, P2P file sharing creates network traffic. This is kind of a "duh" statement since everything you do on the internet results in network traffic. However, recently telecommunications companies have pointed to the use of P2P traffic as a primary reason for tiered pricing models being introduced. They claim that a very small percentage of P2P users hog up a large chunk of the available bandwidth, leaving the rest of the customer base to foot the bill. Their solution: charge higher amounts for the privelage of higher monthly usage. I'm not buying this one, personally. I might be pursuaded if my ISP actually came to me and told me that they were lowering my monthly bill becuase I'm not in that small percentage using a majority of the bandwidth, but that's not how it will work. No, I'll still be paying my same monthly amount but my monthly usage (which used to be unlimited) will be capped at a certain amount which I will be penalized for exceeding. But, it's all for my benefit. *exit soapbox*

For all of the bad press, there actually are some legitimate uses for P2P file sharing. How many of us have lost - or were never provided - our Windows XP install CD? I was in that boat. I had an HP that I bought in 2002 that did not come with an OS disk of any kind. After 6 years of use, I desperately wanted to re-load my OS to clean everything up and start from scratch. I even contacted HP and offered to buy the media (the license was attached to my case...all I needed was the disk!). They informed me that they were only provided a limited number of disks and since I purchased my computer so long ago I was not eligible to recieve one. Microsoft would not provide one; they want you to buy their new OS, instead. All the "proper channels" exhausted, I turned to torrents. Lo and behold, my CD was out there. I now have a clean, snappy, legal XP load thanks to this avenue.

How can you get your hands on that lost XP CD? First, proceed with caution due to the malware mentioned above. Second - seriously, don't be tempted to grab the one that says "hacked" or "keygen". It's illegal, but most of all it's wrong. Third, you need a torrent client. Bittorrent and uTorrent seem to be a couple of the most popular. Here's a nice guide for installing and configuring Bittorrent. Pay special attention to the section on setting up your firewall to allow Bittorrent traffic through. Once you've got your torrent client installed, you'll need to visit a torrent website, such as The Pirate Bay, My Bittorrent, or Sumo Torrent. There are many others, as well. Once you click on a torrent file to download, your torrent client software should launch and start downloading the file from several peers. Next, be patient. P2P takes awhile.

While P2P tends to find itself associated with pirates and bandwidth hogs, there is great potential for legitimate use of this technology. Be cautious, but not dismissive.


Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.

Free Safe Web Browsing: OpenDNS

We live in a world overflowing with abundant information and content. Answers to questions we used to ponder for days are now only a mouse click away. If used correctly, the benefits of this type of open access are obvious. However, anybody with a family that includes young children knows the dangers of such readily available content. Everything from hate speech and pornography to online predators and malware can infiltrate your computer system without your family even leaving the house. Large enterprises spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on appliances to safeguard their networks from objectionable content. However, thanks to the great folks at OpenDNS, you can take advantage of one of the foundational technologies of the internet to prevent unwanted material from reaching your computer.

The internet depends on a protocol called TCP/IP to move information from one point to another. TCP/IP requires that every node connected to the internet has a numbered address. Of course, numbers are more difficult to remember than names....would you rather keep track of 65.55.21.250 or www.microsoft.com? DNS servers exist on the internet to translate the name you type into your browser (www.microsoft.com) to an IP address (65.55.21.250) that is connected to the internet. OpenDNS supplies a set of DNS servers that anybody can use to translate names into addresses, but with the additional feature of filtering out undesired sites and displaying instead a message warning that the destination contains unsuitable content. For example, if you choose to filter out sites that are known to contain adware, instead of displaying a site with the "adware" tag, OpenDNS will return a web page notifying you that the site you are trying to access has been blocked due to being a known adware site.

OpenDNS is free, thanks to a community of volunteers that is continuously tagging and categorizing websites. It's also easy to revert to your previous DNS servers, so there's no risk to try it out.

To enable OpenDNS content filtering for your network, follow these steps:

1. Create a free OpenDNS account here

2. In order for OpenDNS to know who you are so that it can filter your requests correctly, you need to set up a "network" from the OpenDNS dashboard. Click on the "network" tab. If you are setting up OpenDNS from the network you want filtered, OpenDNS will detect your IP address and ask if it should use that IP for your network. If you are not on the network you'd like filtered, you can manually enter the IP address. If this is the case, OpenDNS will send you a confirmation e-mail with a link that you must access from within the network you want to have filtered. This is to prevent you from being able to block all of your neighbors websites :)

3. From the OpenDNS dashboard, click the "settings" and choose your filtering level. For simplicity, you can choose a level (high, moderate, low, etc.) which filters out predetermined categories, or for greater control, you can choose the specific categories you'd like to filter. You can also specifically block or allow individual websites.

4. Tell your computers to use the OpenDNS DNS servers. If you only have one computer, you can configure it to use the OpenDNS servers right in the operating system. If you have multiple computers accessing the internet through a router, I would advise configuring your router to use the OpenDNS servers instead. If you configure your router to use OpenDNS, it will tell all client devices (computers, gaming consoles, mobile phones) on your home network to use OpenDNS, also.

That's all you need to get going. There are some additional niceties that you may discover by exploring the OpenDNS dashboard. Statistics, for example, allows you to monitor DNS requests from your network.

One more thing I'd recommend: the IP update tool. As I described above, OpenDNS uses your IP address to identify how to filter your content. The only problem with using the IP address as an identifier is that your IP address will change over time. That's simply the nature of broadband internet. So, in order to automatically update OpenDNS when your IP address changes you can install the software in the link above. If you prefer not to install software on your PC, You can also manually update your IP address within OpenDNS, but this requires that you remember to do so after each power outage, router re-boot or circuit drop. What happens if you don't update OpenDNS when your IP changes? OpenDNS will not recognize your new IP and will not be able to filter the categories that you've specified.

I've been using OpenDNS for about a year and have found it to be a simple, unobtrusive tool that helps put my mind at ease when the kids are browsing the net. Is it perfect? Of course not - the most tech savvy will likely find ways around the filtering, and there's always the possiblity that a site gets mis-tagged, but my experiences with this free service have all been good.

Highly recommended.


Got an idea for a topic? E-mail me at toptoad@techonadime.net.