Ubuntu Brainstorm is addictive

Trying to limit myself to 30 minutes per session at Ubuntu Brainstorm. Reading the silly ideas (and the few really good ones), and responding to many. So many are already implemented! Many people want to bloat up the distro, others to pare it down to the bone. Very geeky fun.

Update April 10, 2009: Today I became an idea reviewer for Brainstorm.

Update May 15, 2011: Today I became an Admin for Brainstorm!

Ubuntu Bug #158706 Verified

A couple months ago I submitted a bug. Today they confirmed it. (I made a good report)

When installing the package netatalk 2.0.3-6ubuntu1 on Ubuntu 7.10, the following errors occur:

hostname: Unknown host
invoke-rc.d: initscript netatalk, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: warning - old pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ...
hostname: Unknown host
invoke-rc.d: initscript netatalk, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/netatalk_2.0.3-6ubuntu1_i386.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
hostname: Unknown host
invoke-rc.d: initscript netatalk, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error while cleaning up:
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/netatalk_2.0.3-6ubuntu1_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:
dpkg: error processing netatalk (--configure):
 Package is in a very bad inconsistent state - you should
 reinstall it before attempting configuration.
Errors were encountered while processing:
 netatalk
Press return to continue.

How to fix it:

1. edit /etc/default/netatalk
   
   FROM: ATALK_NAME=`/bin/hostname --short`
   
   TO: ATALK_NAME=`/bin/hostname`
2. edit /etc/init.d/netatalk
   
   FROM: ATALK_NAME=`/bin/hostname --short`
   
   TO: ATALK_NAME=`/bin/hostname`

Updates:

• Submitted Feb 28, 2008
• Marked as a duplicate of Bug 109917 on October 10, 2010

Ubuntu Startup: services-admin prompts for password

Every time I login to my Ubuntu 7.10 laptop, I get the 'happy login' music and the screen begins to populate with my desktop.

Then it vanishes (before I can click on anything), and services-admin prompts me for my password. Whether I enter the password or simply cancel, the system thinks for a moment, then brings up the network and brings back the desktop.

The only difference I've noticed is that CUPS seems to be active only when I've entered my password, and isn't if I cancelled instead. If all it's starting is CUPS, then I don't care if services-admin starts or not; I can start it manually. I'm annoyed by services-admin prompting me.

Result: Nothing in bugs, nothing in forums. Left a post at www.ubuntu-forums.com to see if anyone can help.

Update April 2009: Upgrading to 8.04 eliminated the problem. The ubuntuforums thread was never answered.

Linux Startup: intel_rng: FWH not detected

Every time I boot Linux, one of the startup messages is intel_rng: FWH not detected. Today I fixed it!
The item shows up in /var/log/dmesg as Feb 27 06:28:03 my_computer kernel: [ 15.128000] intel_rng: FWH not detected

It turns out to have a simple explanation, and suggested solution is to 'turn off' the kernel module.
I used sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist to edit the blacklist file as root. I added the following at the bottom of the file:

# prevents minor boot error 'intel_rng: FWH not detected'
blacklist intel_rng

Reboot, and success! The error message is gone.

Created My Tech Blog

Success! Today I created and tested this page, plus the feedback webform.

Success stories are so rare....

Update: Began moving items over to Blogger on August 23, 2011. No need for the webform on Blogger, plus it has tags and rss that I have finally decided that I want.

Converting a .tiff to a .pdf in Ubuntu

For some reason, my CUPS under Ubuntu 7.10 refuses to print-to-pdf. I've tried everything I know (not much)...and probably broke a lot of stuff along the way.
But I found an easy way to do it from the command line.

1. Scan the item to a .tiff file in a known location (for example, save it to the Desktop)
2. Open a terminal:
   

   convert -density 300 -units PixelsPerInch Desktop/scanned_file.tiff converted_file.ps
   ps2pdf -s PAPERSIZE=letter converted_file.ps final_output_file.pdf
   rm scanned_file.tiff converted_file.ps