Recovering deleted files from USB disks on Ubuntu February 25, 2012
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, GNU/Linux, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, linux problem, Linux Tips, News, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, tools, tutorial, Ubuntu, Ubuntu tips.Tags: deleted files, fatal mistake, PhotoRec, Rcovering, recover, Synaptic Package Manager, Ubuntu, usb, USB flash drive, usb keys
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Everyday we use USB keys to transfer data without transmitting them through the t. The USB keys and portable disks are small, light and their data capacity allow us to move in privacy huge files. This idyll sometimes is broken by a fatal mistake: we unintentionally delete an important file. Normally, if we are smart we recover the erased file in the Trash but in other situations when we realize the mistake we had made is too late.
In this circumstances is very import to stop to use our USB key or portable disk till we are able to use a good software for data recovering. On Ubuntu you have a wise number of dedicated software that can do this job for you, the most powerful run on Terminal as testdisk, foremost, and scalpel but you can also use a “minimal GUI” software as PhotoRec.
PhotoRec is very intuitive to use and it is able to recover many data formats from jpeg to db. After you install it using Synaptic Package Manager or the Software Center you can launch it in Terminal with:
sudo photorec
Immediately a GUI Terminal interface appears and you have just to follow the instruct ions you visualize on your monitor.
Using the arrows and the Enter keys you have to:
1 – Choose the USB device from where you want to recover the data
2 – Select the partition table (usually Intel)
3 – Specify the partition table
4 – Select the right filesystem where the data were stored
5 – Decide if you want to try the data recovering from all the free space
6 – select the directory where you want to store the recovered data. IMPORTANT: do not store the recovered data on the same USB key you are scanning for recovering
7 – Wait till PhotoRec finishes the recover operations.
PhotoRec is fast and, during our tests, we were able to recover almost the 100% of data. Not bad!!! 
galigio.org: 2011 in review January 23, 2012
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, GNU/Linux, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, Ubuntu, Ubuntu tips, windows.Tags: 2011, review, statistics, website statistics
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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 150,000 times in 2011. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.
Video – [HowTo] Upgrade Firefox to the latest version on Ubuntu by bitspired.com January 19, 2012
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, Firefox, GNU/Linux, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, tutorial, Ubuntu.Tags: Firefox, Linux, Mozilla, tutorial, Ubuntu, update, upgrade
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How to update Firefox to the 9.01 version on Ubuntu January 18, 2012
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, Firefox, GNU/Linux, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, tutorial, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 10.04.Tags: Browsers, Firefox, Linux, Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Ubuntu, update, upgrade
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If you use Ubuntu 10.04 or any other Linux distribution which doesn’t automatically upgrade your Firefox to the latest version you can force it.
First of all you have to launch Terminal and add the right PPA to the repository:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa
Then you need to update and upgrade the OS using:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get upgrade
If you are installing Firefox for the first time the right commands are:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install firefox firefox-gnome-support firefox-locale-en
As usual on Linux, it is not necessary to reboot the computer and you can start immediately to use your updated Firefox.
Searching a Gmail notifier for Ubuntu 10.04… an unpredictable Odyssey! November 30, 2011
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, Firefox, Firefox add-ons, Firefox Extensions, Gnome, Gnome applets, Gnome tips, GNU/Linux, Google, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Linux Tips, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 10.04, Ubuntu tips.Tags: add-on, cGmail, Firefox, Gmail, Gmail Notify, Gmail Watcher, Gnome, KCheckGmail, kde, Linux, screenlets, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Software Center
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Finding a versatile Gmail notifier for my laptop seemed to be not so difficult and, after a first quick search, I selected a bunch of software I believed interesting. But when I tested them I was not satisfied by they behaviour especially because they didn’t have many of the features I wanted.
First of all I started installing the Gmail software I found in the Screenlets repositories on my Ubuntu but it was not able to update itself. Probably the firewall denied to the screenlet to communicate externally. I didn’t want to spend much time (sic) on the research of a Gmail notifier so I decided do uninstall it.
My second option was Popper and reading the program description I believed tha t was really the right one but.. after the configuration I was not impressed by the final flexibility and interaction this software offers. Just to know, for a quick configuration you need Popper configurator that is in the
The next step was represented by KCheckGmail that is for KDE and runs properly also on Gnome but, in this case, the program is not updated with the last Gmail configuration parameters and so it is nice but useless..
Then I tried with Gmail Notify. The configuration is quick and easy but it offers poor results. I mean that you have just the subject of new emails and no possibility to visualize them with a simple mouse click if you haven’t previously done the login of your Gmail account using the browser.
Finally I installed cGmail through the Ubuntu Software Center and I found what I was looking for: a simple program which let me know about new emails and let me open them with a click. The graphic interface is basic but after a couple of hours wasted on searching an effective solution I was satisfied!
Last but not least, if you don’t want to install a Gmail notifier directly on your Ubuntu, consider to install the add-on Gmail Watcher on Firefox.
Please, if you have better solution and you want to share them with us, don’t hesitate to comment this post. Thank you!
Another way to share files between Ubuntu and Windows November 21, 2011
Posted by galigio in boot, boot up, Computers & Internet, GNU/Linux, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, News, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, Ubuntu, Ubuntu tips, windows.Tags: File sharing, News, Operating system, Samba, Technology, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Software Center, windows, Workgroup (computer networking)
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This tutorial will show you another way to share and to access the network share folders between Windows and Ubuntu machines. When file sharing is enabled, both systems can access files and folders on any of the PCs. Users with accounts on Ubuntu systems will also be able to access the content directly from your home.
1. To begin, you will need to log on to your Windows operating system. Click ‘Start’ -> search for ‘Network and Sharing Center’ and click on it.
2. Access the ‘Change advanced settings sharing. ” option.
3. Enable file sharing and backup as well.
4. At this point, you need to switch your operating system to Ubuntu. Once you log in, click on ‘Ubuntu menu -> System Tools “
5. Then select ‘Ubuntu Software Center. “
6. Find and install ‘Samba‘. This software is required for a better compatibility between the two operating systems.
7. After Samba is installed, you should go to ‘System → Administration –> Samba’.
8. Then click ‘Preferences -> Server Settings’.
9. Write the name of the workgroup you set for your Windows PC(s). If you do not know the exact name because you did not set it, the default name for Windows Workgroups is set to ‘WORKGROUP‘ (capitalizing is not required, however, since Windows is generally not case-sensitive).
Reinstalling and Fixing Grub 2 by NixiePixel November 17, 2011
Posted by galigio in boot, boot manager, boot problem, boot up, Computers & Internet, GNU/Linux, GRUB, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Linux Tips, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, Ubuntu, Ubuntu tips.Tags: GNU GRUB, GRUB, GRUB configuration, kernel, Linux, Linux distribution, synaptic, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Software Center
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Recovering the GRUB 2 Boot Loader by cgermany77 November 15, 2011
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, GNU/Linux, GRUB, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, linux boot, Linux Tips, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, Ubuntu, Ubuntu tips.Tags: GNU GRUB, GRUB, GRUB configuration, kernel, Linux, Linux distribution, synaptic, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Software Center
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How to manage the GRUB and purge old Kernel versions on the start-up menu November 14, 2011
Posted by galigio in boot, boot manager, boot problem, boot up, Computers & Internet, GNU/Linux, GRUB, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 10.04, Ubuntu command line, Ubuntu tips.Tags: GNU GRUB, GRUB, GRUB configuration, kernel, Linux, Linux distribution, synaptic, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Software Center
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After a kernel update, you find the start-up menu populated with extra lines related to all the old kernel versions plus the current one. To manage the start-up manager and safely remove old kernels you have to manually operate on it.
First of all you have to double-check what is the current kernel version.
Open a Terminal and type:
uname -r
The result will be something similar to: 2.6.32-35-generic
Then you will go to the boot directory through the command:
cd /boot ls vmlinuz*
The next step will be to obtain more information about old kernel you have on our PC:
ls vmlinuz*
Now in the Terminal you have results similar to these:
vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic vmlinuz-2.6.32-25-generic vmlinuz-2.6.32-35-generic
vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic vmlinuz-2.6.32-26-generic
As last step you have to remove all the old version of the kernel using this command:
sudo apt-get remove linux-image-X.X.XX-XX-generic
where “x” is the obsolete kernel version you want to purge. In my specific case the proper command line I used was:
sudo apt-get remove linux-image-2.6.32-21-generic linux-image-2.6.32-24-generic linux-image-2.6.32-25-generic linux-image-2.6.32-26-generic
Last but not least go to System –> Administration –> StartUp Manager (available for installation on Synaptics or on Ubuntu Software Center) and select your OS choice in the Default Operating System menu. That’s all!
How to correctly configure and use the Windows Network on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS November 7, 2011
Posted by galigio in Computers & Internet, GNU/Linux, Linux, Linux & OpenSource, linux boot, linux problem, Linux Tips, News, Tech, Technology, Technology and Software, Technology News, Tecnologia, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 10.04, Ubuntu tips, wlan.Tags: Failed to retrieve share list from server, Firewalls, fix, how to, lan, repair, security, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 10.04, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, unable to mount location, windows network
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At the beginning it appeared as a no-solved mystery because in all the many posts I read, there were no effective solutions. On my Ubuntu 10.04 LTS I was no able to use the external hard disk I had connected to the LAN and every time I tried to mount it I only received this message: Unable to mount location – Failed to retrieve share list from server
In few words it was not possible to use the Windows Network and all the people with the same problem (which is specific for the Ubuntu 10.04) suggested to reconfigure Samba but all the configuration and scripts I tried were no effective to let me use the external hard disk.
At the end I found someone who talked about a possible firewall misconfiguration and I tried in many ways to bypass the situation using ufw commands and opening ports and services over the LAN:
$ sudo ufw status
[sudo] password for *****:
Status: active
To Action From
– —— —-
135,139,445/tcp ALLOW Anywhere (log)
137,138/udp ALLOW Anywhere (log)
Samba ALLOW Anywhere
192.168.0.3 Samba ALLOW 10.0.0.0/8
10.0.0.0/8 ALLOW 192.168.0.3 Samba
Unfortunately, every new permission I granted to Samba on my Firewall was not a real solution but when I tried to stop the Firewall (System –> Administration –> Firewall Configuration) using the default firewall manager, Ubuntu was able to find and work on the external hard disk.
For this reason I made some tests and found this solution:
1 – enter your router settings and find the list of the attached device
2 – find the name and the MAC address of the LAN device you want to connect to your PC
3 – find the menu for the Lan Setup and add an Address Reservation for the above device. Now you are sure that the router will always assign the same address to the device
4 – back to Ubuntu, install and launch Firestarter (for some incomprehensible reasons the default firewall manager is not able to create rules for Samba services and ports)
5 – on Firestarter, go to Preferences —> Policy Editor and click on “Apply policy changes immediately”
6 – try to connect again to Windows Network, obviously (sic) it will not work but then go to Firestarter —> Events and you will notice that the last line is the “missing” external disk which has an “unknown” service
7 – right-click the mouse on this line and “Allow connections from source”. Now the external hard disk is visible from Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and it is possible to work on it!
8 – to be sure that your LAN device will be rightly connected to Ubuntu 10.04 every time you boot up it: go to System –> Preferences –> Startup Applications
9 – add a new Firestarter rule typing the following command: sudo firestarter
That’s all! I hope you can find this post useful!
