Category Archives: Ubuntu tips

How to install “old” add-ons on Firefox 5. The easy way!

Firefox add-ons I usually update my Firefox as soon as possible but often, especially after installing the new version 5 on a Ubuntu 11.04 platform, I had to lose many add-ons that I previously selected and used daily. To avoid this problem I found some tips on the web and I tested all of them with different results.

Solution 1
– download the .xpi file from its official Firefox add-on webpage using the right mouse button (Save Link As) on

– unzip the .xpi file with Archive Manager and open install.rdf using a Text Editor;

– find this line: em:maxVersion and change the value from e.g. 4.0.* to 5.0.*;

– click on icon in the Firefox Add-ons Manager, select “Install Add-on From File…” and follow the visual instructions.

Unfortunately this solution didn’t work always during my tests

Solution 2
– open a new Tab on Firefox and type: about:config;

– agree to the warning message;

– search all the lines with the string extensions.checkCompatibility and set the values to false

– restart Firefox and enable or install your “old” add-ons.

Solution 3 – The easy one!
– open a new Tab on Firefox and click on Tools –> Add-ons;

– search for the Add-on Compatibility Reporter and install it;

– restart Firefox and you will be able to install all the old add-ons.

Sometimes you will discover that installing “old” add-ons doesn’t mean that they really run on Firefox 5 but, in my experience, more than the 70% of them will be good for the new version. Have fun!!

Technorati Tags: Firefox, install, Firefox 5, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 11.04, tutorial

How to Boot Ubuntu from USB

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When it comes to the most recent generation of computers, there is an option to start an operating system right from a USB stick, without an actual installation process. This may be an option to use or test a different operating system without affecting in any way the one that is already installed.

Starting from version 8.10, Ubuntu can be installed on a USB stick in a more easy way by every single user, regardless of their knowledge in Linux. To perform the installation, the user must have a version of 8.10 or later on CD and a USB stick with a capacity of at least 700 MB free space available, but this can vary according to the version of Ubuntu that you want to use for this process.

To install Ubuntu on the USB stick, you can simply boot the Live CD mode of Ubuntu or alternatively, if already installed on your on your system, you can follow the following simple procedure to do this, which is described in some basic steps below.

First of all, you need to access the Ubuntu menu bar, via System> Administration, choose Create a USB startup disk.

At this point, you will be asked to specify the source disk image of Ubuntu. If you have the Ubuntu CD in optical drive, it should appear in the list and will be selected. Otherwise, click Other and specify the location of the image. The .iso format will do it, but other versions may work as well.

When completed, you can use the stick on any computer that can boot from such units. Just tell the computer’s BIOS to use this option and restart the respective machine. The same procedure can be applied for the any distribution of Linux, so this is a helpful tutorial for everyone.

Changing the default text editor on Ubuntu

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There is a few software that will use the editor command to find out what text editor to use. Example commands will be dch to add a new .deb changelog entry, revision control softwares when prompting for commit a message …
There is basically 2 ways for changing the default editor:

1. System Wide
Run Terminal and type:
$ sudo update-alternatives –config editor
And then choose whichever editor you want to be default.

2. User Level
As a user, you cannot change the setting for the whole system, but you can add an alias for editor to let say vim.
Open and edit ~/.bashrc and add:
alias editor=vim
Next time you will open a bash prompt, your default editor will be vim.

Auto Mount Drives at System Startup on Ubuntu

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Ubuntu is capable of reading and writing files stored on Windows formatted partitions, but partitions must be ‘mounted’ before they can be accessed each time you start up the system. With these steps, you can auto mount the drives or partitions without the need to manually mount them for access.
Install Storage Device Manager if it has not been added.
– go to Applications (or Main Menu) > Ubuntu Software Center.
– enter pysdm in the Search Box.
– select Storage Device Manager, click the “Install” button.
– go to System > Administration > Storage Device Manager.
– extend the list of sda and select the sda you want to auto mount, click ‘OK’ to configure.
– click the “Assistant” button.
– uncheck “Mount file system in read only mode” and keep “The file system is mounted at boot time” checked.
– click the “Mount”, “Apply” then “Close” button, and restart the system.
In case you wish to remove the auto-mount of a certain drive or partition, you can similarly use Storage Device Manager to do the setting.

Note: If you need to identify disk partitions by label, paste ls /dev/disk/by-label -g in Terminal, or to view partition sizes and file systems, enter sudo fdisk -l. Disk Utility mentioned in “Name or Label a Partition” also gives you a glance of device numbers, partition types, sizes and labels.

Enable Windows 7 Aero Snap in Ubuntu

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In Windows 7, you can click and drag a window to the left or right edge of the desktop and it will fill half of the screen, or snap a window to the top edge of the desktop and it will be maximized.

In Ubuntu, you can click and drag a window to the left, right or top edge of the desktop to achieve the same result.

In addition to CompizConfig Settings Manager, install WmCtrl if not added:
– go to Applications (or Main Menu) > Accessories > Terminal.
– enter sudo apt-get install wmctrl
– enter password when prompted.
– go To System > Preferences > CompizConfig Settings Manager.
– select “General” from the left panel and click “Commands”.
In Command line 0, 1 and 2, paste the following codes:

Command line 0, paste:

WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && HALF=$(($WIDTH/2)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,0,$HALF,-1

Command line 1, paste:

WIDTH=`xdpyinfo | grep ‘dimensions:’ | cut -f 2 -d ‘:’ | cut -f 1 -d ‘x’` && HALF=$(($WIDTH/2)) && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,$HALF,0,$HALF,-1

Command line 2, paste:

wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b add,maximized_vert,maximized_horz

In the same window, click “Edge Bindings” tab.
Change Run Command 0, 1 and 2 from “None” to “Left”, “Right” and “Top” respectively.
Click “Back” button and select “General Options”, change “Edge Trigger Delay” to about 500.

Name or Label a Partition using Ubuntu

Ubuntu to Windows XP folder sharing

Logwatch on Ubuntu Desktop/Server

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Logwatch is an Ubuntu modular log analyzer that runs every night and mails you the results. It can also be run from command line. The output is by service and you can limit the output to one particular service. The subscripts which are responsible for the output, mostly convert the raw log lines in structured format.
Logwatch generally ignores the time component in the output, that means, you will know that the reported event was logged in the requested range of time, but you will have to go to the raw log files to get the exact details.
Install logwatch using the following command:

sudo apt-get install logwatch

This will install all the required packages

Configuring Logwatch:

first you need to make sure you server is able to send the mails outside you can do this using postfix with SMTP server configuration.

Now you need to edit logwatch.conf file:

sudo nano /usr/share/logwatch/default.conf/logwatch.conf

Change the following information:

Output = mail
Format = html
MailTo = test@gmail.com

Save and exit the file

If you want to know more available options check logcheck manpage using the following command from your terminal:

man logcheck

Now edit the 00logwatch file

sudo nano /etc/cron.daily/00logwatch

add the following line:

/usr/sbin/logwatch –mailto test@gmail.com

Save and exit the file

This tool is very useful, give it a try!

Maximize internet speed connection in Ubuntu via sysctl

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Do you want to maximize your bandwidth? Here are few important settings you should do to speed up your internet and it works in Ubuntu and all Linux operating system via sysctl.
First open a Terminal via Applications->Accessories->Terminal
Type:

sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf

Then Paste the Following at the end of the file:

# increase TCP max buffer size setable using setsockopt()
net.core.rmem_max = 16777216
net.core.wmem_max = 16777216
# increase Linux autotuning TCP buffer limits
# min, default, and max number of bytes to use
# set max to at least 4MB, or higher if you use very high BDP paths
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 87380 16777216
net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 65536 16777216
# don’t cache ssthresh from previous connection
net.ipv4.tcp_no_metrics_save = 1
net.ipv4.tcp_moderate_rcvbuf = 1
# recommended to increase this for 1000 BT or higher
net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 2500
# for 10 GigE, use this, uncomment below
# net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 30000
# Turn off timestamps if you’re on a gigabit or very busy network
# Having it off is one less thing the IP stack needs to work on
#net.ipv4.tcp_timestamps = 0
# disable tcp selective acknowledgements.
net.ipv4.tcp_sack = 0
#enable window scaling
net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling = 1

Press Ctrl-S to save, then alt-F4 to exit and then type:

sudo sysctl -p

to apply the settings.

Now, check your speed using speed-test site or download files in the net.

You can disable all these settings by removing these lines you added via:

sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf

Rediscover Prism by Mozilla (Ubuntu, MAC and Windows tips)

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In 2007, when Prism was launched, there were some enthusiastic reviews about this application. Then the widget era began and Prism popularity decreased. Anyway, Prism is still a powerful application for all that people who desire to run their more often used web application saving RAM and CPU resources. Prism, based on XULRunner, is multi platform, easy to use and very flexible. To use it on Ubuntu you can launch the Terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install prism

or using the Synaptics Package Manager (System —> Administration —> Synaptics Package Manager). Then go to Applications —> Internet —> Prism and a small windows appears. Now, fill in all the required information: the web application URL, the name you prefer, settings and do not forget to click on the Desktop shortcut option. At this point you will find a new rough icon on your Desktop with the name you chose. The first time you use it, with the right mouse button click on it and go to Properties —> Permissions and Allow executing file as program. If you want to change the icon you have to click on it (with the right mouse button), go to Properties —> Basic and choose your favorite icon clicking the icon on the upper left corner. If all are steps are annoying for you, it is possible to use Prism as add-on for Firefox. In this case, on Firefox, go to Tools —> Add-ons —> Get Add-ons and type Prism on the search bar. You will install Prism as a simple add-on for Firefox. Now, you can automatically generate a Prism application just clicking on Tools —> Convert Website to Application when you are in the web application page.

On Windows or MAC we suggest to download the standalone package directly from the official web page or install Prism as Firefox add-on following the same steps we described for Ubuntu. If you use the Prism standalone package you have to decompress it in your favorite location. For Windows users: when you set up a new Prism application, try the tray menu option but do not forget to click on the Desktop shortcut or you will not be able to find again the application after you close it.

In my experience, Prism is really useful with all the Google web applications, with Zoho services and Pandora. Try and enjoy it!