=RmS=

How to upgrade Ubuntu Gutsy 7.10 to Hardy 8.04

2008-04-29T17:24:00.003+07:00

OK, now that the latest Ubuntu Linux has been released, a lot of people want to try and test the system, myself included. Of course, the first option is to download the live CD and test it myself, which I did. After knowing that all the devices in my computer are supported well (at least, most of the devices that I am using), then I want to upgrade my existing Gutsy installation to Hardy. However, there is a catch: I can’t do fresh install on top of my existing Linux partition, simply because I have done too many configurations and tweakings, which will be tedious to repeat them all over again. Therefore, I did some googling and found out the only TWO (2) ways to upgrade from Gutsy to Hardy as follows:

First Option: Use Update Manager (recommended)

In essence, you can do an upgrade by typing some simple commands and a few click of a button. This is how:

Step 1: Ensure the installation of Gutsy is up to date. Run Update Manager tool and check for any available updates.

- Press Alt-F2, and type “update-manager” then click “OK”

- Click “Check” for any new updates

- Click “Apply” for all available updates

Step 2: Run Update Manager again like in Step 1, but this time use the following command: “update-manager -d”

Step 3: Update Manager tool will show that Distribution 8.04 (Hardy) has been released. Then you can click “Upgrade” to start upgrading your Ubuntu to Hardy.

The rest is pretty simple to follow.

Caveat: The above steps requires high speed internet access, since it requires a heavy download of around 500Mb to finally complete the upgrade.

Second Option: Use Hardy Alternate Setup CD

The steps are as follows:

Step 1: Download the Alternate Setup CD instead of the Desktop or Server CD and install either a new or an upgraded version of Ubuntu from here or use the torrent version.

After this, you can do either one of these two things: Mount the .iso file, or burn to a CD. If you plan to install in more than one system or if you have a CD-RW, then burning the image to a CD should be the preferred way. However, if you are going to install it only in the current system (or just ran out of any blank CD), then mounting the iso directly should be your preferred choice. I’ll describe it separately below (choose 2a or 2b, not both!):

Step 2a: Burn the image to a CD, and put the CD in your to be upgraded system. A pop-up window stating that a distribution volume has been inserted. Click “Run Upgrade” to start the upgrading process.

Step 2b: Mount the .iso file & run the upgrade with the following commands:

sudo mount -o loop ~/Desktop/ubuntu-8.04-alternate-i386.iso /media/cdrom

sudo /media/cdrom/cdromupgrade

* Note: only mounting to/media/cdrom works. Mounting to other directory name may fail.

Step 3: Another pop-up window will show stating whether you want to include the update from the internet to this upgrade. Logically, if you are connected to the internet and don’t mind downloading some updates (small quantity at first, but it will grow in due time), then you should use the First Option rather than using this option.

The rest of it is self explanatory.

BTW, you may also check this official link from Ubuntu on how to upgrade from previous versions of Ubuntu.

=rms=

PS: If someone knows how to upgrade using the Desktop Live CD, please let me know. Thanks.

Update:

There is one bug that is very annoying when upgrading Ubuntu from Gutsy (or other version) to Hardy, and that relates to the user being unable to 'sudo' anymore. The only way around it is to change the '/etc/hosts' file prior to the upgrade by adding a line like this one:

127.0.0.1 computerhostname

If you have a domain name trailing the system host name, then it is better to copy that line, and delete the domain. A very annoying bug indeed, which might deter a lot of people from switching to Ubuntu. :-(

Also, if you have tweaked a lot of configurations such as php.conf, apache.conf, menu.lst, etc, then the installation portion of the upgrade will require some interactions. Therefore, if you leave the upgrade to run at night, you may find out in the morning that the upgrade is still waiting for your input.

What I like about Linux

2008-02-13T17:32:00.002+07:00

During the last couple of years, more people have started to hear about Linux in one way or another. This is in a most indirect way helped by the incumbent of desktop OS king Microsoft with its Windows Vista release. Though very neat and full of eye-candy, Vista requires a very hefty hardware requirement to properly use all the features, such as a minimum of 1 GB RAM and top of the line graphics card. Many of the existing computers are not equipped with that sort of specification. In addition, most of the drivers working in the previous Windows XP don’t necessarily work in Vista. therefore, many people with non-Vista-ready computers are sticking with XP. Needless to say, even the Vista-ready computers are not necessarily able to run all features in Vista. To top it all, Microsoft planned to scrap sales of Windows XP as soon as June 2008.

Given the above situation, people are starting to look for alternatives, and this is where Linux come to the picture. Created in 1991 by Linus Torvalds, it has grown to just a toy for the technically adept engineers to a user-friendly desktop replacement. I have begun playing with Linux system in 1999 with Suse 6.1, and I am following the progress Linux system has made until now where I have installed Ubuntu 7.10 on my laptop and Fedora 8 on my old PC at home.

Here are some of the things I like about Linux (or should I say GNU/Linux):

There are many distributions to choose from. I think this is a strength rather than a weakness, since more variety provides many usefulness to many people with different tastes and needs.
Good community support. This is why I choose Ubuntu and Fedora over other distributors, due to their support availability in their respective forums.
Thousands of applications. Yes, many Linux applications are included in the distributions, and installation is easy with yum or apt commands via the internet.
Compatibility with old computers. Requirement for Linux is as old as Pentium II, or even lower. Even if you want to show the best eye-candy programs such as compiz and avant windows navigator, a 3-year-old IBM Thinkpad should be able to run it without any problems.
Compatibility with Windows programs. I know there are some file formats created by Windows programs that are not compatible in Linux, but there are many alternatives and other option such as saving it to a common format or totally migrate to its Open Source program in Windows. OpenOffice, Evolutions, Gimp, and Mozilla Firefox are some of the programs that will make Windows user to be able to do their daily tasks easily in Linux.
Many PCs & Laptops come with Linux. Dell and Asus have launched their Linux version of PCs and laptops last year, followed by Everex and many other PC manufacturers. Asus EeePC has been sold like peanuts. In the server side, HP and IBM has since sold their servers compatible with RedHat Linux system.
To top it all, it is free as in free beer during Oktoberfest.

Why don’t you give Linux a try? The big wave is coming and you certainly don’t wanna miss it!

=rms=

Originally posted on February 12th, 2008 at http://ruben.sentana.net

Creating your own blog site

2008-02-13T16:07:00.002+07:00

First thing first, why blogging in the first place? Well, the answer to that will solely depend on whether one wants to share to the world what they know or think. This is why I strongly believe blogging can be a good tool for knowledge sharing.

There are many ways to start a blog site, and here I’d like to list down some of the available options for new bloggers:

1. Theme for your blog

You can create anything you want in a blog, but t would be better if you have some sort of ideas prior to creating your blog site as to what kind of content you want to put. Many people just want to list down what they are thinking, or use it as some sort of journal. Others may have more niche content such as IT solutions, self-help informations, as well as other contents like quotations and/or jokes. Once you have this content idea, then creating contents will be easier.

2. Hosting site

There are many free blog sites in the internet, such as Blogger, or even some existing social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Multiply, etc. The good thing about these free websites is two-fold. First, of course, is the no-cost associated to those hosting sites. Second, you may have a social network of friends and acquaintances who you may want to inform when your blog is being updated, and most of the social network sites provide such feature. In my case, although I already use those free sites to host my blogs such as here or here, I would like to use my own domain to accomplish these objectives:

Learn how to manage a domain & subdomain
Learn how to install and use a blog system from scratch
Learn how to promote your own website

In short, I want to learn how this thing works from end to end. :-) But for a starter, I suggest you to use the free available sites.

3. Deciding the blog system to use

If you are using the free sites, then you will be stuck with the blogging program that they provide. Well, actually even when you have your own domain, you’ll be stuck with the blogging program that you have selected in the first place. However, in those free blogging sites you will have to make do with the limited features in that site, while if you have full control over the programs, you can easily add the plugins you desire into the site.

There are many blogging programs out there, but I am focusing on two: Typepad and Wordpress. These two systems are the most widely used blogging programs out there, albeit there are many Content Management System (CMS) that can be used to host a blog site such as Drupal and Joomla.

My choice is Wordpress, since it is free and relatively easy to manage. There are many plugins such as Ajax-based plugins and Tag Cloud available in Wordpress. Typepad is available in a 14-day free trial, after which you need to purchase the program. However, there are some affiliate sites that is using Typepad such as Friendster, though it is using the limited version of Typepad.

I suggest you to try out a few sites first, then choose the one that you like most, usually the ones that can give you more capacity and / or more features.

4. Promoting your blog site

There are some pointers out there on how to promote your blog sites. Here are some of them:

List your blog site link in your e-mail signatures
Join a widely used forum and put your blog site link in your comments / replies
Simply ask your friends to look at your blog sites and give comments

One key point: Meta tagging used to be very popular to “trick” search engines on what your site contains; however, this method has been over used to the point that Google and many other search engines have changed their methods to categorized their searches from using meta tags. I still suggest you to use meta tags sparingly, but don’t rely on it too much.

5. Reporting

A good tool to use for reporting is Google Analytics. It’s a free service from Google to keep track how your blog sites perform by listing how many hits per day your blog site reaches. Currently I am using it for two of my sites already. The result is quite accurate, and it even shows a map to where the visitor IP addresses come from. In my case, it is as far as USA, Australia & Sweden. :-)

Final word: Enjoy blogging, y’all…

=rms=
Originally posted on February 12th, 2008 at http://ruben.sentana.net

My Favorite Christmas Song

2007-12-10T11:29:00.000+07:00

Recently, a friend posted a link to this song in a mailing list that I also joined. It's been more than 12 years since I knew this song for the first time back in Hawai'i, and it's a wonderful thing to know that it is now available in YouTube.

Enjoy the song, y'all...

=rms=

Ryan Nathaniel Sentana

2007-10-24T15:57:00.000+07:00

Edit: More complete pictures can be seen here: http://sentana.net/ryan

Quotes from Dale Carnegie's "How To Win Friends and Influence People" Chapter I

2007-10-13T10:03:00.000+07:00

"I learned thirty years ago that it is foolish to scold. I have enough trouble overcoming my own limitations without fretting over the fact that God has not seen fit to distribute evenly the gift of intelligence.” - John Wannamaker

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most fools do. But it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.

God Himself does not propose to judge mankind until the end of days. Why should you and I?

Test blog post from e-mail

2007-10-04T10:43:00.001+07:00

Conscience

2007-08-16T15:58:00.001+07:00

One Sunday afternoon I had a flat tire
When I changed the tire, someone offered help
But I ignored him...
Just pretending he's not there
Heard too much stories out there about people offering help
And in the end ripping you off
Am I being paranoid, or just simply looking after myself?
I don't know...

One Sunday evening I saw a man
Lying on the roadside after being hit by a car
But I kept on driving...
Thinking, there should be a lot of people ther that can help
I need to go to another place quickly
Besides, the police may asked me to be a witness
Though I was there only to help and got nothing to do with the accident
Am I being selfish, or just simply looking after myself?
I don't know...

Today I was walking on the roadside
Someone came to me and asking something
But I kept on walking...
Maybe he wanted to sell things
Maybe he wanted my money
Besides, there are many people in the nearby bus terminal
Ah, someone there should be able to assist that guy
Am I being ignorant, or just simply looking after myself?
I don't know...

I really don't......

=rms=

"Mengeluh" (Self-Pity)

2007-07-26T09:48:00.000+07:00

A friend of mine sent this article to me (sorry, it's in Bahasa Indonesia), and I think this is true and a good reading for all of us. Hope this can be a blessing to you too.

-----

Sebuah kata sederhana yang mungkin jarang kita gunakan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari, tetapi seringkali kita praktekkan langsung baik secara sadar maupun tidak sadar. Beberapa waktu lalu saya berkumpul dengan teman-teman lama saya. Seperti biasanya kami membicarakan mengenai pekerjaan, pasangan hidup, masa lalu, dan berbagai macam hal lainnya.

Setelah pulang saya baru tersadar, bahwa kami satu sama lain saling berlomba untuk memamerkan keluhan kami masing-masing seolah-olah siapa yang paling banyak mengeluh dialah yang paling hebat.

"Bos gue kelewatan masa udah jam 6 gue masih disuruh lembur, sekalian aja suruh gue nginep di kantor!" "Kerjaan gue ditambahin melulu tiap hari, padahal itu kan bukan "job-des" gue" "Anak buah gue memang bego, disuruh apa-apa salah melulu".

Kita semua melakukan hal tersebut setiap saat tanpa menyadarinya. Tahukah Anda semakin sering kita mengeluh, maka semakin sering pula kita mengalami hal tersebut. Sebagai contohnya, salah satu teman baik saya selalu mengeluh mengenai pekerjaan dia. Sudah beberapa kali dia pindah kerja dan setiap kali dia bekerja di tempat yang baru, dia selalu mengeluhkan mengenai atasan atau rekan-rekan sekerjanya. Sebelum dia pindah ke pekerjaan berikutnya dia selalu ribut dengan atasan atau rekan sekerjanya. Seperti yang bisa kita lihat bahwa terbentuk suatu pola tertentu yang sudah dapat diprediksi, dia akan selalu pindah dari satu pekerjaan ke pekerjaan berikutnya sampai dia belajar untuk tidak mengeluh.

Mengeluh adalah hal yang sangat mudah dilakukan dan bagi beberapa orang hal ini menjadi suatu kebiasaan dan parahnya lagi mengeluh menjadi suatu kebanggaan. Bila Anda memiliki dua orang teman, yang pertama selalu berpikiran positif dan yang kedua selalu mengeluh, Anda akan lebih senang berhubungan dengan yang mana? Menjadi seorang yang pengeluh mungkin bisa mendapatkan simpati dari teman kita, tetapi tidak akan membuat kita memiliki lebih banyak teman dan tidak akan menyelesaikan masalah kita, bahkan bisa membuat kita kehilangan teman-teman kita.

Yang menjadi pertanyaan adalah mengapa kita mengeluh? Kita mengeluh karena kita kecewa bahwa realitas yang terjadi tidak sesuai dengan harapan kita. Bagaimana kita mengatasi hal ini. Caranya sebenarnya gampang-gampang susah, kita hanya perlu bersyukur.

Saya percaya bahwa di balik semua hal yang kita keluhkan PASTI ADA hal yang dapat kita syukuri.

Sebagai ilustrasi, Anda mengeluh dengan pekerjaan Anda. Tahukah Anda berapa banyak jumlah pengangguran yang ada di Indonesia? Sekarang ini hampir 60% orang pada usia kerja produktif tidak bekerja, jadi bersyukurlah Anda masih memiliki pekerjaan dan penghasilan. Atau Anda mengeluh karena disuruh lembur atau disuruh melakukan kerja ekstra. Tahukah Anda bahwa sebenarnya atasan Anda percaya kepada kemampuan Anda? Kalau Anda tidak mampu tidak mungkin atasan Anda menyuruh Anda lembur atau memberikan pekerjaan tambahan. Bersyukurlah karena Anda telah diberikan kepercayaan oleh atasan Anda, mungkin dengan Anda lebih rajin siapa tahu Anda bisa mendapatkan promosi lebih cepat dari yang Anda harapkan.

Bersyukurlah lebih banyak dan percayalah hidup Anda akan lebih mudah dan keberuntungan senantiasa selalu bersama Anda, karena Anda dapat melihat hal-hal yang selama ini mungkin luput dari pandangan Anda karena Anda terlalu sibuk mengeluh.

Try it now:

1. Bersyukurlah setiap hari setidaknya satu kali sehari. Bersyukurlah atas pekerjaan Anda, kesehatan Anda, keluarga Anda atau apapun yang dapat Anda syukuri. Ambilah waktu selama 10-30 detik saja untuk bersyukur kemudian lanjutkan kembali kegiatan Anda.

2. Jangan mengeluh bila Anda menghadapi kesulitan tetapi lakukanlah hal berikut ini. Tutuplah mata Anda, tarik nafas panjang, tahan sebentar dan kemudian hembuskan pelan-pelan dari mulut Anda, buka mata Anda, tersenyumlah dan pikirkanlah bahwa suatu saat nanti Anda akan bersyukur atas semua yang terjadi pada saat ini.

3. Biasakan diri untuk tidak ikut-ikutan mengeluh bila Anda sedang bersama teman-teman yang sedang mengeluh dan beri tanggapan yang positif atau tidak sama sekali. Selalu berpikir positif dan lihatlah perubahan dalam hidup Anda.

"Semakin banyak Anda bersyukur kepada Tuhan atas apa yang Anda miliki, maka semakin banyak hal yang akan Anda miliki untuk disyukuri."

-----

Song for The Journey

2007-07-24T14:03:00.000+07:00

Here's a song for the journey
As we draw near the line
Though our eyes bear a tear
As we wave our goodbye
May the clouds part before you
May the stars kiss your eyes

There are days made for wonder
and laughter and wine
May your dreams take you places
Through rivers that wind
If we don't count our blessings
We're wasting our time

Heaven knows where the road falls before me
May the angels hold those left behind
When I dream of the treasures
and pleasures we find
There are many and many were mine

When your heart it grows weary
And you can't face the night
I will give you my shoulder
For the weight on your mind
If we don't count our blessings
We're wasting our time
Here's a song for the journey tonight

By: Tish Hinojosa

Unforgettable Trip

2007-01-03T16:04:00.000+07:00

Happy New Year! Or as the Hawaiian says: Hau’oli Makahiki Hou.

As most of you already known, my wife and I went for our honeymoon during this past Christmas holiday to New Zealand via Singapore. We can spare you all the detail itinerary such as the places we visited as well as the fun and joy we had with our friends in Singapore & Auckland. However, I would like to tell you the lessons we learned during the trip that has changed our lives.

1. Delays

During our flights, we have experienced two delays. The first one was on our flight out of Jakarta, Garuda informed us earlier that day that the flight has been postponed from 21:45 to 00:25. We asked whether there is another flight that is not delayed, and we managed to get the flight out at 22:25 (which is delayed until 22:50). The second one was during our trip back from Singapore to Jakarta (also with Garuda), where the flight has been re-timed from 16:10 to 20:35. We then asked Garuda counter to check whether we can changed flight, and to our surprised, the system cannot find us in that flight at all; rather, they found our names in the flight at 17:35. Though that flight is also delayed until 18:00, we are thankful that our flight were safe and sound. I don’t need to mentioned that Garuda can really improve their services, but we thank God that we are not stranded or had any problems during the flight. :-)

2. Friendships that last

When we visited our first leg of the trip (Singapore), we were busy arranging the time when we can meet up with some of our friends there, ex-colleagues, school/college friends, as well as church friends. All of our friends were so eager to see us and didn't mind to have a long trip from the comfort of their own homes (even bringing their kids – one of them is only 2-months old) to visit us. When we reached Auckland, my good old friend Budi picked us up from the airport, and brought us to Hendra's place, another ex-kamaaina, to have a Christmas dinner together with his family. We were so touched by their friendly gestures and how they really treasure our friendships. We thank God for given us such great friends and we hope that their lives are blessed and touched by God in a more amazing ways.

3. God's protection is REAL

On our third day in New Zealand, we rented a car to drive along the north island. We went to the farthest point of the North island (Cape Reinga), and that was the last place we visited using our rental car. About 12 km off the dirt road from Cape Reinga, where our car suddenly skid over and hit the slope on the downhill pathway. The rain made it easier for the car to skid, and we lost control of the car soon after. It flipped over and back, causing serious damages to the car (left-rear axle tire were broken, front bumper fell off, left rear-view mirror is gone, entire left side of the car was scrapped, and the radiator liquid leaked out). We found out later that the rental company had to write-off the car due to the extensive damages. But to our surprise, we are unharmed by the nasty accident with only a few scratches and sore necks. On top of that, the car was not protected with ABS and airbags. The seatbelts held up, but more importantly, we believe that it is God's protection that covered us from harm. He even sent a couple of angels from Melbourne to give us a lift to our hotel, which is 3 hours drive from the accident site. May God bless York & Helen, wherever they are now.

4. Lost Baggage

When we returned to Singapore via Sydney, one of our bags was missing in action. There is no sight of it even after the conveyor belt number 19 has stopped. We were told by Qantas ground crew that one of our bag is still stuck in Sydney, so we can only rely on God's grace and hope the bag can be found and delivered to our home in Jakarta. Nevertheless, we are thankful for the fact that we have split our bags in such a way that only the clothing and stuff that we need in Singapore are in the small bags, and the rest of the unused items are in the larger bag (the one that went missing was the larger bag). In addition, we thank God that it happened on our trip back and not during the beginning of our journey. That can simply taken all our joy during the trip. God is good indeed, and our prayers have been answered when a couple of hours ago before I started typing this blog, Qantas crew informed us that the bag is already found and on its way to be delivered to our home now. Thank you, Jesus!

In short, we understand that God is at work, even when we are not aware of His presence, but we can never escape from His love and goodness (Rome 8:38-39). It is easy to talk about His goodness when we see the geyser in Rotorua, watching the dolphins in Bay of Islands, or even when we eat our Fish and Chips at Mangonui Fish

Shop, but it is through all the adversities and uncertainties that God's goodness and love become REAL in our lives. We are now more confident than ever that He who has protected & guide us in 2006, will also protect and guide us through 2007 and beyond. Amen!

~rms~