Category: Software

Issues with VirtualBox between Ubuntu and Windows 7

Post author By George
Post date June 15, 2010
2 Comments on Issues with VirtualBox between Ubuntu and Windows 7

My Sager NP8690 is one awesome notebook (except for the battery life). Right now I have it configured for dual boot between Ubuntu 10.04 and Windows 7. The only time I really use Windows 7 is to watch Blu-Ray movies and the occasional office document that down for display correctly in Open-office. But rebooting the PC to go back and forth between the two OS’s is an inconvenience.

To resolve this issue I installed Oracle Virtualbox 3.2.4. Currently I have one VM with Linux Mint 9 x64 which works well. So I attempted to install Windows 7 x32 just like I did at work on an old HP D530 tower. When the install reaches the point of Installing Updates the OS fails stating it’s unable to find the hard drive.

I searched for an answer but nothing really fixed my problem. Then I noticed the HDD controller for my Windows 7 VM was set for AHCI with a blank check box. Selecting the check box allows the VM to access the HDD controller directly. Installation of Windows 7 is complete.

Everything in Windows 7 seems stable and running well minus the Aero effects. I checked for updates and out of 21, only 3 installed. That’s no good, time to reboot the VM and tried again. None of the available updates would install. I found this solution for Windows Vista and it worked on Windows 7.

And since I am setting up VMs, I decided to install my copy on Windows XP and Microsoft Vista. Why Vista? Because I got it for free and gives me an opportunity to learn something new. Plus I have friends and family that run Vista and they call for help on occasion.

Unfortunately I made a small error when I installed Ubuntu 10.04. Since I chose to dual boot, I kept the Windows partition at 2/3 total drive space. Since I created four VMs I am down to about 7GB free on my Home partition. If I can get my Windows 7 VM to play Blu-Ray I will copy off all VMs, backup all data files from both OSs, and then rebuild with Ubuntu 10.04 and import all data. Looks like I’m in for a long weekend.

UPDATE:

After spending 2 hours reading posts about playing Blu-Ray in a VM, it looks like this is not possible. I plan on moving forward with the migration since I’m out of drive space. I read a solution in Ubuntu Forums that might work.

Tags Linux Mint, Open Office, Sager, Ubuntu, Virtual Machine, VirtualBox, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP

Home PC Software Ubuntu

BT Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop – Server

Post author By George
Post date October 29, 2009
No Comments on BT Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop – Server

Today I tried to download the iso files for Ubuntu 9.10. Needless to say it was taking hours. At one point my computer said it would take 2 days to complete! OK, time to switch to a Bit Torrent. (I am running Vuze on my home PC.) I found the BT files for Ubtunu 9.10 Desktop and Server. I had both iso files under 10 minutes.

Some people might quit their session once the files are downloaded. Not me, I’m keeping the feed going until I get home from work. Tonight I will stop at the store, pickup a stack of CDRs and burn the iso files. Since I have a lot on my plate this week, I might not get to try them out until Sunday November 1st.

Tags Home_PC, Software, Ubuntu

LogMeIn Windows XP

Remote Support Using LogMeIn to Resolve an Outlook Express Problem

Post author By George
Post date August 12, 2009
No Comments on Remote Support Using LogMeIn to Resolve an Outlook Express Problem

The last several days, my brothers and I kept receiving a ton of strange e-mails from my Mom. These messages were coming in small chunks of 62 k in size, totalling 48 individual messages. At first I blew it off think my Mom sent something by mistake. We kept receiving these messages (all 48 of them) twice a day for three days. So I sent an e-mail to my brothers telling them I would fix her PC.

I live about 5 hours driving time away from my parents; so making a quick stop to see what’s wrong, get a free meal, and have a little chat is not an option. So I had my Mom do a little trouble shooting for me with the directions I gave her over the phone. No problems found. While we were troubleshooting, I asked Mom a few questions about this issue; when did this start happening, did one of your friends send you some spam or a virus, were your friends experiencing the same problem as you. All of her friends are having the same problem as my brothers and I. What I needed to do was sit in front of the PC try a few things and see what I can do. I tried to run Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection, but it would not connect even though Mom enabled it for me.

Then I remember a tool my friend told me about called LogMeIn. Setting up an account only took a few minutes. After going through the e-mail verification, I had my Mom connect to the LogMeIn website, gave her my username and password (temp password that I am not using anywhere), and install the local client software. Since I was using Windows XP to help trouble shoot her problems, I used Internet Explorer to connect and take control of her PC.

I had Symantec Client Security conduct a full scan and then opened her e-mail application. The first test was sending a small text only message to myself. E-mail received correctly. So then I sent an e-mail with a 1.5 MB attachment. Bingo! Outlook Express stated it was going to break apart the message into 62k chunks, do I want to proceed. NO!!!! Since I didn’t know where to find the settings quickly, I Googled “Outlook Express break apart messages larger than” and found plenty of web sites to correct the problem. Here are the steps to resolve this issue:

From the Menu bar in Outlook Express, select Tools then Accounts
Click the mail account and then the Properties button on the right
Click the Advance tab
Under Sending, remove the check mark from “Break apart messages large than…”
Click the OK button and then click the Close button.

I sent three e-mails over 10 MB in size to myself as a test. All messages arrived as they should. I disabled Remote Desktop Connection before disconnecting.

Somethings I noticed about using LogMeIn. Although I can connect from with Ubuntu Linux using Firefox, many features were not available to me; turning off the client wallpaper (even though it was checked), the screen refresh was painfully slow, and I could not get the remote connection to open in a new window or tab. This might be due to the fact LogMeIn uses ActiveX. However while writing this blog I found something that I might try out regarding using Linux with LogMeIn. Running the same software under Windows was a completely different experience. Everything worked as it should.

I like this product and would recommend it to anyone who needs to connect remotely.

Tags Internet Explorer, LogMeIn, Windows XP

Digital Camera Dropbox

New Digital Camera

I’ve been shopping around for a new digital camera (point and shoot) and narrowed my choices down to the following; Canon SX10 IS, and the Nikon P90. Both cameras are considered “super zooms” since they are at 20x and 24x optical zoom respectively. Neither camera does not support HD or HDMI connections. However, I am having a problem making a decision on which one to get.

Canon SX10 IS:

The Canon has a 20x optical zoom, 10 MP (mega pixels), can use SDHC memory cards, records movies at a maximum resolution of 640×480 with stereo (file is saved as MOV format),can use the optical zoom while recording movies, MovieSnap (lets you take a high resolution picture while recording a movie, can shoot 1.4 fps in 3 MP while in sports mode, ISO 1600, uses SD/SDHC, MultiMediaCard, MMC Plus Card, HC MMC Plus Card, and a 2.5″ Vari-Angle LCD which rotates 270 degrees.

Nikon P90:

The P90 has a 24x optical zoom, 12.1 MP, can use SDHC memory cards, records movies at an unknown resolution in mono (file is saved as something format), can not use the optical zoom while recording movies (only digital zoom is available), can shoot up to 15 fps in 3 MP while in sports mode, ISO 6400 capability at 3 MP, has approx 47 MB internal memory, uses SD/SDHC memory cards, and 3″ Vari-Abgle LCD which can tilt upward 90 degrees and downward 45 degrees.

On Friday June 5th I stopped at Cameras Etc to asked about the Nikon P90. Dan the salesman said it is a great camera but they are out of stock. He really liked the 24x optical zoom and the 12.1 MP. When I asked about some other models, he said they were OK, but fell short of the P90. Dan checked with his manager to see when the P90 will be in, and I have to wait until Wednesday or Thursday to see it.

On Sunday June 7th, I went to Best Buy to check out each camera. Max the salesman from the camera department was awesome. he let me borrow a SD memory card, plug it into the Canon and let me take a bunch of pictures and movies. After shooting, I put the card in a PC at the Computer Department so I can upload the files to my Dropbox account so I can view them on my home PC.

We tried to get the Nikon to work after installing the SD card, but for some reason the camera would not work (yikes!!) Could be just a fluke.

The pictures from the SX10 IS look great, too bad my subject (me) could look better. The color looked natural, it didn’t look over saturated, and the brief movie I took looked nice. According to VLC and Totem Movie player, the movie was recorded in stereo at 640×480. The file was huge at 18.7 MB for a 14 second video. I guess I can get a smaller file size if I change the resolution down to 320×240.

I hope Dan will let me shoot some pictures with the P90 and send them to my Dropbox so I can compare with the SX10 IS.

Tags Digital Camera, Dropbox

Dropbox Ubuntu

Ubuntu One

Post author By George
Post date May 14, 2009
No Comments on Ubuntu One

A few weeks ago I installed Dropbox on my Ubuntu 9.04 PC, and it works great. Now I see Canonical is releasing Ubuntu One to the world (which is still in beta as of this writing.) I’m not sure if I want to swict from Dropbox, which Ican use on just about any PC to Ubuntu One, which I can only with with Ubuntu 9.04. I’m sure the software works fine for a beta release, and the storage options are the same as Dropbox, but why would I want to limit myself?

Maybe I am not seeing the bigger picture from a user’s stand point, I can see their picture, making some bucks, which is fine. I have no problem with it. Sometimes you need to get paid to continue the work. I would feel better if I could use Ubuntu One on other PCs with other Linux distros, Mac, or even Windows. After all, not everyone has Ubuntu Linux, or Mac OS 10.5, or Windows XP / Vista. I felt a chill writing the “V” word.

Tags Dropbox, Ubuntu

Dropbox

Post author By George
Post date April 17, 2009
No Comments on Dropbox

About a week ago I read an artical about Dropbox. I installed it from the .deb file provided on the web site. Installation was smooth, the way it should be all the time. I rebooted the PC and I saw a new icon on my upper panel near the clock. I followed the directions to configure Dropbox and in my home directory, was a new folder called Dropbox.

Dropbox icon on panel

Dropbox in home directory

I copied about 460 MB of various files into that folder, and then it started to sync to my dropbox on the Internet. I still have to install Dropbox on my Windows XP partition, but from what I am reading, it works like a champ. Too bad work has Dropbox blocked or else I would install it on my work PC.

Tags Dropbox, Ubuntu