Alter Ego

There's been a security vulnerability in Ubuntu Linux namely versions 7.04, 7.10, and 8.04 LTS. For more information, read here.

Here, are steps that you can take to prevent your machine from being exploited.

I tried many ways, including archiving the file into different formats, namely .zip, .gzip, .tar.gzip; but none worked. GMail is just too clever!

Thank you to Marjan. The only way is to actually rename the exe file to txt and then attach it to your email. Like so:

Tada! Not so clever now ehhh??

Level 1 is the brand I trust when it comes to a wireless router. Reason is; its cheap and it works. When my first Level 1 router got struck by lightning, I simply bought another one; the exact same one. And that one too got struck by lightning, crap.

Now I am running on a backup router supplied by my brother. Not sure how long I can use this one though.

And to make it worse, my trusty Ubuntu 64-bit desktop is down. Apparently, the network port is FUBAR-ed by the lightning somehow. The device can still be detected in Ubuntu. I am going to try to install a PCI network card. Actually, I did try last night, but it didn't work out as well as I thought. Ubuntu just refused to cooperate. Since I will be gone until Saturday before I can start working on it again, my Ubuntu 64 will just have to wait for me until then.

Man, just when I was thinking of getting a 500GB HDD, and then this happened.

After pondering for quite a while about getting back on Facebook, I decided to do it anyway. Reason is quite simple; to keep in touch with friends. And believe it or not, my friends nowadays no longer use Fotopages (tonnes of ads; idiots) or Flickr (very very nice) to share pictures. They use Facebook, seriously (except for my photographer friends, most of them still use Flickr; understandable).

Sooooooo... yea, I am back. Yes, Michelle, I am back on Facebook. You win.

BUT I AM NOT PLAYING ANY OF THOSE GAMES! PERIOD!

With the coming of Ubuntu 8.04 (or Hardy Heron), with it comes Pulseaudio. If you have noticed, if you use VLC to play your videos, you will notice that you cannot play more than 1 video at any 1 time. The second video of your playback (while having the first one still running in the background) will not have any sound.

So, what gives?

Well, you need the Pulseaudio plugin for the VLC. To install it...

Now that the plugin is installed, you need to set the VLC audio preference to use the new plugin.

Launch VLC Media Player by going to Applications > Sound & Video > VLC Media Player.

Go to Settings > Preferences.


Under Audio, click on the Output Modules submenu, and then click on Advanced Options checkbox at the bottom of the screen.

Now, choose Pulseaudio audio output from the list box for the Audio Output Module. Click on Save.


VLC Media Player should now play nicely with Pulseaudio. This should work for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Ubuntu 8.04.

Today is April 24th, 2008, and the second LTS of Ubuntu has been released! I am not that excited though since I have been using it for quite some time now. There's still a few issues (I think) with Pulse Audio, but the developers are hard at work to get it fix; so no worries peeps.

Look what I found on Ubuntu.com...


I guess everyone is upgrading!

The easiest way to upgrade from Gutsy is to open up a terminal, and then (make sure your Gutsy is fully updated first yea)

... and then you are off. Do it before you go to sleep, the upgrade will surely take a while.

And to think that my life couldn't get any better, man I was dead wrong.

I have been looking for a way to get webcam to work; and I want it to be as painless as possible. No installation of weird drivers or running any weird scripts, I wanted things to be as smooth and as painless as possible.

I just got a tip from someone that Skype works like a charm. So I went off to Skype's website and download it. I chose the Linux version for Ubuntu 7.04+ (I am currently on Ubuntu Hardy Heron Release Candidate).

I am trying to install it on a 64-bit but the application is 32-bit, so you gotta do a --force-architecture to get it to install flawlessly. So this is exactly how I did it.

1. Browse to where you downloaded the DEB file.
2. If you are on 32-bit Ubuntu, no problem then, just double click the DEB file and Ubuntu will awesomely resolve the dependencies for you and download the necessary packages. You are done, so go have fun.
3. For 64-bit users, we need to put in a little bit of effort, just a little. Its painless. First, install these 2 dependencies.

4. Once that is done, do this to install.



... or whatever your DEB filename is.

That's it! Make sure that your webcam is already connected, log in and check out the Options, go to Video Devices, and Click on the Test button, and.... TADA!

Ubuntu, I am loving it. Do add me! Please add an introduction message so that I know who you are. ID is teslarage ;)