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Using more than 3 Gb of RAM with 32-bit Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid)

June 22nd, 2010 · Ubuntu

Here’s a tip for those still running a 32-bit version of Ubuntu on machines with more than 3 Gb of RAM (like myself).

Earlier versions of the ‘generic’ linux kernel that shipped with Ubuntu had PAE (Physical Address Extension) enabled by default. This meant that on 32-bit installations, you had access to greater that 3 Gb of RAM. This seems to not be the case with the default Lucid (10.04) kernel – it’s not PAE enabled. I’m not sure exactly when the change was made (it could have also been the case with 9.10), but I noticed that after upgrading to Lucid, my 32-bit installation was only seeing ~3 Gb or RAM, when previously I had access to the full 4 Gb installed.

You can tell how much RAM is accessible by in a terminal typing:

free -m

For 4 Gb of RAM, the ‘total’ mem should be something like 4003.

To fix this, simply install the PAE-enabled kernel:

sudo apt-get install linux-generic-pae

This kernel should automatically become your default in GRUB. All going well, after a reboot, you should be able to type ‘free -m’ again and see that you are using 4 Gb of RAM.

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3D acceleration with Virtualbox 3.0 : DirectX, OpenGl and a Windows guest

November 7th, 2009 · Linux, software

I recently managed to get 3D acceleration working with Virtualbox 3.0.x running a Windows guest.

I can’t lay claim to figuring this out myself, all credit goes to the guide at Dedoimedo.com, “DirectX in VirtualBox 3.0.0 – Pure joy is here”.

In a nutshell:

  • Install a Windows guest under Virtualbox, as you normally would.
  • Shutdown the virtual machine, and under Settings – Display, click the checkbox to turn on 3D acceleration. I also pushed the slider up to 128 Mb of video memory.
  • Reboot the Windows guest into Safe Mode, by pressing F8 during bootup.
  • Install the Virtualbox Guest Additions while in Safe Mode. Ensure you select the optional component “Direct3D Support” during the installation.
  • Reboot the Windows guest. You should now have 3D acceleration for programs that use DirectX …

The “Safe Mode” trick was the key part I was missing when I first tried – the Guest Additions installer seems to give no indication that the Direct3d component will silently fail if it is not installed under “Safe Mode”.

One extra issue I experienced, in my case when running Unity3D, was that the mouse was ultra-sensitive, to the point of being unusable, when used in a window displaying 3D graphics. In VMware, this can be fixed by setting Preferences – Input – Optimized Mouse for Games – Always. Presently, I do not know how to fix this issue in Virtualbox.

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Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) on Dell Vostro 1500 laptop

November 7th, 2009 · Linux, Ubuntu

I know, I know, this post might seem a little dated already, considering the release of Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) is imminent. My fault .. I sort of … um .. just forgot to press publish about four months ago … :P

I’ve previously documented my experiences with installing Ubuntu 7.10, and then an upgrade to 8.04, on my Dell Vostro 1500 notebook computer. Now … a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.04. Here’s the lowdown.

What works, executive summary:

3D graphics (Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT) – yes (just turn on the proprietary driver in Administration->Hardware Drivers for better 3D performance)

Sound output (Intel 82801H HDA controller, ICH8 chipset) - yes (no config required)

Sound input (mic, line-in) -untested

Wired network -yes

Wireless network -yes – (including painless Ad-Hoc wireless connections !)

Firewire (IEEE1394) -yes, probably (well, actually untested in 9.04 but I assume it still works, with the text file config documented in previous posts)

SD card slot -yes

Integrated webcam (optional) -yes (works with “Cheese” in Gnome)

Touchpad pointing device -yes

External VGA (D-bus) video port – yes (just toggle with Fn-F8)

PCI Express slot -untested

Sound in – untested.

(unless explicitly stated, all the stuff with a ‘yes’ “just-worked”, without any need for text file editing or commandline kungfu)

The first version of Ubuntu I installed on the Dell Vostro 1500 was Ubuntu 7.10, back in late 2007 when this model was a brand spanking new on Dells product list. My experience with 7.10 was okay, but several configuration tweaks were required to get everything working properly. How things have changed in two years ! In Ubuntu 9.04, no sound config was required for audio playback. The Network Manager in 9.04 now supports Wireless Ad-Hoc mode without any commandline magic. The Nvidia proprietary graphics drivers can be enabled with two clicks of the mouse. Attaching an external screen works without a hitch. Ubuntu even prompts you to use the NVIDIA native screen resolution app, which will detect both screens. Both Suspend and Hibernate seem to be working without issue.

What can I say. Best. Ubuntu. Ever. :)

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Ubuntu Laptop ACPI hard disk ‘clicking’ bugfix on the way

January 18th, 2009 · Linux, Ubuntu

You may remember I had some issues on my Dell Vostro 1500 with a scary sounding periodic hard disk ‘click’, related to a bug in the pm-utils package. In brief: this bug effectively puts the disk into powersaving mode far too often, drastically reducing it’s working lifespan.

Well, good news … it looks like the hard disk ACPI bug has been fixed, and will make it’s way into the Ubuntu 9.04, 8.10 and 8.04 repositories soon.

Hooray happyday .. no more monkeypatching !

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Hide the Desktop icons in Gnome for a clutter free Ubuntu

November 25th, 2008 · Linux, Ubuntu

Quick tip … want to hide all the icons cluttering up your Gnome Desktop ?

Run gconf-editor (Alt-F2, type gconf-editor, Press “Run”) and navigate the tree to find /apps/nautilus/preferences/show_desktop. Set the value to false (uncheck the checkbox), and your Desktop icons should disappear.

You can still access any files on the Desktop using the file manager (eg, under the “Places” menu), but they will no longer obscure the view of your snazzy desktop background.

(Via Tombuntu’s Ubuntu “Intrepid Ibex” 8.10 upgrade notes)

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Asus Eee PC 4G (700) setup notes, links

November 10th, 2008 · Firefox, Linux, Python, Ubuntu

Photo "Online Manga on Asus Eee PC" by Steve Keys, 2008, ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevekeys/2742226772/ ), Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en )I recently got an Asus Eee PC 4G so I could avoid lugging around a heavy notebook when traveling. The Xandros distro which came preinstalled was cute and booted very fast (~17 secs), but ultimately I felt I needed something a bit more versatile (oh, the stock Xandro also lacked WPA2 wireless support, which was something I need). I decided to install the soon-to-be-renamed Ubuntu Eee, an unofficial version of Ubuntu using features of the Netbook Remix, tailored to work nicely on the Eee PC.

What follows is not a HOWTO, but rather a set of links and notes on some things I tweaked. It’s mostly for my own personal reference, but if it helps someone else out, all the better. The Ubuntu Eee distro has already done most of the heavy customization required for smooth operation on an Eee PC … but I had fun doing a little tweaking of my own anyhow.

[Read more →]

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Upgrading Ubuntu on a Vostro 1500 laptop : Gutsy (7.10) to Hardy (8.04)

September 18th, 2008 · Firefox, Linux, Python, Ubuntu

Previously, I have posted about my experiences installing and testing Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10) on my Dell Vostro 1500 laptop. Since I set it up, I’ve been happily using it every day. At the time everything generally went pretty smoothly, but being a fairly new piece of hardware, there were a few hiccups that required some hand editing of config files. The key piece of hardware that didn’t work was the integrated microphone – not essential for me, but nice to have.

I upgraded it to Ubuntu Hardy (8.04) a few months ago. These are my experiences, and a summary of what didn’t work under 7.10, but does under 8.04.

[Read more →]

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Mount ISO images with a right click in the Ubuntu file manager (Nautilus)

August 30th, 2008 · Linux, Ubuntu

I recently discovered a handy script for Nautilus to mount an ISO image using the right click context menu. It’s a handy feature that lets you quickly peek inside an iso CD/DVD image (in read-only mode), without messing around typing the typical command line (sudo mount -o loop -t iso9660 myimage.iso /media/iso).
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Forcing Firefox to remember passwords for del.icio.us (and other sites that turn off autocomplete)

July 28th, 2008 · Firefox

A few weeks (months?) ago I noticed that the del.icio.us login page would no longer get auto-filled with my saved username/password information in Firefox. This is presumably Yahoo trying to be uber-secure, but for me, it’s just an annoyance … my Firefox passwords are secured by a Master Password, and having the fields autocomplete just saves me time every morning when I get online. Luckly, Elliotte Rusty Harold had noticed this mis-feature too, and has found a solution to get del.icio.us to accept the passwords remembered by Firefox. Be sure to read the comments to his post, since his helpful readers have provided several solutions … take your pick !

The easiest way I found was this Greasemonkey script which turns off autocomplete for all sites. You can change the site list to only include http*://*.del.icio.us/* if you want.

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Edit remote files over SSH / SCP using GVim

July 13th, 2008 · Linux

GVim, one of the graphical versions of vim for X11, has a handy feature … you can edit remote files over ssh. Launch GVim, and issue the command:

:e scp://username@someremotehost/./path/to/file

where username is your username on the remote server, someremote host is the hostname or ip of the server and /./path/to/file is just that … the path to the file on the remove server. Everytime you save with :w, the changes get transfered.

When used in combination with ssh-keys to avoid typing your password every time, this can make editing remote files really quick and easy.

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