Dual Boot - Ubuntu and Fedora

I have seen many of the people who wants to know the steps for creating a dual boot system with both Ubuntu and Fedora. Now its better to install Fedora first and Ubuntu second as Ubuntu has a better partition manager.

Installing Ubuntu

1. I installed Ubuntu 8.0.4 as built from the latest images.

2. Booted the Ubuntu install CD and selected “Guided, use entire disk”

3. You need to select a name and password

a. I used the same name and password for both installations.

4. Once the OS was booted I went into system preferences and setup the network proxy to enable network access from within the firewall. This step is necessary if you have a firewall, if you are outside your selections might be different.

5. Using the update manager, I installed updates just to make sure everything was current.

Modifying the Disk Partition information

1. To enable a second OS on the drive we need to make room for it.

2. Boot your system using an Ubuntu “Live” CD which runs Ubuntu from CD and not from your installed setup.

a. This requires your system to be able to boot from a CD.

3. Once the Live version is up, run the GNOME Partition Manager as found in: System – Administration.

4. Select to resize the primary drive

5. Enter values that create two equally sized partitions

a. Do NOT select ok yet as it will fail since the drive is mounted.

6. Bring up a terminal window

7. Type: sudo umount /dev/sda1

a. check to make sure this is the drive you are expecting by looking at the graphical UI

8. Now with the drive unmounted, go back to the GUI and select OK and then APPLY

9. It takes some time to resize and then gives a few errors as it’s unable to auto mount the drive since it was unmounted without the GUI app knowing.

10. The result is you should have your partition ½ full and ½ unallocated now.

Installing Fedora

1. Boot your system with the Fedora install DVD

a. Select Install or upgrade an existing system

b. Skip the media test

2. GUI comes up now

a. Select Next (to continue installing)

b. Select English as the language

c. Select US English as the keyboard

d. Hostname – select Auto via DHCP

e. Root password – I used the same as I had for Ubuntu

i. Select OK if it’s a “weak” password

f. @ the dropdown box at the top, select

i. Use free space on selected drives and create default layout

g. Check the box that says you want to review and modify partitioning layout

h. I took the defaults and when clicking next was warned to write the changes to disk.

i. Accept the changes

i. You get a “Formatting file/system” message and it’s there for several minutes

j. Selecte to install a boot loader on /dev/sda

k. Add Ubuntu as /Dev/sda1 then NEXT to keep going

i. This will need some serious changes later on because Fedora doesn’t know enough about Ubuntu

l. Select to add software dev tools since you’ll be using this as a development system.

m. You can select to add a web server to your system too

n. If you want to add additional Fedora software, it requires a connection and there wasn’t a way to setup a proxy in this dialog, so I skipped that since it can be done through the software management application once the install is complete.

o. Start the actual install.

i. It goes through 1149 packages with the v9 DVD

p. Says congrats install is complete, press reboot

3. At this point when you reboot you get the Boot Manager and it shows 2 options. 1 for Fedora and 2 for Ubuntu. The Fedora option will work but the Ubuntu option needs some serious changes.

Modifying Fedora to support dual boot

As unlikely as it seems, Fedora doesn’t know how to run Ubuntu, in fact you can’t even see the Ubuntu hard drives from Fedora. So, when the Boot Manager installed to run Ubuntu, it didn’t get things right. The Ubuntu strings need to be added to the Fedora Boot Manager, here’s instructions for doing that.

1. Put the Ubuntu Live Boot CD in the system and boot it

2. Open the file /boot/grub/menu.lst

3. Once you have the file look for the section near the bottom that shows how to boot Ubuntu. It looks about like these 4 lines… YOURS will be different because the UUID info is different for each drive. You need to write it down exactly, all 4 lines (double check it too).

a. Title Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19.generic

b. Root (hd0,0)

c. Kernel /boor/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19.generic root=UUID=63766a10-f196-47b2-b2be-2a057b4be170 ro quiet splash

d. Initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic

4. Re-boot your system and select Fedora from the boot manager

5. Inside of Fedora, bring up a terminal by selecting: System Tools Terminal

6. In the terminal change to root by typing SU

7. Then enter the root password as requested

8. Now type: gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

9. Modify the Ubuntu entry to match what you just wrote down above

10. Save the changes

11. Reboot and check that both OS’s work now. If your Ubuntu doesn’t boot, check VERY carefully for typos as everything needs to be exactly right for this to work.

Now you have a dual boot Ubuntu-Fedora system for all your Linux development needs.

Source: Intel

Samsung's HDTV to come with Skype

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd and Skype announced last week that Skype will now come embedded on Samsung's LED 7000 and 8000 series models of high-definition televisions. The embedded Skype software allows Skype users to make video and voice calls through the TVs.

Samsung, the global market leader in televisions, will begin shipping TVs with Skype software in the Korean market today, and worldwide in the first half of 2010.

The Samsung LED 7000 and 8000 series televisions include Samsung’s free Internet@TV service, which allows access to select online content. Consumers who connect the TVs to the Internet can easily attach a FreeTalk TV Camera for Samsung provided by In Store Solutions (ISS), available at www.skype.com/store, making it possible to place and receive voice calls and High Quality Video calls. Voice calls will use Skype’s SILK audio codec, which enables super-wideband audio quality.

Samsung is not the first TV maker to announce the inclusion of a Skype client with its television. In the early January, LG and Panasonic revealed they would embed Skype in their latest generation of Internet-connected HDTVs. At the time, Skype launched high-definition video calling with the latest beta of its PC client.

It seems that the Skype client on the Samsung TV will also include Skype Out capabilities, meaning that not only can it make free Skype to Skype video calls (providing it has the relevant TV camera), but it can also allow for calls to mobile phones and landlines, at a much cheaper rate than other service providers.

Another Milestone Achieved : Google Buzz

Despite what the leaders of Facebook and Google say, lots of people still like privacy. That was the message many early Buzz users shouted in the days following the launch of Google's new social networking system. Google seems to have taken quick action to patch some of the privacy flaws people were complaining about, but why were these holes present at launch in the first place?

Google has just announced its new microblogging service designed to compete with established services such as Twitter with Google Buzz.

Google Buzz will be integrated within GMail and will allow for automatic contact and friend lists by email correspondence, public/private sharing and inline inbox integration with real-time updates and multiple source browsing in a single feed with photo browsing.

The service will also support @replies If you @reply someone, it will send a buzz towards an individual’s inbox. The service will also support geolocation by asking the user where their location is with choices automatically generated by triangulation.

Google Buzz also has a “recommended” feature that will show buzzes from people you don’t follow if your friends are sharing or commenting on that person’s buzz. You can remove it or change this in settings.

Google is now speaking about using algorithms to help filter conversations, as well as mobile devices related to Buzz. Google Buzz will also be accessible via mobile in three ways: from Google Mobile, from Buzz.Google.com and from a dedicated app.

Reference: Technews, Technewsworld

How to Connect Port-au-Prince with a Wireless Network

As you can see from the network diagram above, Inveneo's long-distance WiFi links connecting NetHope member organizations is starting to be far-reaching. Inveneo engineers Mark Summer and Andris Bjornson have been able to bring high-speed Internet access - critical communication capacity - to eleven relief agency locations with minimal equipment and installation time

Our long-distance WiFi network has made huge improvements in connectivity for NetHope member organizations. Some had no connectivity before. Others had limited connectivity, like a 160 kbit connection that jumped to 1.6 Mbit. That’s like going from 3 dialup connections to a cable or DSL connection.

These leaps in access have immediate impact when 20-100 people are sharing bandwidth at each location. International staff are able to make high-quality Skype video calls when before even voice calls were next to impossible, cutting resupply and rebuilding times by weeks or months.

We want to do more than just build out physical infrastructure; we also want to build the human capacity of local Haitian companies. Eventually, we hope they can deploy these technologies themselves, expanding the benefits of ICT beyond Inveneo's direct reach.

While we're fundraising for long-term capacity development, we're going to start the process of knowledge dissemination with a primer on deploying long-distance WiFI links in Haiti

How to deploy long-distance WiFi links in Haiti

Inveneo has created a methodology for deploying long-distance wireless networks from our many years of work in Africa. So while Port-au-Prince presents it own set of logistical and communication challenges, we were able to install and manage a high-functioning network relatively quickly using these basic steps:

1. WiFi Network Design - make sure your nodes are visible to each other and pointing at the right location

2. Location Capacity Survey - confirming the location can support a network node

3. WiFi Hub Antenna Pointing - aiming the dish for the highest signal strength

4. Installation Trip Preparation - determining what you'll need before your 30ft up a tower

5. Node Antenna Setup - aiming and connecting the antenna

6. Disseminating Internet Access - networking locally for end-user access

7. Network Management - making sure everyone has equal access to bandwidth

If you've read this far, you'll want to read the full How to Deploy Long-Distance WiFi in Haiti primer and how we and our Certified ICT Partners can bring Internet access to rural and underserved communities in the developing world.

Reference: Wired

The Linux Battle: Ubuntu vs. Fedora

The userbase of Linux operating systems is growing rapidly. More and more people are venturing away from Microsoft Windows and finding their way to open source operating systems. Just as more people are using them, more and more Linux distributions are available. According to DistroWatch, there are more than 400 Linux distributions available and active, with many versions for each, which in turn gives you thousands of options. With large PC manufacturers starting to offer Linux based operating systems as an option for a new computer, which operating system will come out on top and dominate this industry? Among the open source operating system crowd, there are 2 main contenders: Ubuntu and Fedora.

Ubuntu

First things first, the installation of Ubuntu was very simple and straightforward. No tricky, unfamiliar feats you must overcome. For the first time Linux user, Ubuntu is by far the easiest to start learning and also includes the most basic options which keep things simple. As you learn the operating system and desire additional features and options, they can be added separately which is great for those who are just new to the Linux scene. Most Ubuntu users are probably a little more computer literate than the average user but with a single disc install, anyone could set this operating system up. The set up process detects your hardware very well and things run smoothly. One of the driving forces to a Linux operating system is the unstable and hacker friendly Microsoft Windows. The biggest downside of Ubuntu is that there is no firewall on the system. There are solutions to work around this but this is one feature that should’ve been included. Another disappointment was the limited multimedia resources. You will probably have to look outside Ubuntu to find what you need in the multimedia department.

Fedora

This open source operating system has a strong history and has been a strong contender for awhile. Fedora has been the most consistent with stability issues which have plagued other open source operating systems. The recently added network tools are a great addition to this product and actually include eight tools into one easy to use interface. Your multimedia options are expanded somewhat but Fedora doesn’t provide any support for non open source programs that are really common among other users. The included Helix Player is fairly simple and provides a satisfactory replacement for the average multimedia user. Fedora also lacks some of the bells and whistles and human friendliness of other open source operating systems. The security options exceed those of Ubuntu, which is a strong point for Fedora.

Up to this point, Ubuntu appears to be taking the lead in the open source operating system world with a strong backing from Dell Computers. Both operating systems are fully functional and have surprisingly strong features. If you are new to Linux operating systems, Ubuntu is probably the way to go but Fedora users have no reason to jump ship quite yet.