Dual Screens on Ubuntu 9.10 with nvidia-settings

As you may already know, Ubuntu 9.10 was released on Thursday, October 29th. it has been a very exciting experience! The release notes have been very helpful in helping me get things working again, but I have run into a couple issues. As I find fixes, I will post them here.

Dual Monitor Configuration using nvidia-settings :


After installing the nvidia binary drivers for my XFX Fatal1ty 7600GT Video card, I was easily able to configure Twinview and extend my desktop across two LCD monitors at a resolution of 2560 x 1024. However, when I attempted to save the settings to the X configuration file using the "Save to X Configuration File" button, the program crashed. Although the settings for my dual screen monitors continued to work, the settings were reset back to a single monitor upon my next login.
I first tried running sudo nvidia-settings from the command line to see if it was a permissions issue. it wasn't. Fortunately, Google was my friend, and pointed me to an old Ubuntu bug report that suggested the solution that worked for me.
I simply had to run sudo nvidia-xconfig first, then run sudo nvidia-settings from the command line. Typing the commands in this order allowed me to save the configuration file without crashing, and now I am able to enjoy my dual screens. It appears that this issue was caused by problems with the permissions and locations of X configuration files in the default install.

LinuxCon videos and slides now available!

If you were unable to attend the first annual LinuxCon, but were excited about the subject matter, you're in luck. The Linux Foundation has released video and slides from some the LinuxCon presentations on their website.
To give you a sample of the content that is archived, here is a video of Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical and founder of the Ubuntu OS talking about coordinated software releases and the Linux ecosystem.




For the more technically oriented, The Linux Plumbers Conference video has also been uploaded, as well. Below is a video of Linus Torvalds giving an in depth tutorial on Git.


Additional video archives (synched with slides) are also available from Linux Pro Magazine. Some of these additional archives have additional fees.

Linux Journal article- Android OS and Palm Pre WebOS virtualization

Today, I was published on the Linux Journal website with an exclusive (two part) Tech Tip. The first Tech Tip describes how to get Google's Android OS easily running as a virtual appliance. The second Tech Tip will focus on getting Palm's WebOS running, which you may find out to be easier than you think. Part two is now out, as well. Enjoy!

Hulu announces Linux client!

This just in, folks! Hulu released a Linux desktop client with 32 and 64 bit packages for Ubuntu and Fedora. I had it downloaded, installed, and running in less than five minutes, and I encourage other Linux users to do the same!

Enjoy!

VirtualBox 3.0.8 released!

Another maintenance release of VirtualBox (3.0.8) was released!
The changelog is below:

• VMM: fixed 64 bits guest on 32 bits host regression in 3.0.6 (VT-x only; bug fixed in ... (closed)">#4947)
• VMM: fixed a recompiler triple fault guru meditation (VT-x & AMD-V only; bug fixed in ... (reopened)">#5058)
• VMM: fixed hang after guest state restore (AMD-V, 32 bits Windows guest and IO-APIC enabled only; bug fixed in ... (closed)">#5059)
• VMM: fixed paging issue with OS/2 guests
• VMM: fixed guru meditation in rare cases (2.0 regression; software virtualization only)
• VMM: fixed release assertion during state restore when using the Sound Blaster 16 emulation (bug Fixed in ... (closed)">#5042)
• Security: fixed vulnerability that allowed to execute commands with root privileges
• Linux hosts: fixed runtime assertion in semaphore implementation which was triggered under certain conditions (bug Fixed in SVN/3.0.6 (closed)">#616)
• Linux hosts: change the default USB access mode on certain distributions (bugs #3394#4291) and
• Linux hosts: on hardened Gentoo, the VBoxSVC daemon crashed by opening the VM network settings (bug fixed in ... (closed)">#3732)
• Linux hosts, Solaris hosts: pass the XAUTHORITY variable along the DISPLAY variable when starting a VM from VBoxManage or from the VM selector (bug #5063)
• Linux hosts: use sysfs to enumerate host drives if hal is not available
• Solaris hosts: fixed a bug which would hang the host sporadically as interrupts were not re-enabled everytime
• Solaris hosts: fixed a kernel panic with bridged and host-only networking (bug #4775)
• Solaris hosts: fixed incorrectly persistent CD/DVD-ROMs when changing them (bug #5077)
• X11-based hosts: support additional function keys on Sun keyboards (bug ... (closed)">#4907)
• Mac OS X hosts (Snow Leopard): fixed problem starting headless VMs without a graphical session (bug fixed in ... (closed)">#5002)
• Mac OS X hosts: fixed problem listing host-only adapter names with trailing garbage (attached VMs won't start)
• Windows Additions: now work with Vista 64-bit Home editions (bug #3865)
• Windows Additions: fixed screen corruption with ZoomText Magnifier
• Windows Additions: fixed NPGetUniversalName failure (bug Fixed in ... (closed)">#4853)
• Windows Additions: fixed Windows NT regression (bug Fixed ... (closed)">#4946)
• Windows Additions: fixed VBoxService not running if no Shared Folders are installed
• Linux Additions: implemented ftrunctate (bug Fixed in ... (closed)">#4771)
• VRDP: start VM even if configured VRDP port is in use
• Networking: the PCnet network device stopped receiving under rare conditions (bug Fixed in SVN/3.0.8 (closed)">#4870)
• VBoxManage: implemented controlvm vrdpport command
• iSCSI: fixed issue with NetApp targets ( fixed in SVN/3.0.8 (closed)">#5072)
• SCSI: add support for virtual disks larger than 2TB
• USB: fixed potential crash when unplugging USB2 devices (bug Fixed in SVN/3.0.8 (closed)">#5089)
• NAT: IPSEC did not properly work with Linux guests (bug fixed in ... (closed)">#4801)

The most interesting feature to me appears to be the implementation of the "VBoxManage controlvm vrdpport" command, offering another way to configure VirtualBox's internal RDP server for virtual appliances over the Remote DeskTop (RDP) protocol.

Linux-based Android phones coming to Verizon.

Recently, Google and Verizon announced a landmark partnership to bring several Linux-based Android phones to the Verizon network, a great network that has seriously been lacking in high tech phones unlike T-Mobile (Android), Sprint (Palm Pre), and AT&T (iPhone), who have had high tech phones to peddle to their customers for quite some time.

Rumors contend that the first two devices will most likely be from HTC and/or Motorola. The current rumored list of upcoming Verizon phones includes the Motorola Sholes, HTC Desire, HTC Passion, and HTC Predator.

This is good news for Verizon customers, as it signals a movement in the direction of more 'open' phones, as opposed to previous policies that had been considered somewhat totalitarian. They are also promising "innovative applications" (Google Voice, perhaps?).

I will be watching these developments with interest as the phones are officially announced.

Phoronix benchmarks Ubuntu 9.10 vs. FreeBSD 8

Phoronix released some benchmarks of the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10, the Karmic Koala. The benchmarks compare it to FreeBSD 8. The Phoronix Testing Suite was used to develop the benchmarks. Although the official release date of Ubuntu 9.10 will not be until October 29th, these benchmarks show that the new version should be speedy and fun to use!

Warning! The Phoronix benchmark article is n i n e p a g e s long, so don't go to it if you aren't in the mood for clicking through ads to get to the article.