The current Ubuntu desktop

A sort of "busy" desktop from a few days ago.

Blocking ads for Safari

Being doing some tests, again, trying to block Flash (and annoying ads) on Safari. Even tho I have SafariBlock installed, some of the buggers still pass thru, specially the Google Ads, which on some news blogs I read are a real PITA.

So, gave a shot using the "userContent.css method", here is a copy of mine, the Flash blocking a la Firefox's FlashBlock does not work.

/*
 * This file can be used to apply a style to all web pages you view
 * Rules without !important are overruled by author rules if the
 * author sets any.  Rules with !important overrule author rules.
 */

/* You can find the latest version of this ad blocking css at:
 * http://www.floppymoose.com
 * hides many ads by preventing display of images that are inside
 * links when the link HREF contans certain substrings.
 */

A:link[HREF*="javascript:void"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="addata"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="ad."]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="ads."]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="/ad"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="/A="]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="/click"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="?click"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="?banner"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="=click"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="clickurl="]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*=".atwola."]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="spinbox."]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="transfer.go"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="adfarm"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="adSpace"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="adserve"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*=".banner"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="bluestreak"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="doubleclick"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="/rd."]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="/0AD"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*=".falkag."]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="trackoffer."]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="casalemedia."]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="valueclick."]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="betterbasketball."]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="sponsors.phtml"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="realgmtix.phtml"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="BurstingPipe"]  IMG,
A:link[HREF*="ebayobjects"]  IMG,

/*
 * Google Ads
 */

A:link[HREF*="pagead2."]  IMG,
A:link[HREF*=".googlesyndication."]  IMG,

A:link[HREF*=".e-planning."]  IMG,
A:link[HREF*=".yieldmanager.edgesuite."]  IMG,
A:link[HREF*=".openx."]  IMG,

A:link[HREF*="tracksponsor."]  IMG { display: none ! important } 

/* disable ad iframes */
IFRAME[SRC*="addata"],
IFRAME[SRC*="ad."],
IFRAME[SRC*="ads."],
IFRAME[SRC*="/ad"],
IFRAME[SRC*="/A="],
IFRAME[SRC*="/click"],
IFRAME[SRC*="?click"],
IFRAME[SRC*="?banner"],
IFRAME[SRC*="=click"],
IFRAME[SRC*="clickurl="],
IFRAME[SRC*=".atwola."],
IFRAME[SRC*="spinbox."],
IFRAME[SRC*="transfer.go"],
IFRAME[SRC*="adfarm"],
IFRAME[SRC*="adSpace"],
IFRAME[SRC*="adserve"],
IFRAME[SRC*="adjuggler"],
IFRAME[SRC*=".banner"],
IFRAME[SRC*="bluestreak"],
IFRAME[SRC*="doubleclick"],
IFRAME[SRC*="/rd."],
IFRAME[SRC*="/0AD"],
IFRAME[SRC*=".falkag."], 
IFRAME[SRC*="trackoffer."],
IFRAME[SRC*="connextra."],
IFRAME[ID*="merchandisingMERC"],
IFRAME[SRC*="tracksponsor."]  { display: none ! important } 


/* miscellaneous different blocking rules to block some stuff that gets through */

A:link[onmouseover*="AdSolution"] IMG,
*[class=sponsors],
*[class=sp_links],
*[class=advertising],
*[ID=sponsors],
*[ID=ad],
*[ID=inlinead],
*[ID=ad_creative],
*[ID=contextualLinks],
IMG[SRC*=".msads."] { display: none ! important } 

/* turning some false positives back off */

A:link[HREF*="/add"]  IMG, 
A:link[HREF*="/adsl"] IMG,
A:link[HREF*="thread."] IMG,
A:link[HREF*="download."] IMG,
A:link[HREF*="downloads."] IMG,
A:link[HREF*="netflix.com/AddToQueue"] IMG,
A:link[HREF*="load."], 
A:link[HREF*="loads."], 
IFRAME[SRC*="load."], 
IFRAME[SRC*="loads."],
A:link[HREF*="click.mp3"] IMG { display: inline ! important }


/* 
 * For more examples see http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html
 */


/* Prevent flash animations from playing until you click on them. */
object[classid$=":D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"],
object[codebase*="swflash.cab"],
object[type="application/x-shockwave-flash"],
embed[type="application/x-shockwave-flash"],
embed[src$=".swf"]
{ -moz-binding: url("http://www.floppymoose.com/clickToView.xml#ctv"); }

Better Ad Blocking for Firefox, Mozilla, Camino, and Safari
XBL for User Style Sheets
Flashblock for Safari
PithHelmet
SafariStand for Mac OS X

Pipping the latest updates

This is what I do get the latest updates installed on Ubuntu:

less /var/log/dpkg.log | egrep installed | less

And then goto the end of the file to see the last installed on your system,
The dpkg.log its automagically rotated monthly, for waht I can see on the logrotate conf on my Intrepid.

Updates dujour

A reboot later, and no problem to be seen; after all, is just a language pack :)

2008-11-29 16:35:44 status installed language-pack-en 1:8.10+20081107
2008-11-29 16:36:11 status installed language-pack-en-base 1:8.10+20081107

Hellish week, the climax

The hellish week starts to fade, but, the MF didn't leave without taking its tall.
Last night, with a sky high temperature, the rolling blackout started.

Luckily, the power blackout at home didn't lasted for more than 50 minutes, but the internet said so long pretty much for the whole night.

Updates dujour

Installed a sh*t load of updates, including major ones like the kernel images.
Happy to say that everything seems to be working A Ok, the NVIDIA driver keeps crunching, and the WiFi keeps working.
Sort of depressing (or Windows like...) to do this, but, what a hell, I did had my share of tragedy involving updates.

2008-11-28 13:25:26 status installed man-db 2.5.2-2
2008-11-28 13:25:27 status installed doc-base 0.8.16
2008-11-28 13:25:28 status installed ufw 0.23.2
2008-11-28 13:25:29 status installed initramfs-tools 0.92bubuntu16
2008-11-28 13:26:22 status installed linux-image-2.6.27-9-generic 2.6.27-9.19
2008-11-28 13:26:34 status installed linux-backports-modules-2.6.27-9-generic 2.6.27-9.5
2008-11-28 13:26:34 status installed linux-restricted-modules-common 2.6.27-9.13
2008-11-28 13:26:47 status installed linux-restricted-modules-2.6.27-9-generic 2.6.27-9.13
2008-11-28 13:26:47 status installed xkb-data 1.3-2ubuntu4.2
2008-11-28 13:26:47 status installed libcups2 1.3.9-2ubuntu3
2008-11-28 13:26:47 status installed libcupsimage2 1.3.9-2ubuntu3
2008-11-28 13:26:47 status installed cups-common 1.3.9-2ubuntu3
2008-11-28 13:26:49 status installed cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu3
2008-11-28 13:26:49 status installed cups-client 1.3.9-2ubuntu3
2008-11-28 13:26:49 status installed cups-bsd 1.3.9-2ubuntu3
2008-11-28 13:26:49 status installed libgtkhtml-editor-common 1:3.24.1.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-28 13:26:50 status installed libgtkhtml3.14-19 1:3.24.1.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-28 13:26:50 status installed libgtkhtml-editor0 1:3.24.1.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-28 13:26:50 status installed libwbclient0 2:3.2.3-1ubuntu3.3
2008-11-28 13:26:50 status installed libsmbclient 2:3.2.3-1ubuntu3.3
2008-11-28 13:26:50 status installed linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic 2.6.27.9.13
2008-11-28 13:26:50 status installed linux-image-generic 2.6.27.9.13
2008-11-28 13:26:50 status installed linux-restricted-modules-generic 2.6.27.9.13
2008-11-28 13:26:50 status installed linux-generic 2.6.27.9.13
2008-11-28 13:26:50 status installed linux-headers-2.6.27-9 2.6.27-9.19
2008-11-28 13:26:52 status installed linux-headers-2.6.27-9-generic 2.6.27-9.19
2008-11-28 13:26:52 status installed linux-headers-generic 2.6.27.9.13
2008-11-28 13:26:52 status installed linux-libc-dev 2.6.27-9.19
2008-11-28 13:26:53 status installed samba-common 2:3.2.3-1ubuntu3.3
2008-11-28 13:26:53 status installed smbclient 2:3.2.3-1ubuntu3.3
2008-11-28 13:26:53 status installed language-pack-gnome-en 1:8.10+20081107
2008-11-28 13:26:53 status installed language-pack-gnome-en-base 1:8.10+20081107
2008-11-28 13:27:05 status installed initramfs-tools 0.92bubuntu16
2008-11-28 13:27:05 status installed libc6 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu7

Music right now (22)

Yo La tengo - Electr-O-Pura - Pablo and Andrea

Something nice, for a somehow cool & rainy day, after the effing hellish week we had.

Show me where you keep all your secrets upstairs
Night after night you sleep while they're setting off flares
Someone came and took all the roses away
Now you'll sit showing me tears if you want me to stay
Cause down the street all the meters have run out of time,
run out of time I waited for you as the trees swayed out of time
In a crowded room I pick up your lonely stare
I'll cover for you like a slipcover covers a chair
But someone came and took all the roses away
It was only 5 minutes but it felt like it stretched into a day
Someone came and took all the roses away

Prevent Squirrelmail from showing its version (2)

Another shot at this, the one before used the setting for displaying a custom logo, sort of branding with a link, etc, etc.
This one, uses no logo at all, but the provided blank png file, so it will present a clean login interface, and, more importantly, no disclosure of the Squirrelmail version.

$org_name        = " ";
$org_logo        = SM_PATH . 'images/blank.png';
$org_logo_width  = '1';
$org_logo_height = '1';
$org_title       = " ";
$signout_page    = '';
$frame_top       = '_top';

$provider_uri    = ' ';

$provider_name   = ' ';

What the hellish day brought

Scratching the 38 mark... truly incredible.

Updates dujour

The chosen ones, installed and rebooted.

2008-11-25 23:59:46 status installed ttf-opensymbol 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:46 status installed openoffice.org-base-core 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:46 status installed openoffice.org-style-human 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:46 status installed openoffice.org-core 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:47 status installed openoffice.org-calc 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:47 status installed openoffice.org-draw 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:47 status installed openoffice.org-impress 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:47 status installed openoffice.org-gtk 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:47 status installed openoffice.org-gnome 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:48 status installed python-uno 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:48 status installed openoffice.org-math 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:48 status installed openoffice.org-writer 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:50 status installed openoffice.org-emailmerge 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-25 23:59:52 status installed openoffice.org-common 1:2.4.1-11ubuntu2.1
2008-11-26 00:01:24 status installed libgnutls26 2.4.1-1ubuntu0.1
2008-11-26 00:01:24 status installed libc6 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu7

Hellish week, to the max

36 degrees, is there anything to add?

Yes, of course there is... This truly piece of shit weather will continue among us untill Friday, if not Saturday.

Bs As in the summer, come and visit!

Orbis meets Intrepid

Installed Intrepid on Orbis Tertius, went with the Alternate install, again.

The NVIDIA card that has, a GeForce2 MX/MX 400, it is not officially supported by Ubuntu, so it has no drivers for it, therefore, no 3D, no Desktop Effects, no Emerald with border-less windows.
The screenshot is using Metacity's compositing manager, thru the key '/apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager'.

But this time, to "raise" the whole thing to a Gnome desktop, instead of the plain vanilla:

sudo aptitude install ubuntu-desktop

Issued a:

sudo aptitude install ubuntu-desktop --without-recommends

It took about an hour to download the 200 MB of files, that expanded to about 850 MB, the whole install was using around 1.5 GB, but then installed Evolution, Firefox and Pidgin (yes, I like to suffer running hard apps on sub prime hardware) and I was told by aptitude that another 160 MB of HDD will be used.

Nagios install on CentOS 5

There are a ton of sites/ HOWTOs, examples out there, this is just a reminder of the damn RPM necessary packages to get the Nagios up & running in no time on a CentOS 5 boxen.
All the packages (that can not be installed via yum) are from DAG

fping is the only dependency that has not other one but itself, and perl(Net::SNMP) is the one that has all the other ones.
After the install, Nagios' configuration files will be on '/etc/nagios/' (with a ready made minimalist configuration on the file 'localhost.cfg') and the check plugins will reside on '/usr/lib/nagios/plugins/'.

There will be also the web access configuration file on '/etc/httpd/conf.d/mrtg.conf'.
The Nagios RPM sets itself to start automagically on RunLevels 3,4,5.

# rpm --test -ivh fping-2.4-1.b2.2.el5.rf.i386.rpm 
warning: fping-2.4-1.b2.2.el5.rf.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 6b8d79e6
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]

# rpm --test -ivh nagios-2.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm 
warning: nagios-2.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 6b8d79e6
error: Failed dependencies:
        libltdl.so.3 is needed by nagios-2.9-1.el5.rf.i386

[root@ltfs351 nagios]# rpm --test -ivh nagios-2.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm libtool-libs-1.5.6-4.EL4.2.i386.rpm 
warning: nagios-2.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 6b8d79e6
warning: libtool-libs-1.5.6-4.EL4.2.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID db42a60e
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]

[root@ltfs351 nagios]# rpm -ivh nagios-2.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm libtool-libs-1.5.6-4.EL4.2.i386.rpm 
warning: nagios-2.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 6b8d79e6
warning: libtool-libs-1.5.6-4.EL4.2.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID db42a60e
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:libtool-libs           ########################################### [ 50%]
   2:nagios                 ########################################### [100%]

# rpm --test -ivh nagios-plugins-1.4.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm 
warning: nagios-plugins-1.4.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 6b8d79e6
error: Failed dependencies:
        perl(Net::SNMP) is needed by nagios-plugins-1.4.9-1.el5.rf.i386

# rpm --test -ivh nagios-plugins-1.4.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm perl-Net-SNMP-5.2.0-1.2.el5.rf.noarch.rpm
warning: nagios-plugins-1.4.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 6b8d79e6
error: Failed dependencies:
        perl(Crypt::DES) is needed by perl-Net-SNMP-5.2.0-1.2.el5.rf.noarch
        perl(Digest::HMAC) is needed by perl-Net-SNMP-5.2.0-1.2.el5.rf.noarch
        perl(Digest::SHA1) is needed by perl-Net-SNMP-5.2.0-1.2.el5.rf.noarch

# rpm --test -ivh nagios-plugins-1.4.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm perl-Net-SNMP-5.2.0-1.2.el5.rf.noarch.rpm \
perl-Crypt-DES-2.05-3.2.el5.rf.i386.rpm perl-Digest-HMAC-1.01-2.rf.0.rh7.rf.noarch.rpm \
perl-Digest-SHA1-2.11-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm
warning: nagios-plugins-1.4.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 6b8d79e6
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]

# rpm -ivh nagios-plugins-1.4.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm perl-Net-SNMP-5.2.0-1.2.el5.rf.noarch.rpm \
perl-Crypt-DES-2.05-3.2.el5.rf.i386.rpm perl-Digest-HMAC-1.01-2.rf.0.rh7.rf.noarch.rpm \
perl-Digest-SHA1-2.11-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm
warning: nagios-plugins-1.4.9-1.el5.rf.i386.rpm: Header V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 6b8d79e6
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:perl-Digest-SHA1       ########################################### [ 20%]
   2:perl-Digest-HMAC       ########################################### [ 40%]
   3:perl-Crypt-DES         ########################################### [ 60%]
   4:perl-Net-SNMP          ########################################### [ 80%]
   5:nagios-plugins         ########################################### [100%]

A hellish week, indeed

Summer will crush us to the sticky pavement this week.

Orbis Tertius' FreeBSD notes

In the end, I got rid of it, no particular reason, maybe because Gnome was a little slow; but the box it is not a rocket either; or maybe it was that compiling the NVIDIA drivers got a little troublesome.
The thing is, I got Ubuntu, Intrepid, to be precise, on the server.

These are some notes, since on the FreeBSD made a minimal install, and then proceed to download the whole Gnome desktop; had to do this because it was impossible to install the whole thing from the CD, just like on Ubuntu 8.04 was.

The first thing I noticed is that Googling on howto make a Gnome install over the internet, every site I saw mentions that you have to add the package 'gnome2', did that, but the Gnome install waas incomplete, didn't even start, had to also install the package 'gnome-session'.
Installing all that used about 800 MB of HDD space, and got me a desktop like the one posted here.

FreeBSD Gnome Installation howto
Installing X Windows System on FreeBSD

Another hellish week

The whole week will be a piss of sh*t, the summer is here once again, and this time it doesn't look like a cold front is coming to save our asses off.

Bs As in the summer... How lovely

Current FreeBSD desktop

Actually, the default one, after finishing the Gnome install.

Hello again, FreeBSD

Installed FreeBSD 7.0 on Orbis Tertius today, scrubbed its Ubuntu 8.04 install.
Mostly because I want to test is NVIDIA (Compiz, Emerald, the works) support, want to see how fast it is compared to Ubuntu's.

Just like on the Ubuntu install, I couldn't just make a regular install, had to make a minimal one, and download all the goodies I like.
Here is the dmesg:

Copyright (c) 1992-2008 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
        The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE #0: Sun Feb 24 19:59:52 UTC 2008
    root@logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
CPU: Pentium II/Pentium II Xeon/Celeron (334.09-MHz 686-class CPU)
  Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0x651  Stepping = 1
  Features=0x183f9ff
real memory  = 536870912 (512 MB)
avail memory = 511471616 (487 MB)
kbd1 at kbdmux0
ath_hal: 0.9.20.3 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
hptrr: HPT RocketRAID controller driver v1.1 (Feb 24 2008 19:59:27)
cpu0 on motherboard
pcib0:  pcibus 0 on motherboard
pir0:  on motherboard
pci0:  on pcib0
agp0:  on hostb0
pcib1:  at device 1.0 on pci0
pci1:  on pcib1
$PIR: No matching entry for 0.1.INTA
vgapci0:  mem 0xf0000000-0xf0ffffff,0xe8000000-0xefffffff irq 11 at device 0.0 on pci1
isab0:  at device 7.0 on pci0
isa0:  on isab0
atapci0:  port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0xf000-0xf00f at device 7.1 on pci0
ata0:  on atapci0
ata0: [ITHREAD]
ata1:  on atapci0
ata1: [ITHREAD]
uhci0:  port 0xe000-0xe01f irq 10 at device 7.2 on pci0
uhci0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
uhci0: [ITHREAD]
usb0:  on uhci0
usb0: USB revision 1.0
uhub0:  on usb0
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
piix0:  port 0x5000-0x500f at device 7.3 on pci0
Timecounter "PIIX" frequency 3579545 Hz quality 0
rl0:  port 0xe400-0xe4ff mem 0xf4001000-0xf40010ff irq 9 at device 10.0 on pci0
miibus0:  on rl0
rlphy0:  PHY 0 on miibus0
rlphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
rl0: Ethernet address: 00:50:fc:53:ec:3a
rl0: [ITHREAD]
dc0:  port 0xe800-0xe8ff mem 0xf4000000-0xf40000ff irq 9 at device 11.0 on pci0
miibus1:  on dc0
amphy0:  PHY 1 on miibus1
amphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
dc0: Ethernet address: 00:80:ad:80:f0:ad
dc0: [ITHREAD]
pci0:  at device 12.0 (no driver attached)
pmtimer0 on isa0
atkbdc0:  at port 0x60,0x64 on isa0
atkbd0:  irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
atkbd0: [ITHREAD]
psm0:  irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
psm0: [ITHREAD]
psm0: model IntelliMouse, device ID 3
fdc0:  at port 0x3f0-0x3f5,0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2 on isa0
fdc0: [FILTER]
ppc0:  at port 0x378-0x37f irq 7 on isa0
ppc0: SMC-like chipset (ECP/EPP/PS2/NIBBLE) in COMPATIBLE mode
ppc0: FIFO with 16/16/8 bytes threshold
ppbus0:  on ppc0
ppbus0: [ITHREAD]
plip0:  on ppbus0
lpt0:  on ppbus0
lpt0: Interrupt-driven port
ppi0:  on ppbus0
ppc0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
ppc0: [ITHREAD]
sc0:  at flags 0x100 on isa0
sc0: VGA <16 virtual consoles, flags=0x300>
sio0 at port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on isa0
sio0: type 16550A
sio0: [FILTER]
sio1 at port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on isa0
sio1: type 16550A
sio1: [FILTER]
vga0:  at port 0x3c0-0x3df iomem 0xa0000-0xbffff on isa0
unknown:  can't assign resources (port)
unknown:  can't assign resources (memory)
unknown:  can't assign resources (port)
unknown:  can't assign resources (irq)
unknown:  can't assign resources (port)
unknown:  can't assign resources (port)
unknown:  can't assign resources (port)
unknown:  can't assign resources (port)
Timecounter "TSC" frequency 334093440 Hz quality 800
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
hptrr: no controller detected.
ad0: 6204MB  at ata0-master UDMA33
ad2: 76319MB  at ata1-master UDMA33
acd0: CDROM  at ata1-slave UDMA33
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ad0s1a

The current Ubuntu desktop

No matter what I try, I always go back to the satanic, Lascaux like, Intrepid goat desktop...

I like it, what can I say.

In the works (I)

I    EFFING    HATE    DUST.


But, the upcoming weeks will be even worst, so don't fear.

Gnome backgrounds on Intrepid

One thing regarding Intrepid: it lacks a few decent wallpapers, IMHO...

Although that dark satanic one with the goat is really, really nice, a bit more of a selection is in order, I guess.

So, the ones from Gnome are really nice -IMHO, again, anyhow- to get those on your Intrepid box, type:

sudo aptitude install gnome-backgrounds

An old Gnome screenshot

A very old (an incredible ugly) Linux screenshot.
Not sure if it's the first one, but I'm pretty sure it is one of the first ones I have saved.

I believe to be Red Hat 7, on Pentium II, the ones called MMX, running at a whooping 200MHz, with 40 MB of RAM, and a 8 GB HDD.

Music right now (21)

Siouxsie and The Banshees - Shadowtime

The voice asleep, the voice has vanished
from the top of the sky to the place below
touch the surface and the mirror bends
your words resound, out of control
freeze into time now

Still inside, yet doubt survives
it all begins, beneath the skin
No-one is near, no-one will hear
your changeling song take shape
in Shadowtime

Turn your wish to a vapour, the silhouette fades
eclipse your blue eyes, and the outline remains
from the house of the moon to the stars up above
amidst the comets, first sight of love

so begins the countdown
Falling sky, a solar sigh
it all begins, beneath the skin
No-one is near, no-one will hear
your changeling song takes shape
in Shadowtime

Shadowtime --
Catching fire, taking hold
all that glisters leaves you cold
No-one is near, no-one will head
your changeling song take shape
in Shadowtime

Updates dujour

What the river brought down today...

2008-11-19 03:55:37 status installed man-db 2.5.2-2
2008-11-19 03:55:39 status installed python-support 0.8.4
2008-11-19 03:55:40 status installed libxml2 2.6.32.dfsg-4ubuntu1.1
2008-11-19 03:55:40 status installed libxml2-utils 2.6.32.dfsg-4ubuntu1.1
2008-11-19 03:55:40 status installed python-libxml2 2.6.32.dfsg-4ubuntu1.1
2008-11-19 03:55:40 status installed libc6 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu7
2008-11-19 03:55:41 status installed python-support 0.8.4

Ubuntu high resolution console (2)

Enabled the high resolution console on Tango today, it is exactly the same procedure that I did on Hardy, but this time on Intrepid.

The only thing different I had to do, is editing the '/etc/usplash.conf' file, and switched the resolutions from 800x600, to 1024x768. because the usplash (during booting only, mind you) was off centered.

This how the kernel line ended up on the '/boot/grub/menu.lst' file:

/vmlinuz-2.6.27-7-generic root=UUID=0d25c207-41e3-4776-89d8-9c419595365f ro vga=791 quiet splash

Updates dujour

So far, so good...

2008-11-18 00:35:26 status installed python-support 0.8.4
2008-11-18 00:35:26 status installed gnome-cards-data 1:2.24.1.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-18 00:35:33 status installed gnome-games-data 1:2.24.1.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-18 00:35:43 status installed gnome-settings-daemon 2.24.0-0ubuntu3.2
2008-11-18 00:35:45 status installed python-support 0.8.4
2008-11-18 00:35:46 status installed libc6 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu7
2008-11-18 00:38:39 status installed xulrunner-1.9 1.9.0.4+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.10.1
2008-11-18 00:38:39 status installed xulrunner-1.9-gnome-support 1.9.0.4+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.10.1
2008-11-18 00:38:39 status installed firefox-3.0-branding 3.0.4+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.10.1
2008-11-18 00:38:39 status installed firefox-3.0 3.0.4+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.10.1
2008-11-18 00:38:39 status installed firefox-3.0-gnome-support 3.0.4+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.10.1
2008-11-18 00:38:39 status installed firefox 3.0.4+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.10.1
2008-11-18 00:38:40 status installed firefox-gnome-support 3.0.4+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.10.1
2008-11-18 00:38:40 status installed libc6 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu7

Music right now (20)

The Birds - Easy Rider - Wasn't Born to Follow




Oh I'd rather go and journey where the diamond crest is flowing and
Run across the valley beneath the sacred mountain and
Wander through the forest
Where the trees have leaves of prisms and break the light in colors
That no one knows the names of

And when it's time I'll go and wait beside a legendary fountain
Till I see your form reflected in it's clear and jewelled waters
And if you think I'm ready
You may lead me to the chasm where the rivers of our vision
Flow into one another

I will want to die beneath the white cascading waters
She may beg, she may plead, she may argue with her logic
And then she'll know the things I learned
That really have no value in the end she will surely know
I wasn't born to follow

The current Ubuntu desktop

Time for a lighter theme, not that I don't like the DarkRoom theme anymore... but I want to try another thing, in this case, the Human Murrina GTK theme, and the GNOME colors icon set.

To begin with, download it to your ~/Desktop/.
The issue the "Extract here" to the downloaded "GNOME_Colors_by_perfectska04.zip" file, after that, open a Terminal, and then:

cd ~/Desktop/GNOME_Colors_by_perfectska04/

Then extract the "gnome-human.tgz" package, and then copy it to the directory '/usr/share/icons/', that is:

sudo cp -R gnome-human /usr/share/icons/

After that, there are a couple of steps more involved:

cd /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.3/chrome/icons/default
sudo cp -R default default.ORIG
sudo cp -R ~/Desktop/GNOME_Colors_by_perfectska04/Extras/gnome-human Extras/usr/lib/firefox-3.0.3/chrome/icons/default/ /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.3/chrome/icons/default/

cd /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.3/
sudo cp -R icons icons.ORIGs
sudo cp -R ~/Desktop/GNOME_Colors_by_perfectska04/Extras/gnome-human Extras/usr/lib/firefox-3.0.3/icons/ /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.3/icons/

Then, to finish everything, it is necessary to execute this commands:

 
sudo rm -f /usr/share/icons/gnome/scalable/places/inode-directory.svg
sudo rm -f /usr/share/icons/gnome/32x32/places/inode-directory.png
sudo rm -f /usr/share/icons/gnome/24x24/places/inode-directory.png
sudo rm -f /usr/share/icons/gnome/22x22/places/inode-directory.png
sudo rm -f /usr/share/icons/gnome/16x16/places/inode-directory.png
sudo rm -f /usr/share/icons/gnome/icon-theme.cache
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -qf /usr/share/icons/gnome

And then logout or reboot to get all the changes done.

Taking gOS (the theme) for a spin

Being playing for a little time with the gOS theme for Gnome, this release is called gOS 3.0, nice indeed, but I'm pretty sure it won't stay on Tango for long.

It is a clear and pretty nice theme, but, for the moment at least, the Ubuntu browns are with me, and the Emerald Human Tiger is as best as I want, at least, once again, for the moment.

Amazing weekend

Finally, a cold front hit us "hard" on Friday night (or Saturday morning), therefore, the temperature dropped like a bastard.
Once again, amazing weekend, I could only wish this lows will stay with us a little longer.

Play Count (11)

Forgot to post about this, around, I guess it was Wednesday last week, turned another notch the whole iTunes counter thing, 10 this time, every single one on the Playlist listened at least 10 times.
Totally trivial, yes, but I like to keep tabs on this kind of stuff.

Right now hitting strong on getting beyond the 11 mark.

Updates dujour

Today's fix, the updates keep coming and coming.

2008-11-14 02:00:04 status installed man-db 2.5.2-2
2008-11-14 02:00:04 status installed doc-base 0.8.16
2008-11-14 02:00:05 status installed ufw 0.23.2
2008-11-14 02:00:07 status installed apparmor 2.3+1289-0ubuntu4.1
2008-11-14 02:00:07 status installed libapparmor1 2.3+1289-0ubuntu4.1
2008-11-14 02:00:07 status installed libapparmor-perl 2.3+1289-0ubuntu4.1
2008-11-14 02:00:07 status installed apparmor-utils 2.3+1289-0ubuntu4.1
2008-11-14 02:00:07 status installed libcups2 1.3.9-2ubuntu1
2008-11-14 02:00:08 status installed libcupsimage2 1.3.9-2ubuntu1
2008-11-14 02:00:08 status installed cups-common 1.3.9-2ubuntu1
2008-11-14 02:00:10 status installed cups 1.3.9-2ubuntu1
2008-11-14 02:00:10 status installed cups-client 1.3.9-2ubuntu1
2008-11-14 02:00:11 status installed cups-bsd 1.3.9-2ubuntu1
2008-11-14 02:00:17 status installed gnome-terminal-data 2.24.1.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-14 02:00:19 status installed gnome-terminal 2.24.1.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-14 02:00:19 status installed gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly 0.10.9-1ubuntu0.1
2008-11-14 02:00:21 status installed rhythmbox 0.11.6svn20081008-0ubuntu4.2
2008-11-14 02:00:21 status installed libc6 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu7
2008-11-14 02:02:26 status installed man-db 2.5.2-2
2008-11-14 02:02:27 status installed login 1:4.1.1-1ubuntu1.1
2008-11-14 02:02:32 status installed passwd 1:4.1.1-1ubuntu1.1

Now with more descriptions!

Go figure, today's updates? They do come with descriptions!
The last ones I have installed, didn't.

Music right now (19)

Nico - Chelsea girl - These days




I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had the chance to.

I've stopped my rambling,
I don't do too much gambling
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think about
How all the changes came about my ways
And I wonder if I'll see another highway.

I had a lover,
I don't think I'll risk another
These days, these days.
And if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
It's just that I've been losing so long.
La la la la la, la la.

I've stopped my dreaming,
I won't do too much scheming
These days, these days.
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten.
Please don't confront me with my failures,
I had not forgotten them.

Elevada sensación térmica

That's Spanish for you're f*cked.

The heat comes again... And again, and again. "Elevada sensación térmica" only means you are gonna fry, while the day, using this extra chunky special daylight savings time that we are using, goes on and on and on forever.

They say, once again, that on Saturday the temperature will drop, lucky for those that make it alive, I say.

Forced to use the Window

Today I had to use Windows.

Yes, I was forced to, just like that... And the worst of the whole thing is that it was to use a web app, from a GPL project.

Had to make some changes on one of the Zabbix servers from work and, to begin with, using Os X' Safari I was unable to login, it simply did not work, don't know what might have been the problem, but it was impossible to do accomplish that.

So I moved to Tango, to give it a shot, and test it with Ubuntu and Firefox, I was able to login without any problem, but, it was of no use, since the buttons showed no words at all, you had to guess what was the purpose of each one, or had a lot of memory.

Updates dujour

The ones installed today. the uptimes of Tango are a joke, I believe I have not gone over 4 days so far, I prefer to reboot after updates, even those that it is not necessary (like the ones from today).

2008-11-11 02:29:15 status installed man-db 2.5.2-2
2008-11-11 02:29:18 status installed hal 0.5.11-4ubuntu4
2008-11-11 02:29:20 status installed libvolume-id0 124-9
2008-11-11 02:29:20 status installed udev 124-9
2008-11-11 02:29:21 status installed update-manager-core 1:0.93.34
2008-11-11 02:29:25 status installed update-manager 1:0.93.34
2008-11-11 02:29:27 status installed libglib2.0-0 2.18.2-0ubuntu2
2008-11-11 02:29:27 status installed f-spot 0.5.0.3-0ubuntu4
2008-11-11 02:29:29 status installed libpango1.0-common 1.22.2-0ubuntu1
2008-11-11 02:29:29 status installed libpango1.0-0 1.22.2-0ubuntu1
2008-11-11 02:29:29 status installed libgtksourceview2.0-common 2.4.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-11 02:29:29 status installed libgtksourceview2.0-0 2.4.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-11 02:29:29 status installed gedit-common 2.24.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-11 02:29:35 status installed gedit 2.24.1-0ubuntu1
2008-11-11 02:29:37 status installed libpanel-applet2-0 1:2.24.1-0ubuntu2.1
2008-11-11 02:29:44 status installed gnome-panel-data 1:2.24.1-0ubuntu2.1
2008-11-11 02:29:46 status installed gnome-panel 1:2.24.1-0ubuntu2.1
2008-11-11 02:29:47 status installed jockey-common 0.5~beta3-0ubuntu6
2008-11-11 02:29:47 status installed jockey-gtk 0.5~beta3-0ubuntu6
2008-11-11 02:29:47 status installed libasound2-plugins 1.0.17-0ubuntu5
2008-11-11 02:29:47 status installed libglib2.0-data 2.18.2-0ubuntu2
2008-11-11 02:29:47 status installed libgnome-pilot2 2.0.15-2ubuntu4
2008-11-11 02:29:47 status installed nvidia-settings 177.78-0ubuntu2.1
2008-11-11 02:29:47 status installed pm-utils 1.1.2.4-1ubuntu8
2008-11-11 02:29:47 status installed xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.0.99+git20080912-0ubuntu6
2008-11-11 02:29:47 status installed xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse 1:12.5.1-1ubuntu5.1
2008-11-11 02:29:49 status installed gnome-pilot 2.0.15-2ubuntu4
2008-11-11 02:30:05 status installed initramfs-tools 0.92bubuntu15
2008-11-11 02:30:05 status installed libc6 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu7

What a step back in Evolution, man!!

I can't effing believe how hard is to make a backup of your Evolution data on the latest release (by latest I mean, the latest released with Intrepid).
Here are the instuctions, and here is a snip from that.

First of all, shut Evolution and its background processes (Evolution Data Server, Evolution Alarm Notify) completly down by using evolution --force-shutdown so no information gets lost/altered when backing up. Make sure you are not running gconf (by ps ax | grep gconf for example; you normally have to leave gnome for that and then run gconftool-2 --shutdown). Then, if you are in the home directory (if not, use cd ~), you can easily create a compressed file by using the command...

Here is the command they want you to execute, after killing all those process...

tar -cvzf $HOME/evolution-backup.tar.gz $HOME/.evolution \
$HOME/.gconf/apps/evolution $HOME/.gnome2_private/Evolution \
$HOME/.camel_certs

The current Ubuntu desktop

Undescriptive updates

One thing I noticed since I have started to pay a lot of attention to Ubuntu updates, is that they don't include a description of the changed they are going to make once installed.
I don't get this, specially for the really big ones, like the kernels, for instance.

Cool looking font

A very nice on the eyes Terminal (emulator) font for Linux, Inconsolata.
On Ubuntu, it is easy as cake to install:

esteban@tango:~$ sudo aptitude install ttf-inconsolata
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information      
Initializing package states... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  ttf-inconsolata 
0 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 28 not upgraded.
Need to get 105kB of archives. After unpacking 233kB will be used.
Writing extended state information... Done
Get:1 http://ar.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/universe ttf-inconsolata 001.009-1 [105kB]
Fetched 105kB in 2s (48.3kB/s)                         
Selecting previously deselected package ttf-inconsolata.
(Reading database ... 106184 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ttf-inconsolata (from .../ttf-inconsolata_001.009-1_all.deb) ...
Setting up ttf-inconsolata (001.009-1) ...
Updating fontconfig cache for /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-inconsolata
No CIDSupplement specified for Batang-Bold, defaulting to 0.
No CIDSupplement specified for Batang-Regular, defaulting to 0.
No CIDSupplement specified for UMingCN, defaulting to 0.
No CIDSupplement specified for Dotum-Bold, defaulting to 0.
No CIDSupplement specified for KochiGothic-Regular-JaH, defaulting to 0.
No CIDSupplement specified for KochiMincho-Regular, defaulting to 0.
No CIDSupplement specified for Dotum-Regular, defaulting to 0.
No CIDSupplement specified for KochiGothic-Regular, defaulting to 0.
No CIDSupplement specified for KochiMincho-Regular-JaH, defaulting to 0.

Reading package lists... Done             
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information      
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done

It's right there, side to side with Andale Mono -I find the name hilarious- both are really easy looking, I like of Inconsolata that the zeroes are slashed, but Andale Mono seems a bit more modern to me.

A Hell of a weekend

In the end, there wasn't a single drop of rain last night... This week looks like its going to be really tough.

Living in Saigon weather

For the love of Christ, or whatever the effing hell, please, rain!!! God damn it, this stinking humid, hot and a piece of sh*t weather is killing me.

It is like living inside a dragon's ass, everything is, at least, mild, and at worst, hot and humid.

More updates

More updates for my Intrepid beast...

2008-11-08 15:32:52 status installed man-db 2.5.2-2
2008-11-08 15:33:02 status installed capplets-data 1:2.24.0.1-0ubuntu7.1
2008-11-08 15:33:02 status installed libgnome-window-settings1 1:2.24.0.1-0ubuntu7.1
2008-11-08 15:33:02 status installed gnome-control-center 1:2.24.0.1-0ubuntu7.1
2008-11-08 15:33:02 status installed libc6 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu7

These ones seem like "simple" ones... So far, everything is working A Ok.

The caret got fatter

A little update on the fatten of the caret thing.
Thanks to a post I made on the Ubuntu forums, there is a way to modify the caret size globally on Gnome.

The key is editing the gtkrc file of theme, on a plain Vanilla Ubuntu, that would usually be:
'/usr/share/themes/theme.in.use/gtk-2.0/gtkrc'

You have to add to the file:

## -----------------------------------------------

  # This will adjust the overall color and size of
  # the text cursor
  # Originaly the aspect ratios were set to 0.1
  # You can play this aspect radio value (from .1 to .9) 
  # I like .9 but you might what something different like .7 or .8
  GtkEntry::cursor_color    = { 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 }
  GtkEntry::cursor_aspect_ratio = 0.39

  GtkTextView::cursor_color    = { 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 }
  GtkTextView::cursor_aspect_ratio = 0.39

  EelEditableLabel::cursor_color    = { 0.00, 0.00, 0.00 }
  EelEditableLabel::cursor_aspect_ratio = 0.39

## -----------------------------------------------

Updates: happy, happy, joy, joy

Just made an update run, with all that there was available for my Intrepid install, I was a little worried, to be honest, of loosing something that it was already working on my install, specially now that with Intrepid, everything, hardware wise, it is working like a clock.

So far, I haven't found a single thing that does not work... Compiz does, USB after a suspend does and, one of the most important things, my Atheros WiFi card does work.

Here is what I have upgraded today:

2008-11-07 00:52:12 upgrade linux-image-2.6.27-7-generic 2.6.27-7.15 2.6.27-7.16
2008-11-07 00:52:31 upgrade gdm-guest-session 0.6 0.6.1
2008-11-07 00:52:32 upgrade human-theme 0.28.5 0.28.6
2008-11-07 00:52:32 upgrade libgphoto2-port0 2.4.2-0ubuntu2 2.4.2-0ubuntu3
2008-11-07 00:52:32 upgrade libgphoto2-2 2.4.2-0ubuntu2 2.4.2-0ubuntu3
2008-11-07 00:52:33 upgrade libtotem-plparser12 2.24.1-0ubuntu2 2.24.2-0ubuntu1
2008-11-07 00:52:33 upgrade linux-headers-2.6.27-7 2.6.27-7.15 2.6.27-7.16
2008-11-07 00:52:41 upgrade linux-headers-2.6.27-7-generic 2.6.27-7.15 2.6.27-7.16
2008-11-07 00:52:47 upgrade linux-libc-dev 2.6.27-7.15 2.6.27-7.16
2008-11-07 00:52:48 upgrade python-software-properties 0.68 0.68.1
2008-11-07 00:52:49 upgrade software-properties-gtk 0.68 0.68.1
2008-11-07 00:52:50 upgrade system-tools-backends 2.6.0-1ubuntu1 2.6.0-1ubuntu1.1
2008-11-07 00:52:51 upgrade totem-common 2.24.2-0ubuntu4 2.24.3-0ubuntu1
2008-11-07 00:53:07 upgrade totem-plugins 2.24.2-0ubuntu4 2.24.3-0ubuntu1
2008-11-07 00:53:07 upgrade totem-gstreamer 2.24.2-0ubuntu4 2.24.3-0ubuntu1
2008-11-07 00:53:08 upgrade totem 2.24.2-0ubuntu4 2.24.3-0ubuntu1
2008-11-07 00:53:08 upgrade totem-mozilla 2.24.2-0ubuntu4 2.24.3-0ubuntu1
2008-11-07 00:53:09 upgrade transmission-gtk 1.34-0ubuntu2 1.34-0ubuntu2.1
2008-11-07 00:53:09 upgrade transmission-common 1.34-0ubuntu2 1.34-0ubuntu2.1
2008-11-07 01:09:20 upgrade command-not-found-data 0.2.26ubuntu1 0.2.26ubuntu1.1
2008-11-07 01:09:20 upgrade command-not-found 0.2.26ubuntu1 0.2.26ubuntu1.1
2008-11-07 01:09:21 upgrade libdecoration0 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4.1
2008-11-07 01:09:21 upgrade compiz-gnome 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4.1
2008-11-07 01:09:32 upgrade compiz-plugins 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4.1
2008-11-07 01:09:32 upgrade compiz-wrapper 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4.1
2008-11-07 01:09:32 upgrade compiz-core 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4.1
2008-11-07 01:09:33 upgrade compiz 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4.1
2008-11-07 01:09:33 upgrade nvidia-96-modaliases 96.43.05-0ubuntu10 96.43.09-0ubuntu1
2008-11-07 01:09:33 upgrade rhythmbox 0.11.6svn20081008-0ubuntu4 0.11.6svn20081008-0ubuntu4.1

The ordeal goes on

Didn't rain, the heat went on and on, everything points toward a totally crappy weekend.

Life is good, Ubuntu wise

Being really busy these last days, but, I just want to say that I effing love my Intrepid install.
The best Ubuntu I had used so far, on the Compaq F700 laptop, everything it is working perfectly.
It is specially good to get the things that didn't work on Hardy, happily working on Intrepid.

Summer, how nice...

The worst of the summer is here, and the summer itself haven't even started...
Rain, more humidity and a lot of heat.

Intrepid: Atheros WiFi card on Compaq F700

Well, on the last soul incarnation of Tango, using Ubuntu Hardy Heron, getting to work the WiFi card was impossible to me...
No matter what I have tried, nothing worked, actually, the card per worked, but I was unable to connect to any AP, no matter what encryption method the AP used, the happened if the AP was wide open.

But, on Intrepid things are completely different, I have been able to get the WiFI card up and working in no time.

Here are the steps:

1- Disable the "Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards" on Hardware Drivers, and reboot your box.
2- Once it is back on, open a Terminal, and type:

sudo aptitude install linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic

It will ask your password, this is what it prints on screen, that is, what it will do on the box:

esteban@tango:~/Desktop$ sudo aptitude install linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic
[sudo] password for esteban: 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information      
Initializing package states... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  linux-backports-modules-2.6.27-7-generic{a} 
  linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic 
0 packages upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 1173kB of archives. After unpacking 3772kB will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] 

When that is over (you'll get your prompt back), reboot, and enjoy the WiFi connection.
According to lspci, I have this WiFi card specifically:

esteban@tango:~/Desktop$ lspci | grep Atheros
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
esteban@tango:~/Desktop$ 

Edit:
Feb 23rd 2009
This thread is related to all the posts titled "Updates dujour" (link 1 link 2) as up to now, all the applied updates on Intrepid Ibex haven't break anything functional on the install on the Compaq F700, specially, the WiFi!!!

Ubuntu 8.10 on the Compaq F700 (2)

Installed last night, the install, as usual, without any problems, it took hours to get all the files form the external Seagate on place again, but, in the end, everything seems fine.

The video card works perfectly, with the proprietary drivers, blah, blah. I'm not using that many Compiz effects this time, at least, for now.

This is what I have installed after the basic install:

Console:
emacs22-nox
openssh-server
build-essential
ssmtp
curl

GUI:
vlc
ubuntu-restricted-extras
flashplugin-nonfree libflashsupport
computertemp
compizconfig-settings-manager
emerald

Noticed that on this release, Ubuntu does install the NVIDIA settings utility, not like on 8.04, where you had to install that separately.

Ubuntu 8.10 on the Compaq F700

A little test drive I did, as I'm checking all the backups to see if they are up to date, to do a wipe and install of Ibex on Tango.


The new GUI for the Network setup tool, I don't have DHCP on my LAN, but after setting the IP address, everything went well, didn't even tried to setup the WiFi, I'll try that after making the install for real.




 
The Hardware Drivers... Ubuntu correctly detected that I need a closed source driver to get the most of my hardware... Bah, I need drivers. After clicking on 'Activate' and wait a few seconds, Ubuntu downloads and enables the driver.




 
No need to reboot to start using the new driver (which, BTW, will be fatal on a live session :D ), a simply Ctrl + Alt + Backspace will 'restart the GUI', logout and login automatically again, this time using the driver, and a much, much better resolution, and, some of the Desktop Effects enabled.

Ubuntu 8.04 post install screenshots

About to jump onto 8.10, so, it is time, I guess, to post these here.