How-to: Update ISO images with Zsync

"Zsync is a wonderful piece of software that downloads only the parts of a file that are changed, so as to avoid downloading a full copy every time."

Or more fully:

"zsync is a implementation of rsync over HTTP. It allows updating of files from a remote Web server without requiring a full download or a special remote server application. It uses a metafile, which is created on the server, to determine which parts of a file the user already has; it then downloads the remaining parts via HTTP. No special server or Web server module is needed. It also works with gzip files, and content on the server can be compressed to further reduce download times."

Ubuntu 12.04 Has experienced an Internal Error

"Sorry, Ubuntu 12.04 Has experienced an Internal Error"

The litany of crashes continues.

This time it's smbd - part of the Samba suite for Windows file sharing. Splat.

Join the regulars GIMP, Nautilus and colord.

And Gedit. What? What can possibly go wrong with Gedit?

At least Apport runs the crash reporter faultlessly every time. RC

How-to: VirtualBox Networking Part Three - Host-only and Internal

This continues our run-through of virtual networking in VirtualBox. This is all heading toward setting up a virtual server for Ubuntu 11.10 with a sandboxed instance of Wordpress. Completing our tour of the Network Adapter options available to our guest machine, there are two left.

How-to: VirtualBox Networking Part Two - NAT and Bridged

This all started when I needed to run a sandboxed instance of Wordpress and thought a virtual Ubuntu 11.10 server would the simple answer under VirtualBox. It is - provided you understand how to network virtual machines in that environment. That includes a basic understanding of what is an IP, or network, address.

Last time, we ran through the Network Adapter options available to our guest machine, except the most important one...

News: Linux Silverlight Plugin Moonlight Abandoned

It's been on the cards for a couple of months, but I waited until there was no doubt about it. Since OMG Ubuntu reported it a few days ago, we might as well acknowledge that Moonlight has gone.

With the reluctance of the Open Source community to embrace any proprietary-led  web-platforms by Microsoft, this is hardly a surprise. The bid for web-domination by MS using Silverlight itself was doomed early on because few on Windows wanted to cede control to Redmond either.

This has come about because the Silverlight roadmap has effectively ended at Microsoft, leaving Moonlight to run out of road.

How-to: VirtualBox Networking Part One - Adapters

This all started when I needed to run a sandboxed instance of Wordpress. The simple part was creating a virtual Ubuntu 11.10 server as a guest inside my VirtualBox host.

Then I discovered I knew much less about networking than I thought, a topic full of packets and switches and routing. I know much less about networking in VirtualBox, where all that stuff is virtualised in software.

Several attempts and a networking crash-course later, mission accomplished, and, to save you my pain, here's what I found.

Review: Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin in PC Mag

If you missed the review in PC Mag last month (I almost did), you can still catch up with Matthew Murray's verdict on Ubuntu 12.04 in his article from May 31, 2012

Like most of us, Matt asks the common question "...what the heck is a pangolin?"

One of the common threads in this fair-minded and OS-agnostic review is the comparison with other operating system features:
"...the Heads-Up Display, or HUD. It implements a typable search interface very much along the lines of what you get in Windows 7 if you hit the Windows key and then start typing."

Full Circle Side-Pod 11: The Tinman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion

Full Circle Side-Pod Episode Eleven: The Tinman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion is available from the Full Circle Magazine site 

In this episode, six months to catch up and Ubuntu 12.04.

The Full Circle Podcast is the companion to Full Circle Magazine, the independent magazine for the Ubuntu Linux community.

File Sizes:

• OGG 23.6Mb
• MP3 24.3Mb

Running Time: 44minutes 41 seconds

Another Rail Against 12.04

It seems every time Ubuntu 12.04 is updated, the worse it gets.

On my dual-core machine that has happily run Ubuntu since 7.04, this LTS is developing more faults and faster. 

• Hibernate is dead
• Nautilus is up and down like a politician's trousers
• Boot times are now longer than the last ice age AND leave me staring at a black screen
• The wireless connection is randomly up and down and has nothing with the ISP or router (my other machines prove it)
• Sound starts muted all the time and I never mute it.

How-to: Adopt an ISO - Quantal 12.10

This is early in the testing stage of 12.10, with few noticeable changes in the standard desktop  and applications, however there are numerous changes going on inside the installer and other things under the hood.

There's no reason not to do your bit in testing 12.10, in a virtual machine if you have nothing else or on a bit of spare hardware, as Nicholas reiterates often, the QA team is interested in testing on as many combinations of physical hardware as possible.

Simplify Your Life: the "Unity Orientation Guide" Revised

With the release of Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS, the Ubuntu Vancouver Local Community (UVLC) has updated its guide to the Unity desktop.

The fully revised "Unity Orientation Guide," formerly "Simplify Your Life with Ubuntu Unity", is available now.

To quote editor-in-chief and Ubuntu Buzz Generator Randall Ross:

Opinion: Not All is Well with Pangolin 12.04

Clean install, patched and up-to-date, yet Ubuntu 12.04 is far from plain sailing.

It's an LTS or Long Term Suport release running on a dual-core machine that has happily run Ubuntu since 7.04. The LTS code should be the most robust, most stable, most performant.

And yet...

Full Circle Magazine Issue 61 Out Now

Full Circle - the independent magazine for the Ubuntu Linux community are proud to announce the release of our sixty-first issue.
This month:

• Command and Conquer.
• How-To : Beginning Python – Part 33, Use The TOP Command, and VirtualBox Networking.
• Graphics : GIMP – The Beanstalk Part 2, and Inkscape Part 1.
• Linux Lab – DVD-Ripping and Encoding.
• Book Review & Competition – Linux For Newbies.
• I Think – Have You Helped a Kickstarter?
• Closing Windows – Add/Remove Software and Repos.
• NEW! Audio Flux – CC music, sites and apps.

plus: Ubuntu Games, My Desktop, My Opinion, My Story, and much much more!
Get it while it’s hot! http://fullcirclemagazine.org/issue-61/