Mike Southby

At this stage I am assuming that you already have Sun VirtualBox installed and that you have gone through the process of installing a new virtual machine and installed Linux Mint 8 as a virtual machine.  It’s at this stage once you have started Linux Mint that you’ll be greeted with a low resolution screen, when you go to the display options you’ll find that you only get options to choose 800×600 or 640×400 which let’s face it, is not very helpful with modern screens.  Personally, I am running a 1920×1200 resolution so found the default resolutions almost unworkable.

Fortunately, there is a simple way to overcome this; all you need to do is follow the following steps:

• Start your virtual box and log into Linux Mint in the normal way
• Hit the right ctrl key so that you can get you mouse pointer outside of the virtual box as you’ll now need to work with the host machine
• Go to the top of the virtual window, click on Devices and then select Install Guest Additions.  You’ll now see the virtual CDROM installed within Linux Mint and a new icon will appear on the desktop
• Click back inside the virtual box again and go to Menu and then Terminal
• Type cd /media/cdrom0 and then hit enter
• Type sudo sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run and then hit enter.
• You now need to reboot your virtual machine
• Log back into Linux Mint and go to Menu, Control Centre then Display.  You should now have more options than the original low resolution options you had.

Depending on your specific hardware, you may still find that you’d like a different combination or higher resolution than the new ones which are listed; again, there is a solution:

• Open Terminal again by going to Menu and then Terminal
• Type sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and then hit enter.  You will be asked for your password, type this and hit enter again
• The text editor will now load, before changing anything make a backup by going to the file menu and choose save as, changing the file name to xorgbak.conf
• Now to make the changes.  Unlike previous versions you will not see a long list of configuration options, 9.10 creates these settings dynamically.  However you can still add specific combinations so add your desired settings here (Caveat: Working with xorg.conf is a topic in itself so do not add code here unless you are sure what you are doing, you WILL break the installation and either have to fix it from the command line or reinstall the virtual machine), this will vary depending on your hardware and the resolution you are trying to achieve, I added the following lines of code for my hardware:
  Section “screen”
Identifier “screen0”
Device “Videocard0”
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection “Display”
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes “1920x1200” “1680x1050” “1280x1024” “1024x768”
EndSubSection
EndSection
• You must now do a save as but ensure you change the filename back to the original xorg.conf otherwise you will overwrite the backup you have just created.
• Restart the virtual box and you should now have the new screen resolutions available.

Enjoy.

Linux Mint 8 has available either ‘out of the box’ or from the repository, almost any software you could possibly imagine.  Just as with Ubuntu however there is one glaring omission (although we will let the development guys off as no doubt this is owing to legalities of licensing), and that is the ability to natively play a standard DVD.  This needn’t be a huge problem however as unlike when using a Microsoft OS, you do not need to purchase a codec to enable this feature, it just needs a few lines of code to be entered to acquire the needed codecs.

To play a DVD on Linux Mint, you will need to install libdvdcss2.  In Linux Mint 8 just as with previous versions and Ubuntu, there is no need to manually configure the repository, all you need do is the following:

• Open a Terminal Window (Menu > Terminal) and type the following:
  sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
• Next type the following:
  sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Once you have done that, next time you insert a DVD you should get the option to auto run with MPlayer Media Player.  Enjoy.

*Note:  The above proceedure is also the same to enable DVD playback in Ubuntu 9.10, although Terminal can be found in by clicking Menu > Applications > Accessories > Terminal*

As promised, an update on where I am at with trying to get a working installation of Microsoft Office 2010 on Ubuntu.

After numerous hours spent trying various options and configurations of WINE I’m still unable to get it working.  Sure, I can get it to install but it won’t run so I can’t really call it a success.  I’ll have some time over the Christmas break so will keep trying and hopefully will have a stable solution soon; these things have a habit of ‘falling into place’ and the answer is usually staring me in the face!

My original post showing how to install Office 2007 can be found here – http://www.mikesouthby.co.uk/2009/11/ubuntu-9-10-installing-microsoft-office-2007

The need to be able to conduct business whilst on the move is becoming more and more integrated into the way we go about our daily work; gone are the days when you can ignore email between point A and point B simply because you do not have access to your inbox.  For me working in the IT sector this is ever more important, I need to be able to stop the car almost anywhere and be able to remotely connect to a clients network when they need help – having to wait until I ‘get in front of my machine‘ simply is no longer an option if you want to succeed in today’s marketplace.

As you will know if you are a regular visitor to my blog, I am a huge fan of the majority of Microsoft’s products.  Perhaps it stems from the fact I chose the Microsoft career path and studied towards my MCSE and MCSA; perhaps it’s because 80% of the clients I deal with and the computers I maintain utilise Windows as their primary OS.  Either way, Microsoft – and Windows more specifically – are an integral part of my daily life.  Back on topic and moving back to my original point, the need to remain connected whilst out of the office is easily overcome when using a Windows OS, there are plenty of mobile data cards and USB data sticks now on the market, most if not all the big telecommunications providers supply them at competitive rates.  All of these products come supplied with connection software to get you connected – Windows connection software.

Now I am not saying some of them do not come with alternative software for Linux or Mac for example, if I did I’m sure I would be proved wrong but certainly the ones I have experience with (Vodafone, o2 and BT) do not.  So that leaves a problem for people who are wanting to make the switch to Linux, including the ever popular Ubuntu distribution – it may work well in the office or at home but if it doesn’t allow use whilst mobile too, why not simply use Windows?  Hardware support in Ubuntu has come on a very long way in the last few years, I remember only a year ago when I last gave Ubuntu a proper test that I was stuck when it came to using my data card.  With the Linux knowledge I had at the time, I simply could not get it to work; I’m pleased to see that Ubuntu and Linux generally have come on a long way since and now work almost as well as Windows, if not equally.

I run my ThinkPad in a dual-boot configuration, using mainly Windows 7 but also using Ubuntu as often as I can.  Today I thought I would have another go at configuring my mobile data card, sure enough I have been surprised by the ease at which the latest evolution of Ubuntu – v9.10 – handles hardware which a year ago, would have caused major headaches.

Note: For the purpose of this guide, I am using a BT mobile data stick, a rebranded Huawei E180 HSPDA USB data stick on a BT Tariff.  The contract is a 12 month plan as supplied with either BT Total Broadband or BT Business Broadband as an optional extra.

Prerequisites: I am assuming that you already have Ubuntu 9.10 installed and running and that your data card has previously been activated either by using it with the BT Connection Manager software in a Windows environment, or by activating the SIM in a Vodafone handset (BT curiously use the Vodafone network); also that the security PIN lock on the device has been disabled.

Configuring the data card for use is actually a relatively simple and pain free process:

• Plug the data stick into a spare USB slot on your machine, after a few seconds the device will be mounted automatically and on your screen you’ll see 2 icons appear for the BT software embedded into the data stick (shown as a mounted CD) and the USB storage facility of the data stick [screenshot]
• Right click on the network notification in the system tray and choose Edit Connections
• Click the Mobile Broadband tab and the Add a new connection
• You’ll be asked to choose a connection, you should only have one option HUAWEI Technology HUAWEI Mobile then click Forward
• Next choose Britain (UK) followed again by Forward [screenshot]
• On the next screen – strangely – you need to choose Vodafone as the provider and not BT Mobile, BT Mobile now use Vodafone to provide their connectivity so we choose this as a base configuration.  Click Forward
• You now need to confirm the type of contract you have followed by Forward
• Next you’ll be asked to confirm your settings [screenshot], click Apply
• Click Edit to edit your setting for the new connection you have just made and make the following changes under the Mobile Broadband tab [screenshot]:
  Number:  *99#
Username:  bt
Password:  bt
APN:  btmobile2.bt.com
Network:  (blank)
PIN:  (blank)
PUK:  (blank)
• Move onto the PPP Settings tab and click Configure Methods.  Uncheck all of the options apart from CHAP [screenshot].  Click OK
• Make sure that Allow BSD, Allow Defalte Data, User TCP Header Compression are all checked, next click on IPv4 Settings
• Ensure the drop down list is set to Automatic (PPP) [screenshot]
• Finally, change the connection name to something more suitable, I have used BT HSDPA [screenshot] but choose whatever you wish here, click Apply to confirm the settings

You have now configured you data card!

To connect simply click on the connection icon and then choose the new connection – you should now see the pop up to tell you that you are connected [screenshot].

I have not noticed any difference in connection speeds when using my data card with either Ubuntu or Windows 7; in both environments the connection seems very stable and I’m pleased with the overall connectivity.

Note:  Whilst the default settings are working absolutely fine for me, I have had previous issues with BT generally in so much as there DNS servers can often take a long time to resolve addresses; this applies both to their mobile data and Broadband services.  The actual data connection themselves are however always reliable and pretty quick.  If you find this a problem change the default DNS servers to an alternate provider, I recommend the servers provided by OpenDNS; 208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222 respectively.  Of course this also applies to any ISP if you find resolution is taking longer than you expected, including home broadband connections.

I hope you find this useful.  Enjoy.