If your computer habits are anything like mine you probably have a set of applications that you use nearly every time you log in to the machine. Let me guess.. Firefox? Pidgin perhaps? Thunderbird or Evolution? You may have more or less, but it is common for a user to use the same applications regularly. Wouldn’t it be nice if those commonly used applications could startup faster?

This is possible with a tool called “Preload”. It is an is adaptive read-ahead daemon that predicts what applications users might run, and fetches those binaries and their dependencies into memory for faster startup times!

The preload service is available through the main Ubuntu repositories, and can be installed by clicking the link below or running the command:

sudo aptitude install preload

A few things to note now about using Preload. First, this will not improve boot time. Preload monitors recurring applications and, after establishing a pattern, will preload those binaries into memory at startup. Given that it also has to establish a pattern you may not see a performance increase immediately. Give it some time though, you’ll start to see a difference soon enough!

Finally had enough of Firestarter as my default firewall manager. Don't get me wrong, it's a great program, and if you're a noob I highly recommend it.

However, for someone like myself who like to trick around a bit, it was just getting in the way eg. "why can't I see this media share? Oh yeah, firewall."

So I've moved on - I now use Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw)!

The Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw), installed by default since Ubuntu 8.04, is a frontend for iptables and is particularly well-suited for host-based firewalls. ufw provides a framework for managing netfilter, as well as a command-line interface for manipulating the firewall. ufw aims to provide an easy to use interface for people unfamiliar with firewall concepts, while at the same time simplifies complicated iptables commands to help an adminstrator who knows what he or she is doing. ufw is an upstream for other distributions and graphical frontends.

Getting started with ufw is easy. For example, to enable firewall, allow ssh access, enable logging, and check the status of the firewall, perform:

$ sudo ufw allow ssh/tcp
$ sudo ufw logging on
$ sudo ufw enable
$ sudo ufw status
Firewall loaded


This sets up a default deny (DROP) firewall for incoming connections, with all outbound connections allowed with connections tracking - which should be enough for most users.

So if you dislike your current firewall or don't have one at all (!). then try out UFW

Been looking for a way for good while now to basically build the perfect Ubuntu 64 bit desktop (using 8.04 LTS), load it up with Open Source games, clone the f*cker 6 times, and leave the clones in a public area without worrying about them getting messed up by (ab)users.

The big problem was to make the filesystem read only, but let users write files temporarily - like a Live Distro does. Finally, I have been presented with the answer

If you are looking to do anything similar, this is the one tutorial on the subject I found, after weeks of searching, that actually works.

Finally solved! I install 8.04 on lots of PCs for people, because it is a Long Term Support release. I even run it in my own 64 bit laptop. However, since Flash 10 was released myself and many others have had problems with Firefox and flash-based sites (Flash 10 isn't even fully supported on 64 bit).

Now I've found and mirrored a script that will fix this issue for you. Check it out:

sudo apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade
wget http://altfire.com/files/flash10_en.sh
sudo sh ./flash10_en.sh

Restart Firefox. Flash 10 now works (with sound and everything). Done

Finally, finally stumbled across a fix for the crackling sound when playing Quake 2 on Ubuntu!

Simply edit (or create) .asoundrc in your home directory and add the following code:

pcm.!default {
type hw
card 0
}

ctl.!default {
type hw
card 0
}

Now enjoy Quake 2 with perfect sound

As usual, I found the solution on Ubuntu Forums, you just gotta be quite specific with what you're searching for.....

I was only getting sound in Enemy Territory if I run it as root, which we all know is a BAD idea. So I came across this solution, and it worked!

Edit rc.local as root:

sudo gedit /etc/rc.local

Add the following line just before "exit 0":

echo "et.x86 0 0 direct" > /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/oss

Save and exit. Now you have sound each time you launch the game. The more linux savvy of you will now why this works

Well feck me, if this isn't the most useful little thing ever!

getlibs automatically solves dependencies for 32-bit programs on 64-bit systems. On 64-bit systems it downloads and installs libraries needed for 32-bit programs and 64-bit programs

On 32-bit systems it downloads and installs libraries needed for 32-bit programs!

So, here I am tonight trying to get all my games running on my new (sweet) 64 bit dual core lapatop (17" screen, 256mb ATI Card, 4 GB RAM - thank you) and I've hit a wall with Smokin' Guns (as it has no 64 bit binary) even though I have all the 32 bit libraries installed:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

The game is doing this:

error while loading shared libraries: libXxf86dga.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

because the libXxf86dga.so.1 I have is 64 bit.

Then I came across getlibs, and used it like this:

sudo getlibs smokinguns.x86
libXxf86dga.so.1: libxxf86dga1
The following i386 packages will be installed:
libxxf86dga1
Continue [Y/n]? y
Downloading ...
Installing libraries ...

Shazaam! The game now runs perfectly. This works for all similar issues on 64 bit

I loved Unreal Tournament 2003, especially 'Capture The Flag' mode. I never really fully took to 2004, and my machine is not beefy enough for the latest one.

So imagine my frustration recently when I dug out the disks again and went to install on the last LTS version of Ubuntu, getting this error:

rawshark@laptop:~# /media/cdrom0/linux_installer.sh
Copying to a temporary location...
Verifying archive integrity...tail: cannot open `+266' for reading: No such file or directory
Error in checksums: 454984593 is different from 738593104

Not a good start. I looked this up and found that this installer points to an older release of glib AND a different POSIX version. You can try modifying the script, or looking for an alternative installer (apparently there is one out there somewhere).

But I found a better solution, with immediate results. Run the installer like this:

sudo _POSIX2_VERSION=199209 linux32 sh ./linux_installer.sh

The game installs! I know what I'm doing for the rest of the day.....