A Conservative Techie

I work with a product called Altiris (now a part of Symantec) that supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SuSE Enterprise Linux for imaging and software distribution.  However there is next to no training on how to use these products for Inventory, Software Delivery, etc.  So I am in the process of working on actual hardware to test.

The laptop I have is a Dell Latitude D830 and is using an Intel Wireless card.  In Ubuntu the card works out of the box, however I am unable to find a solution to get it to work.  Anyone out there able to help me?

Thanks

Found this post via techmeme in regards to Why man MCSEs won’t learn Linux and am disappointed by some of the reasosn given but agree with some of them.

A little background about myself.  I am not a MCSE, but I have several Microsoft Certifications, MCSA MCP, MCT, along with my LInux+ certification and several years helping out with the Ubuntu distribution.  I use Linux on a daily basis and at work am considered the Linux guru, which may not be saying much about my co-workers.

The biggest disagreement I have is the difference between a Windows admin and a Unix admin is “the difference between rote learning and the application of theory to practice.”  This statement assumes that MCSEs memorize the tests answers, get the certifiation and then couldn’t admin their way out a situation that doesn’t fall on the test versus Unix/Linux Admins who “understand key ideas and acheive expertise by expanding both the set of ideas and the ability to apply them.”  In other words, Unix/Linux admins are smarter because they can apply practices and ideas, not test questions.

In my travels as a Windows consultant I have met a large number of Windows admins who not only are willing to try new ideas and new utilities but then apply those ideas to solving business needs.  As a consultant for a management product the people that are hardest to get to change are the Unix/Linux people.  A Linux admin is more stuck in their ways and assumes they know the best way to do things is the way they have always done things.  That no one could ever come up with a better management tool or utility to help them out is a common occurence.

The author of the post makes a comment that scripts from a book in 1984 provides great scripts that still run today.  That is great, but is it still the best way to manage the devices?  Is there a more powerful way then a script or cron job?  Some form of centralized reporting software that can track hardware/software inventory, patch management, and software delivery?  Or should we still rely on these scripts as the “best” way to do things.  A Windows admin is more wililng to adapt and change to the best practices.

Also the author compares a Windows 2000/2003 admin trying to figure out how to admin a Windows NT box.  I remember when I made the trasnsition from NT 4 to Windows 2000 and it was a large change.  However I didn’t give up, I was forced by my company to adapt or to start looking for a different job.  I wonder if the people the authors talks about that are  Windows are admins that shouldn’t be in either a Windows environment or an Unix environment.

Feel freee to argue

After hunting around for a quite awhile I figured out how to share my document folders from Kubuntu 8.04 Remix laptop with my Windows XP VM. The current problem with Kubuntu 8.04 is that when you run kcmshell4 fileshare you can’t configure sharing due to not having permssions.  Then if you run kdesudo kcmshell4 fileshare, for some reason that I don’t know of, can’t find the command.  I reported this as a bug on bugs.kde.org, but havne’t heard anything more about that.

This post will be a placeholder to help me find this out later in life.

1.  Install samba

2.  sudo smbpasswd jjesse and enter a password

3.  Install system-config-samba (sudo apt-get install system-config-samba

4.  system-config-samba will not function because there is no file located in /etc/libuser.conf

5.  sudo touch /etc/libuser.conf

6.  sudo system-config-samba to setup your drives

From the VM:

Open up Network Neighborhood and map the drive using the username and the password (password setup in smbpasswd)

If there is a better way to solve this, let me know.

I’ve been trying to use the Google’s Calendar to Outlook Sync and I can’t get it to work.  I have no idea exactly what is failing in the sync, but I am getting an error that I can’t sync all my appointments.  It seems like a good idea but if it doesn’t work then it’s not a useful application.

Anyone else using this?

Catching up on old posts and information that I’ve read lately…. Here is a map of Google’s data centers around the world that I found pretty intersting.

The last time I was in Omaha, NE all the talk was in regards to the new datacenter that Google was putting in across the river in Council Bluffs.  Lots of tech turnover at the time because people were trying to get in w/ Google and leaving their current jobs and then people were leaving their jobs for the recently vacated postions, etc.

Also there are couple of more interesting posts there as well.  Lots of good google goodness

I haven’t written a lot lately here in regards to my political thoughts as I am completely sick of all of the canidatates this year.  This election cycle has been going on way way too long for my taste and I am quickly getting to the point where none of the above is the option I would like to take in the general election.

My questioin is how have the 3 senators been doing vote wise with the current day job during the 2 years they have all been campaigning?

I do a lot of training in my day job and one of the things i have been unable to do with my 8.04 with KDE4 install is to configure the projector to work the way I have it in Windows.  When i attach a projector to my Windows boot, my computer is set to extend the desktop to the projector and automatically adjusts the 2nd monitor (projector) to the correct resolution, which is 1024×768.

However in KDE 4, I have been unable to extend my desktop to the projector.  The desktop becomes mirrored to the projector and the main display of my laptop’s resolution is changed to match the 1024×768.  I have looked into system settings and the Screen Size and Rotate applet but have been unsucessful in finding a setting to extend.  In fact I am unable to adjust the resolution on my main display to the higher resolution.

If somoene could help me figure out what I’m doing wrong, that would be great.

Do I need to be using the restricted nvidia drivers?

Thanks

Jonathan

Yes I admit it, and in fact will probablly write a post about it… Anyways that is not the point of this entry.

I do a lot of Kubuntu/Ubuntu “work” and would like to continue using Launchpad in the way that I use it in my Kubuntu box.  The #1 thing I am missing is ssh keys and how it will work w/ bzr to commit to launchpad.

I have multiple branches that I work on…. Documentation, and 5-a-day, stuff like that.  Bzr works in Windows, I have no problem checking out branches.  it is commiting to those branches that causes problems. 

If someone can help me out or point me in a direction to help out that would be wonderful.  I would prefer to not use cygwin but that may be the only answer?

Thanks,

Jonathan

Joining the current history meme on planet.ubuntu.com:

58 sudo

37 ls

33 cd

10 bzr

9 exit

6 rm

4 add-5-a-day

Hrmm wonder why all the sudos?  Maybe all the updating and reinstalling i’ve been doing….

Saw this on the wiki today and looking forward to a final release of the Hippy Horse Kubuntu version.  Great job on this one guys.

The installer being powered by Automatix is one of the great parts of this.

And btw can’t forget KDE voting YES to Office Open XML