How to show/hide desktop icons on ubuntu.

If your desktop ever looks as cluttered as the 'Before' pic below you will definitely find this method useful!

Sometime back I wrote a blog post on how to do the same thing for windows http://hariniachala.blogspot.com/2009/11/hide-messy-looking-desktop-icons-with.html. When looking for a similar method for my ubuntu desktop i came across this..

http://bayu.freelancer.web.id/2009/05/03/showhide-desktop-icon-on-ubuntu/

Follow the instructions in the link and soon your desktop will be magically free of all clutter!

Before



After



If you like my wallpaper you can get it here (http://bit.ly/35rzNB). The word at the bottom means 'Spring'. I've put it in Greek to add a touch of mystery to the wallpaper:)

Running apache2 server on ubuntu and tracking its activity..

This is a simple guide to install and run apache2 server on ubuntu and track the server activity while it is running.

Install apache2 server on ubuntu through terminal..

sudo apt-get install apache2

Track server by running following command in a separate terminal

tail -f /var/log/apache2/error.log

now you can see the server activity being logged in this terminal.

Start apache2 server

cd /etc/init.d
sudo ./apache2 start

You can also do

sudo ./apache2 --help

to view all available commands.

Now go to http://localhost in your browser

The message 'It works!' will be displayed. (the file displayed is index.html in /var/www folder)

Running Ubuntu inside Windows

Love this! No more rebooting for windows or ubuntu. No need for a separate VM. I am running ubuntu inside windows and can access both ubuntu and windows programs at the same time. Right now I am running IE on windows while downloading packages on Synaptic Package Manager on ubuntu.

I am running Vista with 3GB RAM and core 2 duo processor and things run pretty much normal without slowing down.

Totally recommend this for anyone using Windows and Ubuntu on dual boot.

http://portableubuntu.demonccc.com.ar/en/download

Here's a screenshot of what ubuntu inside windows looks like on my machine.

Setup Vista and Ubuntu Dual Boot on Lenovo notebook

Yesterday I setup ubuntu on my lenovo y330 notebook which originally had windows vista installed. I had to try different setup methods before finally getting the ubuntu installation to work, but the method i used in the end was the simplest and it worked superbly!

First step - backup your current system. I already had windows vista installed on my laptop and wanted to make sure that if the ubuntu installation process messed up my system somehow i could easily return it to previous state. Luckily lenovo notebooks generally come with a 'One Key Recovery' system that you can easily use for this purpose. I used the 'One Key Recovery' software to make an ISO image of my current system and write it to a dvd ( i needed 2 dvds for this). Now i had nothing to fear!:D

Next ubuntu installation

method 1 - tried to install from CD. Didn't work:( The machine booted from the CD woth no problems but when i selected the option 'install' from the menu nothing happend! none of the menu options worked. Thought perhaps the CD i used was faulty so downloaded ubuntu ISO image from www.ubuntu.com and wrote to another CD. Had same problem with CD no. 2 so gave up on this method!

method 2 - tried to install using wubi installer for windows ( www.wubi-installer.org). downloaded the installer and ran it. installer ran with no problems. i could select the partition on which i wanted to install with ease. next the installer started downloading the ubuntu iso image, the program showed 3 hrs 17min to download! this frustrated me becoz i had already downloaded the ISO image to write the ubuntu CDs! luckily on the wubi installer page i found an option for install with previously downloaded ISO image. this lead to method 3!:D

method 3 - copied wubi installer .exe file and the ubuntu ISO image i had downloaded to a folder on my hard drive and ran the installer from there. first the installer kept asking for ubuntu cd, but after cancelling this message (which annoyingly popped up several times!!) it finally started installing from the ISO image in the folder. From then on it was smooth sailing!:)

Now im running a windows dual boot system on my laptop with Windows Vista and Ubuntu 9.04. I'm using ubuntu more frequently than vista because i love the way the OS works!,