Re: [ubuntu-uk] Falling off Active directory

[Grant Sewell]

On Sun, 22 May 2011 13:36:07 +0100
Chris Rowson wrote:

> > Hi,
> >
> > We have a number of Ubuntu servers 10.04.
> >
> > They join to active directory run by Windows Server 2008 R2 very
> > well.
> >
> > However it seems they appear to fall off or loose a connection with
> > the AD servers. It took 9 days last time.
> >
> > There isn't anything useful in the logs to explain why.
> >
> > The only way previously was to reboot the machine, which is not
> > really an option at times.
> >
> > We have just found that killing winbind and starting it again fixes
> > the issue without have to reboot the server.
> > Restarting winbind does not fix it it doesn't even appear to
> > restart in the process list, seems more like a reload.
> >
> > We have tried many other solutions and none have they worked.
> > Aside from making a really dodgy cron script to kill and start
> > winbind every 7/8 days does anybody know of a fix/solution?
> >
> > Has anybody else had this problem?
> >
> > Kind regards,
> >
> > Toby.
> >
> 
> Could be a time issue.
> 
> AD authentication requires that the client time be pretty much the
> same as the authenticating domain controller. Perhaps your Ubuntu
> boxen are slightly out of sync, especially if they're virtualised?
> 
> Perhaps you could try run a daily cron job to sync your Ubuntu
> servers clock to NTP on the domain controller with the PDC emulator
> role and see if that helps?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Chris

It's worth pointing out that they do need to be the same "time"
relative to UTC.  So if server X is on CET and server Y is on USA-EST,
so long as when their clocks are the same when you convert to UTC then
things will be OK.

IIRC Active Directory has a tolerance of +/-2 minutes.

Grant.

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Re: [ubuntu-uk] Simple Unity guide for beginners

[Michael Devenish]

On Sun, May 22, 2011 at 4:13 PM, Barry Drake  wrote:

> On Sat, 2011-05-21 at 17:50 +0100, Alan Pope wrote:
> > Again I've got an etherpad document I've started to gather thoughts.
> > http://pad.ubuntu-uk.org/SimpleGuide
>
> Alan   Take a look at:
>
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuAdverts/Research?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=simple_guide_natty_unity.pdf
>
> I've adapted Cassidy James' simple guide to Natty and included a few
> screenshots.  Feel free to amend/adapt further.
>
> Kind regards,   Barry.
> --
> Barry Drake is a member of the the Ubuntu Advertising team.
> http://ubuntuadverts.org/
>
>
> --
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> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
>
I found OMG! Ubuntu's guide to Natty very useful:

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/natty/

Regards,

Michael Devenish
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Re: [ubuntu-uk] Simple Unity guide for beginners

[Barry Drake]

On Sat, 2011-05-21 at 17:50 +0100, Alan Pope wrote:
> Again I've got an etherpad document I've started to gather thoughts.
> http://pad.ubuntu-uk.org/SimpleGuide

Alan   Take a look at:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuAdverts/Research?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=simple_guide_natty_unity.pdf

I've adapted Cassidy James' simple guide to Natty and included a few
screenshots.  Feel free to amend/adapt further.

Kind regards,   Barry.
-- 
Barry Drake is a member of the the Ubuntu Advertising team.
http://ubuntuadverts.org/


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Re: [ubuntu-uk] Race Online 2012 - lets give EVERYONE buying a second user PC a chance to try Linux.

[Alan Bell]

On 22/05/11 11:28, Martin Houston wrote:
I was at OpenTech yesterday and there was a massive computer fair 
going on at ULU at the same time.
There were many people selling ex corporate PCs (mostly Dells and HPs) 
for prices that looked better value than the Race Online Scheme!


not at all surprised, however the raceonline scheme is not about getting 
the cheapest possible computers, it is about getting cheap computers to 
the widest number of people, or getting the widest number of people 
online. It isn't all about the price and they have additional costs. 
Also ULU or tottenham court road is not a convenient place to get a 
computer for a large portion of the non-online population


A typical example was a dual core desktop with 1G ram and 80G hard 
disk for 79 quid with flat screen monitors going for 30-40 quid on top 
of this.


Yes no delivery, no after sales support but a lot more computer for 
the money!
All these machines came with a basic install of XP only. I asked one 
of the vendors why they did not offer Linux as well. He was interested 
in the prospect of appealing to a wider audience with his reconed PCs. 
I found out that the image the fresh XP install onto PCs over the 
gigabit network that is standard in ex business PCs of the age that 
are available at the moment.


He said that getting a fresh XP image onto a pepurposed machine this 
way takes just 4 minutes!
yeah, you can drop an Ubuntu image on disk pretty quick too. I had them 
cloning with a PXE boot and clonezilla image drop in 9 minutes on some 
pretty slow hardware over 100mbit networking. I can see this getting 
down to 4 minutes on the hardware they are talking about.


Alan.

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Re: [ubuntu-uk] Race Online 2012 - lets give EVERYONE buying a second user PC a chance to try Linux.

[alan c]

On 22/05/11 11:28, Martin Houston wrote:
[...]

Microsoft is clearly going to want to put a lid on free thinking like
this so we need to start a public clamour for it so they can't stop
their 'Authorized Refurbishers' form giving into public demand.


I believe in the public mind the 'L' word is firmly fixed as for geeks 
only, and this is heavily reinforced by proprietary vested interests. 
If you consider something without the Linux word such as 'Ubuntu', 
then the public interest starts with a rolling success story. Much 
more difficult for the poisonous opposition comment 'Linux is only 
for geeks'



--
alan cocks
Ubuntu user

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Re: [ubuntu-uk] Falling off Active directory

[Chris Rowson]

> Hi,
>
> We have a number of Ubuntu servers 10.04.
>
> They join to active directory run by Windows Server 2008 R2 very well.
>
> However it seems they appear to fall off or loose a connection with the AD
> servers. It took 9 days last time.
>
> There isn't anything useful in the logs to explain why.
>
> The only way previously was to reboot the machine, which is not really an
> option at times.
>
> We have just found that killing winbind and starting it again fixes the
> issue without have to reboot the server.
> Restarting winbind does not fix it it doesn't even appear to restart in the
> process list, seems more like a reload.
>
> We have tried many other solutions and none have they worked.
> Aside from making a really dodgy cron script to kill and start winbind
> every 7/8 days does anybody know of a fix/solution?
>
> Has anybody else had this problem?
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Toby.
>

Could be a time issue.

AD authentication requires that the client time be pretty much the same as
the authenticating domain controller. Perhaps your Ubuntu boxen are slightly
out of sync, especially if they're virtualised?

Perhaps you could try run a daily cron job to sync your Ubuntu servers clock
to NTP on the domain controller with the PDC emulator role and see if that
helps?

Cheers,

Chris
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Re: [ubuntu-uk] Race Online 2012 - lets give EVERYONE buying a second user PC a chance to try Linux.

[Tony Scott]

I also was at Open Tech yesterday at popped into the Computer Fair.

Just to clarify - the Computer Fair is the one that used to take place in 
Tottenham Court Road.

Apparently the building on TCR they used to be in is to be demolished - so they 
have now moved the fair to be every Saturday on the first and second floors of 
ULU

http://www.ulu.co.uk/


Agree with the points Martin is making.
 
--
Tony Scott
http://tonyscott.org.uk | http://twitter.com/tonys | 
http://2011.portsmouth.wordcampuk.org | http://lpd.bectu.com | 
http://orangecoconut.com


>
>From: Martin Houston 
>To: ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com
>Sent: Sunday, 22 May 2011, 11:28
>Subject: [ubuntu-uk] Race Online 2012 - lets give EVERYONE buying a second 
>user PC a chance to try Linux.
>
>
>I was at OpenTech yesterday and there was a massive computer fair going on at 
>ULU at the same time.
>There were many people selling ex corporate PCs (mostly Dells and
HPs) for prices that looked better value than the Race Online
Scheme!
>
>A typical example was a dual core desktop with 1G ram and 80G hard
disk for 79 quid with flat screen monitors going for 30-40 quid on
top of this.
>
>Yes no delivery, no after sales support but a lot more computer for
the money!
>All these machines came with a basic install of XP only. I asked one
of the vendors why they did not offer Linux as well. He was
interested in the prospect of appealing to a wider audience with his
reconed PCs. I found out that the image the fresh XP install onto
PCs over the gigabit network that is standard in ex business PCs of
the age that are available at the moment. 
>
>He said that getting a fresh XP image onto a pepurposed machine this
way takes just 4 minutes!
>
>As the minimum hard disk in the reconditioning marketplace is 40G
with 80G and above more common I suggested to him that if 20% of
that disk was given over to letting people try Linux there would be
no real downside, Linux can access the XP partition so if people
have music etc on it it can be played. If people really truly did
not want Linux they have an extra drive letter they can use (when
they get around to needing that last 20% of the disk). On the other
side of the coin it would be no real hassle to axe the XP either.
>
>Microsoft is clearly going to want to put a lid on free thinking
like this so we need to start a public clamour for it so they can't
stop their 'Authorized Refurbishers' form giving into public demand.
>
>The hard disks in the Race Online PCs are all 80G at least so why is
dual booting not an option there as standard. Why are people being
forced to choose before they know anything?
>
>One good reason for dual booting is that if they manage to scramble
one of the OSes beyond use (no prizes guessing which one that is
likley to be) they still have the other one to be able to go online
and seek help.
>
>I know we have the Boot the Ubuntu CD option but that is that little
bit more complex and hard to explain to people they have to be
patient because the CD is slow.
>
>I am going to try to get the Guardian involved in running this as a
campaign. Why should anyone buying a reconditioned PC be denied the
chance to try Linux?- If it is only a matter of the right disk image
getting put on in minutes?
>
>-- 
>Deluxe Technology Ltd 
>Linux Consultant 
>mhous...@deluxe-tech.co.uk 
>http://www.deluxe-tech.co.uk 
>Mob: 07970 850961
>-- 
>ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com
>https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
>https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
>
>
>-- 
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[ubuntu-uk] Race Online 2012 - lets give EVERYONE buying a second user PC a chance to try Linux.

[Martin Houston]

I was at OpenTech yesterday and there was a massive computer fair going 
on at ULU at the same time.
There were many people selling ex corporate PCs (mostly Dells and HPs) 
for prices that looked better value than the Race Online Scheme!


A typical example was a dual core desktop with 1G ram and 80G hard disk 
for 79 quid with flat screen monitors going for 30-40 quid on top of this.


Yes no delivery, no after sales support but a lot more computer for the 
money!
All these machines came with a basic install of XP only. I asked one of 
the vendors why they did not offer Linux as well. He was interested in 
the prospect of appealing to a wider audience with his reconed PCs. I 
found out that the image the fresh XP install onto PCs over the gigabit 
network that is standard in ex business PCs of the age that are 
available at the moment.


He said that getting a fresh XP image onto a pepurposed machine this way 
takes just 4 minutes!


As the minimum hard disk in the reconditioning marketplace is 40G with 
80G and above more common I suggested to him that if 20% of that disk 
was given over to letting people try Linux there would be no real 
downside, Linux can access the XP partition so if people have music etc 
on it it can be played. If people really truly did not want Linux they 
have an extra drive letter they can use (when they get around to needing 
that last 20% of the disk). On the other side of the coin it would be no 
real hassle to axe the XP either.


Microsoft is clearly going to want to put a lid on free thinking like 
this so we need to start a public clamour for it so they can't stop 
their 'Authorized Refurbishers' form giving into public demand.


The hard disks in the Race Online PCs are all 80G at least so why is 
dual booting not an option there as standard. Why are people being 
forced to choose before they know anything?


One good reason for dual booting is that if they manage to scramble one 
of the OSes beyond use (no prizes guessing which one that is likley to 
be) they still have the other one to be able to go online and seek help.


I know we have the Boot the Ubuntu CD option but that is that little bit 
more complex and hard to explain to people they have to be patient 
because the CD is slow.


I am going to try to get the Guardian involved in running this as a 
campaign. Why should anyone buying a reconditioned PC be denied the 
chance to try Linux?- If it is only a matter of the right disk image 
getting put on in minutes?

--
*Deluxe Technology Ltd*
/Linux Consultant/
mhous...@deluxe-tech.co.uk 
http://www.deluxe-tech.co.uk
Mob: 07970 850961
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Re: [ubuntu-uk] Simple Unity guide for beginners

[Andres]

Yes please! I'm just starting with unity I'll try to add some suggestions. But 
once you are done and If you have a finished document with screenshots and all, 
could i have it to translate it to spanish? I normally like to use LaTeX with 
margin notes so if you could save the screenshots that would be great! (If I'm 
not imposing)

-- 
Sent from my Nokia N900
Please do not send me word documents
plain txt or pdf are prefered. 

- Original message -
> I've plumped for Ubuntu 11.04 and Unity on my friend's Dads laptop. I
> figured this was the best choice given the future direction of Ubuntu,
> and I can support him because I use it myself.
> 
> As part of the PC build for my friend's Dad I've decided to write a
> short guide to Ubuntu / Unity for him. The goal is to cover the basics
> that a brand new user would need to know. It will include screenshots
> and a few website links for more info. I'd like to hope I can get this
> into only a few pages.
> 
> Again I've got an etherpad document I've started to gather thoughts.
> 
> http://pad.ubuntu-uk.org/SimpleGuide
> 
> I'm not at all interested in discussions about the technicalities of
> how I'll be writing it but for reference I'll do this in LibreOffice
> as a simple document and will spit it out as a PDF in his home
> directory and give him a printed copy. I'
> 
> I'm happy to share what I've done if people want it.
> 
> Suggestions for topics to cover welcome here or on etherpad.
> 
> Cheers,
> Al.
> 
> 

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Re: [ubuntu-uk] Simple Unity guide for beginners

[alan c]

On 21/05/11 17:50, Alan Pope wrote:

I've plumped for Ubuntu 11.04 and Unity on my friend's Dads laptop. I
figured this was the best choice given the future direction of Ubuntu,
and I can support him because I use it myself.


Good reason!

I would suggest that

1) disable the launcher autohide at least initially
2) change the workspaces available from 4 to 2 (single row)
3) Put a folder called something or other on the desktop so it can be 
clicked on and used immediately


I am in a steep unity learning curve myself  and as you know I am in 
contact with a lot of  not always youthful newcomers.


Comments:
1) has been an immediate relief for me and I do not think newcomers 
will welcome autohide.
2) Personally I use 6 workspaces and I have now configured for a 
linear display - single row not multi row, and for a newcomer, simply 
reducing from 4 to 2 (single row) will enable a simpler concept of 
workspaces which are a mystery for newcomers anyway.
3) Many people I see have a desktop and or inbox which seem more like 
a landfill site than anything, so an actual Folder sitting on the 
desktop, an invitation to put stuff in it in the old fashioned way, 
will I think give a significant added comfort factor


Good luck
--
alan cocks
Ubuntu user

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Re: [ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu'ing a PC for a friend.

[Andres]

Bit late to the suggestions but I like gramps. 6 months ago it looked funny on 
the netbook unity but it probably looks better now.
I've just installed 11.04 and i can see the search tool to be better than going 
throug menus for programs and files. 
I did expect typing in internet to show more options.


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- Original message -
> On 21 May 2011 09:55, Liam Gallear  wrote:
> 
> > On 21 May 2011, at 09:40, Alan Pope  wrote:
> > 
> > > Greetings!
> > > 
> > > My friend had this conversation with her Dad:-
> > > 
> > > Dad: "Can you get in contact with Alan and get him to help me with my
> > computer"
> > > Friend: "I'll be honest, he won't touch it with windows on it"
> > > Dad: "Okay, will he install Linux on it for me?"
> > > Friend: "I'll ask."
> > > 
> > > So I have sat in front of me a laptop computer:-
> > > 
> > > Specs:-
> > > 
> > > Dell Inspiron 6400.
> > > Intel Dual Core Pentium T2060 CPU at   1.6GHz
> > > 2GiB RAM
> > > 60GB Hard disk
> > > Intel GMA 945 video card
> > > DVD Read/write drive
> > > The usual other ports you'd expect, VGA, USBxlots, sound, SD etc.
> > > Media playback buttons.
> > > 
> > > I agreed to wipe windows off (he doesn't care about what's on there
> > > at the moment) and install Ubuntu. I also agreed to a couple of
> > > hours of hand-holding to get him started. As far as I can tell he
> > > has no experience of Ubuntu or any other Linux distro.
> > > 
> > > I'm currently backing up the Windows XP hard disk to an external
> > > drive he provided, and will start a clean install of Ubuntu later.
> > > Wondering what to install. 10.04 LTS or 11.04 with Unity 3D or 2D?
> > > 
> > > I'm open to listen to suggestions for what to do, and what extra apps
> > > to install. I figured it might be useful for others. I'm keeping
> > > track of stuff in an etherpad document:-
> > > 
> > > http://pad.ubuntu-uk.org/PCForFriend
> > > 
> > > I welcome discussion / suggestions either here on the list or in that
> > document.
> > > 
> > > Cheers,
> > > Al.
> > > 
> > > --
> > > ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com
> > > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
> > > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
> > 
> > That's pretty cool.
> > 
> > I'd probably say go for 11.04, then he gets the benefits of Unity
> > straight away.
> > 
> > If possible, though, why not dual boot the two and let the guy decide
> > which he wants to keep?
> > 
> > Thanks and Regards,
> > 
> > Liam Gallear
> > 
> > I'd stick him on 11.04 with unity if it works with his hardware. Simply
> because now would be a good time to get used to the new interface, rather
> than learning old gnome then having to learn new gnome in 6 months time
> :) I'd leave off Unity 2D on a new persons machine as it's not officially
> finished yet.
> 
> -Matt Daubney

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