Installing Wicd in Ubuntu Hardy.

While using 9.10 Karmic, i learn of this excelent application that makes conecting to wireless lan a breeze (and my life less complicated!)

Wicd is an open source wired and wireless network manager for Linux which provides a simple but effective interface to connect to networks with a wide variety of settings and features starting with no Gnome dependencies (but note that it does require GTK), so it is easy to use and install in XFCE, Fluxbox, Openbox, Enlightenment, etc.

Need more? 

-It has the ability to connect to wired (Ethernet only, no PPPoE/DSL support yet) and wireless networks.

-Individual profiles for each wireless network and wired network.

-Many encryption schemes, some of which include WEP/WPA/WPA2

-Remains compatible with wireless-tools

-Tray icon showing network activity and signal strength

-A full-featured console interface

If you are using Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty), Wicd 1.5.9 is in the universe repository, so a simple sudo apt-get install wicd will do it. If you want the latest version of Wicd when it comes out, though, you'll need to add the Wicd repository. Jaunty users who need to download the Wicd deb package can grab it from Ubuntu's Universe repository.

Non-Jaunty versions of Ubuntu (Intrepid, Hardy, etc) or Jaunty users who want the latest updates will have to add the Wicd repository to the Ubuntu package manager. To open the package manager in Gnome, go to Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. When it appears, go to Settings > Repositories > Third Party Software > Add..., and enter the following line:

deb http://apt.wicd.net jaunty extras

where "jaunty" is your version of Ubuntu in lowercase (dapper, edgy, feisty, gutsy, hardy, intrepid, jaunty). You'll also need to add the key used for signing Wicd by running the following command in a terminal:

wget -q http://apt.wicd.net/wicd.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Now, click Reload, and wait while the package lists are downloaded. Now, search for "Wicd", and right click on it. Select Install, then press Apply, and Wicd will automatically be downloaded and installed for you. This will also keep you automatically up to date with the latest and greatest version of Wicd. Please note that this will remove network-manager, which is the default GNOME network manager and may cause loss of network connection temporarily.

Ubuntu down(up)grade.

After upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04 'Jaunty' and working with it for a couple of months, i took the next step and upgraded to 9.10 'Karmic Koala' to see what was new on this release, upgrade was like always a breeze (typical Ubuntu :-)) and there were quite a few features and apps that caught my attention, like the 'Ubuntu Software Center' replacing 'Add/Remove' in the Applications menu  ,a program similar to Freespire's CNR where you can easily and painlessly download and install hundreds of applications, very nice indeed :-)

But i, being a LTS user did long for my Hardy so it was time to down-up-grade my box again, not without taking some notes and installing some of the new tools found in 9.10 ;-)

Testing Zoundry Raven

Because at work they use of course windows i needed an application that i could carry on my usb stick to write stuff for my blog while at work, so after asking the wisest of the wisest Google i found Zoundry Raven, it seems quite a nice tool for that purpose, so i'm writing and publishing this first post with it, should it work you will read a bit more about it, stay tuned!

Ubuntu 9.04- the Jaunty Jackalope, report.

It's been more than 2 months since i upgraded my laptop to 9.04 'Jaunty Jackalope', and about time to share the results with the rest of the world, the whole upgrading process took about 2 hours (8.04 LTS to 8.10 and then 8.10 to 9.04) but it was completelly painless and there wasn't much i had to do, i even went to the gym for the last hour of the process and when i came back the whole process was almost finished, hurray!!

Warning!! don't hold me responsible if after following my notes your system is messed up, my laptop is 100% Linux compatible and your hardware may not be, do this at your own risk.

First thing i did was update my 8.04 LTS, once my system was up to date i started the upgrading process to 8.10 (you can only upgrade to 9.04 from 8.10). Note that upgrades from 8.04 LTS to 8.10 are not enable by default because 8.04 is a long-term-support release and 8.10 is a regular release, but upgrade is 100% supported and easy to enable, if you are not sure which version you are currently running type on a terminal 'lsb_release -a' to find out.

Now go to System/Administration/Software Sources, then click on the "Updates" tab and change "Show new distribution release" to "Normal releases", now get outta there.

Again start System/Administration/Update Manager, click the Check button to check for new updates. If there are any updates to install, use the Install Updates button to install them, and press Check again after that is complete, make sure you have all the updates for your current version installed before upgrading, a message will appear informing you of the availability of the new release, click upgrade and follow the instructions on screen, the upgrade manager will then start downloading the necesary packages.

Depending on the speed of your Internet connection this can take just a few minutes to a few hours, once the necesary files are fetched you can sit back and watch it work, this may take a while too depending on your hardware speed.

Once this is done and you have restarted your system you can check again with 'sudo lbs_release-a' if the upgrade was succesful, then you should see the following on your terminal:

Distributor ID: Ubuntu

Description: Ubuntu intrepid

Release 8.10

Codename Intrepid

Not as colorful as 'The most incredible and really unbelievable dream has become true: You compiled e17 successfully!' (Enlightenment fan here) but if you see this then you have succesfully upgraded to 8.10.

To upgrade to 9.04 the steps are pretty much the same, update your 8.10 and then proceed with the upgrade, it should be as easy (or even easier) than the previous upgrade.

Was it worth the upgrade? Hell yeah!! For example hibernating did't work that good with 8.04, now it works without a problem, from switching on until login screen takes about 20 sec, the overall impresion is very good and the new release works faster and efficient.

Before you attemp to do an upgrade, don't forget to backup your system and get as much information and feedback about other people's experiences about upgrading their systems, best place for this is of course the Ubuntu Forum, good luck!! :-)