Ubuntu

This article details the process of building the stock firmware for the SMCWAPS-G from the sources on Ubuntu Hardy (8.04.1.) The SMC SMCWAPS-G is on one hand an 802.11g access point with two USB2 ports and a 2.5" form factor ATA/IDE connector, and on the other a small and extremely low power consumption x86-compatible linux-based server with the same. While the included GPL compliance CD is relatively worthless to the casual user, the company does make the same content available in a more useful form for free download via their web site. This article explains how I built the sources; Read my review of the SMCWAPS-G for more information on the device in general.

Ubuntu is a wonderful Linux distribution based (as are so many others) on Debian, perhaps the most stable and certainly one of the (if not the...) "freest" of all Linux distributions. While Debian's focus is stability and freedom, Ubuntu's is completeness and convenience. Both, however, use the same package management system, apt. Without getting into the issue of why apt is better than the alternatives (for the most part, anyway) let me just launch right into the subject of where packages from from: repositories.

Not too long ago, I switched entirely to Ubuntu for my Linux needs. Long-disenchanted with RedHat, I eventually skipped out on gentoo because I am lazy, and meanwhile I never found a compelling reason to run SuSe. I had begun using Debian Linux for servers and was very happy (in general) with the dpkg system, and along came Debian-based Ubuntu with unparalleled hardware support. I like to run Linux from a single vendor if possible since it simplifies things considerably, so now everything is based on some flavor of Ubuntu. In looking for a firewall GUI configurator which would run on and configure my laptop-based firewall system, I settled on fwbuilder.

I wanted to play Neverwinter Nights on Linux, and didn't have it installed anywhere. Today, the easiest way to install NWN for linux (by far) is to use the current installer from Bioware; you can even download the game content from them, although you will need your own registration code. The code from the Windows version works fine. However, I'm on a modem and downloading that much data is out of the question. It could take me days to download the patch, alone (I get 26.4kbps on average - life in the country is swell.)

While Linux marches ever closer to being user-friendly, there are still a few loose ends to be tied up. Networking continues to be a bit of a sticky spot, and Bluetooth support is definitely in need of some refinement. But another area, and one which you would expect to have been tied up nearly by now, is sound. The PulseAudio server can help you take care of this problem, but simply installing it doesn't clear up the problems with programs taking the sound card and never letting you have it back.

Ubuntu Gutsy is the first version of Ubuntu to include LTSP verison 5, MueKow. This new version of LTSP is designed to better be integrated with your distribution of choice, and while LTSP.org provides a source distribution, this is not recommended unless you are rolling your own Linux (e.g. "Linux From Scratch".)