I have been running the latest Ubuntu 11.04 for about a month now, and the update manager was always working like a charm, though I had an error few days back when trying to update my Ubuntu using Ubuntu Update Manger. The error was as follow:

Could not initialize the package information. Please report this bug agaist the ‘update-manager’ package that include the following error message:

‘E:Encoutered a section with no Package: header, E:problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/ae.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dist_natty_main_binary-amd64_Package, E:The package lists or status files could not be parsed or opened.’

A snapshot image of the error is showing below:

As I fuzzed with the error for two days, I thought I will share how I resolved it with other Ubuntu users in the community to make sure they are well on in no time. below is the commands I have ran that resolved the above problem & should work out for you too:

sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf
sudo apt-get update

After that just run the Ubuntu Update Manager, & you should be all ready to go.

Enjoy using Ubuntu & happy updating.

Ubuntu is like any other distro of Linux is also greatly used by many of the best 10 web hosting and is referred to as LAMP at times. Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP are all great solutions to using Linux for a web hosting alternative. Its great that the community always respond to such Linux bugs with fixes in a very quick manner, that has always kept Linux the most spread webhosting platform.

After Upgrading my Ubuntu the other day to Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), My VMware Workstation 7.1.3 that was working perfectly before the upgrade stopped working and kept throwing the following error when trying to compile its modules with the new Kernel: “Unable To Build Kernel Module see log file /tmp/vmware-root/setup-7357.log for details.” Below is a screen shot of the lovely error message:

Ubuntu 11.04 VMware Workstation 7.1.3 error

I have followed the error instruction and checked the log file setup-7357.log pointed out by the error message shown above  to find the following messages:

================ setup-7357.log Messages===========

May 30 01:31:39.932: app-139993976203040| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 2.6.38-8-generic.

May 30 01:31:39.933: app-139993976203040| Building module vmmon.

May 30 01:31:39.933: app-139993976203040| Extracting the sources of the vmmon module.

May 30 01:31:39.939: app-139993976203040| Could not extract source for module vmmon!

==================

I have fuzzed trying to fix the above error and to get my VMware Workstation 7.1.3 back up and running but without any luck. I have looked all over the forums and the web in general without an answer. I did not expect to find too much as Ubuntu 11.04 has not been released for long. Though I end up resolving the problem by upgrading VMware Workstation to 7.1.4 and Few Extra commands. Below is the full procedure.

1. Download VMware Workstation 7.1.4 (VMware-Workstation-Full-7.1.4-385536.x86_64.bundle) from VMware website
2. Install VMware Workstation 7.1.4 by executing the following command as a root or by using Sudo:

# ./VMware-Workstation-Full-7.1.4-385536.x86_64.bundle    <== if running as a root

# sudo ./VMware-Workstation-Full-7.1.4-385536.x86_64.bundle <== if not running as root and the recommended method. You will be asked for your root password.

3. The installer will remove VMware Workstation 7.1.3 and replace it with VMware Workstation 7.1.4 (Just follow the normal on screen installation instruction.

4. After upgrading your VMware Workstation to 7.1.4, now VMware Workstation should be able to start normally on Ubunut 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), thhough you might get the following error when trying to power on your VMs.

Could not open /dev/vmmon: No such file or directory.
Please make sure that the kernel module `vmmon’ is loaded.

The above error I was more familiar with as it usually happens due your VMware services have not been started yet. You can execute the below commands to fix the error:

$ su –                           <== Enter your root password and hit enter.
# service vmware start

After this you should be able to start your VMware Workstation VMs normally & enjoy the latest VMware Workstation & Ubuntu.

I believe the above problems are not limited to Ubuntu 11.04 but will be hitting most Linux Distros running kernel 2.6.38-8-generic or higher, so it should be applicable to many other distros. Further the solution presented, should be applicable to other distros as well.

Ubuntu has been so far the best distro I have tried when looking for a windows desktop alternative. The massive repository & ease of usage Ubuntu has to offer makes it a great windows replacement. I have been running Ubuntu on my laptop for the past two months & have been really enjoying the speed & easiness of Ubuntu. Below is a great 10 tips to enjoy Ubuntu even further.

:

:

First Tip: Install GIMP

GIMP does not come by default with Ubuntu anymore, though its quite easy to install from the respo. Before I explain how to install GIMP for those of you new to Linux GIMP is a great image editing software with many many advance image editing features that only available in paid software on windows. Further GIMP is free so get it now!!  All you have to do to install GIMP in Ubuntu is to run the below command:

sudo apt-get install gimp

:

:

Second Tip: Install Skype

Well, most of you already know this great Voip software. It help you save on long distance calls, by allowing you to place a Voip calls over the Internet to any normal phone or mobile phone for very reasonable prices. Further, you can do pc-to-pc video & voice calls for free. If you are coming from Windows then you more than likely are aware of Skype. Installing it on Ubuntu is as easy as running the below command:

sudo apt-get install skype

:

:

Third Tip: Enable Ubuntu Repositories

As I mentioned earlier Ubuntu Repositories is one of the greatest features in Ubuntu, it will allow you to install the software you desire with easy. Ubuntu has its own repositories & partners repositories. To ensure you have the widest range of software available at your hand with easy, you would want to enable both Ubuntu own repositories & their partners repositories. To do that you will need to follow the below steps:

From the top menu in Ubuntu:  Applications => Ubuntu Software Center

In the Ubuntu Software Center from the edit tab on top choose Software Sources

Check mark the repositories you want to use under the Ubuntu Software & Other Software Tabs. I usually check mark all of them, beside the source code one.

:

:

Fourth Tip: Install Restricted Extras

Although most things in Linux world is free & open source, there still many things you want that run propriety code & not free so forth are not installed by Ubuntu by default unless you instructed it do so during the installation. Though many of these propriety software are free &  still great items & needed by most users (at least I use quite few of these all the time: Flash, Codecs, etc). If you are new to Ubuntu then I would recommend you install these to enjoy the real experience. All you have to do to install these magical restricted extras is to run the below command.

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

:

:

Fifth Tip: Install VLC

I am not sure how others feel about this one, but for me VLC is much much superior to the default Ubuntu video player which is Totem. I am not saying Totem is bad, but I enjoy VLC much better as it has never failed me where Totem did. To enjoy your video playing to the max go ahead and get this free Video Player VLC by  running the below command:

sudo apt-get install vlc mozilla-plugin-vlc

:

:

Sixth Tip: Install Opera Browser

If you are in a country or an environment where Internet access is so restrictive Opera Browser is a great & easy way to run under the radar. Opera Turbo mode will cache all the pages you are viewing on their own servers & project it to you as its coming from the Opera site instead of the originating source which get your pages to display nonetheless of your Internet provider restrictions. Follow the below steps to install Opera on your Ubuntu 10.10

Download Opera 11 .deb package from http://www.opera.com/download/

Double Click the .deb package & follow the installation instructions

:

:

Seventh Tip: Install Elementary-Nautilus

The default Ubuntu Nautilus is a quite nice files & directory browser, but who mind to have a better and cleaner look by installing Elementary-Nautilus. Get Elementary Nautilus by running the below commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:am-monkeyd/nautilus-elementary-ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

:

:

Eight Tip: Make sure your Ubuntu is up to date

As every other operating system to avoid any security risk or suffering a bug that has already been fixed, ensure you update your Ubuntu Distro regularly by following the below steps:

From the System menu in the top Ubuntu bar choose Administrations => Ubuntu Manager

Hit check for updates to check for updates, then hit install updates to install any available new updates.

:

:

Ninth Tip: Install Wine

If you got to miss few of your Windows games/software, you don’t have to go back to Windows as many of them will run just fine under Wine. For more info about Wine please check: Wine Info

:

:

Tenth Tip: Find an alternative to Windows Only Application

Ok, although there is many windows emulators software on Linux that allow you to run Windows application on Linux. There is a big chance that an application exist for Linux with a much better functionality & stability than its Windows counter part. So try to use the alternatives when they are available. Example on this will be GIMP is a much much better replacement to Windows Paint.

I hope the above Tips help some of you complete your shift to Ubuntu, & help you further enjoy the experience.

After having to fuzz for a while trying to get Java Plugin enabled for Firefox in my SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11.3, I have decided to document it on my blog. Unfortunately the instruction on the Java/SUN/Oracle site is misleading probably for being out dated & did not work for me. Below is what I have done to get it working:

First: If you have not installed Java yet then follow the below instructions to install it else skip to the second step

a. download it from Java Download Site

b. At the terminal: Type: su
c. Enter the root password.

d. Change to the directory in which you want to install. Type:
cd
For example, to install the software in the /usr/java/ directory, Type:
cd /usr/java

Note about root access: To install the JRE in a system-wide location such as /usr/local, you must login as the root user to gain the necessary permissions. If you do not have root access, install the JRE in your home directory or a subdirectory for which you have write permissions.

e. Change the permission of the file you downloaded to be executable. Type:
chmod a+x    jre-6u21-linux-x64-rpm.bin

f. Verify that you have permission to execute the file. Type:
ls -l

g. To start the installation process, type:
./jre-6u21-linux-x64-rpm.bin

Note: If the file is in the current directory, prepend it with “./”

This displays a binary license agreement. Read through the agreement. Press the spacebar to display the next page. At the end, enter yes to proceed with the installation. type YES to agree to the license agreement

h. Wait the installation to complete

Second: Link to the Firefox plugin in order for Java to work in FireFox:  (This is the part that is outdated on the Java website)

In order for Java to work in recent versions of Firefox you will need to create a link to the Java plugin depending on which firefox arch you run (32 bit/64bit) the plugin can be located in one of the two below locations:

for 32 bit: ${JAVA_HOME}/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so

for 64 bit: ${JAVA_HOME}/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so

for 32 bit Place links to the plugin in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins using the below command

ln -s ${JAVA_HOME}/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libnpjp2.so

ex: ln -s  /usr/java/jre1.6.0_21/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libnpjp2.so

for 64 bit Place links to the plugin in /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins using the below command

ln -s ${JAVA_HOME/jre1.6.0_21/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins

ex: ln -s /usr/java/jre1.6.0_21/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so /usr/lib64/mozilla/plugins

After that restart your Firefox, & you should be up and running. if you want to ensure that Firefox has found the Java plugin you can type about:plugins         in the Firefox browsing bar & the Java plugin should be listed among your plugins.

I hope this help!!! & happy Java surfing!!!

Did you suffer with Vista for two years & switched to Apple Mac or anyother platform? haha was Microsoft too late for you. This is exactly what this video is about. Its a video that you must watch. Don’t miss it.

Please leave your comment below & share this video with your friends :).

As many of you had seen a preview of Google Chrome OS on my blog about a month back. I am glad to announce that a beta has just been released to public. The announcement has been made on Google Chrome Website & can be found at:  Google Chrome OS Beta release announcement . Ah not to mention I love the idea of google providing a virtual appliance to run on VMware Player for people to try their OS without having to install it. I believe it is a quite smart idea & will help the testing to spread a lot faster. Ah they still offer an installable version of the beta though :). So enjoy the ride.

Below is what had came on Google announcement Description:

About Chrome OS